The many meals I eat to compile guides to the city’s 50 best restaurants, best new restaurants, and top tasting menus for $100 or less give me a lot of time to notice the tiny details that can set a restaurant apart and the little patterns that emerge at any given moment. Some of these trends deserve to be served up to customers on a silver platter; others leave a bad taste in my mouth. Take a nibble of the season’s trends, listed from sweet to sour.
The Employee-to-Owner Pipeline
Employees of Virginia Inn bought the 123-year-old institution, while Pidgin and Rosette launched with cooperative models.
Korean Street Toast
If you haven’t heard of this, get cracking. These sandwiches are no yolk, so shell out for them at Egg Street, Egg Squared, or Chikku Chikku.
AI Photos on Restaurant Instagrams
I want to see what a place is serving, not what a robot fever dream thinks a burger should look like. I’m left to wonder why that bun is so shiny, and, if they’ll cut corners in public-facing ways, what are they just pretending to do behind the scenes?
Blazing Tables
We would really prefer if restaurants could stop catching on fire, after last year’s flames at ELDR, Homer, Bangrak Market, and Green Lake Bar & Grill.