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Team Eat Out has long been of the mind that food and fashion aren’t all that different. We’re not the first to have made that observation. Philéas Gilbert, a contributor to Escoffier’s magnum opus, A Guide to Modern Cookery, said it much more eloquently: “Cookery is as old as the world, but it must also remain, always, as modern as fashion.” If you still don’t buy it, consider this: Cosmos are as outdated as Fendi baguettes; French-Asian fusion is a relic of the ’90s; and any pastry chef hoping to make a mark would be loath to unveil a molten chocolate cake. This fall, the plates of food-world favor continue to shift. We tell you what’s behind us, what we’re in the midst of and what we have to look forward to when dining in New York.
Hot aesthetic
SO OVER Old-timey No more taxidermy, please. And waiter, do wash your hair.
SO NOW Redneck …but you don’t have to shave off your handlebar mustache.
SO SOON Green Edible walls, lickable paint—environmentalism sure tastes good.
Meat love
SO OVER Steakhouses Now that (behind) the Times covered the temples of boeuf in the Style section, you can officially stick a fork in them.
SO NOW Barbecue joints It’s raining brisket, ribs and pulled pork!
SO SOON The return of the Jewish deli? Food writer Mimi Sheraton made the fine point that pastrami is just brisketafter all.
Overexposed chef
SO OVER Rocco DiSpirito Living proof that even the most talented chef is just a reality show away from becoming obsolete.
SO NOW Sam Mason TMI—the gratuitous coverage of Tailor’s opening made the pastry chef the pantiless Paris Hilton of avant eats.
SO SOON Paul Liebrandt When Eater puts a bounty on your head (See “3 questions for…,”), you know to keep a low profile.
Neighborhoods
SO OVER BoCoCa Smith Street? Please.
SO NOW The hotness of Bel Del and those other ambiguously defined Bowery neighborhoods suggests that downtown is still riding high.
SO SOON If it’s true that Milk & Honey’s Sasha Petraske is opening a bar in LIC, the perpetually arriving ’hood may actually, finally get here.
Asian menu item
SO OVER Banh mi—they dedicated entire restaurants to them, for crissakes!
SO NOW Ramen—they’ve dedicated entire restaurants to it, for crissakes!
SO SOON Tempura—they’ve dedicated an entire restaurant to it, for crissakes!
Required reading
SO OVER Heat by Bill Buford, Kitchen Confidential by the man we can’t decide whether we hate to love or love to hate, Anthony Bourdain
SO NOW David Kamp and Marion Rosenfeld’s The Food Snob’s Dictionary, for commentary on the gourmet world that’s even more spot-on than Kamp’s The United States of Arugula
SO SOON In the upcoming Blood, Bones & Butter, essays and recipes from Prune chef-owner Gabrielle Hamilton, we may finally get the female take on the down-and-dirty kitchen experience.
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