Tired trends

[goldie]

I think trends are useful because they cause you to think of food creativly. That said, there are a few things I'm tired of:

"Baby Vegetables" that don't taste good. So often they have the worst characteristics of that vegetable. I had baby patty pans the other day that were like eating pebbles and as bitter as could be;

Lavender in foods (violets and roses are trendy now too- I do like them in their traditional roles, however). It was interesting a year or two ago but now people are abusing it- lavender infused pork anyone?

Cocktails that taste like Lifesavers;

Darkly colored glasswear- the waitstaff can't see if your glass is empty.

An interesting question would be which trends deserve to stay.

My votes are for organic/ locally grown, the huge variety of greens we are being served now, and the starches that are appearing more frequently (quinoa, barley, and other "ancient" grains which seem to be replacing potatoes and rice.

[Pan]

[...]An interesting question would be which trends deserve to stay.[...]

←

We should probably have a different thread on that and just let people bitch here.

[No offense, folks!]

[Pan]

Alright, here's the new thread:

Food trends that should stick around

[auntdot]

Maybe I am getting older and stodgy. OK, I am older and stodgy.

Heck, I had to Google to find out what the term ‘mullet’ means in this context.

As an admitted dinosaur, I must say that I have gotten fed up with faddish restaurants.

I will also state there certainly is a place for innovative cuisine.

But it seems every time a new food concept emerges, a whole bunch of fancy restaurants pop up offering the very best of the new trend.

The reason those places eventually go out of business is that some other new ‘cuisine’ supplants them, with a new name and new hype.

Been to the tony places too many times, and frankly am tired of them.

Show me a chef who can prepare a proper Perigueux sauce, a perfectly prepared coq au vin or a cassoulet, and his is the place we are going to frequent.

But most of the time we will be going to the Chinese restaurants and the Indian places, most of which have not have succumbed to the whims of change.

I have nothing against new food ideas. I just hate it that every time one pops up we are inundated by the message, and the food rarely lives up to the expectation.

Just a thought from a soon to be dodderer.

[BryanZ]

what i mean is that you can label a restaurant's menu as being stereotypically "fusion". and they're everywhere. of course all cuisine is evolving but i think there's a difference when it progresses naturally and out of curiosity as opposed to when the driving force behind it is money and looking for a market

←

Fortunately I don't think I've seen wasabi mashed potatoes on a menu in the last couple of years...

←

Union Square Cafe, a very respected restaurant in NYC, is currently serving a seared sashimi-grade tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes. Like many people here, I immediately thought "passé", but I ordered it to be nostalgic. It was surprisingly good. Just because a trend might now be over popularized, it is not automatically bad. Think about Nobu Matsuhisa's Miso Black Cod. That dish is essentially a Japanese classic, broiled miso cured fish, renamed by a celebrity chef. Now every fusion Japanese place has something like it.

[Corinna Dunne]

Elitist or not, I wish to add Cedar Plank Salmon to the list.

←

Yikes! What's so bad about this dish?

I haven't had it yet, but have just received a beautiful cut of Copper River salmon (48 hr packaging)... and the offending cedar plank. I plan to cook it (in about an hour) with no rub, just salt. I understand that Pinot Noir is its partner in crime. Is this an abomination too or just a Sideways thing?

Am I committing cullinary suicide? What are the survival rates?

[peppyre]

Elitist or not, I wish to add Cedar Plank Salmon to the list.

←

Yikes! What's so bad about this dish?

I haven't had it yet, but have just received a beautiful cut of Copper River salmon (48 hr packaging)... and the offending cedar plank. I plan to cook it (in about an hour) with no rub, just salt. I understand that Pinot Noir is its partner in crime. Is this an abomination too or just a Sideways thing?

Am I committing cullinary suicide? What are the survival rates?

←

You must understand that on the West Coast every single restaurant has had some version of Cedar Plank Salmon on the menu for the past 15 years. (At least it's been that long here) We've been inundated with it and 9 times out of 10, the salmon has been massacred. If you are eating really good fresh salmon, you lose all of the sweet flavour of the flesh if it's not done properly. I think alot our attitude towards planked salmon has to do with the fact that we are very spoiled on this side of the water. We have some of the best salmon available to us.

If you have never had it before, then it definitely isn't a tired trend. It can be very good, just make sure not to overcook your fish. You want it med-rare to Med. Anything more and it can dry out real fast.

[PurpleDingo99]

Cheesy chain family establishments with crap all over the walls and 20 dollar fajitas. Im waiting for the day when hooters buys them all out.

Edited May 28, 2005 by PurpleDingo99 (log)