Restaurant menu secrets: Part 2

Yesterday, we had some fun revealing how restaurants can seduce you to buy more food and drinks by changing the physical appearance of their menus – altering the paper (nothing coveys elegance and a personal touch like rice paper and hand-scrawled lettering), adding photographs, color, using different type faces, and so forth. 

Another way to entice consumers to order up a storm is through the use of fancy or exotic ingredients.

Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic foodservice consultants, says flowery menu words – fork-crushed vs. plain old mashed potatoes -- and intriguing ingredients – how does elk carpaccio grab you? -- not only tempt consumers through the power of suggestion, but they also increase diners' willingness to pay more in order to satisfy their hunger. I suppose everyone likes new adventures, right? Credit television shows like Top Chef, No Reservations, and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern for expanding our collective culinary IQs.

Tristano must be on to something. I poured over a bunch of menus from some of the toniest restaurants listed in the Zagat dining guides, and discovered ingredients you'll never see at your local Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or Denny's. I'm not making any value judgments, mind you. I'll leave it to you folks to decide whether Berkshire pork, an old heirloom breed that sells for 10 times the price of pork without a pedigree, is truly more juicy, flavorful, and tender than the plain-jane variety from your neighborhood A&P.

Here are some of the intriguing entries I've added to my bucket list. What's on your list to try before you die? 

• Hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Native to Japan and North America, these mushrooms grow in clusters at the base of trees. Because of their resemblance, they're also known as sheep or ram's head or mushrooms. The tubers from the mushrooms are used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine to boost the immune system. Some researchers claim that the mushrooms have many valuable properties from aiding in weight loss to regulating blood pressure.

• Waterzooi. It's a classic Northern Belgian chicken or fish stew and, in Dutch, means "watery mess." The stew contains vegetables such as carrots, leeks and potatoes, herbs, as well as eggs, cream, and butter. 

• Tokyo turnips. They're radish-sized all-white turnips that are described as crunchy, juicy, and bitter-sweet flavored when eaten raw, and buttery-sweet when steamed. 

• Lamb-neck sausage.  Considered a very sweet and flavorful section of the lamb, the neck meat is usually used for stew, but can also be ground into sausage, once the bones are removed. Jennifer Purcell, associate dean of restaurant education and operations for the Culinary Institute of America, says chefs send a positive message to consumers when they incorporate underutilized or lesser cuts, like meat from the neck, because it demonstrates they're not wasteful and are making use of the entire animal.

• Preserved Meyer lemons. I love Meyer lemons because they lack the mouth-puckering sourness of regular lemons since they're thought to be a cross with a Mandarin orange. I'd never heard of the "preserved" variety until recently. According to Epicurious preserving the Meyers imbues them with a "glorious perfume."  The fresh lemons are blanched, cut into wedges, and seeded, then tossed with salt in a bowl, and packed covered with juice in a jar. After a few days, you add olive oil. The preserved lemons are popular in Moroccan dishes as well as in soups, stews, salads, and even certain alcoholic beverages.

• Stinging nettle risotto. Who would dream of turning a skin-irritating common weed into a rich, creamy gastronomic delight? According to experts, stinging nettles taste a lot like spinach and are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, and protein. Besides risotto, you'll find adventurous chefs using stinging nettles to make tea, in pesto, polenta, soufflés, frittatas.