If you have a favorite restaurant, you probably have a favorite restaurant dish. Maybe you’ve even tried to recreate that dish at home, using your taste buds as your only guide. There have been times when I have done this successfully and times when I have come up short.

However, not every restaurant recipe is a perfect duplicate, nor should it be. There are many examples of restaurant-inspired recipes that can be created at home. Even if the original recipe no longer exists, the inspiration remains.

A couple of restaurant-inspired recipe examples are classic and well-known.

waldorf salad – The Waldorf Astoria in New York City is the home of the Waldorf Salad. The original, said to have been made with just apples, celery, and mayonnaise, certainly inspired what we recognize today as a Waldorf salad, complete with walnuts, dried cranberries, grapes, and just about anything else you can imagine.

Caesar salad – There is some debate about the origin of this salad, but the original recipe is a classic. The ingredients typically include croutons, garlic, chopped lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, and a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and Parmesan cheese. But, the real inspiration for this salad is to prepare it “table side”, and with a flourish!

buffalo wings – In more recent history, the famous Buffalo Wings were actually created in a bar in Buffalo, New York. The classic recipe of frying chicken wings and soaking them in Red Hot sauce has inspired many restaurants to create their own varieties. However, most restaurants still nod to tradition by serving their hot wings on a plate with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

Instead of copying a classic restaurant recipe, try letting that dish inspire you to create your own famous family recipe.