The 25 Food and Drink Trends Taking Over Restaurants in 2018
From the plating method every chef is obsessed with right now (hint: It involves a mandoline) to the rise of the breakfast sandwich, here are the trends we kept seeing over and over again as we dined out across the country this past year. Pull up a backless stool, sip some funky natural wine, and get ready for a very delicious, very riveting recap.
Photo by Alex Lau1/25Uni Is Now Uni-versal
I didn’t see this one coming. Avocado toast on every menu? Sure. Wedge salads having a renaissance? Why not. But uni (a.k.a. sea urchin) becoming just another everyday offering at restaurants? No way. I remember when uni was an acquired taste, a measuring stick to separate hardcore food lovers from California roll wannabes. Now you’ve got kids asking servers whether the urchin is from Hokkaido, Maine, or Santa Barbara. Uni is everywhere. There’s an entire tray of those custard-like treats, in fact, at Majordomo in Los Angeles just waiting for you to slather them on Chinese-style bing bread. At Saison in San Francisco, they’re piled on a slab of “liquid toast.” And in Seattle at the understated Kamonegi, you can order them atop fried shiso leaves. But the ultimate proof of their popularity? Even my parents eat the stuff now. —Andrew Knowlton, editor at large
Photo Courtesy of Bavel2/25Wine Gets the Decanting It Deserves
If you think decanters are antiquated glass sculptures made for collecting dust, come to Los Angeles. Pop by Cosa Buona, where your natural Syrah will be decanted into an unpretentious beaker. Or Bavel, where wine comes in a handmade jug sourced directly from Lebanon. Yes folks, decanters are cool again, and we couldn’t be happier. These babies will aerate your natural wine and help blow off volatile acidity, notes of reduction, or signs of secondary fermentation, taking a bottle from seemingly flawed to downright fantastic. —Marissa A. Ross, contributing wine editor
Photo by Tanveer Badal3/25It's Called 'The Shingle' and It's Our Plating of the Year
The real MVP of 2018? The trusty mandoline. (Sorry, James Harden.) Everywhere we dined, we saw dish after dish finished in the same mesmerizing way: with cascading coins of thinly shaved something—radishes, beets, you name it. We’re into it—not only because shingling satisfies those OCD urges for order (maybe that’s just me) but also because it’s a smart solution for ambitious chefs low on staff and time. At Kato in Los Angeles, chef Jonathan Yao shingles Tokyo turnips over olive-oil-poached trout with thick Chinese vinegar and sticky roasted eggplant. “I don’t have 20 prep cooks who can spend two hours on their knife cuts,” he says. “I can punch out a few rounds with the mandoline in a matter of seconds. It gives a very consistent look without a huge staff.” —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
Photographs by (from left): Emma Fishman; Nick Hagen; Tropico Photo; Louis Tinsley4/25A New Way to Hire
Organizations and restaurants dedicated to hiring folks with what would typically be seen as barriers to employment, like refugee status, a criminal record, or a history of addiction or homelessness, are popping up across the country. “Consumers care a lot more about what is going on in the kitchens,” says Kerry Brodie, the founder of Emma’s Torch, a new Brooklyn restaurant that provides culinary education and job placement for recently resettled refugees. “The types of values that a restaurant supports are in some ways more important than what’s on their menu.” —Hilary Cadigan, associate editor
Photo by Emma Fishman5/25Follow the Neon Signs
There’s no such thing as subtle neon. And when the neon is exceptional, one glance is all you need to jibe with the attitude of a restaurant. This year the neon was exceptional. The ’80s-inspired text and pink dragon tell me the atmosphere at New York’s Peachy’s will be as sharp and festive as the bowties around the necks of old-school Chinatown waiters. The green and red Vernor Coney Island sign at Detroit’s Flowers of Vietnam reveals that the restaurant respects the city’s past while paving the way for new flavors. At Brooklyn’s Di An Di, a glowing bowl of soup in the window signals the warm, nurturing noodles you’ll slurp inside. Those Bladerunner blues and blushing Pink Panther pinks, the type, the icons, the saturated vibes radiating directly across the faces of guests—they all speak. And I like what they have to say. —Alex Delany, associate editor
Photo Courtesy of Mavam6/25The Swank New Coffee Machine with a Cult Following
There was a stretch where any coffee shop worth its micro-lot beans used a La Marzocco espresso machine, an instant symbol that this place was in the know. Today the name on your coolest neighborhood barista’s lips is Mavam. This sleek machine has earned a cult following because of features like an undercounter design that hides most of the machinery, allowing maximum face time between baristas and customers. It’s also beautiful and, ahem, comes in matte black! “For a customer who’s super into coffee, walking into a new café and taking note of the espresso machine is a pretty large part of the experience,” says Matthew Bolick, co-owner of Better Half in Austin. “Mavam put a lot of thought into aesthetics.” But it’s not just about looks. Bolick raves about the user-friendliness, with easy-to-navigate buttons instead of cumbersome, overcomplicated levers. And then of course there’s the end product. “When you can confidently serve an espresso knowing today’s is just as good as yesterday’s,” says Allison Anderson, co-owner of Denver’s Call, “that machine deserves a following.” —Priya Krishna, contributing writer
Photo by Emma Fishman7/25The Restaurant Swag You Need
In the past, if a restaurant had great branding, I might buy a T-shirt. These days I find myself standing outside after a meal, holding a sticker, a hat, a magnet, and a tote bag, asking myself, “Should I run back in to grab another matchbook?” I’m not sure when restaurant design got so compelling, but I do know that most of my favorite swag comes from one place: Office of Brothers, the Atlanta design agency founded by Alvin Diec and Travis Ekmark (get to know them here). Their quirky illustrations and scripted typefaces have a casual elegance as satisfying as the food served by their clients, which include Asheville’s Buxton Hall Barbecue (a BA Hot 10 alum), Atlanta’s Golden Eagle, and Rose Foods of Portland, Maine. —Alex Delany, associate editor
Photo by Danielle Adams8/25The Bake Sale Is Now Radical
Bye, fancy galas. Pastry chefs, writers, and others in the food industry are finding more accessible ways to fight the good fight and raise money and awareness for causes they believe in. Introducing the new way to be an activist: putting together a bake sale. —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh9/25Admit It, Natural Wine Goes with Everything
Take it from Jorge Riera, the wine director of Frenchette in NYC, whose esoteric all-natural wine list is as much of a draw as the chefs' modern renditions of French classics: "For more than 20 years, I’ve been going to France and eating French food with natural wines. I think the food pops more with these wines than it does with conventional or traditional options because of the way the wines are made, with high acidity, low alcohol, and not-so-grippy tannins. The wine doesn’t overtake the food; it’s refreshing. It washes over your palate and the acidity cuts through the richness of some of the dishes, and that same acidity brightens a lot of the dishes as well."
Read Marissa A. Ross's full story about Frenchette's wine list here.
Photo by Dylan + Jeni10/25Big Meat Is Back, Baby
In online dream interpretation circles, a place where I spend a lot of time, the symbol of steak is a bit of a duh: It represents dominance, power, and your brutish animal instincts. Consider that the next time you feast on a large-format meat, something we devoured at a handful of new restaurants this year. Majordomo, David Chang’s bumpin’ Los Angeles debut, offers a whole short rib that’s outgrown a plate and arrives on a cutting board with three protruding bones like the dental work of a saber-toothed tiger. Maydan in D.C. presents a lamb shoulder with a giant knife pierced through the center, the sword in the stone. Have at it, beasties. At Cote, a smash-hit Korean steakhouse in New York, you can eyeball the gangster 110-day-aged porterhouse via a windowed dry-aging room. It’s like dillydallying in front of Red Lobster’s fish tank—but for Wags on Billions. The big meat movement might—and I said might—also reflect this unique American moment we’re in. On the one hand, the meat could be an assertion of power by a patriarchy threatened (let me show you who’s boss, vegans); on the other, it’s a reason to gather and loosen up after too many months on edge. Permission to tuck a napkin into your collar and order the big boy granted. Tomorrow you’ll wonder if it was all a dream. —Alex Beggs, senior editor
Photo by Alex Lau11/25Who Needs Booze When You Have Gazoz?
I’m not always in the mood for booze, but that doesn’t mean I just want…water. Enter gazoz, a refreshing drink made with sparkling water, fruit syrup, and fresh herbs. Think of it as a nonalcoholic spritzer that uses seasonal (and often trendy) ingredients like lemon verbena (spotted at Studio at the Freehand in NYC), Concord grape and thyme (Golda in Brooklyn), or quince and fennel (Bala Baya in London). Gazoz isn’t a new creation—it was popular in Israel in the 1950s—but it’s a natural menu addition as all-day restaurants and Middle Eastern–influenced spots continue to open in droves. You know how cold-pressed juice had its moment in 2013? I’m hoping we’re on the verge of The Year of Gazoz. Especially if that means I get to have a craft cocktail without really having a craft cocktail. —Carey Polis, digital director
Photo by Alex Lau12/25Stuffed Chicken Wings Are a Thing, and They’re Amazing
You read that right. In Japan there is this amazing little invention called tebasaki gyoza, where chicken wings sub for the typical dumpling wrapper, getting filled with fried rice, then deep-fried for the perfect bite of crackled chicken skin, succulent meat, and chile-tinged fried rice. It’s like a Japanese Hot Pocket, and who doesn’t want to eat that? Thankfully, the tebasaki gyoza is making its way stateside to Atomix in New York City. Inspired by Den’s fried chicken in Tokyo and samgyetang, a Korean soup made of a rice-stuffed chicken, chef Junghyun Park cranks up the spice with Sichuan peppercorns, which accentuate the shatteringly crisp chicken skin. —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
Clockwise From Top Left Photos By: Kelsey Wilson; Chelsie Craig; Aubrie Pick; David Alvarado; Chelsie Craig (2)13/25Ice Is the New Ice Cream
It’s not that we’re over ice cream (we’re not monsters). It’s just that there’s another frozen dessert in town—all over town, really. Shaved ice (or shave ice, depending on who you talk to) is showing up across the country, from powdery Japanese-style kakigōri at Bonsai Kakigōri in New York City to fluffy Korean bingsoo at Dessert Cafe Momo in Montreal. There are renditions that stay close to tradition and others that riff (take, for example, the local Tcho chocolate you can sprinkle on top of your Taiwanese bao bing–inspired shaved snow at Powder in San Francisco). There’s the stacked-high Filipino halo-halo with fresh fruit, evaporated milk, ice cream, and other toppings like sweetened beans. There are New Orleans sno-balls—like a snow cone but fluffier—far outside NOLA. No matter the kind, we know one thing for sure: We’re not exactly missing the mint chocolate chip. —Emma Wartzman, editorial assistant
Photo by Emma Fishman14/25The Most Exciting Things Happening In Restaurants Aren't Happening in Restaurants
The pop-up used to be the resourceful chef’s restaurant—a means for young cooks to temporarily sidestep the hurdles and headaches associated with brick-and-mortar ownership and prove themselves to the public (and potential investors). But in 2018 pop-ups aren’t merely a precursor, they’re the format of choice for a generation of chefs whose ambitions could never be contained by four walls. Take chef Anya Peters. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, the 21-year-old felt far away from the Trinidadian and Jamaican home cooking that inspired her to pursue a career in food in the first place. “I was like, if I’m going to reconnect with my heritage, I gotta ask my O.G.s,” she recalls. So Peters launched Kit an’ Kin, a mostly monthly Caribbean dinner series that allowed her to not only honor her family’s culinary traditions, but to literally cook alongside the parents, siblings, and grandparents who made the Sunday suppers of her childhood so special. —Amiel Stanek, Basically editor
Photo by Jason Hamacher, Lost Origins Productions15/25Breakfast Sandwiches Get Cheffy
Breakfast sandwiches are everywhere, due in part to the explosion of all-day cafés. While the core elements change (add avocado; fried egg, not scrambled; Gouda or cheddar; kaiser roll), the end result is a sandwich that’s hard to get wrong. I like the inventive smoked brisket breakfast sandwich at Ellē in Washington, D.C. and the bacon, cheddar, tomato jam, and soft-scrambled egg sandwich at Cafe Roze in Nashville. Better Half in Austin serves its version on an English muffin with a crispy hash brown, smoked paprika aioli, arugula, and a runny-yolked fried egg. —Andrew Knowlton, editor at large
Photo by Amy Neunsinger16/25Pretzels: They’re for Dessert
Move over, tahini. Pretzels are a pastry chef’s new BFF. Take, for instance, the creamy pretzel gelato at Little Pearl in Washington, D.C. Or the deeply browned pretzel shortbread at Lost Bread Co. in Philadelphia made from its homemade soft pretzel leftovers. Or the salted caramel panna cotta with pretzel crunch (ahem, straight-up broken pretzels) at Pizzana in Los Angeles. You’re getting the idea, right? The snack of your pastime is getting all of the upgrades. —Emma Wartzman, editorial assistant
Photo by Elizabeth Cecil17/25Celebrities Count as Restaurant Decor
Don’t let the Scandi-Japanese aesthetic, bespoke ceramics, and tweezer food fool you. Restaurants have a sense of humor too. It’s in the little things, like the Tupac and Biggie mini portraits that come with the oysters at Hello, Sailor in Cornelius, North Carolina, (West Coast vs. East Coast!) or the Ryan Gosling–cushioned bench at Lady of the House in Detroit (you sit on his face; let your imagination run wild). And we’re just as tickled by these cameos as restaurant people are. A Bad-era Michael Jackson portrait at The Flower Shop in New York City? Getting one commissioned for my own apartment. A star-spangled Bruce Lee at Double Dragon in Decatur, GA? That is where I sit now. The Christopher Walk-In fridge at basically every restaurant kitchen? The pun never gets old. Sure it’s silly, but it makes us feel like we’re in on the inside joke, and that’s true hospitality. —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
Photo by Alex Lau18/25Grandma’s Wallpaper Has Made a Comeback
We love restaurants that transport us, and lately they’ve been taking us somewhere unexpected: Granny’s house. Decidedly retro wallpapers are so right now. Consider the moody tropical prints at Oklahoma City’s Bar Arbolada; the framed berries and birds at Canard in Portland, OR; the fuzzy damask at Atlanta’s Golden Eagle. “It gives this funky old-school vibe without being too serious,” says Mark Stone, general manager at Dallas’ Gung Ho, whose dining room is wrapped in peacock-studded red flowers. Paired with modern flourishes (we’ve yet to notice a rise in plastic-covered sofas), wallpaper feels classic, cool, and downright familial. —Jesse Sparks, editorial assistant
Photo by Signe Birck19/25Restaurant Instagrams Aren't (Just) About the Food
Now, more than ever, people want to know the kitchen crew behind all the perfectly plated dishes at restaurants. And a good place to start is on Instagram. Follow The Grey in Savannah and you’ll scroll past its summer pool party. Or check out Cosme in New York City to meet the female cooks powering the kitchen. Of course, these restaurants are still posting photos of new dishes and cocktails. They have to. But it’s often the posts that give a unique behind-the-scenes peek that make us want to check out a new spot. —Rachel Karten, senior social media manager, and Emily Schultz, associate social media manager
Photo by Scott Suchman20/25The Cakes We Can’t Stop Thinking About
I never save room for dessert—I’m more of an extra starters kind of guy—but between bites of octopus hot dog and mushroom cacio e pepe at Brothers and Sisters in D.C.’s Line Hotel, I felt myself holding back a bit. I kept thinking about the modern diner cake display I'd seen when I checked in at the host stand, stocked with the otherworldly creations of pastry chef Pichet Ong (get inside his head here). I wanted those cakes. We decided on three (there were just two of us): the Mykonos, a conical triple-cheese cheesecake that resembles the hat of a Smurf and tasted airy and rich at the same time; the London, a precise multilayered crepe cake with Earl Grey cream, matcha, and buckwheat that’s more savory than sweet; and the towering Brooklyn, a hedonistic mash-up of banana cream pie and tiramisu. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to order another one of Ong’s showstoppers. Which I did the next morning from room service and ate it in bed. If that’s not an endorsement, I’m not sure what is. —Andrew Knowlton, editor at large
Photo by Emma Fishman21/25Lotus, It’s Your Time to Shine
Lotus root’s stunning looks aren’t the only reason why chefs lately have fallen for the snow-white rhizome. This mild-flavored vegetable has long been a staple of Asian cuisine—it’s often added to stir-fries and stews because it soaks up flavor like a sponge while retaining its addictive crunch and chew. We’ve seen it pop up on the vibrant pickle plate at MTN in Venice, CA, and fried into crispy chips at Chai Yo in Atlanta. And at Atoboy in NYC, chef Junghyun Park is doing his own take on the traditional Korean banchan yeongeun jorim, or soy-braised lotus wheels, which arrive on a bed of silky tofu curds drizzled with chili oil. We're hoping the next spot on lotus’ world tour is our nearest grocery store. —Christina Chaey, associate editor
Photo by Chelsie Craig22/25Your Beverages Are Fermenting…Spontaneously
"Spontaneous fermentation” sounds like something terrible that would show up in an online dating profile. But spontaneous fermentation, unlike the world of online dating, is something you should understand because the coolest beers, ciders, wines, and liquors right now are being made through this process, delivering unexpected flavors that range from ripe raspberries to fresh cane sugar to tart lemon to the juiciest of melons. It's the result of a brewer, winemaker, or distiller leaving the inoculation (the moment when yeast and bacteria come in contact with the liquid) up to whatever organisms happen to be in the air or on the fruit that they are fermenting. This is different from the process of most mass-produced booze, where industrialized, controlled yeast strains or blends are deliberately poured into a sugary liquid. Brewers don’t know exactly what’s ending up in the beer or wine or cider. All they know is that the fermentation will be, as advertised, spontaneous. —Alex Delany, associate editor
Photo Courtesy of Felix23/25Bread Baskets Overfloweth with Focaccia
The focaccia at Felix in Venice, CA, is remarkably light and fluffy on the inside, crisped to its edges by the heat of a wood-burning oven, and topped with olive oil, crunchy sea salt, and rosemary. And Felix isn't the only place turning out the pillowy Italian flatbread. We’ve spotted it at Brooklyn’s Lilia, crowned with a snow-like grating of Parmesan, at Le Farfalle in Charleston, served with whipped ricotta and tomato sugo, and at Enoteca Nostrana in Portland, OR, studded with blackberries and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It’s hard not to fill up on the bread when it’s this good. —Emma Wartzman, editorial assistant
Photo Courtesy of Roman and Williams24/25At Shoppable Restaurants, You Really Can Take It With You
First, there were restaurants with merch—a baseball cap emblazoned with the restaurant name, a well-designed tote. Now there are restaurants where you can buy the plate you’re eating off of, an answered prayer for all the on-demand millenials out there (a.k.a. me). And at La Mercerie in New York City, you can do just that, thanks to the restaurant’s attached shop, Roman and Williams Guild. A restaurant design powerhouse, Roman and Williams stocks the shop with everything chef Marie-Aude Rose uses at La Mercerie, blurring the lines between restaurant and retail. —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
Photo by Aubrie Pick25/25The Katsu Sando Boom
The Japanese cutlet sandwich is blowing up our Instagram feeds, from Ibérico pork-stuffed sandos at Ferris in New York City to the cabbage-layered katsu sandwich at Stonemill Matcha in San Francisco. But it’s more than just sheer volume that’s making the katsu sando a thing. Here’s why it’s the sandwich of the year. —Elyse Inamine, digital restaurant editor
