Every new restaurant serves the same 'unique' dishes as every other place

I never need to eat another kale Caesar salad again. Or romanesco. Or expensive ramen. Or truffle fries

Eater editor Greg Morabito published “Every Trendy Restaurant Menu” way back in 2014 and I still can’t stop thinking about it. The menu was divided into five sections that began with “tiny stuff you’re supposed to share” and just got better from there: “high-roller bivalves,” “Amish chicken in the big city”, “what a weird uni dish”, “an unconventional riff on Brussels sprouts”. Every single item made me laugh out loud and wince in recognition – and so did the prices, from $9 for “eight olives in a ramekin” to $19 for “burger that’s crazier than it needs to be”.

I’m reminded of it every time I eat out at a restaurant and every time I read a cookbook or food blog because, right now, almost all of them evoke an identical ideal: a bistro, basically, but seasonal, and very sensitive to the provenance of its ingredients. It’s a fine ideal – but sometimes it seems like the only one going, and that’s a bummer.