This Just In ...

Culinary no-no #200

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Jan. 2, 2011

Culinary no-no's

Food concepts, like musical acts on the pop charts, come and go. Hot and here today, rejected and gone tomorrow.

Some trends that were all the rage in 2010 could lose favor and flavor in 2011.

Those traveling food trucks? The New York Times Magazine writes “let’s also abolish tweeting food trucks, the tweeting of menu specials, and tweeting gasbag restaurant critics."

Miami Beach based Jacquelynn D. Powers writes in The Daily Beast that they drive her crazy: “Every day a new food truck launches with more fanfare, high-end concepts, and celebrity chefs. Even Disneyland isn’t safe. As the mobile food market gets gourmet, its prices are skyrocketing past the $2 hot dog stands. And wouldn’t you prefer to eat that $7 banh mi pork sandwich or $9 Wagyu beef and broccoli at a proper table instead of standing on a street corner?” Powers concedes the restaurant on wheels fad has yet to fade.

Mae West once said, “Too much of a good thing…..is wonderful!” Powers doesn’t agree when it comes to bacon that was slapped in and on just about anything in 2010. “Rest assured, bacon-flavored tofu is probably next on the horizon,” says Powers.

Speaking of bacon, what will be the next odd-flavored vodka? There’ve been enough to start an alcohol version of Baskin-Robbins.

Here’s one I wrote about in 2010, echoed by David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men’s Health and co-author of the national bestseller Eat This, Not That! The technique is enthusiastically pushed by celebrity chef Bobby Flay and is so simple, yet so wrong: putting potato chips on top of a burger under the bun. The appeal is that it provides crunch.  Sorry, the chips belong on the side. That’s my rip. Zinczenko’s is that chips as a condiment adds too many calories.

To his credit, Zinczenko puts his finger on some novelties that definitely need to go, including ice cream for breakfast and deep fried pasta. Check out his rundown of the worst foods in America. Zinczenko takes specific aim at a widely popular chain: "The troubling truth is this entire list of America’s Worst Foods could be fueled solely by the Cheesecake Factory’s atrocious fare. No restaurant combines elephantine portion sizes with a heavy-handed application of cheap cooking fats more recklessly than the Factory folk, resulting in dishes like the 2,582-calorie Chicken and Biscuits and the 2,455-calorie French Toast Napoleon."

I was surprised to read some food bloggers diss cupcakes that were oh so popular in 2010. Numerous commenters agreed. I’m not sure the craze has fully got off the ground here just yet, but keep in mind folks in my neighborhood are first now learning The Twist.

Want some more? Here's a list from Esquire.

For me, the trends I’d like to see die once and for all in 2011 (but won’t): Guys wearing hats inside restaurants, guys (and 9 times out 10 it’s the men) dressing like bums to go out to eat, and idiot restaurant patrons disrespectful of wait staff.