"restaurant trends" news and stories

2011 Food Trends: What to Expect in a Post-Labeling World

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Nov 12th 2010 @ 1:00PM

As we near 2011, restaurant chains have some menu scrunching to do. With consumers increasingly demanding to know what's in their food and federal menu labeling regulations coming into play, restaurateurs will have to bridge the gap between informative and appealing.

To see just how chains may be affected, Nation's Restaurant News has rounded up "5 Trends for a Post-Menu-Labeling World," taking cues from a new report from Mintel, a Chicago-based market research firm. The report, titled Mintel's Menu Insights, includes a survey showing that "62 percent of consumers say they plan to eat more healthfully in the upcoming year, but many complain that healthier food doesn't taste as good without the added sugar, sodium and fat."

In response, Mintel predicts that restaurants will shuffle in some "better-for-you ingredients" to dishes consumers already like. Something to keep in mind, they say, is exemptions. Mandates to post calories do not include limited-time offers, so watch out for those belly-busting seasonal treats -- dare we say the McRib?

Filed under: Trends

Peanut and Seed Brittles Have Us In a Dessert Crunch

COMMENTS 2

by Robert Sietsema, Posted Oct 21st 2010 @ 3:00PM

Photo: sassyradish, Flickr

Peanut brittle might remind you of something grandma kept in a jar and doled out during special visits. Crunchy, sweet and translucent brown, brittle tasted of peanuts in a way far different from peanut butter. But it was also one of those candies the dentists warned you about -- with brittle's adamantine hardness, you were bound to lose a filling or chip a tooth. Spoilsports.

Now, according to Nation's Restaurant News, peanut and other nut and seed brittles are undergoing a revival in restaurants across the country, where pastry chefs are crushing them and sprinkling them over other desserts such as puddings and cakes (think pistachio brittle over creamy cheesecake), to add texture. They're also using brittle as a component of layered confections, spicing it up with cayenne and cloves, or simply incorporating it into the mix of components on the dessert plate (such as a panna cotta served with olive-oil cake and figs).

With a startling protein content of 24 percent, making it the most nutritious of legumes, peanuts may be making a comeback, and in its simplicity and ease of preparation, peanut brittle will be leading the charge, followed by brittles made from, among others, pecans, pistachios and pumpkin seeds. (Visit Kitchen Daily for a selection of peanut brittle recipes.)

Filed under: Trends, Restaurants

Chefs Pick Hottest Restaurant Trends of 2010

COMMENTS 17

by Jason Best, Posted Oct 5th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Beets and carrots, rooftop garden Photo: readysubjects, Flickr

Forget valet parking and a wine list the size of the Empire State Building. The hottest restaurant trend of the year, according to a survey of chefs, is decidedly more down to earth.

More than a third of the nearly 2,000 chefs surveyed by the National Restaurant Association picked kitchen gardens as the top trend of 2010, which dovetails nicely with another of the survey's findings. Chefs were also given a list of more than 200 separate items to rank as "Hot Trend," "Yesterday's News," or "Perennial Favorite." "Locally grown produce" ranked number one on that list, with more than 88 percent of chefs identifying it as a "Hot Trend."

And really, you can't get much more locally grown than plucking lettuce from your restaurant's own back yard.

It would seem like this is one trend where New York would be unable to compete, however. After all, the notion of a restaurant garden conjures up images of some bucolic bistro nestled in the rolling hills of Napa Valley.

Filed under: Trends, Chefs

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 15th 2008 @ 6:26PM

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=871565&pid=871564&uts=1271716105

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Annoying Restaurant Trends

We Could Do Without...

Hey, we're pretty easy customers to please. We don't get wacky with special order demands, and always tip pretty darned well. Still, we can't help wishing a few restaurants trends were permanently off the menu. Read on for our thoughts on daily specials, bottled water and the ubiquity of freshly ground black pepper.

jupiterimages RF

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Recitation of the Specials

Would it really be so hard to print it out or write it on a board? That way we'd actually remember if the beet 'n chive compote came with the lamb or the duck, and wouldn't have to feel like such a stingy nincompoop for asking the server to say the price out loud.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

I'm Sorry, We Just Sold the Last One

Yet you taunted us with the five-minute description just now?

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Bottled Water Up-selling

Putting aside the negative environmental impact of all that excess glass & plastic, are restaurateurs implying that the H20 they're using to cleanse the veggies and cook the pasta is some how sub-palatable, or are they just trying to dunk the customer? We'd rather splash our cash on desserts and apps than pour it out on something that should just flow freely from the tap.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Up-selling In General

While we're certainly sympathetic to waitstaff who, due to the untenable circumstance of sub-minimum wage base pay, rely on percentage-based tips, but really -- if we wanted to start with an appetizer, we would have ordered one.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Listing the Birthplace of Every Ingredient

"Organic Peruvian Tangelo Seared Aged Newark Wildebeest on a Bed of Wilted Gowanus Farms Pre-Natal Endive"

We're loco for locavorism and super-psyched for sustainable organic farming, but it doesn't taste any better just 'cause we know the name of our tenderloin's first cousin and where it went to summer camp.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

The 'Tini Suffix

Flirtini. Chocotini. PB&Jtini. Just 'cause it's in the V-shaped glass does not a martini make it. Certainly we're huge fans of the mixological madmen shaking up Lavender Wonderbread Fizzes and Cranberry Clorox Collinses at our favorite gastro-boites, but if there's anything other than gin*, vermouth and an olive or a twist in the glass, it may be a drink, or even a cocktail, but it ain't a 'Tini. (We blame Sex and the City, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

*Vodka martinis are vodka martinis. A plain ol' martini is gin-based. Harrumph.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Would You Like Freshly Ground Black Pepper On That?

No. No we wouldn't. And you're scaring us with that Louisville Slugger of a spice grinder.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Trios & Duos

"Heirloom Pork Prepared Two Ways with a Roulette of Seasonal Carrots"

Is the chef hedging his bets? Did he or she run short of some critical ingredient and have to go halvsies? One of the bunch is bound to outshine the other, making you wish you'd gotten a stab at a full-sized portion of that instead.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Over-pouring

Attentive service is certainly something to be celebrated, but the slow 'n steady sippers among us are kinda getting corked when we're sharing a bottle of wine with someone who's quicker on the chug than us. If our servers would just give us a chance to catch up instead of topping off after every couple of sips, the whole party might stand a chance of staying sober through dessert.

Top 11 Annoying Restaurant Trends

Filed under: Trends, Restaurants

11 annoying restaurant trends

COMMENTS 16

by Bob Sassone, Posted Jan 15th 2008 @ 3:48PM

big peppermill Everyone who eats out in restaurants has their list of pet peeves. My biggest is when waiters rush me though my meal.

AOL Food has a list of the 11 most annoying restaurant trends. I'm not sure if some of these are even "trends" or if they're just long-held policies that restaurants have had, like the recitation of menu specials. But some of these are spot on, such as the trend to add "tini" to the end of so many drink names and upselling. Luckily I don't eat in restaurants that have a guy who walks around with a baseball bat-sized pepper mill. Just put a normal-sized one on the table and I'll be happy.

Filed under: Lists, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants