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Food Trends: March 2008

Tequila Gets Trendy

The sun is shining on tequila, especially in southern California. According to the Los Angeles Times, tequila bars are the new wine bars. Choices abound, with some bars offering 350 varieties of tequila ranging in prices from $10 to $175 a shot. But the appeal isn't limited to the West Coast—tequila bars are popping up all over the country including Denver, Milwaukee and Raleigh.

The first thing to know on your path to becoming a tequilier is that the most common kind of tequila is Tequila Mixto (mixed), and it is made from a minimum of 51% Blue Agave. If it simply says "tequila" on the label, you know it's a mixed tequila. The more refined tequila is made from 100% Blue Agave, and will be noted on the label as "Tequila 100% de agave" or "Tequila 100% puro de agave."

As you learn more, you'll add terms to your vocabulary like silver or blanco (not aged), extra anejo (aged for three years or more) and others. Your technique will also need to expand beyond knocking back a shot with a slice of lime and some salt. Sipping allows the flavors to reveal themselves. Host a tasting and show your customers how to use and enjoy the range of tequilas available. Check out a website like tequilla.net to learn more.
Tequila bars are the new wine bars, popping up on the West Coast and in Denver, Milwaukee and Raleigh.

Say It Loud

Show off your food attitude with these creative tops. FoodTees espouse 25 meaningful messages such as No Sugar Added, Locally Grown, Flower Child, Sweet, All Natural, Live Green, Stalker, Organic, Spicy, Bite Me and Graniac. Created by the folks at DietDetective.com, these food slogans are available for adults, children, toddlers and babies (you're never too young to have an opinion) in a variety of shapes and sizes and on aprons and totes. Prices range from $15 – $29. As an added plus, DietDetective.com donates a portion of the profits of FoodTees to The Food Studies Institute, which is devoted to improving the health of children through proper nutrition and education. Visit foodtee.com.

Roaming Restaurants

Underground supper clubs have been infiltrating the restaurant scene. What began as an "anti-restaurant" movement in northern California and Oregon has become a popular venue for aspiring chefs who have the motivation and talent but not the funds for a storefront. Eating adventurers have piled into roaming spaces in New York, Austin, Texas and Seattle.

Chef Eskender Aseged—founder of Radio Africa & Kitchen (radioafricakitchen.com)—has created a successful and popular nomadic restaurant experience in San Francisco, serving delicious, sustainable meals out of organically grown ingredients. Known as the nomadic chef, Aseged is from Ethiopia and worked in Bay Area restaurants for 20 years before starting his at-home, by-donation restaurant in 2004. It became popular by word of mouth for its delicious, healthy "Red Sea meets Mediterranean" food where guests sit together at large community tables and African music plays in the background.

Recently, a friend brought me along to Aseged's garden apartment in the Mission District, where we mingled with 30 or so other guests who were looking for a dining-out adventure. Dinners at Aseged's apartment are rare these days, but with a reservation, you can enjoy his meals twice a week—on Wednesdays and Thursdays at Velo Rouge Cafe, and every other Sunday at Sweet Adeline Bakeshop in Berkeley. A menu at Velo Rouge may start with saffroned mussels and wild rice dolma with sumac, followed by butternut squash soup with fire-roasted chestnuts and Greek-style yogurt. Main courses include seared Ahi tuna with smoked bell pepper and tomato sauce. If you have room, Aseged will awe you with wildflower honey Baklava with fresh pomegranate juice and candied ginger. For $40 per person prix fixe, I'd say it's the best deal in town.
An at-home, by-donation nomadic restaurant in San Francisco serves "Red Sea meets Mediterranean" food.

Fishphone to the Rescue

You've just heard the fish specials of the day but can't decide which is the better environmental choice—blue fin tuna or tilapia? That's why the Blue Ocean Institute launched Fishphone, an instant way to get updates. Text Fishphone at 30644, then type in the word fish and the name of the fish you want to know about. You'll immediately receive a text with the information. Or, access news at fishphone.org.
An instant way to get updates on the latest fish recommendations.

"Locavore" Finds Fame

Two years ago a group of four women in San Francisco proposed that local residents try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius and called that dietary concept "locavore." The idea more than caught on: The New Oxford American Dictionary named "locavore" the 2007 Word of the Year. Other regional movements have emerged since then, though some groups refer to themselves as "localvores." You say tomato, I say to-mah-to.

The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers' markets or even to grow or pick their own food. Locavores also urge against shopping in supermarkets because shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation. Publishing company Edible Communities is supporting locavores nationwide with Edible magazines, which are filled with articles on local farmers, farmers' markets, sustainable businesses and general inspiration for going local. There are more than 40 Edible publications in the U.S. and Canada, ranging from Edible Santa Fe and Edible Twin Cities to Edible Brooklyn and Edible Memphis. Free copies are available at some local establishments in those areas or by subscription at ediblecommunities.com.
A local movement's moniker becomes the 2007 Word of the Year.