The writer's 10 worst, with photos at the bottom:

1. Deconstruction
2. The chef as media whore
3. The menu as book
4. Foam
5. Knee-jerk online reviews
6. Proudly obnoxious fast food options
7. The Communal Table
8. The $40 entrée
9. Molecular gastronomy
10. Fried onion blossoms

Decades from now, when you reflect on what dining was like during the fledgling years of the 21st century, on a good day you will picture a heartening trend toward comfort food in the wake of Sept. 11 and a well-meaning push toward locally sourced menus.

But on a bad day, when someone asks what the worst restaurant trends of that first decade were, will you be able to shut up? One restaurant type cracked: "As long as we're not naming names, I'll talk. Because now that you ask this, specific chefs and self-important restaurants are coming to mind."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...6.photogallery

The faux server familiarity served up in North America stretches back more than a decade but it would be included on my list. The annoying "Terry will be your server this evening," "Hi Guys, My name is Bob and I'll be serving you this evening," etc. is only heightened by the occasional "And how are we tonight?" to which I sometimes reply "We're fine, and how are we?" I'm not really interested in establishing a meaningful relationship. I only seek good food and decent service. YMMV.

Cheers,
Fredd

My personal bete noire is so-called "fusion". Simply put, I prefer to experience the strengths of one particular cuisine at a time, not a juxtaposition of flavors and ingredients that tends to make the food unfocused.

I disagree with just about everything in the diaTRIBe. Jusr goes to show
that universal literacy may not be a good thing.

I absolutely agree with 1 (deconstruction) and 4 (foam) and would add sous vide. But my #1 pet peeve is deconstructed. It is stupid, stupid, stupid.

The first four on the list and number 9

What is "foam"?

The trend I hate the most is this over the top bacon must be in everything trend. I get it, you love bacon and it's bad for you. Also, you love rebelling against the idea of living healthily, so you have to now infuse vodka with bacon, put it on your donuts, make a friggin' apple pie with bacon and come up with something called Bacon Salt.

Seriously, enough! I enjoy bacon too but I don't need to have it with everything.

I always think of spit when I see "foam". I don't get it, obviously.

I think for me is the over-complication of food (shoulder of lamb sous-vide with a gastrique of blood orange infused with lemongrass candy served with a manchego cheese and port wine reduction foam served with pea shoots in a dashi-kombu broth accompanied by a truffle and champagne vinaegrette). This then leads to every other chef copying said Frankenstein dish and charging outrageous sums of money for it.

However, a good "foam" and a well deconstructed dish can be very satisfying in the right hands. Sadly, there are too few of those "right" hands in the kitchens.

For me, it is the over seasoning of food. Too often, the meat, chicken or fish that I order tastes nothing like meat, chicken or fish. The too liberal use of seasonings (especially garlic) covers up the natural taste of the animal being eaten. At times it makes the food unrecognizable.
Simplicity is best...and a lighter hand on the seasoning goes a long way!

It seems that Pork Belly is now on every menu.

Yes. I've had, in all those years, exactly one restaurant which did a good (or better said, fantastic) job in having really some kind of good working fusion food.(Italian/Chinese) Everything else was fail.

It's always that a few restaurants know how to do something right, have success, and than others will try to copy them.

<-Foam. Too many foams, not enough people who know how to use it.

bacon vodka - own it
bacon donut - had em and love em
apple pie with bacon - never tried it
bacon salt - have a box of it, but havent tried it

I will admit that the bacon mints were gross, but a bacon maple bar is a mighty tasty piece of food


I'll take your share

Hardly worth the effort - doesn't taste like bacon at all.
Have to fight me for it!