As is the tradition at Eater, our closeout of the year is a survey of fellow food-writer friends. We asked the group eight questions about the highs and lows of San Francisco dining over the past year, and we'll be running two compilations of their responses (which are in no particular order) each weekday from now through New Year's Eve.
Alta CA. [Photo: Patricia Chang]
Q: What are your headline predictions for 2014?
Jonathan Kauffman, Tasting Table: 2014: MORE OF THE SAME. We haven't seen the end of the ramen blitz, nor upscale Japanese, Cal-Mex, vegetable-centric menus, East Coast Italian food, and the craft beer boom.
Sarah Sung, UrbanDaddy: "A sudden backlash against prix-fixe dining." (And hopefully the comeback of more family-style, casual and hearty meals.) "Vegetables are the new pork belly." (Don't kill the messenger.) "The juicing craze is over and people are chewing again." "Beer is the new wine." "Goodbye rustic, reclaimed barnwood, and exposed-brick decor, hello midcentury modern."
Andrew Dalton, SFist: "You'll Never Guess What This Top Chef Junior Cooked Sous Vide. But At 1:40 You'll Be Drooling"
Carolyn Alburger, Zagat and San Francisco magazine: Sriracha Shortage Spawns Local, Organic Hot Sauce Knockoffs. Michael Mina-To-Go Opens Inside SFO. Proposed SF Chronicle Hybrid Food Section, "Craft," Faces Tom Colicchio Lawsuit.
Tamara Palmer, Zagat: Chris Cosentino Debuts Macrobiotic Vegan Restaurant. Sushirrito Opens Pizzapoo, Combo Pie Parlor and Shampoo Bar.
Jay Barmann, SFist/7x7: Everyone Bloated; Wine Is the New Beer
Virginia Miller, The Perfect Spot: The year of the Mid-Market revival. Or: Kudos to Ma'velous, Little Griddle, Showdogs, et. al. for holding steady before the Mid-Market onslaught hit. Or: Alta CA signifies Mid-Market's glory days are at hand.
Amy Sherman, Cooking with Amy: Foie gras ban overturned! Ok, probably not, but a girl can dream, can't she?
Mary Polizzotti, 7x7: Google buses head to the Richmond and Sunset districts; La Boulange and Tacolicious follow suit.
Lauren Sloss, Serious Eats: Pickling Projects Gone Bad Lead To Major Explosions City-Wide
Maggie Hoffman, Serious Eats: Drinks: 2014 will be the year of San Francisco finally figuring out the food-delivery thing, I hope.
Marcia Gagliardi, Tablehopper: "SF's Last Dive Bar Declared a Historic Landmark, Saved from Fernet on Tap." "La Rondalla: Still Not Open." "The Goddesses of Food."
Brock Keeling, SFist: I'd like to see women take center stage in the kitchen. Similar to stand-up comedians and bosses, women make better chefs. For me, they just do. Though I suspect we'll see the same headlines in 2014 that we read over and over and over in 2013: "Male Chef, Boasting Too Much Facial Hair and a Misguided Philosopher's Complex, Cooks Something."
· Food Experts Talk About Their 2013 Restaurant Breakups [~ ESF ~]
· Friends of Eater Pick Their Single Best Meal of 2013 [~ ESF ~]
· All Year in Eater posts [~ ESF ~]
