According to the March/April issue of the magazine Imbibe (maybe "Drink" was already taken), on newstands now, a hot new trend is restaurants' pairing food with cocktails. I'd certainly be willing to try it, but I'm not sure I could taste the meal after awhile.

Sometimes a multi-course dinner is prepared to complement a particular spirit, and sometimes a cocktail is created to pair with a particular dish, such as a rye whiskey sour that goes with teriyaki pork belly and something called the …Fields Forever cocktail served with goat cheese crostini drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Both of these are from an Atlanta restaurant, Eugene, and the drink recipes are including in the article (although I'm more interested in the recipes for the pork belly and the crostini).

This "trend," if that's what it is, has had at least some representation in Baltimore. Taste in the Belvedere Square area has done scotch dinners, and the Wine Market in Locust Point sometimes features cocktail pairings.

Here's the recipe for the ...Fields Forever cocktail (those three dots are part of the name) that goes with the goat cheese crostini: ... 

Continue reading "Cocktail and food pairings" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
                    

In honor of BYOB week (well, yesterday's Top Ten was Top Ten BYOB Restaurants), I took note of a list of Trends We Love from the Restaurant Awards 2008 issue of Los Angeles magazine that my daughter sent me. The last one is "No corkage fees."

It seems to me we're going the other way in Baltimore. As I said yesterday, I don't remember that BYOB restaurants used to have corkage fees, although restaurants with liquor licenses always did. In any case, no corkage fees obviously isn't a trend in this area; but if it's happening in California, it could be heading our way.

Here are the other trends they love -- and we would all love. (Actually, I don't care about the ice cubes.): ... 

Continue reading "Trends we love" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

 
I almost hate to tell you that locavore has been designated the Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. I would have said Food Trend of the Year, OK, but Word of the Year?

I already hate the word. It makes me crave some out-of-season ingredient shipped in from Tunisia. 

I'm sure you can guess what it means even if you haven't heard the term; but in case not, it's someone committed to the whole seasonal, local farms, sustainable agriculture, eco-eating trend that we've talked about endlessly, particularly with places like Dogwood and Woodberry Kitchen opening up. (And many restaurants were doing it before them without as much fanfare.)

That got me looking around for stories about other food trends we'll be seeing in 2008.

There are no surprises, but here are some of the things I came up with: ... 

Continue reading "...And a look forward" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

 
Wilbur Reeling sent me a link to his blog Quintessential Cuisine. I had just been surfing the net doing some research on the hot trends coming up in 2008 (see tomorrow's post), and one of them was oysters.

I know they don't sound very trendy, but I have noticed seafood restaurants offering more varieties lately. And this I didn't know: There are more and more places now where you can order oysters online.

Anyway, Reeling's photos taken at local places will make you hungry for them.

(Photo courtesy of Wilbur Reeling) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

With the end of the year, we come to the end of the What's Hot & What's Not list. Not the literal end; we have 134 more. But the rankings are getting more and more meaningless so I'll give it up.

For those of you who are late to the party, I won't even try to explain. You'd better just check out the What's Hot category to the right of the page.

As for the list itself, I'm not sure what "sushi cuisine" is as opposed to sushi, but I'm surprised to see it so far down the list, with 49 percent of the chefs surveyed thinking it's hot, 23 percent saying it's passe, and 28 percent labeling it a perennial favorite.

The biggest relief to me on this list is that only 6 percent of the chefs think fresh herbs are passe. Please don't make me eat in their restaurants.

And how can anyone in his or her right mind think that cheese, gelato and fresh pasta are passe?

Continue reading "The end of What's Hot" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Here we are, back with the What's Hot & What's Not list. At this point if you aren't up to speed, just click on the What's Hot category to the right to see Nos. 1-40. The list was made up by asking chefs which foods, drinks, cuisines and techniques were hot, which were passe and which were perennial favorites. Those are the percentages after each item on the list in that order.

The most interesting to me of these ten is No. 48, sous vide (51 percent of the chefs surveyed thought it was hot, 38 percent passe, 11 percent a perennial favorite).

Right, perennial. My mom used to do it.

Sous vide, or vacuum cooking, in case you haven't heard the term, uses airtight plastic bags, a long cooking period, and a water bath at relatively low temperature to maintain the integrity of the food better.  The problem is that botulism can develop in the absence of oxygen, so nonprofessional cooks have to be careful. Actually, professional cooks have to be careful, too. Here's the Web site if you want to know more.

Come to think of it, No. 43, dragon fruit (pictured), is kind of interesting, too. How could 38 percent of the chefs say it was passe? 

Continue reading "Don't try this at home, kids" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Calm down. There's no way I can continue to torture you with this What's Hot & What's Not list into 2008. But until then...

Here are the next ten, Nos. 31 through 40. if you missed the first 30, God forbid, the easiest way to find them is to go under Categories and click the What's Hot link. Remember the numbers following the item refer in order to percentage of chefs surveyed who think the food, drink, item or cuisine is hot; percentage who think it's passe; and percentage who think it's a perennial favorite.

The most interesting one of these ten to me is No. 40, the slow food movement. No, it's not just chewing each bite 30 times before you swallow. Here's the link to the Slow Food USA Web site, which will explain it in much greater detail than I can.

Also, note how vegetarianism is inching its way up. I'd be happy if restaurants simply served larger portions of vegetables with their meat entrees, but I guess too many customers leave them on their plates so that won't happen.

Let me know if there are any of these you'd like us to discuss further. And, Eric, I checked and "authentic Chinese" didn't make the list.

Continue reading "It's baaaaackkkk" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

I guess something finally snapped when JL read my last 10 of the 194 What's Hot & What's Not list. Or maybe it was the gastropubs. In any case, he sent me this e-mail: ...

Continue reading "Everybody's a trendmeister" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

I see that Entrepreneur.com has named "gastropubs" as one of 2008's up-and-coming trends.

These are pubs with fine-dining chefs, the first of which in the U.S. was supposedly the Spotted Pig. It opened three years ago in New York City. I think originally you had to start with an actual pub and keep it the way it was except for the food, but no longer. (See photo of the new Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia to the right.)

There are several reasons I'm puzzled by the whole gastropub thing (nothing against Victoria, which I'm sure is a lovely restaurant).

First, the name, supposedly coined in London in 1991, sounds too much like a Victorian cure for some unfortunate intestinal ailment. You know, like it's the kind of place that has Pepto-Bismol on tap instead of Coors.

Second...

Continue reading "So come up with a better name already" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
                    

Yes, still working away at the National Restaurant Association's Top 194. (The fact that there are 194 continues to bug me. Couldn't they have come up with six more?)

At this point, it seems to me, the list is starting to get somewhat meaningless. OK, some of you are probably arguing we're past that point.

To recap, 1,282 chefs were asked to rate every item, cuisine or technique as "hot," "passe" or "perennial favorite." Not sure whether you could do both hot and perennial favorite, but something like braising would surely fall in both categories.

Anyway, the numbers after the next ten reflect those categories in that order, so that 57 percent of the chefs think "alternative meats" like ostrich are hot, 35 percent that they are passe, and 7 percent that they are perennial favorites. The best way at this point to see the discussion about the 20 above these is to click on the What's Hot category on the right of the blog's main page.

Here are Nos. 21 through 30: ... 

Continue reading "Just when you thought it was safe..." »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Eric commented on the Asian entree salad trend under You Can Run..., which got me thinking about what made a salad an Asian entree salad. Just adding some soy or edamame won't cut it.

An industry Web site lists Asian chicken as one of the five "on trend" salads (along with house, Caesar, grilled chicken and Southwestern). Its example of ingredients...

Continue reading "The Asian entree salad trend" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

...but you can't hide. The year is waning and we have 184 more restaurant trends to get through. If you missed the top ten, here's the link to my earlier post, What's Hot & What's Not.

Remember, 1,282 chefs were asked to rate each food, drink or technique as to whether it was hot, cool or passe, or a perennial favorite. That's what the three percentages are after each item on the list. So, for instance, in the case of ethnic fusion cuisine (No. 11 in terms of hotness on the list), 64 percent of the chefs surveyed thought it was hot, 29 percent, passe, and only 8 percent that it was a perennial favorite.

The most interesting one to me in this ten is the Asian entree salad. I don't know why exactly, it just doesn't seem like much of a trend in itself, but 66 percent of the chefs surveyed don't agree. Asian entree salads are HOT.

Here are Nos. 11 through 20:...

Continue reading "You can run..." »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Fairfax asked under my What's Hot & What's Not post yesterday "What's a 'grass-fed item'?"

So young, and yet so wise.

This was No. 8 on the list of things chefs rated as hot. However, 26 percent of the chefs, all in New York, thought grass-fed items were passe; and here I wasn't even sure what they were. I mean, I buy grass-fed chicken and grass-fed beef, but "items"? ...

Continue reading "No. 8: Grass-fed items" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

Faithful readers will know that I love trends. I also think they can be kind of silly. (The joke around here is that if you find three examples, it's a trend.)

Restaurants seem more susceptible than a lot of businesses to trends, so I was delighted to get a copy of the National Restaurant Association's survey of 1,282 chefs, members of the American Culinary Federation.

They were asked to evaluate 194 foods, methods of preparation, cuisines and drinks as "hot," "cool or passe" or "perennial favorite."

I'll give you the top ten today...

Continue reading "What's Hot & What's Not" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)