Hungry, you say? How about some vegetarian meatballs? Or a corn dog made with tortilla chips? Better yet, could you go for a horse meat and avocado sushi roll?

These are a few examples of food “replacements” - dishes that chefs serve when a special diet is required, a restaurant runs out of a certain food or they're forced to use whatever happens to be lying around the kitchen.

Chefs are often called upon to use their creativity when an establishment is out of stock of a particular item.

On a busy night, when order after order of a menu selection is placed, it's inevitable that restaurants must 󈭆” foods, which is slang for “out of stock.”

Yet, the origin of the term 󈭆ed” is unclear. Some argue that it refers to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, once a popular spot for committing suicide, while others say it originated in the Old West, where unruly bar patrons were served less potent 86-proof whiskey - they were 󈭆ed,” in other words.

Carey Eidel, owner of Daddabbo's Pizza with locations in Auburn and Jordan, said that his restaurant has several options if it runs out of a certain food.

“If it's after business hours, we usually just ask them to order something else,” he said in a telephone interview. “If it's during the day, we either call a food sales representative, or just call another restaurant,” he added, noting that many local eateries have an unspoken agreement to “share” inventory if needed.

To better serve health-conscious patrons, many restaurants have healthy menu choices. Major chains like Applebee's, for example, even have entire “Weight Watchers” or “Atkins Diet” menus.

“We serve both vegetarian meatballs (usually made from onions, cheese and stuffing) and pasta,” Eidel said of his pizzeria. Since Daddabbo's is a relatively small establishment, his staff usually prepares items by request if a certain diet is called for.

But what if a chef is required to use only what he has on hand?

The Auburn Doubledays recently put people's cooking creativity to the test when Falcon Park hosted its annual Doubledays Chef Night. Participants were required to use only foods found at the ballpark and were asked to create the most tempting “dish” possible.

The winner, Steve Milewski of Auburn, concocted what can only be called the “ultimate corn dog.” Milewski first dipped a Hoffman hot dog in egg batter, then breaded it with crushed tortilla chips. After deep-frying it and placing the dog on a bun, he topped his creation with nacho cheese and served salsa, mustard and ketchup on the side.

“Oh, it was one of the best things I've ever eaten,” exclaimed Doubledays P.A. announcer Mike DeForrest, one of the competition's judges. “I just wish it were an actual menu item.”

But what if a recipe calls for a food item that isn't available anywhere? Sushi chefs in Japan are currently faced with that very dilemma.

Japan is the world's leading supplier of tuna, one of the most often-used ingredients in sushi, but the country is in the midst of a tuna shortage, which is like the U.S. running out of hamburger meat.

Sushi chefs there are experimenting with things like pork, venison, even horse meat to replace the tuna in restaurant sushi. Reaction to the replacements has been mixed, and it is unclear whether the chefs cook the meat before preparing the sushi.