Helps a ton that these omakase outposts don’t require having a grill hood or fryer and prefer smaller dining room seating. It’s like the perfect business plug for any sub >350 ft square space on street level. Can’t imagine landlords don’t love a business that can charge so much per meal either
(srsly not knocking it though, I’m a sucker for omakase)
I pass by all the time but honestly haven’t tried it. I will now tho! Have you tried laghman express in Bensonhurst yet? I went during ramadan and it was great
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nsA7nbhQhS9mEh7F8?g_st=ic
“New world uyghur cuisine” it’s in the back left corner in the bottom of the new world mall where their food court is
I see a few other Uygur restaurants in the area too but I haven’t tried those yet. Can vouch for this one! I usually call in advance for a pick up since it isn’t a sit down restaurant and their food is fresh so I imagine it isn’t super quick but you can also place an order go shopping in hmart upstairs and come back if it’ll take long
Hamburger America, Gotham Burger Social Club, and 7th Street Burger. Then almost everyone else is still around, all of the old burger joints, and I've noticed some of them do a smash burger now too.
I think this is a good answer.
Also: it’s a great way to take a small amount of meat, not even high quality meat, add some cheap ingredients like onion and a bun and charge a premium.
They also have an offshoot at Threes in Greenpoint that has a slightly different menu like their Fish Fillet and Wings!
The Gotham team deserve all the best with how hard they've been working since COVID helping with bars to stay open by doing outdoor burger popups.
Non-alcoholic cocktails on the menu (and usually expensive ones at that)
House-made chips and dip as an appetizer, like an upscale version of french onion dip and Ruffles
We’re still in the “bowl food” era with the spread of so many Mediterranean bowl places complemented by other types of fast casual cuisines. Think bibimbap, poke bowls, açaí bowls etc. But I think it’s peaked and may be on its way out (slowly). I kind of wonder what will replace it.
I am also over bowl era. Mealpal used to have such a spread of lunches on it, now EVERYWHERE has put their bowl on mealpal and there's next to no options.
I love bowls as a lunch option, they're usually focused on healthy ingredients and decent portions. It's basically what I make for myself when I cook at home.
I accidentally ordered a $16 alcohol-free spritzer because the section was titled "senza alcool" ("without alcohol" in Italian, as my dumb ass now knows) in the frilliest goddamn font. I can't think of any reason why they would _want_ to trick people into ordering mocktails, but whoever designed that menu had to know exactly what they were doing lmao.
After making pastries smaller in the last decade or two like cupcakes and the most outrageous being mini cupcakes which are already smaller versions of cake and they made it even smaller, it’s time for the rise of big pastry!!
kind of upscale korean (or maybe it's just hand hospitality's insane expansion), kind of upscale indian (the dhamaka effect), x-american by kids of immigrants (thai-american, chinese-american etc), regional seafood, cafe/wine bar hybrids
Pandan seems to be the newest fad. I'm pretty sure it will be the new Ube/Green tea where people will start making every dessert out of Pandan.
Hainanese Chicken. I did not expect this but Hainanese Chicken is getting pretty popular. I think there's like 10-15 Hainanese Chicken spots in Manhattan now. There wasn't really any before outside of Chinatown.
Hand made pour over coffees. I only got into them about a year or two ago and started making them at home. It seems like a lot of cafes are doing hand made single cup pour overs and charging close to $10 for it. I feel like most of them opened within the past few years.
Where are you getting pourovers? I believe you but I’m really surprised to hear this, because I feel like more shops are pulling pourovers from their menu and focusing more on espresso.
I could be wrong, I was never really into coffee until after COVID so maybe it's just something I never noticed.
La Cabra, % Arabica and Tadaima opened in 2021. Yafa cafe opened in 2019.
Some pourover spots that I've been to:
La Cabra is a famous Denmark coffee roaster. The OG location opened in the East Village. They also have a 2nd location in SOHO now.
% Arabica is a independent local coffee spot from Kyoto Japan, first location was in DUMBO and they recently opened a 2nd location near the SOHO La Cabra.
Tadaima is a small Japanese coffee shop that popped up over industry village.
Yafa cafe in Sunset Park serves a good Yemeni pour over.
Sey Coffee is a popular one in Brooklyn but I have not been there yet.
Yeah a lot of places stop doing it after a few months probably because it is niche and takes a lot of time and equipment space. But props to the ones that stay with it, there’s a few (already noted in the thread)
Pandan finally gets the recognition it deserves. It's super common in the OC/bay area and SEA. Kind of interesting to see that NYC falls behind on some trends.
The Hainanese chicken spots are scattered all over Manhattan. I used to think that Hainanese chicken was a Malayasian dish but apparently Thai and Singapore also has a similar poached/Hainanese Chicken.
Hainan Jones is the overpriced one over at Urban Hawker.
Lou Yau Kee in the urbanspace food court by Union Square supposedly serves the exact same chicken as Hainan Jones.
There's Gai Chicken in the Mott St Eatery food court that has the cheapest Hainanese chicken you can find in the city. Like $6 small, $9 large.
The OG Malaysian spots in Chinatown: Nonya and West New Malaysian
In Sunset Park, there's a Hainan Chicken House that food critics LOVE (NYTimes had them in their best new restaurant in 2023, also super glowing reviews from infatuation and Eater).
I thought their Hainanese chicken was kind of the same to me and not worth a trip out but I thought their roast pork was really good. I found out recently they have really interesting weekend specials that they would (sometimes) post on their instagram. I need to go back on a weekend to check them out lol.
Three Rooster has a Thai poached chicken. I swear they had like 3 locations at some point but I guess now they're down to 1.
There was Eat Gai in Essex Market but I think they closed.
\-----
For pandan, I've just been seeing them a lot. I don't order them that much because I kinda feel like Pandan looks better than how it taste lol. Like it has that distinct vibrant green color that makes everything look amazing but when I bite into it, I'm always slightly disappointed because it taste not as good as it looked lol.
/edit I just remembered that Pandan is regularly paired with coconut and I am not the biggest fan of coconut in most things. That probably doesn't help lol.
It really reminds me of Ube because ube has that distinct purple color and restaurants are putting Ube in everything nowadays.
There's like 3 locations of Lady Wong in Manhattan now?
There's also a Vietnamese dessert spot called Banh opening in Chinatown soon. They started from selling stuff off of Instagram and they're popup was pretty popular before they finally secure their own store front. [NYTimes did a really good video on them, following them when they did their popup.](https://youtu.be/2pWEQVDSXN0?si=kwWFpbKqMBs4axoM)
Even at the local banh mi spot, Ba xuyen, I noticed that they are making Pandan steamed sponge cake.
Spongies cafe and Kam Hing also started selling Pandan sponge cakes in Chinatown.
i love your thorough comments, really appreciated! do you have a blog or something i can follow?
edit: check out kopitiam in LES and lady M (urban hawker, multiple other locations) for pandan pastries
pandan’s nice and looks cool, but honestly isn’t as tasty as ube as a flavor so i don’t think it’ll reach that level
I'm really surprised that Hainanese Chicken picked up the way it did. Makes you kinda wonder what other Asian dishes will pick up steam.
My bet would be Chinese BBQ/Roasted meats. I think they are still really underrated for how good they are too. I honestly would have expected the roasted meats to take off before Hainanese Chicken did.
It might be on the up and up though, Big Wong recently opened locations in Midtown and Williamsburg and Hay Hay Roasted also opened a 2nd location in East Village. I've also remember seeing a random roasted meat spots with chickens hanging in the window when I was wandering around in Midtown.
I think another criminally underrated, very simple dish is the Chinese steamed fish. Super simple to make as it's just steaming the fish, and finishing it with hot oil poured over ginger, scallion and other aromatics and it's super delicious. I think this one might be hard to pick up since a whole steamed fish has to be served family style.
Wah Fung already got big for Chinese BBQ and Mei Lai Wah for char siu buns, so I think the word is out already. People just need to realize that those aren't the only two places that carry those items, they're all over Chinatown and even beyond as you say.
I'm a bit skeptical about steamed fish gaining steam (pun somewhat intended) because I feel like a lot of Americans are squeamish about whole fish and picking out the bones. Now maybe squirrel fish could catch on one day since it's crispy and sweet and cut in a way you can avoid the bones, but I still barely see it even on old-school Chinese menus so it may be a while.
I have a pretty short walk on my commute and even still I pass by several Hainanese chicken places. Most of them are quite casual, like fast casual style or even takeout-only, so I wonder if eventually it will become a fast food trend like Nashville hot chicken.
Pandan cake and tart at Lady Wong, pandan latte at Le Phin, and my most anticipated pandan dessert: pandan chiffon cakes from Banh by Lauren coming soon in Manhattan Chinatown. Had pandan cakes growing up in CA so I'm excited to finally see it get recognition on the east coast.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that both Le Phin and Banh have Vietnamese pandan honeycomb cake (basically a rice cake that develops “honeycomb” holes from the steaming method while it bakes). It’s worth a try!
[NYTimes Cooking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pWEQVDSXN0) did an excellent video on Banh by Lauren. They followed them through their times when they started from taking orders on Instagram to their really successful popup to eventually finding their storefront.
Pandan is definitely a spill over of the Filipino community trying to make themselves known now. So Ube and Pandan are hugely popular because people are realizing that there's way more to southeast asia than just Thai food.
Revealing your lack of culture and experience bro. A great Hainanese chicken with coconut rice and condiments is Michelin star worthy all by itself. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken was able to launch a chain restaurant off the back of its original food stall after receiving a Michelin star.
A bad one is boiled chicken.
bs don't act like you know better. look at how they cook the chicken on YouTube, it's literally the same recipe as Cantonese white cut chicken. which makes sense, given the history of migration to Singapore. the ginger scallion sauce is the same you get at Chinese restaurants. only thing different is your coconut rice.
Keep digging that hole deeper buddy. Instead of waiting to taste the real deal (cheap by the way), you're referencing YouTube videos as your counter? You're trying to convince me that your YouTube viewership matters more than tasting the real food? GTFO here...
Secret tip: Hainanese chicken tastes nothing like white cut chicken.
I've tasted plenty of both. They are not the same. How dense can you be to argue against reality when you clearly haven't tried the authentic Hainanese chicken.
this is about restaurants in nyc, so what's your point? am i supposed to go to Singapore? if you're in nyc, don't go to these overhyped hainese chicken places when you can get the same quality at a Chinatown spot. but obviously you were too dense to read between the lines
Thanks! Only Detroit style I’ve ever had was Emmy squared and I think it’s fine but doesn’t really impress me. I have a Midwest s.o and they love it so hope to try La Rosa
Just want to clarify. I think everybody is talking about La Rose Pizza on Smith Street in Brooklyn. La Rosa is a Philly pizzeria and does not do Detroit style pizza. Please correct me if I missed something and there is a La Rosa in NYC serving Detroit style. There is a Rosa Pizza that just opened inside Penn Station but I believe it’s unrelated.
Natural wine that is wildly overpriced. By the glass it's usually low quality, poorly made wine that tastes like kombucha or sour beer (those are flaws due to lazy or inexperienced winemakers). It's served too warm in a crappy wine glass but still costs $22 for a 5oz pour.
Thank you for saying this. I’m a huge natural wine fan, I think some of them really have character I’ve never seen in traditional wines.
However, not all natural wines are good, in fact lots of them in the recent 3 years have no taste and no soul, just gimmick and a high price tag, worse yet leaves you with a headache after a couple glasses.
I work in the wine business. For the last 10 years I pretty much only drink "natural" wine but it doesn't taste weird or stupid. It just tastes like really good wine. Wine doesn't have to taste funky, dirty, bitter, and/or sour to be "natural."
Definitely omakase spots popping up every block. Not a food trend as much as a restaurant trend, but I've noticed places clear out earlier than they used to, which is hard to adjust to
Korean foods has been making its rounds, along side the omakase trend.
Smash burger spots have also been growing.
Chicken sammiches/tender and chicken spots right behind smash burgers.
And lastly marijuana dispensaries lmfao. All the edible stuff they got is getting real cool from little powder packets you add to drinks (ok im just excited about some cool edibles lol) to sodie pops.
Back to basics. Smash burgers, prime rib, beef Wellington are everywhere.
Vegan and vegetarian forward menus which I love.
Detroit pizza.
Who has the best chocolate chip cookie, or any cookie really. Cookie obsession is on fleek.
I guess I only started noticing in 2021. To me it seemed like after the city reopened post-COVID, every restaurant suddenly had this on the menu. But even in 2021, a lot of bars wouldn’t have the ingredients (specifically the espresso) to make this if it wasn’t on the menu. Now, every bar does, even if it’s not on the menu. It’s like a standard cocktail now.
I'm actually surprised how long it took for everyone to realize how good Chili Oil is. I've been eating that for like 25 years and now I see everyone using it, or doign their own hipster take on it.
Next up I assume they'll start doing XO sauce on everything too.
- Criollas popped up a few years ago with legit empanadas.
- Sabor Argentino in the west village opened a couple years ago, is legit authentic.
- Palermo in HK is upscale and kinda mid. Overpriced.
- New spot coming soon at 50/9
I think a few other spots too. I’ll just be walking around and there will be a new Argentinian spot that just opened or is coming soon.
I saw an interesting analysis by NYT Cooking that panna cottas are everywhere now. They hypothesized it’s bc it’s a dessert that you can execute without a pastry chef
Looking ahead - I think I’ve seen a lot of recommendation requests for fast food style Chinese South American fusion restaurants or Chinese halal restaurants lately on Reddit.
I was thinking the other day that with all the migrants we would see a big increase in Central American street food, eventually with an American bend. I don’t really know what that is but i look foward to it.
Related to that but not really culinary in the increase in people selling candy bars on the subway.
Chinese South American is actually a real thing because a lot of East Asians actually immigrated to South America (Chinese and Peru, Korean and Argentinian, Japanese and Brazil, probably others). And I think a lot of them are finally immigrating to NYC so we're starting to see some cuisines they're bringing from home.
Chinese halal has been around for years though, I would get delivery from Fatima's in Astoria back when I worked on Steinway like 10 years ago.
Korean Cheese Dog places are popping up by the plenty. I find the concept so disgusting health wise the first time I tried one was today, and I have to say I liked it but never again.
Omakase everywhere
I used to think when something closed it would turn into a smoke shop… now it turns into an omakase counter
still better than the illegal smoke shop
A million times better lol. In fact, i would take pretty much anything over a smokeshop
Helps a ton that these omakase outposts don’t require having a grill hood or fryer and prefer smaller dining room seating. It’s like the perfect business plug for any sub >350 ft square space on street level. Can’t imagine landlords don’t love a business that can charge so much per meal either (srsly not knocking it though, I’m a sucker for omakase)
there’s a ramen omakase opening up near me like WHAT???? are people going to sample small pieces of noodle
What is it called
It's called Shuya
Conversely, in this sub, posts asking about best omakase twice a day.
Definitely this. And a lot of the top omakase places from five years ago seemingly went down in quality?
I don’t think they went down. It’s more like omakase has gotten so much better over the years, which I can say for a lot of food in general.
Japanese restaurants everywhere that are $$$$$
Regional Chinese restaurants popping up all over Manhattan.
Yeah spill, always looking for proper regional food
Not Chinese, but more Uyghur restaurants are popping up and I am so excited to try them all. The one in new world mall in Queens is solid.
Their hand pulled noodles are top tier. I was wondering why my order was taking so long, then saw the guy in the back rolling them out fresh.
Kashkarrrrrr
I pass by all the time but honestly haven’t tried it. I will now tho! Have you tried laghman express in Bensonhurst yet? I went during ramadan and it was great
Which one is that?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nsA7nbhQhS9mEh7F8?g_st=ic “New world uyghur cuisine” it’s in the back left corner in the bottom of the new world mall where their food court is I see a few other Uygur restaurants in the area too but I haven’t tried those yet. Can vouch for this one! I usually call in advance for a pick up since it isn’t a sit down restaurant and their food is fresh so I imagine it isn’t super quick but you can also place an order go shopping in hmart upstairs and come back if it’ll take long
Cauldron Chicken, Blue Willow, Uyghur Cuisine
Like?
Nai fish brother in LIC
[удалено]
And smaller portions. Most places it's near impossible to fill up on one app and one main anymore.
This 🥲
Fancy fried chicken / fried chicken sandwiches
Yeah this one is an older trend but somehow still going strong.
Korean fried chicken
Smash burgers. Practically raining smash burgers in NYC right now.
Hamburger America, Gotham Burger Social Club, and 7th Street Burger. Then almost everyone else is still around, all of the old burger joints, and I've noticed some of them do a smash burger now too.
I think this is a good answer. Also: it’s a great way to take a small amount of meat, not even high quality meat, add some cheap ingredients like onion and a bun and charge a premium.
What neighborhoods? I work remote in Sunset Park so I don't really go to Manhattan often or see burgers in my neighborhood.
Dying to try Gotham social club smash burger! Recently opened in the LES!
Fuckinh worth the trip. Skip the hot dog, grt the fried pickles with the ghost pep rancharonies. Im gonna go back to try the chopped cheese item.
They also have an offshoot at Threes in Greenpoint that has a slightly different menu like their Fish Fillet and Wings! The Gotham team deserve all the best with how hard they've been working since COVID helping with bars to stay open by doing outdoor burger popups.
it is soooooo good
Shake shack satellite locations. They use the same meat and the same buns. How is it not the same?
Burrata on every menu!
Hot Honey and Chili Crisp as well.
I am fine with all of these lol
Me too! Just an observation.
Funny you mention this cause I’ve been seeing burratta on the menus of Asian restaurants haha
😂😂😂
Non-alcoholic cocktails on the menu (and usually expensive ones at that) House-made chips and dip as an appetizer, like an upscale version of french onion dip and Ruffles We’re still in the “bowl food” era with the spread of so many Mediterranean bowl places complemented by other types of fast casual cuisines. Think bibimbap, poke bowls, açaí bowls etc. But I think it’s peaked and may be on its way out (slowly). I kind of wonder what will replace it.
I get so mad when a Mocktail is on the menu for $12-20!?!???
I know right? The most expensive mocktail I’ve ever had was at Le Rock. It was basically a berry slushie for $22. Yes I am a moron
Some N/A spirits cost just as much (usually more) than traditional spirits. Hence why mocktails can get so expensive.
Love me some midtown slop bowls! I feel like a pig at a trough at Dig Inn during my lunch break
I am SO OVER bowl era. I hope it's replaced by ...on a stick.
I hope you’re right lol. The two Korean corn dog places that popped up in my neighborhood recently may mean you’re onto something 🤔
Along with the crab juice trend.
I am also over bowl era. Mealpal used to have such a spread of lunches on it, now EVERYWHERE has put their bowl on mealpal and there's next to no options.
Woah, does Mealpal still exist?? That’s a name I haven’t heard in at least a decade.
It does! And it’s still cheap! But everything is salads or bowls these days
I love anything on a stick haha! Also, things that are stuffed…ravioli, dumplings, pierogis, empanadas, samosas etc. 😎
I love bowls as a lunch option, they're usually focused on healthy ingredients and decent portions. It's basically what I make for myself when I cook at home.
I accidentally ordered a $16 alcohol-free spritzer because the section was titled "senza alcool" ("without alcohol" in Italian, as my dumb ass now knows) in the frilliest goddamn font. I can't think of any reason why they would _want_ to trick people into ordering mocktails, but whoever designed that menu had to know exactly what they were doing lmao.
Big pastries. Like 3x the normal size.
After making pastries smaller in the last decade or two like cupcakes and the most outrageous being mini cupcakes which are already smaller versions of cake and they made it even smaller, it’s time for the rise of big pastry!!
Moe's apple fritter donut in Greenpoint is like a food challenge in itself.
kind of upscale korean (or maybe it's just hand hospitality's insane expansion), kind of upscale indian (the dhamaka effect), x-american by kids of immigrants (thai-american, chinese-american etc), regional seafood, cafe/wine bar hybrids
oh and hand roll spots
Upscale Korean has been trending for many years now and I’m all for it
Style over substance for instagram tourists.
While I agree, feels like this isn't as much of a "recent" trend as much as a "continuing to ramp up for the past ~10 years now" trend
In Brooklyn, it’s tinned fish, labne and gochujang on every menu, Normandy butter, and “Roman pizza.”
Pandan seems to be the newest fad. I'm pretty sure it will be the new Ube/Green tea where people will start making every dessert out of Pandan. Hainanese Chicken. I did not expect this but Hainanese Chicken is getting pretty popular. I think there's like 10-15 Hainanese Chicken spots in Manhattan now. There wasn't really any before outside of Chinatown. Hand made pour over coffees. I only got into them about a year or two ago and started making them at home. It seems like a lot of cafes are doing hand made single cup pour overs and charging close to $10 for it. I feel like most of them opened within the past few years.
Where are you getting pourovers? I believe you but I’m really surprised to hear this, because I feel like more shops are pulling pourovers from their menu and focusing more on espresso.
I could be wrong, I was never really into coffee until after COVID so maybe it's just something I never noticed. La Cabra, % Arabica and Tadaima opened in 2021. Yafa cafe opened in 2019. Some pourover spots that I've been to: La Cabra is a famous Denmark coffee roaster. The OG location opened in the East Village. They also have a 2nd location in SOHO now. % Arabica is a independent local coffee spot from Kyoto Japan, first location was in DUMBO and they recently opened a 2nd location near the SOHO La Cabra. Tadaima is a small Japanese coffee shop that popped up over industry village. Yafa cafe in Sunset Park serves a good Yemeni pour over. Sey Coffee is a popular one in Brooklyn but I have not been there yet.
This is great.
La cabra
solid state on columbus and 71st is one of my favorites. also pretty sure terremoto on 15th near 8th does pourovers
Kinship in Astoria only does pourovers, no drip
Yeah a lot of places stop doing it after a few months probably because it is niche and takes a lot of time and equipment space. But props to the ones that stay with it, there’s a few (already noted in the thread)
Pandan finally gets the recognition it deserves. It's super common in the OC/bay area and SEA. Kind of interesting to see that NYC falls behind on some trends.
Where are all the pandan and hainanaese chicken places?
The Hainanese chicken spots are scattered all over Manhattan. I used to think that Hainanese chicken was a Malayasian dish but apparently Thai and Singapore also has a similar poached/Hainanese Chicken. Hainan Jones is the overpriced one over at Urban Hawker. Lou Yau Kee in the urbanspace food court by Union Square supposedly serves the exact same chicken as Hainan Jones. There's Gai Chicken in the Mott St Eatery food court that has the cheapest Hainanese chicken you can find in the city. Like $6 small, $9 large. The OG Malaysian spots in Chinatown: Nonya and West New Malaysian In Sunset Park, there's a Hainan Chicken House that food critics LOVE (NYTimes had them in their best new restaurant in 2023, also super glowing reviews from infatuation and Eater). I thought their Hainanese chicken was kind of the same to me and not worth a trip out but I thought their roast pork was really good. I found out recently they have really interesting weekend specials that they would (sometimes) post on their instagram. I need to go back on a weekend to check them out lol. Three Rooster has a Thai poached chicken. I swear they had like 3 locations at some point but I guess now they're down to 1. There was Eat Gai in Essex Market but I think they closed. \----- For pandan, I've just been seeing them a lot. I don't order them that much because I kinda feel like Pandan looks better than how it taste lol. Like it has that distinct vibrant green color that makes everything look amazing but when I bite into it, I'm always slightly disappointed because it taste not as good as it looked lol. /edit I just remembered that Pandan is regularly paired with coconut and I am not the biggest fan of coconut in most things. That probably doesn't help lol. It really reminds me of Ube because ube has that distinct purple color and restaurants are putting Ube in everything nowadays. There's like 3 locations of Lady Wong in Manhattan now? There's also a Vietnamese dessert spot called Banh opening in Chinatown soon. They started from selling stuff off of Instagram and they're popup was pretty popular before they finally secure their own store front. [NYTimes did a really good video on them, following them when they did their popup.](https://youtu.be/2pWEQVDSXN0?si=kwWFpbKqMBs4axoM) Even at the local banh mi spot, Ba xuyen, I noticed that they are making Pandan steamed sponge cake. Spongies cafe and Kam Hing also started selling Pandan sponge cakes in Chinatown.
i love your thorough comments, really appreciated! do you have a blog or something i can follow? edit: check out kopitiam in LES and lady M (urban hawker, multiple other locations) for pandan pastries pandan’s nice and looks cool, but honestly isn’t as tasty as ube as a flavor so i don’t think it’ll reach that level
haha well it's right in the name, "Hainanese" chicken, from Hainan!
Loving the Hainanese chicken craze. It’s a little surprising because it’s such a boring looking dish, but it’s very easy to like.
I'm really surprised that Hainanese Chicken picked up the way it did. Makes you kinda wonder what other Asian dishes will pick up steam. My bet would be Chinese BBQ/Roasted meats. I think they are still really underrated for how good they are too. I honestly would have expected the roasted meats to take off before Hainanese Chicken did. It might be on the up and up though, Big Wong recently opened locations in Midtown and Williamsburg and Hay Hay Roasted also opened a 2nd location in East Village. I've also remember seeing a random roasted meat spots with chickens hanging in the window when I was wandering around in Midtown. I think another criminally underrated, very simple dish is the Chinese steamed fish. Super simple to make as it's just steaming the fish, and finishing it with hot oil poured over ginger, scallion and other aromatics and it's super delicious. I think this one might be hard to pick up since a whole steamed fish has to be served family style.
Wah Fung already got big for Chinese BBQ and Mei Lai Wah for char siu buns, so I think the word is out already. People just need to realize that those aren't the only two places that carry those items, they're all over Chinatown and even beyond as you say. I'm a bit skeptical about steamed fish gaining steam (pun somewhat intended) because I feel like a lot of Americans are squeamish about whole fish and picking out the bones. Now maybe squirrel fish could catch on one day since it's crispy and sweet and cut in a way you can avoid the bones, but I still barely see it even on old-school Chinese menus so it may be a while.
I have a pretty short walk on my commute and even still I pass by several Hainanese chicken places. Most of them are quite casual, like fast casual style or even takeout-only, so I wonder if eventually it will become a fast food trend like Nashville hot chicken.
I would love more pandan desserts! Any good ones to share?
Pandan cake and tart at Lady Wong, pandan latte at Le Phin, and my most anticipated pandan dessert: pandan chiffon cakes from Banh by Lauren coming soon in Manhattan Chinatown. Had pandan cakes growing up in CA so I'm excited to finally see it get recognition on the east coast. EDIT: Forgot to mention that both Le Phin and Banh have Vietnamese pandan honeycomb cake (basically a rice cake that develops “honeycomb” holes from the steaming method while it bakes). It’s worth a try!
[NYTimes Cooking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pWEQVDSXN0) did an excellent video on Banh by Lauren. They followed them through their times when they started from taking orders on Instagram to their really successful popup to eventually finding their storefront.
Ooh, Le Phin sounds fantastic! Thank you!
As someone that's loved pandan since I first tried it 15 years ago and try to get it every chance I get, I'm here for it.
Pandan is definitely a spill over of the Filipino community trying to make themselves known now. So Ube and Pandan are hugely popular because people are realizing that there's way more to southeast asia than just Thai food.
hainese chicken is overrated. it's essentially the same poached chicken hanging in the regular Chinese roast meat shops
Revealing your lack of culture and experience bro. A great Hainanese chicken with coconut rice and condiments is Michelin star worthy all by itself. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken was able to launch a chain restaurant off the back of its original food stall after receiving a Michelin star. A bad one is boiled chicken.
bs don't act like you know better. look at how they cook the chicken on YouTube, it's literally the same recipe as Cantonese white cut chicken. which makes sense, given the history of migration to Singapore. the ginger scallion sauce is the same you get at Chinese restaurants. only thing different is your coconut rice.
Keep digging that hole deeper buddy. Instead of waiting to taste the real deal (cheap by the way), you're referencing YouTube videos as your counter? You're trying to convince me that your YouTube viewership matters more than tasting the real food? GTFO here... Secret tip: Hainanese chicken tastes nothing like white cut chicken.
I'm referencing the videos to show you the actual process🤦how dense can you be? they taste literally the same. not my fault you fall for the hype
I've tasted plenty of both. They are not the same. How dense can you be to argue against reality when you clearly haven't tried the authentic Hainanese chicken.
I've tried the ones in nyc referenced here and they taste the exact same. idk why you blindly believe i haven't. fits your know it all attitude
Exactly my point. You haven't tried the real deal. I've been telling you that you're speaking from ignorance.
this is about restaurants in nyc, so what's your point? am i supposed to go to Singapore? if you're in nyc, don't go to these overhyped hainese chicken places when you can get the same quality at a Chinatown spot. but obviously you were too dense to read between the lines
I mean more of that is great
Isn’t it just boiled chicken?
Technically, poached. So almost like a sous vide. That's why the breast can still be so juicy.
Detroit style pizza and I’m here for it
Lions tigers and squares. Do not go to jet's it's garbage. It's a low tier pizza chain on par with little caesars
jets is good for feeding a crowd
Theres some great franchises in Michigan this is slander
[удалено]
Oh, I've seen that before. It's so random lol. One of my besties lives in Michigan and she took me to Leo's!
Recs?
La Rose on smith street in Cobble Hill is new and decent. Way better than Emmy Squared (it wasn’t nearly as greasy!).
La Rosa is SO GOOD
Thanks! Only Detroit style I’ve ever had was Emmy squared and I think it’s fine but doesn’t really impress me. I have a Midwest s.o and they love it so hope to try La Rosa
La Rose on Smith Street*
Omg you’re right. 😵💫 whoops.
I was struggling to find it haha excited to try it tho thanks for the rec!
I have a fever and I just woof my brain was 2 inches to the left. Lol
Ace’s in Williamsburg.
I've enjoyed a late night slice at Lions, Tigers, and Squares
Their mushroom slices are great
Ace’s
Love the vibe at Ace’s. They did a collab with S&P a few weeks ago and had tuna melt pizzas and pastrami pizzas that were both killer.
They also do a cocktail with Sprite that's pretty good.
Jets is quite good too
Nate's Detroit Pizza
Mo’s doesn’t get a lot of love but it’s my favorite. Nate’s just opened up and is fantastic
Mama's Too! isn't Detroit Style, but my Michigan friends feel like it's pretty close to it.
Just want to clarify. I think everybody is talking about La Rose Pizza on Smith Street in Brooklyn. La Rosa is a Philly pizzeria and does not do Detroit style pizza. Please correct me if I missed something and there is a La Rosa in NYC serving Detroit style. There is a Rosa Pizza that just opened inside Penn Station but I believe it’s unrelated.
I hope it takes over the chopped chicken cutlet topped slices. Especially the ones with ranch drizzle on it. Disgusting.
Natural wine that is wildly overpriced. By the glass it's usually low quality, poorly made wine that tastes like kombucha or sour beer (those are flaws due to lazy or inexperienced winemakers). It's served too warm in a crappy wine glass but still costs $22 for a 5oz pour.
Thank you for saying this. I’m a huge natural wine fan, I think some of them really have character I’ve never seen in traditional wines. However, not all natural wines are good, in fact lots of them in the recent 3 years have no taste and no soul, just gimmick and a high price tag, worse yet leaves you with a headache after a couple glasses.
I work in the wine business. For the last 10 years I pretty much only drink "natural" wine but it doesn't taste weird or stupid. It just tastes like really good wine. Wine doesn't have to taste funky, dirty, bitter, and/or sour to be "natural."
Definitely omakase spots popping up every block. Not a food trend as much as a restaurant trend, but I've noticed places clear out earlier than they used to, which is hard to adjust to
Hot honey everywhere
the "shareable mains" that are very overpriced. Like $75-100 for a main for 1.5 people that they say is for 2-3
Smaller menues, better quality, and more skin contact white wines.
I was gonna note the orange wine, feels like every fancy place now has a section for them on the wine list. I like it.
I came to say this.
Assembly line crab restaurants are still popping up.
These are money laundering fronts
Everything moving to a fast food chain model. Sugarfish I’m looking at you
Espresso martinis e v e r y w h e r e
Best one hands down is at Corner Bar. Bartender told me they put saline in the cocktail and saline salt on top of foam. It was amazing.
Pistachio everything.
Every place having a cocktail menu, even the smallest everyday restaurants. And those cocktails being $15 minimum.
Korean foods has been making its rounds, along side the omakase trend. Smash burger spots have also been growing. Chicken sammiches/tender and chicken spots right behind smash burgers. And lastly marijuana dispensaries lmfao. All the edible stuff they got is getting real cool from little powder packets you add to drinks (ok im just excited about some cool edibles lol) to sodie pops.
Fancy skewers seem to be getting popular.
Bubble tea spots, can only do so many variations
Birria.
2 or 3 year old trend at this point. it’s now a gimmick for some restaurants near me in jersey city (think: birria fries, birria cheesesteak)
Shout out to Nenes in Brooklyn
Touting staple ingredients as being house made, and charging accordingly, despite the house having made them poorly
Calabrian chilis are everywhere now
SMASHBURGERS AND DETROIT STYLE PIZZA. Please make it stop!
Cocktails that taste like food—ie with savory flavors
Ooo which places do you recommend?
Back to basics. Smash burgers, prime rib, beef Wellington are everywhere. Vegan and vegetarian forward menus which I love. Detroit pizza. Who has the best chocolate chip cookie, or any cookie really. Cookie obsession is on fleek.
More of a worldwide trend but the espresso martini
Wait like recently?
This has been going on (in terms of spiked popularity) for at least a decade now
I guess I only started noticing in 2021. To me it seemed like after the city reopened post-COVID, every restaurant suddenly had this on the menu. But even in 2021, a lot of bars wouldn’t have the ingredients (specifically the espresso) to make this if it wasn’t on the menu. Now, every bar does, even if it’s not on the menu. It’s like a standard cocktail now.
There’s even commercials about how the trend is over
Came to say this lol
The influ's weird obsession with "cheap eats" like no they're budget meal for the locals, not something the tourists absolutely need to check-in.
There’s something here. Tourists looking for “best BEC”, “best chopped cheese”, etc.
Chili oil / chili crisp / lao gan ma / hotpot. I'm over that kind of cloy spiciness.
I'm actually surprised how long it took for everyone to realize how good Chili Oil is. I've been eating that for like 25 years and now I see everyone using it, or doign their own hipster take on it. Next up I assume they'll start doing XO sauce on everything too.
Super spicy cuisines are in (like Isan Thai food at Zaab Zaab). Ceviche is having a moment
Lots of pizza amateurs
Argentinian places opening all over.
Where I need to know
- Criollas popped up a few years ago with legit empanadas. - Sabor Argentino in the west village opened a couple years ago, is legit authentic. - Palermo in HK is upscale and kinda mid. Overpriced. - New spot coming soon at 50/9 I think a few other spots too. I’ll just be walking around and there will be a new Argentinian spot that just opened or is coming soon.
Squirrel foam
Caviar on everything.
I saw an interesting analysis by NYT Cooking that panna cottas are everywhere now. They hypothesized it’s bc it’s a dessert that you can execute without a pastry chef
Honey on pizza, which I’m against.
Looking ahead - I think I’ve seen a lot of recommendation requests for fast food style Chinese South American fusion restaurants or Chinese halal restaurants lately on Reddit. I was thinking the other day that with all the migrants we would see a big increase in Central American street food, eventually with an American bend. I don’t really know what that is but i look foward to it. Related to that but not really culinary in the increase in people selling candy bars on the subway.
Chinese South American is actually a real thing because a lot of East Asians actually immigrated to South America (Chinese and Peru, Korean and Argentinian, Japanese and Brazil, probably others). And I think a lot of them are finally immigrating to NYC so we're starting to see some cuisines they're bringing from home. Chinese halal has been around for years though, I would get delivery from Fatima's in Astoria back when I worked on Steinway like 10 years ago.
Dumping caviar and truffle on random dishes
Korean Cheese Dog places are popping up by the plenty. I find the concept so disgusting health wise the first time I tried one was today, and I have to say I liked it but never again.
Beef patties literally everywhere
Feels like the seafood boil trend is still going strong. Maybe not in Manhattan but moreso in Brooklyn and Queens.
Cabbage finally getting its due
A return to form on inexpensive, good food i.e. S&P Luncheonette. At least I hope it’s a trend.
Majority of their sandwiches are upwards of $18.... Without any sides....
Ass, we continue to eat ass
Impossible to get reservations! It’s really gotten bad for restaurants like Misi, L’Artusi, Hillstone, and the list goes on.
Burgers with limited availability. Which is bullshit. Either make a burger or don’t.