In-N-Out burger's secret menu isn't so secret. The restaurant chain acknowledges as much on its website, with "not-so-secret menu" printed above the six popular, special options that everyone everywhere knows by now - grilled cheese, Animal Style, Protein Style, Double Meat, 3 x 3, 4 x 4. But did you know some of Tucson's favorite spots have actual, for-reals secret menus? Unless you're a regular, you probably didn't.
Only those in the know - die-hard readers of Loews Ventana Canyon Resort's Foodie News newsletter - are aware that famed dishes from the dearly departed Ventana Room are available at the Flying V Bar & Grill, 7000 N. Resort Drive.
The beloved caviar and specialty ice creams along with citrus-tinged olive oil cake are all back. You just have to ask.
"You still have a lot of people who miss the Ventana Room," says Josh Willett, chef de cuisine at the Flying V. "We decided to give them a little taste of the past."
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Since Willett and Krista Owens, executive pastry chef for Loews Ventana Canyon - both veterans of the Ventana Room, which closed in 2009 - rejoined the resort, they've brought back these vintage Ventana favorites.
Willett's caviar is a labor-intensive process that involves cracking the top off an egg (or 10, just to get one that's intact) and then peeling the inner membranes. The yolk is whisked with butter and cream and cooked until the mixture turns into soft drifts that are scooped back into the empty shell and topped with whipped cream. Sturgeon caviar is spooned into the eggshell's top and served with toasted brioche and lemon vodka.
Owens makes small batches of the ice cream in flavors like Ibarra chocolate with brownie pieces, prickly pear sorbet (with fruit harvested from the grounds) and Queen Creek Olive Oil ice cream that accompanies that olive-oil cake.
Though the off-the-menu items are on the down-low, requests for them come in on a weekly basis.
"It's really exciting that they'd remember and seek it out," Owens says.
For Brian Metzger - who owns Jax Kitchen, 7286 N. Oracle Road, and The Abbey, 6960 E. Sunrise Drive - a secret-menu request is a good sign.
"What I personally love about secret menus is it tells me that anybody who asks for it is a repeat guest, so they've been here before and that makes me happy," he says.
One Jax secret-menu item that's always available - foie gras.
"For us, something like foie gras might intimidate or scare people," says Metzger, who doesn't want to slap the $15 appetizer on his modern comfort food menu.
But ask for foie gras and you got it, although the preparation varies, depending on what's fresh from the garden that day.
Metzger loves to shake up the menu, but he's equally happy to bring back blasts from the past like a shaved hangar steak sandwich, reminiscent of a Philly cheesesteak, from a previous lunch menu. Some regulars always order the Pink"ish" Lemonade, a retired-from-the-menu cocktail with citrus vodka, rosé wine, simple syrup and a splash of lemonade.
"If we can make an experience better for you, we're happy to do that all the time," Metzger says.
The crew over at Create Cafe and Catering, 4660 E. Camp Lowell Drive, has an actual menu stamped with the words "top secret" and decorated with Mad magazine's Spy vs. Spy characters. It's tucked safely away after a laminated copy got lost. Manager John Schultz says it's "more as a joke than anything else."
Create Cafe's secret menu has about a dozen items, things from old menus, chef specials, staff meals and the World's Hottest Pizza, which originated as a staff dare and involves tossing on whatever spicy peppers are around and dousing the pie with the restaurant's ample hot sauce collection.
"We were just trying to one up each other on the spiciness level," Schultz says.
Yeah, no one actually orders that.
Hub Restaurant and Ice Creamery owner Kade Mislinski says someone asked him on Facebook if the downtown eatery, 266 E. Congress St., had a secret menu.
Yes, Mislinski typed back.
What's on it? came the follow-up query.
"I don't know what's on the secret menu - people make it up," answered Mislinski, who, much to the chagrin of cardiologists everywhere, once ordered a 5 x 5 at In-N-Out. Don't get any ideas - the chain no longer honors requests beyond the 4 x 4.
But ask for extra meat at Hub and no one judges you.
In the restaurant world, it's called "modding" for "modifying" an order.
Modifications to an order show up in red, Mislinski says.
"Sometimes you see stuff come in the kitchen with more red than black," says Mislinski, whose own father asks for extra sides. "We can tell when the orders come who's ordering."
Lest you feel shy about getting all "When Harry Met Sally" with your requests ("I'd like the pie heated, and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side ..."), here's the thing - a secret menu is all about getting what you want. And the restaurant biz is a service industry, after all, Mislinski points out.
"We always say, 'Yes is the answer,' now what's the question?' It's all about customer service."
A few things you won't find on the menu
• The Caviar, $45 at the Flying V Bar & Grill.
• The Ice Cream, $12 for a trio of scoops of vintage Ventana flavors at the Flying V.
• Foie gras, $15 at Jax Kitchen.
• Felix's eggs and weenies (scrambled eggs with hot dogs and toast), $7 at Create Cafe and Catering.
• Falafel egg burrito, $8 at Create Cafe and Catering.
Tell us
We want to know if you have a secret item that you always order when dining out. Post your suggestions in the comments section.
