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pattyclarke
Known Participant
May 19, 2009
Answered

Capitalization thoughts for a menu

  • May 19, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 24175 views

I work part-time for a local restaurant in an accounting capacity and recently they asked me to redesign their bar menu. I'm enjoying the creative process of designing a pleasing look for the menu but I'm struggling with capitalization of menu item descriptions. Currently the menu is inconsistent with capitalizing words which I know is wrong, but I'm not sure what is the best way to go.

All menu items have a heading that is capitalized like "Salmon Sandwich" and then the description below will say "Grilled salmon, Applewood smoked bacon with Swiss cheese. Or, "Reuben Sandwich" —"Classic Reuben with corned beef, sauerkraut and swiss on rye with Russian dressing." Should swiss be capitalized, should Russian be capitalized, should something like Ortega chili be capitalized? Should Shitake mushroom be capitalized?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Patty

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Ramón G Castañeda

pattyclarke wrote:


So unless we're serving seared "Wanda" no capitals.

LOL !  Good one, Patty. 

2 replies

Jacob Bugge
Community Expert
Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 20, 2009

Patty,

There may be a day where the present capitalization rules will be considered oldfashioned/outdated, especially in American English, Eurospeak, and other non British versions of English.

The only proper name of a fish that I know is Wanda, and I have not even seen the film; I am quite sure there is at least one named Disney fish, too. And then there is Bambi.

Names of species are not proper names. Specific, especially new and exciting, dishes, kinds of plants, etc, may have what is considered a proper name.

So this is no easier than correct hyphenation.

And what Ramón said.

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pattyclarkeAuthor
Known Participant
May 20, 2009

Okay, I understand what you're saying about fish spieces. So unless we're serving seared "Wanda" no capitals. That makes sense.

Thanks Jacob and Ramon for your help.

Patty

Ramón G Castañeda
Ramón G CastañedaCorrect answer
Inspiring
May 20, 2009

pattyclarke wrote:


So unless we're serving seared "Wanda" no capitals.

LOL !  Good one, Patty. 

Jacob Bugge
Community Expert
Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 19, 2009

Patty, as I see it,

The menu items function as names so capitalization of both/all (main) words is fine.

The description should follow normal capitalization rules so that nationalities (Swiss, Russian, etc), proper names, week/month denominations, etc, should be capitalized, other words not (unless first word).

Ramón G Castañeda
Ramón G Castañeda
Inspiring
May 20, 2009

Jacob,

As a tangential topic, the names of days, weeks, months, and adjectives and names denoting nationalities or languages are never capitalized in Spanish, unless they're the first word in a sentence: inglés, francés, danés, español, alemán, ruso, lunes, martes, domingo, enero, febrero, mayo, etc.  Names of countries are, of course.

Just in case you run into a job in Spanish. 

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pattyclarkeAuthor
Known Participant
May 20, 2009

Ramon,

Not exactly sure of the point you were making (had to look up what tangential meant), but I'm thinking that whatever direction I follow needs to be consistent throughout the menu. That said, here's another example that puzzles me.

Ahi Salad

Seared rare ahi over Sonoma greens with an Asian vinaigrette

I'm thinking that Ahi is a proper name of a fish and should be capitalized. I didn't know what "Sonoma greens" were so I googled it and it seems to be a blend of different lettuce stuff, but if that's its proper name then shouldn't it be Sonoma Greens.

Patty

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