NEW TWISTS ON TAKEOUT

At the start of the pandemic, restaurants quickly turned their attention to takeout and delivery to generate business from housebound consumers. Family meals and meal kits grew in popularity, as operators competed to feed all those families and groups quarantining together.

Restaurants have come up with a lot of innovative solutions, but five months in, diners are looking for something new and different. The creativity keeps coming, as these menus demonstrate.

Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar went retro with its new TV dinner-style takeout meals. The casual-dining chain launched five classic Americana TV Dinners to-go, inspired by the frozen meal’s aluminum trays that were all the rage in the 1950s.

Each of Lazy Dog’s scratch-made versions comes with an entrée, sides and dessert. Choices include Grilled Lemon Chicken with housemade citrus cream sauce, wild rice, garlic butter green beans with almonds and pineapple upside-down cake; Cheese Enchiladas with housemade chipotle ranchero sauce, Spanish rice and black beans, and cinnamon churro caramel cake; and Beer-battered Fish N Chips with waffle-cut potato chips, sweet potato tot and white corn succotash, and lemon blueberry cake. The dinners, which start at $10, can be popped in the freezer and heated in the oven as needed.