À la carte

Ordering individual dishes from a menu From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In restaurants, à la carte (/ɑː.lə.ˈkɑːrt/, ah-lə-KART; French: [a la kaʁt], lit. 'at the card')[1] is the practice of ordering individual dishes from a menu in a restaurant, as opposed to table d'hôte, where a set menu is offered.[2] It is an early 19th century loan from French meaning "according to the menu".[3][4]

Steak à la carte, with no side dish or garnish; these must be requested separately.

The individual dishes to be ordered may include side dishes, or the side dishes may be offered separately, in which case, they are also considered à la carte.

History

The earliest examples of à la carte are from 1816 for the adjectival use ("à la carte meal", for example) and from 1821 for the adverbial use ("meals were served à la carte").[3] These pre-date the use of the word menu, which came into English in the 1830s.[5][6][3]

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI