Description: Bastianich, on how she plans a menu.

Transcript:  I think what should go on the menu, again, should reflect, certainly, the seasons.  That’s number one; should reflect the philosophy or the culture of the chef or whomever is running the restaurant.  In our case of course it’s Italian, and there’s usually a consultation with the chef and the sous chef as a whole; and a monitoring of what are the trends.  What are people looking for?  So well-balanced, certainly.  And vegetables.  So if it’s winter, some soups.  The fish element, the red meat, the white meat, the legumes.  It’s a balance between all of that.  Besides, it’s just _________ put lobster on the menu.  The whole orchestration.  It’s a symphony of things that has to happen.

Recorded on: 10/4/07