New York City is a place where trends begin — for most of you, the thought of a food hall or a tiki bar is so 2010. But, as Tanya Steel, the editor-in-chief of Epicurious puts it, these five trends will go from the land of the hip to the mainstream — so everyone get those mai tais ready!
Pop up restaurants/cafes
The pop-up cafe and restaurant trend will explode across the country says Steel. “They’re just great for good food, but also for the exclusivity of it all — it’s great for bragging rights.”
Tiki bar cocktails
Polynesian-style drinks — those multi-ingredient fruit juice and rum concoctions adorned with flowers and umbrellas — will be the quaffs of choice in 2011 thanks to a new, rabid craft bartending community. “These bartenders have reinvented and recalibrated the tiki cocktail,” says Steel. “They are really fun and festive and make you feel like you’re on a little vacation.”
Korean food
“I think Korean cuisine has been building in interest, especially in L.A. and New York, but the fact that Jean George, one of the world’s best chefs, is creating a series about food in Korea — called ‘The Kimchi Chronicles’ — will renew interest all over again,” says Steel. “Plus, so much of it is about grilling and spice and those are two things Americans really like; it’s accessible foreign food.”
Urban wineries
Steel loves urban wineries not just for the wine-drinking but because they’re often classrooms as well. “They host food-and-wine pairing classes; lots of times, they have the grapes brought in and have stomping parties,” she says. “Consumers love having a little ownership in a bottle of wine they help create.”
