10 L.A. Food Trends and Ridiculous Food Moments of 2013

1. Cocktail/Bar Food Hybrids

From Franklin and Company Tavern’s Bloody Mary Royale that includes a slider and onion ring, pictured above, to Pitfire Pizza’s “Slice on the Beach,” some of L.A.’s drink mixers took the idea of the “cocktail chef” quite literally in 2013.

2. Foraging

L.A. chefs are embracing Rene Redzepi’s locavore mantra with their use of foraged ingredients on several menus across Los Angeles. Restaurants that feature dishes with foraged ingredients include Red Medicine, Girasol, Forage, Alma and Allumette.

3. Magic Restroom Cafe

In case you didn’t catch Gideon Brower’s piece that documented his trip to Magic Restroom Cafe in the City of Industry, you definitely should give it a listen. While it remains unclear whether the Magic Restroom Cafe and it’s “golden poo-poo rice” are here to stay, its arrival certainly was a memorable moment in Los Angeles dining this year.

4. Ramen Burger

Created in Japan by Keizo Shimamoto, the ramen burger hit Los Angeles in September with its debut at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance. Many have likened the Ramen Burger craze to the cronut fad that swept L.A. earlier this summer. Shimamoto made at least 3 appearances in Los Angeles where his sought-after ramen burgers quickly sold out.

Rockenwagner’s Crö-dough, courtesy of arnold | inuyaki via Flickr

5. Cronut Knockoffs

Cronut knockoffs swept L.A. this year after New York Chef Dominique Ansel’s trademarked croissant-doughnut hybrid became a craze in New York City. L.A. bakeries were quick to imitate the popular pastry hybrid and produced their own iterations with a variety of trademark dodging names: Double Decker O-nuts, cronots, Fauxnuts, Crö-Doughs, croissant doughnut #trending to name a few. The L.A. Times’s Betty Hallock reviewed sixteen of the cronut imposters and provided a list of her five favorites.

6. Beverly Hills 90H20

We’ll let this one speak for itself. As described on their website, “Beverly Hills 9OH2O was designed by world-class sommeliers expressly for fine dining, special events, bottle service, and exclusive gifting. It is made available in limited editions of 10,000 diamond-like glass bottles, and every bottle is hand finished and expertly examined by white-gloved quality specialists.”

7. Coconut Water

“It’s the new soda,” says Alexis Rose, a good friend of Good Food’s producer, Gillian Ferguson on coconut water’s sudden popularity. Coconut water’s sudden rise among L.A.’s health conscious is even causing environmental concerns in Asia, where it is produced. People are slurping up this potassium-rich water faster than its palm trees in Asia can keep up.

8. Pig Ear Junk Food

Pig ears have been popular for the past couple of years in Los Angeles, but in 2013 pig ear junk food is starting to come into its own. Pig ear nachos as well as pig ear cheetos have appeared on menus in L.A this year.

9. No-Show Reservation Twitter Shaming at Red Medicine

It’s a given that you need a reservation to get a table at Red Medicine. But this year, the restaurant’s manager Noah Ellis took to twitter to express frustration at no-shows by publicly naming them on Twitter.

10.Flaming Drinks

Petty Cash and Sonny’s Hideaway are just two popular L.A. spots that featured drinks on fire.