New Dining Trends: Foodie Kids, No Dress Code, and Hay

The eagle-eyed trendspotters from the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine are totally keyed into the styles of the day. What's hot right now? Kid foodies (as young as three!) eschewing chicken fingers and demanding Nobu's black cod with miso; dress codes getting relaxed so people are wearing jeans to restaurants; and chefs cooking with hay.

It's possible (and likely) that in some instances, all of this is going on at the same time: kids wearing denim overalls and flip flops munching on Michelin-grade hay! It's like the ninth circle of trend hell. When will this madness stop?

1) The Post looks at kids who eat at upscale restaurants and order food like sushi and the tasting menu at Thomas Keller's New York restaurant Per Se.

But is it a trend? In May 2010, the Times looked at fine dining restaurants that cater to your kid's needs, and the term "koodies" ("kid foodies") dates back to November 2009. In fact, people bring so many kids to fine restaurants these days that sometimes the shrieking hellspawn get banned from brunch! Verdict: An ongoing trend.

2 The Wall Street Journal, soothsayers that they are, pointed out the hot new trend of relaxed dress codes: "A majority of the iconic old-school restaurants that once mandated jackets and ties for men have replaced 'required' with 'requested.'" To drive the point home, fashionable people like Gay Talese, Steve Cuozzo, and Gilt Manual editor Tyler Thoreson shared their thoughts.

The relaxation of dress codes across all of American society can barely even be registered as a trend — Eater NY's dress code archives is both vast and deep — instead it's just another signifier of American population's sad decline into the sweatpants-wearing, Brawndo-guzzling masses you see at the airport. Verdict: Barely a trend.

3) And then New York magazine points out hay, in which chefs utilize the ingredient in "search of a certain parfum de barnyard". The Wall Street Journal wrote about hay back in November — so did hay become trendy, then untrendy, and is now trendy again? Verdict: Yes, a trend.

· Jacket (Not) Required [WSJ]
· For some New York City tykes, only the finest dishes will do [NYP]
· Stable-to-Table Dining [NYM]
· All Trendwatch on Eater [-E-]