TOP DINING TRENDS FOR 2007
Where is there an Izakaya in Omaha?Restaurant consultants Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. have forecast ten major dining trends that impact how Americans will eat in the year ahead. Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. creates high-profile
#2. THE ‘NEXT’ CUISINE: Most pundits point to India . But we say that Indian food is too complicated for home cooks and too obscure for most restaurant goers. So our vote goes to Peru. Why? Its government is promoting the cuisine, which is a fabulous fusion of Italian, Japanese, Indian, Spanish and indigenous cookery; it is part of the next wave of specific regional cookery; Nobu came from there; its hot, spicy, creative flavors resonate with Americans; it has a growing cadre of “new cuisine” chefs, some coming to the US, who are updating old fashioned dishes. Most importantly: There are big enough clusters of Peruvian immigrants to make their restaurants and ingredients more visible. You can now buy frozen guinea pig, an Andean delicacy, in Houston, and Inka Cola is sold on aptly named Amazon.com.
#7. THE IZAKAYAS ARE COMING: Move over tapas – make room for Japanese small plates. Venturesome restaurateurs are opening Japanese taverns, called izakaya, all over the world. These are homey places emphasizing modestly priced Japanese hors d’oeuvres washed down with oversized bottles of beer and overfilled glasses of sake. Some of the food may be unfamiliar but people are willing to risk $5 or $6 to experiment. You’ll find izakayas in London, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, LA (where, predictably, they’ve morphed into fusion menus), Omaha, Coral Gables and New York. The mavens behind P. F. Chang have opened a more Americanized version in Scottsdale, hoping to launch another chain.