How do I balance creativity, cost, and what sells on a menu?

You can build a menu now, and that is solid ground. The hard part, holding creativity, cost, and sales in balance, trips you because those three pull in different directions. There is no formula that satisfies all of them at once. There is only judgment, and judgment takes time. Think of it as a conversation between three voices, not a fight one has to win. The creative dish that costs too much can be simplified. The cheap seller can carry a bolder item beside it. You are not choosing one voice. You are letting them balance each other across the whole menu. For your next menu, sort each dish into three buckets: makes money, draws people, feeds your craft. If every section has some of each, you are balanced. If one bucket is empty, you know exactly what to adjust.