NYC Restaurant Headline Predictions for 2020

Welcome to Year in Eater 2019, Eater’s annual ritual of eulogizing the past 12 months through input from the city’s top food writers. For 2019’s final week, Eater NY will be posting questions daily about New York City’s restaurant scene in the past year, with answers from those who know it best: Eater editors and friends of Eater. Finally, we ask: What are your predictions for 2020?

Monica Burton, associate restaurant editor at Eater: Ken Friedman Divests From the Spotted Pig
Fast Food Chain Replaces Popular Menu Item With New Fake Meat Version

Chris Crowley, staff writer at Grub Street: Chef Opens New Shop With $47 A5 Wagyu Rice Rolls

Anna Hezel, Senior Editor at TASTE: Hot People Are Eating More Salami Than Ever
Mister Softee Trucks Are Finally Allowed in Prospect Park
Rene Redzepi Announces Pop-Up Lasagna Concept in Jersey Suburbs

Tanay Warerkar, reporter at Eater NY: Tap Technology is the Only Way to Buy Food Now

Stefanie Tuder, senior editor of Eater NY: Developers Decide Food Halls Don’t Make Enough Money and Shutter Dozens of Restaurants

Robert Sietsema, Eater NY senior critic: Guatemalan and Venezuelan restaurants will happily proliferate offering much fuller menus than previously, and the city might see its first Laotian restaurant.

Korsha Wilson, writer: I’m mostly joking with these:
Internet Rages After Pete Wells’s Zero Star Review of Junior’s Cheesecake
[Insert any NY Chef Here] Moves Restaurant to Los Angeles
In-N-Out Burger Gets in on the Chicken Sandwich Game with Animal-Style Offering

Ryan Sutton, Eater NY’s chief critic: Maybe Billionaire Mega-Developers Will Realize That New Yorkers Don’t Need Tons More Steakhouses, Bland New American Spots, or Burger Joints
Regional Chinese Fare Continues to Diversify, Both From Smaller Local Operators and Good International Chains

Sonia Chopra, Eater director of editorial strategy: Local Vegetarian Leaves Town After Yet Another NYC Restaurant Serves Her a Cauliflower Steak Entree. Please stop!

Rachel Wharton, food writer and author of American Food: A Not-So-Serious History: I am still waiting for somebody to roll with so and so is the next Anthony Bourdain and for them to be right. The delicious and diverse cooking (and ingredients) of the African continent and its diaspora will continue to rise in the national food consciousness for many reasons ... If there’s not already a West African chop bar in NYC somewhere there will be soon. I’m ready!!

Cathy Erway, food writer: Rice rolls (like Joe’s Steam Rice Roll) have been all the rage lately and it may sound counterintuitive given all the regional Chinese cuisines that have more recently come to NYC but it seems like there is a growing interest in traditional Cantonese food traditions and in preserving the craft of Chinese food traditions we have long enjoyed. We don’t talk as much about the craft of, say, Chinese baked goods as we do of French pastry, but that may be changing, especially with places like Win Son Bakery giving them a fresh perspective for a diverse audience in Brooklyn.

Serena Dai, editor of Eater NY: Another Tech Guy Tries to Disrupt Food Space

Alex Staniloff, Eater NY photographer: Gochujang will be take over the mainstream lexicon. I’m sure 2020 will bring us Gochujang wings at TGI Fridays.

Charlotte Druckman, food writer and editor of Women on Food: Up Next in Lab-Grown Food: Impossible Tofu; Instant Pot Restaurant to Open in Times Square; Florida-Style Pizza Takes The City By Storm; C3 Announces Development of “Morbro,” A New Floating Food Hall Concept on the Hudson — High-profile restaurateurs lined up to launch dining venues on a barge; The Return of Lot 61; Are Members-Only Dining Clubs the Future of Restaurants?