Af&Co., a restaurant and hospitality consulting firm that represents eateries and catering companies in various U.S. cities, also included high-energy, experiential stations in its 2018 trends report. Salt Lake City-based catering and event planning company Culinary Crafts offers a fresh-pulled mozzarella station.
A catering trend that's here to stay is Instagram-worthy visual elements. Kimpton chefs and bartenders say 2018 menu planning will take into consideration sensory dishes and cocktails that include imaginative and artful visual elements ideal for social sharing. The Outsider, a rooftop bar at the Journeyman Hotel in Milwaukee, features a cocktail made with sherry and cream, which is garnished with a flowering herb bouquet and zebra-striped straw.
Geraldine's at Hotel Van Zandt, a Kimpton Hotel, in Austin serves a snow cone that consists of a white chocolate cone with strawberry granita and peppercorn meringue.
Chicago-based Fig Catering noted that the taco trend isn't going anywhere—but expect more unique fillings, rather than standard Mexican fare. Taco fusions could include Korean kalbi, fried Italian peppers, Mediterranean lamb and harissa, and Japanese uni seaweed.
Pretzel and doughnut walls have become familiar at events, but the wall concept itself is a trend that will continue, according to Toronto-based catering company Eatertainment. The company offers an ombré macaron peg wall, offering vanilla, rose, cotton candy, grapefruit cayenne, and Peruvian chocolate flavors.
Bread & Butter Public Relations, which represents eateries and hotel restaurants throughout the U.S., noted that a dessert trend will involve nostalgic desserts aimed at kids, which are given an upgrade for adults. Hotel Colonnade in Coral Gables, Florida, serves a nitro dessert station that offers boozy ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. Flavors such as Grand Marnier, dark rum, Godiva Chocolate Liquor, and Chambord are served with a variety of ice cream social-style toppings.
Andrea Correale, founder and C.E.O. of New York-based catering company Elegant Affairs, said that health food trends will again be prominent in 2018 for clients focused on fitness and nutrition. For people on keto, paleo, vegan, or vegetarian diets, said that an ideal option is a bar offering a variety of ingredients for customized Buddha Bowls, which usually consist of vegetables, healthy grains, and protein.
With guests wanting to know how their food is made, the in-house catering team at the Drake Hotel in Toronto believes experiential catering stations will take off next year. Examples include its pasta station, which allows guests to watch as chefs take pasta as a raw semolina mix, extrude it through a pasta machine to form a noodle, cook the noodle, and mix it in a cheese bowl before serving.
Another trend Af&Co. noted was mix of classic, nostalgic dishes with a modern twist. Classic vegetable crudité is served on ice, and with a not-so-classic sunflower seed hummus and hemp oil dip, at Acacia House in Napa, California.
Justin Anderson, director of hospitality for Denver's Zeppelin Station—a 100,00-square-foot culinary concourse and creative workspace opening in January—says American barbecue dishes with international twists will be on trend in 2018. Injoi Korean BBQ, a vendor at the soon-to-open venue, serves dishes such as Korean fried chicken.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants recently released its fourth annual culinary and cocktails trends forecast, which surveyed chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and general managers across 37 cities in the U.S., as well as Kimpton properties in Europe and the Caribbean. Ninety-one percent of bartenders said they plan to use vegetables in their cocktails in 2018—and not just as garnishes. Expect to see nontraditional vegetables such as beets, carrots, butternut squash, radishes, green beans, and more popping up in cocktails next year. A radish-infused cocktail is available at Vol. 39 in Chicago.
Kimpton also reports that Nordic influences and flavors will make its way onto more menus this year. Outlier in Seattle serves beet-cured salmon with dill cream cheese, cucumber, shaved fennel, and pickled mustard seeds.
