2011 Restaurant Trend List Includes, Well, Everything

Restaurant trend pieces are amusing. Making predictions about the future is pretty much just a process of looking at restaurants that have recently opened or what's about to open soon, and guessing that others will copy that, too. The most recent listicle from the "high-energy hospitality agency" Andrew Freeman & Co. is especially great, if only because it's so very long and casts its net so wide.

Apparently pie — all sorts, including sweet pies, savory pies, and bite-sized pies — is going to be hot next year. And who doesn't like pie? So here now, just for fun, in one long paragraph, are the awesome new trends of 2011.

Pie. The new mom and pop, One-ingredient restaurants, Mini plates, Multi-purpose spaces, Minimal menus, "Dirt," Hearth-healthy, Hot dogs and sausage shops, Vegetables, Fried vegetables, Soft-serve, High-end junk food, Popsicles, Yogurt, Swede inspiration, Breads, Bellies.

It's like a time machine into the very near future, can you feel it?

· Pies top 2011 restaurant trend list [NRN]
[Photo: eatmedaily.com]