ala carte pays the bills.
Tasting menu and TTT give him recognition.
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Sure. I’m just saying if somebody wants to go because of the James Beard award, go for the thing that won it.
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Lol not to further intercept this thread but this is interesting to me! I love taco Tuesday! I’m certain I’d love the omakase. Just generally interesting to me that a la carte is where the money is.
I’d guess that taco Tuesday every night would make it the most desired spot in the valley! What do I know smh.
A la carte = steady revenues
Easier to control costs.
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so to be clear, if I go on taco Tuesday they ALSO put items from their a la carte menu you could order that day or it’s ONLY Tacos???
if it’s only tacos I might just go to on a regular day. The omakase is just too expensive currently
I think the party atmosphere of taco tuesday would get lost if it was every day. Also having to cook everyday outdoors (grilling) really leaves it up to the weather gods.
I think his strategy of having a range of different experiences at different price points is smart and making them during limited times. It makes the logistics easier to focus on only one thing a night (e.g. no a la carte during omakase days), those limited events become destinations for people, you have a fuller house, and you can sustain demand long term better. If you have omakase or TTT be too available all the interested folks will go and you’ll get a drop off in demand after a while. Limiting it spreads the satisfaction of demand out longer and also makes it feel like more of a special occasion when you go, making it more likely you’ll return again sometime in the future. Of course you can be too limited, which can kind of turn people off (“I could never get a reservation at Hayato, why even try?”).
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Maybe life is harder when you have to write your own text?
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I already lambasted Andy in person about his take on the restaurant. Lol. Told him that him and his group’s honey walnut shrimp loving palates wouldn’t enjoy it
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It’s just some food to go with their wines.
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I love honey walnut shrimp
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Yah but do you order it at every single chinese restaurant regardless of the cuisine?
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Only at Panda Express and Canto banquet type of meals. If only Needle and PRD decides to do a version of honey walnut shrimp 
I remember in the 90’s when HK places in SGV started to served this dish and I knew instantly the mainstream would love it.
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call me elitist but I would be pissed if I was a guest at a canto banquet and someone ordered honey walnut shrimp. you should be ordering the seafood bird’s nest (taro).
also who cares what mainstream is doing. cook what you love cooking and set yourselves apart, that’s how needle has been killing it.
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they did
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