FOOD TRENDS

Every year brings fresh food trends, and 2023 was no different. These bites turned up in rarefied and mainstream venues alike. Will they be on the menu in 2024 and beyond? Only time will tell.

Pastéis de nata

Portuguese food has been enjoying a culinary moment this year, and that’s helped popularize these flaky handheld custard tarts, which are devoured in a few bites or less. Three newcomers have you covered, whether you’re after the traditional egg-custard filling (go to Merenda Box in Conshocken), a rotating flavor lineup (Gilda in Fishtown), or a classic iteration heavily dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon (Grace & Proper in South Philly, pictured).

Potato chips

Many Philly dives stock bags of Herr’s or Utz, but the humble potato chip became a go-to snack at upscale bars in 2023. Whether they’re made in-house or brought in by a supplier, the chips were gussied up with 12-hour onion dip (Carbon Copy), trout roe (Bloomsday), charred corn aioli (Redcrest Kitchen), and Calabrese salami (Grace & Proper, pictured).

Liver mousse

If you’re thinking, “Liver? A top trend?” then you haven’t tried it in mousse form. Enriched with butter, cream, and aromatics, then blitzed and strained till it’s velvety smooth, liver mousse — be it chicken or duck — swept menus this winter because it’s perpetually delicious and profitable. Many places have cycled it out during warmer weather, but you can always find it at a.kitchen (pictured) and the Dutch.

Halal hot chicken

Spicy chicken is nothing new, but this year it moved beyond a menu item, sparking brick-and-mortar storefronts dedicated to serving up hot halal chicken sandwiches. Find them in Northeast (Asad’s Hot Chicken), Olney (Captain’s Hot Chicken), Germantown (Hot Clucks, pictured), Old City (Hangry Joe’s), and South Philly (OK Hot Chicken).

Wagyu

High-end beef — some authentically Japanese, much of it not — made its way to dozens of menus this year, from a $7 sandwich at Arby’s to a $700 burger at Midtown’s DBG. Zahav sold wagyu brisket for Passover. Amina in Old City made wagyu meat loaf with collard greens gratin. Chubby Cattle in Chinatown ladled it into pho. Forsythia served up a tartare tartine. Sate Kampar’s Ange Branca weaved wagyu into seven courses, including cookies. For home cooks who want to get in on the trend, butcher shops like KP’s Fine Meats in Port Richmond sell Australian and Japanese wagyu steaks (pictured).