The success of TV shows like Top Chef and No Reservations and food blogs like Tastespotting and Grub Street has sparked a mass culture of culinary appreciation and self-proclaimed foodies. While nothing beats grandma’s tasty recipes, more diners are looking to the respected opinions of expert chefs to guide their gastronomic passions.
Chef’s Feed: Consumer reviews on sites like Yelp and UrbanSpoon are invaluable when searching for a restaurant, but the process of scanning through scores of opinions can be tedious. Smartphone app Chef’s Feed provides time-saving relief by offering suggestions from marquee chefs like Mario Batali, Thomas Keller and David Chang. Content includes not only their favorite restaurants but also their favorite specific dishes and insider tips, like the way Chris Cosentino orders pho at San Francisco’s Yummy Yummy Vietnamese. Best of all, the app understands that its users don’t always enjoy the same privileges as the chefs featured, so it includes plenty of options that don’t require special access.
Throwing a dinner party can be a challenging feat. Even Mark Bittman thinks so, strongly enough that he was inspired to create a mix-and-match menu matrix to assist both novices and experts who are planning such a gathering. Bittman’s not the only one eager to assist frantic party planners. New sites and services are simplifying—and sometimes elevating—the age-old act of getting together over dinner.
A & O Dinner Party Blueprints: DIY kits are having a moment, having been put to use in projects as contained as interior design and as aspirational as building a civilization. Somewhere in between sits the task of throwing a dinner party. To help, bloggers Sarah Lagrotteria and Lydia Ellison Howerton of Apples & Onions are offering their expertise in the form of Party Blueprints. For $100, A&O will customize a kit containing a signature cocktail recipe or wine pairing, a three-course menu, simple decor suggestions, and a timeline for executing each stage to perfection. This is pre-fab planning that reflects the priorities of today’s consumers: reasonably priced, customized, and it lets consumers keep their calm.
Kogi BBQ, the LA food truck that sparked scores of other meals-on-wheels operations, may have done more than pioneer a tidal wave of mobile cuisine. Indeed, it appears to have ignited an even wider food trend: Asian-Mexican fusion. Kogi’s signature Korean BBQ taco, which now appears on menus across America, has induced a raft of variations that co-mingle Eastern flavors with those from south of the border.
Sushi Burritos: Most sushi purists would rather avoid the dish altogether than eat a California Roll, yet a new Westernized take has even the most stringent sticklers digging in to the latest food fad to sweep the Golden State: the sushi burrito. Though the concept sounds sacrilege, it’s actually a rather ingenious interpretation for mobile diners who need a meal that can be held easily in one hand. Naturally, it’s become a food truck star, with at least two LA vendors luring the lunchtime crowd with sushi fillings bundled in a wrap. Jogasaki offers a choice of flour tortillas or soy paper, while the Hawaiian-flavored Pokey Truck sticks with the latter.
When it comes to keeping clientele happy, customization is key. It’s no surprise, then, that the bespoke trend has made an impact on obvious categories such as fashion and interior design. Now, restaurateurs and caterers are venturing into personalization, offering up food and drinks to order based on diners’ thoughts, feelings, and even memories.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: The announced Fall 2011 opening of this Brooklyn cocktail spot elicited some raised eyebrows given its suggestive acronym (in Grub Street New York’s words, “WTF?”) and less-than-humble promise to bring forth “the future of cocktails.” But owner Max Messier is in fact pioneering a new customization concept. Customers will use iPads to specify their favorite liquors and their current emotional state, prompting a bartender to create drinks customized to their preferences and mood. Using a WTF-branded app, patrons can choose to order their appointed beverages or scroll a menu for more impersonal options. And, in an added nod to au courant tech, transactions will be conducted via iPad.
Though the animal-friendly lifestyle has undoubtedly become a slow-growing but solid mainstay, veganism is making its grand entrance into popular culture decisively. Once viewed as extremist outsiders, vegans are pampering their taste buds with an array of grocery stores, bars and gourmet restaurants as well as fast food eateries, celebrity chefs and viral videos.
Plant Food For People: Residents of LA’s Highland Park are gearing up their appetites for this recently announced vegan fast food drive-thru. At its soft opening last month, PFFP wowed diners with its use of jackfruit to create a vegan adaptation of “carnitas” tacos. (Jackfruit closely resembles the texture of poultry when cooked.) Although PFFP is new to the drive-thru restaurant model, the company has been supplying vegan deli sausages to its neighbor, Figueroa Produce Market, for some time now. Far from LA but feeling famished? Fear not, as plenty of fast food joints are adding vegan dishes to their menus daily—and if drive-thru isn’t an option, there’s always delivery.
