For a fleeting moment, I was tempted to ask local psychic Barbara Norcross—she headlines special-event luncheons now and then at The Chesterfield Hotel’s Leopard Lounge & Restaurant, among other venues—what she envisioned as far as restaurant trends for 2011.
But somehow, inquiring about industry trends seemed patronizing—like, let’s jam up the telekinetic crystal-ball circuits—not to mention irrelevant since I suspect extrasensory perception deals more with people and emotions, but what do I know.
So let’s turn to another source—the just-released results of a survey of 1,527 chefs, all members of the American Culinary Federation, conducted by the National Restaurant Association.
The NRA (depending on your political views, this is a potentially unfortunate acronym) asked the chefs what they expected would be the top restaurant trends of 2011.
Sustainability, locally sourced meats and seafood, and locally grown produce tied for the No. 1 trend, which collectively we’ve long seen in motion at Palm Beach eateries, such as Cafe Boulud.
Even “hyper local”—restaurants with their own gardens and chefs who do their own butchering—came out on top. So did serving nutritionally balanced children’s dishes.
All of those trends are de rigueur at The Breakers, for instance.
Other trends the chefs in the survey predicted: simplicity/back to basics, smaller portions with smaller prices, catering more to patrons who adhere to a gluten-free diet, and “culinary” cocktails that feature savory and fresh ingredients.
What do I predict as restaurant culinary trends for 2011? All of the above since we’ve seen them mounting for a while now, but as Palm Beach celebrates its 100th birthday as an incorporated town, we may see more than a few special centennial-commemorating menus.
264 The Grill, for one, already has such a menu, with such items as an all-American “cowboy” prime rib dinner and a “Red, White and Blue” salad with sliced tomato, onion, blue cheese, mesclun and balsamic vinaigrette.
