Best food crazes of 2013

The Cronut
Best place to try it: Dominique Ansel Bakery, New York City

By far the heavyweight champion of food crazes this year, the Cronut was created by Chef Dominique Ansel at his namesake bakery. The baker would like everyone to know the process isn’t merely deep-frying a croissant. It begins with laminated dough that is first proofed and then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. Once cooked, each is flavored in three ways: rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze. This entire process takes three days. There have been many imitations of the Cronut, forcing him to actually trademark it, and spin-offs also abound. If you can’t get in line in New York, you can queue up for a “pretzel croissant” at Arlequin Café in San Francisco or a “doughssant” at Star Provisions down in Atlanta. (Photo: Dominique Ansel Bakery)

Strange Ice Cream Flavors
Best place to try it: Take your pick. It’s everywhere.

The pastry chefs have really been channeling that inner mad scientist this year. We covered multiple ice cream spots earlier this year with interesting variations – including Olive Oil at Salt & Straw in Portland and Peking Duck at the CoolHaus Ice Cream Trucks nationwide.

For a really crazy taste, visit Boston. At Craigie On Main, Chef Tony Maws will serve you a white asparagus ice cream to top off your culinary experience – complete with Candied Hyssop and Anise Hyssop sprinkles. At Storefront Company in Chicago, request the eggplant scoop, with Japanese and Italian eggplant, a lemon caramel compote and meringues rolled in toasted whole wheat. (Photo of beet ice cream with pistachios: Liesl Henrichsen)

Creative Chicken & Waffles
Best place to try it: Kachina Southwestern Grill, Denver

Like Ramen, Chicken & Waffles has been around in classic form for many, many years. This dish has origins as far back as the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the 1600s, when farmer’s wives would top morning waffles with last night’s chicken and gravy. This past year, chefs across America have warmed to the soulful dish in innovative ways. You can still have a plate of the classic style in many venues, but we love the Mile High city’s southwestern spin by Chef Jeff Bolton. He plates up a jalapeno blue corn waffle and tops it with delicately fried quail. The condiments of whipped butter, powdered sugar and chipotle honey agave syrup send it to new heights. (Photo: Jenny Adams)

Cookbooks Based on Outlandish TV Shows
Best place to get one: Amazon.com

This trend is baffling at best. Instead of going out, some authors suggest you stay home and cook dishes inspired by True Blood. Or The Walking Dead. You can also test out dishes the characters might eat on Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey or Mad Men. While cookbooks based on TV shows are not a new phenomenon, usually they are produced surrounding shows that have something to do with preparing food. These recent ones seem to only tie in if you consider that the characters do, in fact, eat. As for True Blood and The Walking Dead, those characters tend to eat each other, making it a completely confusing correlation.

We haven’t cooked from any of these tomes, and we can’t say the trend should slink off into the shadows, necessarily. But we just remain a bit … baffled.

Adult Boozy Slushies
Best place to try it: The Monkey Wrench, Louisville, Kent.

The cocktail movement got a bit austere for a while – speakeasies, vested barkeeps, stirred rye drinks. Now, there’s a more playful approach at several bars. In New York City, places like Mother’s Ruin, located in the Nolita neighborhood, and The Tippler, located in Chelsea, have instituted blended/slushie versions of classic cocktails over the past few years. At Mother’s Ruin, they change daily depending on what’s in season. Their Sasssquash, for instance, is a frozen cup of rum, lemon, roasted butternut squash, maple syrup and Angostura bitters. At Tippler, the menu year-round offers the Snowgroni, a slushie-fied Negroni. These were the frontrunners that inspired a nationwide popularity, and smaller cities, like Louisville, Kentucky have gotten in on the action. At The Monkey Wrench, Beverage Director Jared Schubert puts in a slushie machine twice a month. “The other day we did a fantastic batch of frozen Pimm’s Cups,” he says. “We have been doing this the beginning of the summer. I’ve had to experiment with the machine. Classic cocktails don’t always behave the same way when frozen.” (Photo: Jenny Adams)

Ramen
Best place to try it: Ippudo, New York City

The traditional breakfast/lunch/dinner bowl common across Japan has long been available stateside. But in the last year this hearty noodle soup has spread, prompting New York’s famous Ippudo location (where the wait is often over two hours) to open a second West Village spot last month. The biggest ramen fans are queuing up in Brooklyn, at the outdoor food market Smorgasburg. The Ramen Burger debuted last month, combining the classic dishes of America and Japan in a truly unexpected way. Creator Keizo Shimamoto garnished a burger with a proprietary Shoyu sauce, arugula and green onions, and sandwiched the sucker between buns made entirely from ramen noodles. He’s since been featured on ABC News, The New York Post, and The Christian Science Monitor. (Photo: Keizo Shimamoto)

Low Alcohol Cocktails
Best place to try it: The French 75 bar, New Orleans

A few years ago, over-proof spirits became popular among bartenders and mixologists. These liquors with a higher proof stood up to bright juices, hard shaking and muddled herbs, yielding cocktails with more powerful flavor profiles. This year, many bartenders are balancing their menus in the opposite direction, with low alcohol tipples – designed as both aperitifs, meant to open the palate before a meal, and as choices for those who might be driving or avoiding a buzz.

Gitane and Elixir, both located in San Francisco, have options. Gitane has eight on the menu (sip the Voluptuoso) and Elixir owner H. Joseph Ehrmann started his non-alcohol and low-alcohol cocktail lists upon first learning his wife was pregnant. Check out his take on a classic Pimm’s Cup. Our salute as the best goes to The French 75 bar down in New Orleans and the super refreshing Lillet Cobbler (pictured here), with Lillet Blanc, Crème de Mure and fresh lime juice. (Photo: Brian Huff Photography)

Juice Cleanses
Best place to try it: Take your pick. It’s everywhere.

Kale and raw beets. Swiss chard and organic wheatgrass. We estimate you had no idea how much you needed the juice of these until this year. Juice bars have been cropping up (pun intended) around our country, and people have been embracing a liquid diet by juicing at home with organized programs and helpful cookbooks. With America’s obesity issue and the question of genetically modified foods on the table, this is one trend that’s likely to morph into a long-term regime for some. (Photo: PSD Design)