Seven food trends we love

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)