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THE HOT LIST: SPRING

chilled Chinese noodles
  • Funnel cake fries
  • Makhana
  • Aguachile
  • Seamless take-out
  • Kitchen robots
  • Sophisticated ranch dressing
  • Fast-casual Indian food
  • White lamb
  • Salmiak salt
  • Polarizing flavors
  • Asian pear-kimchi salsa
  • Mocktail ubiquity
  • Pickleball cafes
  • Advanced customer service
  • Premium ingredients
  • Teh halia/Singaporean tea
  • Portabella mushroom rings
  • Black lime
  • Physical menus
  • Service fee explanations
  • Creative cabbage
  • Guisados
  • Drinkable desserts
  • Cold ramen
  • Peach fuzz—color of the year
  • Terrines
  • Buckwheat noodles
  • Affordable nostalgia
  • Black garlic
  • Swicy foods
  • Ponzu sauce
  • Umami cocktails
  • Dry-aged vegetables
  • Fermented everything
  • Tamarind
  • Cheffed-up dips
  • Solo diners
  • Ube

Diners are increasingly hyper-focused on high-protein and plant-based foods. Alongside all of the new-fangled, lab-based, cell-cultured options out there is the humble bean. A staple food for millenia, beans are being re-examined as a healthy, versatile ingredient worthy of menu inclusion.

  • Retro and heirloom recipes—like Southern succotash, French cassoulet, and Cajun red beans and rice—fit the bill for those in search of authenticity.
  • Most world cuisines incorporate some type of bean in their classic dishes. Think feijoada in Brazil, black beans and rice with plantains in Puerto Rico, and garbanzo beans in Israel. Modern interpretations of these recipes are packed with produce and herbs.
  • The creamy texture of mung beans is proving an ideal substitute for those that are eliminating soy from their diets.