I would think the growth of chain restaurants outweighs 1-10. I've never been able to figure out why someone would go to a keg instead of going to a real restaurant.

Ditto on foam.

Chefs that babble about architectural qualities of food.

"Tall" food. When served such, I take my knife in hand, silently mouth "Batter up!", swing, and "deconstruct" the dish.

Yup. Deconstruction. Just annoying. I don't mind if media whore chef who can (once) cook (Bourdain, Ripert). I mind the others (Rachael Ray, Rocco)

I'll add theme restaurants. Why oh why will anyone beyond 10 years old go to Rain Forest Cafe. Or Hard Rock, or ESPN....

And chain restaurants. They're not restaurant, they're just more expensive fast food with sit down service.

Hahahaha this reminds me of when I was pregnant... I craved bacon and ham all day every day. I ate a ham steak and eggs for breakfast, and then bacon bacon bacon. I actually lost 5 pounds while pregnant because I ate no carbs (gestational diabetes). Man, those 6 months of constant bacon consuming bring back great memories... now I eat it once or twice a month, tops.

4 and 6, but especially 4 (Foam). Done well it can be an interesting twist to a dish. I don't need it on every dish, and don't do it unless you are really competent.

+1

Especially, making dishes hot and spicy without any indication on the menu. I personally do not like and cannot eat food that is particularly hot, and I often get the simplest dishes that I cannot tolerate - especially soups. The other day the mashed potatoes had lots of pepper, never mentioned on the menu.

I don't understand the fad of putting the entree (such as a piece of meat) on top of one of the side dishes (such as the potatoes). It just makes the potatoes yucky and you have to move the meat over on the plate anyway.

Can we talk about Rosemary fronds sticking out of one's food - or was that last last decade?

:-::-: Agreed 100% ^^ :-::-:

Foam and deconstruction kinda get me..as do the pretentious menus that list pedigree of the cow that graciously provided the NY Strip i'm about to enjoy..and 40$ entrees suck, rarely are they worth it.

I'm not sure why, but some of the best overall restaurant meals I have ever had have been served this way, even though it wasn't necessary at all. Also, it certainly isn't new. I saw it much more often 15 years ago than I do today.

Rachel Ray is a chef? Since when? :eek:

Last decade!

Guilty pleasure, I like the rosemary. I just wish it were on the table when I sat down instead of in the food. It smells so darn good!

I love that! Put a slice of meat loaf on a pile of mashed potatoes and mix your side of peas into the mashed potatoes. Yum! ^

I think of the "stack" like that as a mid-late 1990s thing more than current, but yeah... didn't get it then, don't like it now.

Another pet peeve: restaurants that don't do steak well to begin with adding a couple of expensive steak option (whether "Kobe" or "dry aged.") If I wanted to spend that much on a steak, I'd go someplace with a fair bet of preparing it in the properr manner.