“At
China Poblano in Las Vegas, José Andrés is mashing up Chinese and Mexican; at
Red Rooster in Harlem, Marcus Samuelsson has a lot of Swedish and African accents on his very American food; and Roy Choi, known for fusing Korean and Mexican flavors at
Kogi in Los Angeles, has inspired a number of follow-up spots like the just-launched
Kimchi Taco truck in New York City.”
—
Kate Krader, Restaurant Editor,
Food & Wine
“Ferran Adrià just opened the cocktail bar 41 Degrees in Barcelona and Grant Achatz is opening
Aviary in Chicago in February. Now chefs are exploring a territory that used to be the domain of mixologists and sommeliers.”
—
Raphael Brion, Editor,
Eater.com
“Lardcore is a highly pork-centric genre that’s old-fashioned, rural Southern cookery done with modern techniques, a high level of precision, and hard-core attitude. There are chefs who are either Southerners or who love Southern food—fried chicken, porky collards, smothered pork chops—and are taking these dishes that have been generally and haphazardly executed and applying a great level of technique. The chef who really epitomizes this trend is Sean Brock at
McCrady’s and Husk in Charleston.”
—
Josh Ozersky, “Taste of America” columnist,
Time Magazine and executive producer/host,
Ozersky.TV
“Microfunding websites like
Kickstarter have allowed chefs and food artisans to take risks that they wouldn’t have otherwise if they were beholden to just a few investors. It’s thrilling to have the chance to support creativity in the food world, whether it’s for a recognizable name (New York City chef John Fraser is looking for $20,000 to fund a
pop-up restaurant) or a nascent food superstar—maybe these guys making small batch
cocktail syrups and tonics.”
—
Kaitlyn Goalen, National Editor,
Tasting Table
“They're a childhood dream come true: cake and ice cream squished together into intensely sweet little balls. I've seen them everywhere lately, but
my best cake ball experience was a couple weeks ago, when my husband and I got a surprise cake ball-
embouche (
croquembouche, with cake balls in place of the cream puffs) for our anniversary at
Milk Bar in New York City.”
—Maile Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief,
Food Network Magazine
“I always say that what I HOPE the next food trend will be in America is that everybody will stop thinking about food in terms of trends. Since that's not likely to happen in the near future, I'd say that the budding trend I like the best right now is probably the phenomenon of high-level chefs and restaurateurs opening downscale but quality establishments; the standard-bearer here is probably Danny Meyer with his
Shake Shacks…but we're still waiting for Thomas Keller's long-promised burger joint, too.”
—Colman Andrews, Editorial Director,
The Daily Meal
“After so much attention lavished on meat, especially pork, it's great to see vegetables getting more attention. At
Plum in Oakland, Daniel Patterson is making what he calls "blood" sausage out of beets and black rice. At
Saison in San Francisco, Josh Skenes is serving roasted beets with bone marrow. These dishes aren't vegetarian, but they feature vegetables in fresh ways. Jeremy Fox clearly influenced lots of people with what he did at
Ubuntu in Napa and it's trickling down to other chefs.
René Renzepi at Noma in Copenhagen with his hyper-local, foraged ingredients is another influence as well.”
—Jan Newberry, Food and Wine Editor,
San Francisco
“It’s all been about meat, sausage and pork, and all of a sudden restaurateurs and chefs are turning to shellfish. In Chicago, the ‘Boka boys’ Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz are opening
GT Fish & Oyster, and David Morton and Michael Kornick are opening Fishbar next to their
DMK Burger Bar.”
—Penny Pollack, Dining Editor,
Chicago Magazine
“In Atlanta, I’m excited about little shops and restaurants that do one thing well.
Delia’s Chicken Sausage Stand, from Delia Champion, who started
The Flying Biscuit Cafe, and Molly Gunn, owner of
The Porter Beer Bar, will just have variations on chicken sausage [on Holeman & Finch hoagie rolls]. And I just love what Kamal Grant is doing at
Sublime Doughnuts.”
—
John Kessler, Food Writer and Chief Dining Critic,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“In Texas, specifically Austin, I think pop-up restaurants/dining venues are hot, hot, hot. These are dinners in non-restaurant settings, like people's houses, planned a couple of weeks out. Well-established ones include
Dai Due,
Supper Underground and
Gina’s Supper Club. Now, there’s the new
Rabbit+Hat [which held its first dinner in November].”
—
Patricia Sharpe, Executive Editor/Food Writer,
Texas Monthly
