Everything is born and dies in New York. And it is born again.
It was in the late 1990s when someone with a knack for labeling trends came up with the idea of fast casual . Wikipedia says that someone was Paul Barron , who coined it when he created the website ** Fastcasual.com ** in 1997, which still functions as the main source of information on this type of gastronomic trend.
The fast casual was born then as a response to the fast food and to fine dining and evolution of casual dining . A perfect hybrid that condenses all the values of the eating habits of average Americans, but now in this rebirth that it is experiencing, it has spread to all social classes and cooks. The American specialized media consider it the great gastronomic trend launched in 2015 and that will explode in 2016 , although they refer to the appearance of ** Chipotle or Shake Shack ** a decade ago to explain the origins of this boom in chains (or almost chains) of restaurants in short menu, no table service, fast and at a good price in a nice place.
Shake Shack's Meaty (But Organic) Delight
They are, to simplify, the worst enemy of McDonald's and other fast food chains. But also a concept that diners, or neighborhood restaurants, look at with suspicion. And how do they differ from each other? For all this:
Happy chickens and cows
Quality is everything. It is its greatest asset against fast food chains. Sites like ** Shake Shack **, created by Danny Mayer (the same one behind ** Eleven Madison **, one of the most famous luxury restaurants in New York) or fuku , by David Chang , ensure that the chickens and cows that they serve in the form of delicious hamburgers have had a full life. They are almost always local product and of course, organic.
Shake Shack Way of Life
Speed
Its advantage over casual dining restaurants. You go in, you order, they give it to you and you sit down or take it with you. Pum, Pum, Pum. So it should be . The problem appears when the site is so popular that the queue to order is eternal. It is what continues to happen at peak hours in any Shake Shack, the daily bread in Fuku or in ** Superiority Burger **.
Good price
On a site of fast casual you shouldn't pay more than 20 dollars for the total of your food. Whether it's sandwiches, burgers or a pasta dish. It is part of the success. And part of the complexity of the issue. The great chefs want a piece of the cake of this booming trend and must find products, dishes or methods that make their kitchen cheaper or usually expensive or not available to everyone. David Chang got it with **Fuku**: the place that only serves fried chicken sandwich . He did so well that he has already opened a new branch in New York: ** Fuku + **. And plan to continue expanding.
David Chang's fast experiment
Simplicity
It is the way to low price and speed. Short menu, or not so short, but with a key concept . If we are hamburgers, we are hamburgers. And from there the accessories, their varieties. But they always extend the menu starting with the star food. As ** Parm **, the local of Major Food Group which opened its first outpost in Mulberry in 2011 focusing on italian american sandwich . From there they have expanded to have a menu that includes pasta dishes at their Upper West Side and Battery Park branches.
It is not a Warhol. Although it could be.
Vegetarianism
It is one of the main legs of the revival of the fast casual . The idea that fast food does not mean junk food has led to the commitment to Vegetables and veggies . The success of the vegetarian burger Superior Burger in New York explains it that way. And so does the incursion of the chef Jose Andres in this sector with his last location in Washington, beefsteak , in which he has invested up to Gwyneth Paltrow , giving us more reasons to believe in this trend. Despite the name, at Beefsteak they only serve vegetables made at the moment and served in a bowl.
Daniel Humm and Will Guidara, the current owners of Eleven Madison and the NoMad restaurant will also open a vegetarian fast casual place in New York this year: Made Nice.
It's called 'meat' but it's not
Elegance
Or cuckoo. EITHER instagram-friendly . Whatever you want to call it. But if the place in question has its own style, a beautiful and functional design, a nice corner, some colored chairs. Something. Whatever. Earn points. It is an important point to keep that distance from the usual fast food chains.
The bowls and the poke
The last two reasons to understand this revival, as we told you a few months ago in the foodie trends that they would ask for it. The bowl is the new combination plate. The perfect utensil for the fusion of flavors . The ideal portion for a quick but casual meal. And very pro instagram . Well that. And, in addition, it has allied itself with the latest trend: the poké Raw fish, usually tuna, cut into pieces and marinated that comes from Hawaii. There are already three poké-only restaurants with chain aspirations: Pokéworks and Wisefish Poké just opened in New York; and Sweetfin, from Santa Monica in Los Angeles, stares down the East Coast.
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- All articles by Irene Crespo