[stevenwei]

Interesting observation. Do you have any examples of this?

In my experience, most restaurant menus do fit into a simple database format. After all, most major point of sale systems do use relational databases to store and track menu items. The menu item databases are usually highly configurable but I've usually seen them break down into:

1) Major categories: Entrees, Appetizers 2) Menu items: Cheeseburger, Grilled Salmon 3) Modifier categories: Steak Temperature, Salad Dressing 4) Modifiers: Rare, Medium, Well-Done, etc.

Of course you usually don't display the modifiers on the menu itself, that is a back end implementation detail. :)