The Freshman in the Kitchen 2011 Food and Restaurant Trends Report

Brick and mortar restaurants- These are going to be huge in 2011. If you just got into food or you live in a dense urban center you might not have realized that in certain parts of the US, restaurants exist inside buildings with the name clearly displayed on the outside. In 2011, expect restaurants to move away from wheels and institute a floors windows chairs and tables policy.

New serving dishes/techniques – Things served in small portions and sent to the table in mason jars will be gone with the stike of midnight on Dec 31st 2010. Expect restaurants to embrace recycled brown paper bags, planks of wood and simply dumping the food right on the table as the new hot ways to deliver your food to you.

Fiscal Responsibility is the new being green/organic – With wounds still raw from the housing and financial implosion, fiscal responsibility is a huge industry buzz word as the calendar rolls over. Expect chipped plates, mismatched glasses, silverware remaining on the table for multiple courses and waiters bringing out skillets and sliding your food onto the same plate you used for your appetizer. When restaurants pass along the savings, everyone wins.

In restaurant slaughtering – 2010 was chock full of chefs passionate about breaking down large cuts of meat with an audience. Classes at restaurants filled up weeks in advance to see chefs break down a pig and then send everyone home with the remaining parts of entire animal. But the animal was dead every single time long before the class started which is kinda lame. We’ve already received word that in January a Portland gastropub already filled a 20 person class where in the first hour, each attendee will have the opportunity to kill a live lamb. Butchering classes? 2010. Slaughtering classes. 2011. Quite possibly the most aggressive of all the 2011 trends we’ve discovered.

Savory desserts in the shape of cupcakes and that taste like vegan brownies but are made of frozen yogurt – This 2011 trend may be hard to visualize, but it provides further evidence of chefs blending the lines between creativity, reality and perception. It’s all so very whimsical and eclectic and creative!

Outdoor restaurants (we mean seriously outdoors) – on the completely other end of the spectrum we’ve received word that outdoor restaurants with no running water, reliable heat sources, tables or permits will be making an imprint in several cities. We’ve received word of two illegal restaurants in parks (BYOBlanket), one in a parking lot where they cook off bunsen burners (window service like an old fashioned A&W) and a raw restaurant where you eat all the dishes in seasonal and evolutionary order while taking a 9 mile hike called Forage on Foot.

Indian Food – Certain trend reports are saying Indian is poised to make a huge  splash onto the mainstream with several high profile chefs attached to open  Indian restaurants around the world. We agree with other trend reports in spelling only. Yes, the big food trend of 2011 is going to indian food…but Indian as in Native Americans. Chief Greyfeather of the Inuit tribe (and long time oracle of wild game cuisine) is consulting on a new restaurant in the MGM grand called Sky.Earth.Water.Wind. If this is a success, expect the copy cats to be sprouting up everywhere. (ed. note: Phllip Stark will be designing the interior which has been reported as futuristic minimalist teepee)

The ten hot food items for 2011 (this year’s “bacon”):

1) Water from the tap – much more cost efficient than it’s purified or bottled brothers, this will be the go-to for restaurants wanting to display fiscal responsibility

2) Gushers –  Nabisco announced that the famous snack/lunchroom currency will be discontinued in 2010. Chefs across the United States have been acquiring boxes however possible (with one crate going for $3,400 on e-bay). Expect to see a few trademark desserts at Michelin starred restaurant finished with a handful of gushers.

3) Schmaltz- 2011’s top new hot app. 2 pieces of white bread served with chicken fat on the side. Gelatinous golden globules of flavor

4) Cheddar cheese – often marginalized and left off the charcuterie/cheese plate cheddar will move to the forefront and displace high priced, long aged stinky versions.

5) Infused hot waters. Often referred to as soups, broths or teas, expect to see lots of hot liquids taking on lots of different flavors.

6) Asafoetida – sulferic in smell, rarely used. Will start popping up in broths because its tough to surprise anyone anymore and this is used so rarely it will help chefs differentiate themselves from those that simply fall back on finishing everything with truffles.

7) sunflower seeds – long marginalized as a baseball player snack n’ spit, these seeds will be encrusting kobe beef steaks and anchoring sauces in 2011.

7a) Balsam seeds – usually used to flavor hippocras (a type of mulled wine) and usually restricted to times of celebration due to its scarcity, balsam seeds are already being used as drink garnish in Abu Dhabi because purchased by the oz, the seeds are now more expensive than gold.

9) Goldfish – a goldfish disaster at the largest fishery in Maryland has left many goldfish varieties extinct. With limited quantity comes greater desire from the dining public. Prices rose to $120 an oz. in November so expect goldfish to push caviar to the wayside in 2011 as prices continue to soar.

10) Ostrich – new legislation in North Dakota has helped subsidize the largest ostrich farm outside of Australia. Designed in part to steal a piece of the $22 billion a year non-beef/chicken market (made up primarily of rabbit, alligator and quail sales) ostrich burgers are rolling out in Portland, Seattle and New Orleans. Expect Red Robin and Chili’s to be close behind.

If there are other trends this report missed that you’ve seen first hand or read about, please leave them in the comments section

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A must for every chef’s toolbox: a good headlamp…

The Chef: Max Sussman is executive sous chef at eve the restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Max is the co-author, along with brother Eli, of Freshman in the Kitchen: From Clueless Cook to Creative Chef.

The Toolbox: A red roll-style knife bag. “I keep it pretty simple,” he admits.

The Tools: Whiplash is setting in compared with Chef Hetrick in yesterday’s installment. Turns out Max Sussman is quite the minimalist though he, too falls victim to Sharpie Love. “I’ve got my chef knife, a paring knife, some tongs, a couple silicon heat-resistant spatulas, and a few Sharpies,” he says. “I live across the street from the restaurant where I work, so I rarely need to bring much more than that. If we’re doing an off-site catering event, I may add an extra knife.”

Max and Eli cutting it up in the kitchen.

The Sentimental Tool: He tends to turn misty-eyed over his knife bag, since his girlfriend gave it to him. But he can be awfully sentimental about his 10-1/2” Mac Mighty chef knife. “No,” he quickly warns, “you can’t touch it.”

The Strangest Thing In There: Well, this is a first: “A headlamp,” says Sussman. “I once worked at a fishing lodge in a very remote part of Patagonia, Chile. The power was so unreliable with frequent brownouts, so at least once a week we’d have to turn the lights off and bust out the headlamps.” Even though he lives in the middle of civilization today, he still carries it everywhere with him. “The one time you need a headlamp makes it all worth it,” he advises.

The Tool That’s Inspired You: His Mac Mighty, of course. “When I cook at home, I like to use my knife and play around with different ways to cut ingredients. Cutting a pepper into a dice or julienne yields such such different flavors and can also change the whole look of a dish,” he says.

What A Psychologist Would Say About His Tools: “I think he’d say that I’m either a minimalist who like to keep things simple, or a drifter with a fear of commitment.”

His Voyeuristic Side: “I’m a knife guy, so I’m always curious about what type of knife other chefs use,” he says. “But I’ve noticed that even if everyone uses pretty much the same tools it’s what you do with it that counts. So I’m always looking out for other people’s technique and ingredients as well as their toolbox.”

Watch Max & Eli on YouTube and follow them @FreshmanKitchen on Twitter.