2015 Observations and 2016 Predictions: Fried Chicken Sandos and Keeping It Casual

‘Tis the season for emotionally charged introspection, most often a result of heavy brown liquor and cookie consumption. We’ve been hopped up on whiskey and frosting for a good week already, and as a result, here’s a look back on what transpired in 2015, and what the year ahead might hold.

2015 Observations

• Wow. People of New York are either VERY excitable when it comes to fried chicken sandwiches, or NYC food media has essentially become just as good at predicting trends as presidential campaign polls are. From what we’ve seen and heard from the real humans we know, it’s far more the latter.

• Healthy food is the most clear and obvious food trend from 2015.

• In related news, interest in great restaurants that you can visit in your workout pants has skyrocketed.

• Chipotle is officially disgusting, and we’re not even talking about their recent disease outbreak problems. Every location we visited in 2015 looked like the Times Square McDonalds after New Years. Where is all that extra guac money going?

• Maybe that’s why we’re seeing more and more fast casual concepts pop up these days. Opportunity is knocking. And it’s wearing workout pants.

• The Shake Shack empire is real.

• The Brooklyn restaurant scene is far less exciting than it used to be. Chicago might be the most interesting and exciting food city in the country right now.

2016 Predictions

• David Chang will do something.

• Twenty more Sweetgreen locations will open and yet the closest one to your apartment will still be two miles away.

• We will lose a few more legendary NYC restaurants to rising leases.

• Barbuto still won’t be one of them.

• Neither will the veggie burger and craft cocktail concept that someone is probably definitely going to open. That place will print money.

• Indian food will become the new Korean food. Meaning we’ll get a few more good versions of it, and a few that aren’t that good, but are “cool.”

• We are all going to start learning to appreciate gin. No, seriously this time.

• Craft cider, on the other hand…

• Keurig will officially release the “Ramen cup.” Instances of leaving the house in 2016 will decrease by 74%.

So there you have it. Two full years, summarized in 17 bullet points. Did anything else happen that we missed? Didn’t think so.

Now take a look at our Best New Restaurants of 2015.