Burgers are crafted with locally sourced beef and topped with an egg from a local farm and housemade bacon at Quality Social.

isn’t well received, we take it off the menu,” says Keenan Langlois, chef de cuisine.

Items Langlois cannot remove from the menu include fried Ipswich clams served with housemade pickles and chili mayo, braised Berkshire pork belly and fried chicken livers.

MENU EXPECTATION It may seem challenging for chefs to balance customer expectation of a bar menu with their own ideas of one. It’s not difficult, says McDonagh. “We choose items off our menu so that the bar guest doesn’t feel second-rate or cheated. At the same time, we do feature items that require less silverware, are easier to eat and share.

“You need to have a burger. You need to have salt. You need to have crunch. Fried always works well.” In McDonagh’s case, it means offering fried chicken, which is marinated in milk with a cornflake crust; country-fried steak (thinly sliced roast beef with sage country gravy); or chicken liver pâté piped into challah, served with dried-cherry compote.

“Our entire menu is based on our collective culinary history in the States with an emphasis in the mid-century,” McDonagh continues. “So we have chips and dip in a way that feels traditional, but is elevated without kitsch.” He makes housemade chips and serves them with a seasonal dip, such as Capriole Farm goat cheese melted with shallot and garlic.

By offering items off the regular menu at a discounted cost, he hopes to not only attract more bar guests, but to get the existing guests to order food.

While menu options are important, the convenience of a bar menu is what Langlois feels sustains it. “With a bar menu, guests can dine when they want and try different items in smaller portions,” he says. And those smaller-portion items will be at a lower price point than items on the main dining menu.

Bottom line, upscale bar menus are here to stay.

“I think it speaks to the public that has increasingly more available information,”

Bar (menu) tips

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Want to tweak your bar menu?

Chefs offer advice.

Take your dinner menu and shrink it. Single out popular items, lower the price and add more things that people can share so there is more variety per dish.

—Stephen Brown, co-executive chef, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse, Boston

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Listen to your patrons to find out what is working and what is not. Take inspiration from your brunch, lunch and dinner menus to create a sophisticated bar menu that reflects all aspects of your restaurant service.