According to a Nation's Restaurant News overview of menu trends for 2012
modern takes on Thai cuisine and street-style Indian food will be the hot restaurant trends in 2012.
Andrew Freeman, principal of consulting and public relations firm Andrew Freeman & Co., predicted a shift toward the exotic in an annual trend-spotting webinar.
Some themes this San Francisco-based hospitality consultant highlighted are continuing trends that have been gaining steam for the past few years, such as the ongoing interest in grilled cheese, healthful indulgences and
the customization of French fries with dipping sauces or style of cut.
There is one other reference to potato products in this interesting list of food trends for 2012: Freeman predicts the Dutch dark treacle syrup known as stroop will soon catch on in the U.S. He points to the restaurant Vandaag in New York, where stroop syrup spikes a potato dish with bacon, apple and grilled chicory.
Given my Dutch roots I had to find out more on this last dish. This is what I found in the blog
"Eating the big apple"
OK, what I really want to talk about are the potatoes…
“Stroop sauce” which I later learned a la Google is a sweet caramel syrup popular in the Netherlands and often served between two butter waffle cookies. It’s essentially sugar, butter, cinnamon and water. But Vandaag’s version was upped a notch with some kind of chili powder or spice. It was “hot lightning” indeed!
But man, was it good. Sweet, sticky, savory soft potatoes with chewy bits of bacon and a massive kick in the mouth afterwards.
An amazing side dish!
Potato dish with stroop in NY restaurant Vandaag (Courtesy: Eating the big apple)