Be Daring With Your Dining: Square Plates and Contemporary Dinnerware
By: Allen Franklin
Submitted: 2009-08-14 17:13:31 | Word Count: 516
Modern chefs and restaurateurs often compare the round white plate to the white t shirt. Serviceable, it goes well with anything. But it’s certainly not modern, let alone bold. Its brothers, circle plates with colors, patterns, and designs, aren’t much better. That’s why a growing movement in the culinary world is embracing dinnerware of different shapes and sizes.
You can bring this contemporary dinnerware to your table too. One of the biggest players in this movement is the square plate. Round plates are meant to be unobtrusive. However, with four hard sides instead of a circle, square dinner plates will make an immediate impression on your friends, family, and guests, They will remember this for quite some time.
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Express Yourself with New Shapes in Dinnerware
Think of a square dinner plate, especially a white one, as your canvas. Canvases are rectangular or square after all, not round. The square gives you more room to arrange the food and the food has more space to breathe. You have greater freedom to express yourself. Be creative and serve food in stunning ways. A fine meal served on square dinnerware will pop and bring the night to life.
Other square dishes are gaining ground, too. Square bowls are modern, chic, and make even a simple salad look new. Square mugs and cups round off (no pun intended) the ensemble. Consider a square dinnerware set especially if you have a round table. The squares and the circle, the corners and the curves, will contrast with each other for a daring statement of style.
Mix and Match Square Dinnerware with Traditional Plates
There are many innovative ways to combine contemporary dinnerware with your more traditional sets. For example, serve soup in a round bowl set on a square plate. Not only does it look great, it’s functional. The square plate protects you from the heat of the soup.
You can do the same thing with other dishes. Change up the old tea time with a square cup and a round plate. Or use a circular glass for milk, then serve cookies on a square plate. Use your imagination. Play off the juxtaposition of square and round.
Take this to a whole new level when you pick out the color and pattern. If you have a black set of traditional dinnerware, choose a white set of square dinnerware. Sure, white would look good too. But the contrast of the black contemporary and the white traditional will be eye catching. It is bound to leave a long lasting impression on the visors mind. If you aren’t quite that bold, consider a simple accent. Choose a set of square plates with ivy to go with your traditional dinnerware that has flowers. Or pair a light brown set with a blue set for a soothing combination.
And don’t stop with squares. Restaurants are experimenting with plates of all different shapes or sizes. Some chefs serve every dish on a differently shaped plate, matching the food perfectly to the dinnerware. There are no rules here. Let your imagination run wild.
