Seven food trends we love

Every year, Toronto Life’s April edition names the current food and restaurant trends we love, hate and those with which we have a love-hate relationship. Here, in no particular order, are out seven favourites for 2010

New ways to adore bacon. Bacon-infused rye? Bacon cream? Chocolate-bacon toffee? You had us at bacon.

Serious ice cubes. When barkeeps customize their ice—hand-carved spheres, squares, shards or pulverized slush, depending on the drink—you know a glorious new cocktail culture is dawning.

Haute burger mania. The continued proliferation of fancy patty parlours means there’s a decent burger with deliciously twee toppings in practically every corner of the city.

Getting pickled. Preserving and pickling are the locavore chef’s not-so-secret winter-proof weapons. Whether it’s quail eggs at Swirl, sausages at Ceili Cottage or tongue at Caplansky’s, pickling makes everything taste like a party.

Thanks for smoking. If it’s not pickled, it’s smoked: beef brisket at Stockyards, gnocchi at Local Kitchen, ham knuckle at Queen and Beaver. Sweet, mysterious, seductive smoke.

Big Meat. Sharing platters—a roast for eight or a chicken for three—add a welcome tactical element to group dining.

Restaurants as social conveners. Theme nights like pink-slip parties, all-you-can-eat pierogi buffets and gourmet TV dinners offer the organized fun of a hipster cruise line with way better food.

• See the six food trends we hate » • See the five food trends we have a love-hate relationship with »

(Illustration: Jack Dylan)