EDMONTON — 2015. I declare you Year of the Ugly.
Begone airy macarons, frothy cupcakes, and fey foams. This year, awkward comes into its own with rustic, bumpy meatballs laced with gooey cheese or studded with fresh herbs. Vegetables such as rutabaga, celery root, cardoon, and kohlrabi will be deemed so ugly, they are sexy, like Javier Bardem after a bit of a bender.
These roughhewed veg will be broken down into something manageable – a gratinée, a mash, a puréed potion.
That’s the micro-trend, what you can actually fit into your mouth.
But ugly goes big, too, and will be seen in restaurant and pub designs that are just this side of seedy. If you want to know what I’m talking about, check out Denizen Hall in the newly restored Grand Hotel downtown. You might want to run and hide (eek! vintage velvet paintings, Naugahyde chairs). Or you may just happily belly up to the bar and order crispy fried chicken with a side of buttermilk biscuits.
Watch also for a sprinkling of smaller trends, the men’s striped socks of the food world. Hummus will be big, but not the chickpea combo on every buffet table in the kingdom. Hummus will be made with other basics, such as edamame, black beans and beets.
Vintage sweets, including Flapper pie and buttermilk doughnuts swathed in pastel pink icing, will emerge from under their retro, dinerstyle glass covers. Smoking goes beyond meat (bye-bye barbecue) and shows up in spices and oils.
Watch for more good restaurants to be opening up in suburban locations rather than downtown, and not just in Edmonton, but in other western cities such as Calgary and Vancouver. In YEG, Pampa is opening in southwest Edmonton, and a new dining hub in St. Albert will feature a pizza and wine bar by Sorrentino’s, called Buca, and a Delux Burger Bar.
I spoke to five chefs with a profile on the national scene, and five locals to see what trends are on their radar, and which trends they are ushering out the door. Their comments have been condensed and edited.
Vikram Vij, owner of three Vancouver restaurants and panellist on Dragon’s Den
Chef Vikram Vij of Vancouver thinks regional cooking will be hot in 2015.
COMING IN:
“The biggest thing is going to be regional cooking, so not just Italian cooking, but rather, Italian cooking from a specific region. My restaurant in south Surrey, My Shanti, just got a best restaurant award in Vancouver for 2014, and that’s what I did for that restaurant. During my travels in India through different areas and regions, I picked up ideas and then came back and gave the menu that twist.”
GOING OUT:
“I don’t worry about what has happened in the past and what’s out. I say ‘what am I going to enjoy next’?”
Corbin Tomaszeski, Warburg-born, Toronto chef and star of Food Network Canada’s Dinner Party Wars, Restaurant Takeover and Restaurant Makeover
Chef Corbin Tomaszeski of Toronto, sees a trend toward wellness in food in 2015.
COMING IN:
I think there is going to be greater sense toward wellness in foods, with a balance between indulgence and ingredients that are good for you. There is this huge gravitation toward comfort foods, but now I see people manipulating those dishes into meals that work for them as a family and for their bodies. Dietary restrictions, glucose intolerance, lactose intolerance – these things have an impact.
GOING OUT:
Cooking with a recipe. I’m amazed at how many people feel they have to conform to a recipe, or to their environment or their tools. I want people to pantry-raid cook, cook with what’s in your community and what’s in your budget. Adapt, substitute, swap things up and make it your own, and you’ll enjoy it every time. That will take away the expectations of having to be perfect in the kitchen.”
Connie DeSousa, co-owner, Charcut Roast House in Calgary and finalist in Top Chef Canada
Connie DeSousa, co-chef and co-owner of Charcut Roast House in Calgary, says dry aged meat will be an on-trend ingredient in 2015.
COMING IN:
“The on-trend ingredient for 2015 is dry aged meat, with its incredible nuttysweet flavour from the fat, and a little umami funk. The old ways are becoming rediscovered, explored and evolved. Recently we were Chicago for Taste Talks. And our friend, Toronto chef Matty Matheson, was there, along with Chicago chef Paul Kahan of Publican Quality Meats, and his head butcher and chef, Missy Corey. They are experimenting with longer aging of beef all the way up to 90 days. The meat starts to dehydrate and shrink as the water inside it evaporates. The meat becomes concentrated in flavour and extremely tender.”
GOING OUT:
“While pretty, I don’t enjoy eating over-the-top, stylized food. I crave simple, done right.”
Sarah Masters-Phillips, executive chef of Belgravia Hub
Sarah Masters-Phillips, chef at Belgravia Hub, says meatballs like these made with with bison at the restaurant, are trending in 2015.
COMING IN:
“Home pickling and fermenting is big, and here at the restaurant we have a couple of homemade chutneys, and a red onion pickle for one of our sandwiches, and a cold carrot pickle for the hummus.
Family-style, whole chicken dinners in restaurants is becoming popular, and meatballs, too.
For sweets, the old-fashioned square is coming back – Nanaimo bars, brownies, blondies, lots of shortbread crusts with toppings. Squares will be the next cupcake.”
GOING OUT:
“Kale, I feel like we have beat it to death. Other leafy greens are equally good and nutritious. I’ve been happy to see quinoa slowly moving out.”
Rob Feenie, executive chef of Cactus Club and the first Canadian ever to win Iron Chef America
Cactus Club executive chef Rob Feenie, right, says cooking at home will be more popular in 2015.
COMING IN:
“People are cooking more at home, and a lot of the things that used to be available only to chefs are available to the public, and everywhere, like in south Surrey, where I live. Here in Vancouver, people are more tied down with their mortgages, and eating at home is more reasonable – and you can get really good products. People are spending $50, $60, $70 on olive oil for cooking at home.”
GOING OUT:
“I’d like to see less complicated food, because it doesn’t have to be. Younger chefs, I tell them not to follow trends for the sake of following trends, follow it because it’s right and proper. The more complex you make it, the less people enjoy it. I experimented a lot in my 20s, and it only goes so far.”
Michael Howell, chef consultant in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and head of Devour! The Food Film Fest
Chef Michael Howell of Wolfville N.S., thinks barbecue is disappearing, and poutine may be on the way out, too.
COMING IN:
“There is a renewed interest in seaweed and in using it in different ways. Fundy Dulse just made it on to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. New and cool sandwiches are king here, and food trucks, too, but now they’re moving inside, to an interior space inside in an industrial park, which is a food desert. We’re also seeing a lot of successful restaurants downtown opening in the suburbs, too. They are realizing they need to be out where the customers live.”
GOING OUT:
“Smoked food is gone in my world, I think barbecue is disappearing. Poutine might be on its way out, too, and nose-to-tail is vanishing as well. There is a movement away from haute cuisine and toward rustic, away from exotica to a more centrist cuisine.”
Michael Hassell, executive chef of Vivo Ristorante
Michael Hassell, head chef at Vivo Ristorante in Edmonton, says curing meat will be a trend in 2015.
COMING IN:
“Curing meat in all its beauty. I do it at Vivo and it can take a year to make a house-cured prosciutto. It’s hard to do because it’s hard to commit to, but it’s cost effective and there are such unique flavours, such as juniper. Plus, I can control the salt content. I’m working on a pork cheek, and a coppa, which is the neck of the pig.”
GOING OUT:
“I am shockingly tired of the fancy cocktail. I realize the art form that’s involved, but I don’t like waiting 25 minutes for a drink. I just want a Negroni. I’m a simple creature.”
Nathin Bye, executive chef and co-owner of Ampersand 27
Chef Nathin Bye of Ampersand 27 in Edmonton says pork belly will no longer be centre stage in 2015.
COMING IN:
“Retro recipes and ingredients, with everybody making their own jams and jellies and pickles, and canning. I think dishes are going to become a little more on the simplistic side, focusing on just a few ingredients, instead of orchestrated entrees. There is a reason I went with a sharing menu; it’s the way of the future, and you’ll pick to share instead of going in and having a main course on your own. I think we’re going to see the shift away from heavier sauces and toward more fruit and vegetable-based sauces that lightly accent.”
GOING OUT:
“Pork belly is not going to be centre stage anymore.”
Lino Oliviera, executive chef of Sabor
Chef Lino Oliviera of Sabor restaurant in Edmonton foresees a decline in formal dining in 2015.
COMING IN:
“People are turning to the less common fish and seafood like sardines and mackerel. We’ve always had octopus on the menu, but now our sales are huge. Also sustainable seafood, being conscientious about where your food comes from, and how is it affecting your community and your environment. It’s our responsibility as restaurants and chefs to bring that to the table, too.”
GOING OUT:
“Formal dining. We got rid of our tablecloths, partly because people aren’t as interested in sitting down with all the proper tableware anymore. People want better food, and better service, with less fuss.”
Gail Hall, owner of Seasoned Solutions
Chef Gail Hall of Edmonton sees a big year ahead for members of the allium family — shallots, garlic and leeks — and the decline of the cupcake.
COMING IN:
“All members of the allium family from shallots, garlic, spring onions, Spanish onions to leeks. Especially great when braising and roasting. We’ll be seeing more interesting combinations of fruits, and herbs and spices for sauces and cocktails.”
GOING OUT:
“Cupcakes, in particular ones that are not made with real ingredients like butter and sugar. I’m not sure why people think they can eat one or two of these, instead of a full slice of a great dessert made with real ingredients.”