The Rise of the Sub-$100 Tasting Menu

In 1981, Mimi Sheraton, the New York Times restaurant critic at the time, was fed up with tasting menus. Nouvelle cuisine was all the rage, and this new trend, tasting menus (aka the “menu de degustation”) were popping up everywhere.

She was no fan of the “intricate and fussy inventions the chef has created to knock his audience dead,” Sheraton wrote. “The effect is somewhat like eating a variety of canapes at a cocktail party, with much the same overly complex mixture of seasonings and sauces, and much the same running together of dishes, resulting in a nagging sense of dissatisfaction and unease.” 

40 years later, criticisms of the tasting menu format remain the same. There are too many courses; the portions too small; the prices too high. 

Chef Daniel Garwood of the New York City restaurant Acru, however, is a “firm believer” in tasting menus. The Australian-born chef is no stranger to them, having cut his teeth at some of the haughtiest, most prix-fixe-iest, fine-dining restaurants on earth, including Atomix in New York City, Kadeau in Copenhagen, and Evett in Seoul.

But at his first restaurant, Acru — a lovely Greenwich Village bistro that only serves a $95 rotating, seasonal tasting menu — he ditched the long, stuffy format, in favor of a modest fix-to-six course meal instead. His philosophy? Don’t throw the prix-fixe out with the proverbial bathwater.

“Especially in New York — where it’s such a busy city — I don’t think many people want to be locked in for two and a half to four hours for these dining experiences,” says Garwood. “Coming from Australia, our culture emphasizes being as reasonable as possible. That’s what we’re trying to achieve here. I think it should be obvious that you’re getting what you’re paying for.”

All over America, at restaurants like Acru, Nixta Taqueria (in Austin), Mijoté (San Francisco), and n/soto (Los Angeles), the tasting menu is in the midst of a makeover. Instead of exorbitant pricing and hours-long meals, the newest iteration has emerged: sub-$100 tasting menus.

At Nixta Taqueria, co-owner Sara Mardanbigi says that their $95 tasting menu prix-fixe format “allows us to take calculated risks.” For an à la carte restaurant like Nixta, also offering a tasting menu can become a little financial safety net. Orders are more consistent, anticipating service and hospitality needs become a breeze, and with prepaid reservations, there’s even a guaranteed prorated cash flow. 

“We didn’t intentionally set out to do a tasting menu under $100 — it just happened to land that way,” says Mardanbigi. “And the tasting menu format helped keep our business alive during a time when there was a lot of uncertainty — 90% of the guests who attend the tasting menu have never eaten at Nixta before.”

Mardanbigi co-owns the restaurant with her husband, 2024 F&W Best New Chef Edgar Rico. Self-described as “serious yet silly,” Nixta Taqueria is a groundbreaking culinary force that is reimagining a new future for Mexican-American cuisine. One of the focuses is nixtamalization, Nixta explores the traditional mesoamerican process of converting raw maíz, or corn, into masa, the precious dough that will eventually turn into tortillas, tamales, and other delicious staples.

Meanwhile, when n/soto in Los Angeles debuted in 2022, it was a happy accident of sorts. n/soto was the byproduct of the many experiments conducted by chef Niki Nakayama (the chef-owner of legendary kaiseki restaurant, n/naka) and her wife and sous-chef, Carole Iida Nakayama, during the pandemic in an effort to keep the business afloat.

But, as every younger sibling knows, there’s always a reputation that precedes you — how will you fare, in comparison?

“Being that we’re the sister restaurant to n/naka, we wanted to offer a tasting menu of some sort, but have it also be within the spirit of n/soto,” explains Mark Nechols, n/soto’s general manager.

Compared to n/naka’s $365 kaiseki experience, n/soto’s $95 five-course meal (with the option to add on a nigiri course for $25) seemed like bliss. The team feels the same way. “Tasting menus are a great way to showcase the things a restaurant does really well, while also giving people a wider experience overall,” remarks n/soto’s chef de cuisine, Gregory Otero. “It breaks people out of their comfort zone.”

Served on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the dishes on n/soto’s tasting menu are exclusive, and can’t be found on n/soto’s à la carte menu. There’s bluefin tuna sakizuke, a sweet and refreshing first course laced with strawberries. Or, the chawanmushi, topped with a mountain of king crab. But how do these dishes figure into n/soto’s larger vision? “I don’t think it’s supposed to fit in,” says Otero. “It’s an adjacent menu that gives diners a clearer picture of what we like.”

At Mijoté in San Francisco’s Mission District, chef Kosuke Tada takes a similarly straightforward approach, but with a French perspective. Like many who have come before him, the Japanese-born chef fell in love with France before even setting foot in the country.

“Kosuke has a soft spot for bistros. He loves the energy of the bistro, [where you can] engage with diners in this ebullient, dynamic context,” says Grace Mitchell Tada, Kosuke’s wife and a co-owner of their restaurant, Mijoté. He spent years in French kitchens, first in Japan and then in France, where he worked alongside chef Paul Bert at his namesake restaurant, the three-starred Le 6 Paul Bert.

Now, with Mijoté, chef Tada wants to bring French “bistronomie” — the new-wave bistro movement that emphasizes experimental cooking alongside the comforts of a relaxed atmosphere and at more affordable prices — to the Bay Area.

Mijoté (which translates to “simmered” in French) is a casual, neighborhood bistro with 14 seats at the counter and a handful of tables offering an $82 “four-course fixed dinner menu” that changes weekly. This concise, straightforward approach isn’t just chic, but also extremely pragmatic. “Having a fixed menu is foundational to how we operate economically. It’s a financial decision,” says Grace. “[It] allows Kosuke to order ingredients with great precision and eliminate waste.”

And as for the diners, she adds, “keeping our [price point] as low as possible was [also] very important. We wanted it to be accessible.“

In a way, Chef Tada’s approach to food encapsulates what this whole “less expensive tasting menu” movement in America is really all about: Fun. A small chunk of your day and prices that make sense. Warm, cozy atmospheres, where the lines between friends, patrons, and strangers begin to blur.

“It was actually quite funny, because I remember dining at a place in Copenhagen, you know, probably a decade ago,” recounts Garwood. “They had like a seven-course menu, and I went in there with a friend, and we were done in an hour and a half.” He laughs. “It was beautiful — then, you just go back out and enjoy the rest of Copenhagen, you know?”