À la carte explained

In restaurants, à la carte (; pronounced as /fr/;) 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.^[1] It is an early 19th century loan from French meaning "according to the menu".^{[2] [3]}

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").^[2] These pre-date the use of the word menu, which came into English in the 1830s.^{[4] [5] [2]}

See also

• Omakase, Japanese expression for letting the chef decide
• Table d'hôte, the opposite of à la carte
• Buffet
• List of French words and phrases used by English speakers
• Pro rata, a method of billing or other calculation based on proportional usage

Bibliography

• Book: Baraban, R.S. . Durocher . J.F. . Successful Restaurant Design . John Wiley & Sons . 2010 . 978-0-470-25075-4 . 17–18.
• Committee on Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine (2007). Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools. National Academies Press. page 83.
• Mosimann, Anton (1983). Cuisine à la carte. Macmillan Publishers Limited. 304 pages.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Online Etymology Dictionary. etymonline.com. 2 May 2016.
2. Oxford English Dictionary
3. Web site: à la carte – definition of à la carte in English from the Oxford dictionary. https://web.archive.org/web/20160602112611/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/a-la-carte?q=%C3%80+la+carte. dead. 2 June 2016. oxforddictionaries.com. 2 May 2016.
4. Richard Bailey, Eating Words, Michigan Today, 13 May 2008.
5. "Menu", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin