"Chaos cooking" and TikTok will be 2023's big restaurant trends

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

Dishes that are an aggressive mash-up of global flavors — like sashimi tostadas and tandoori spaghetti — will hit restaurant menus in 2023, a style that's been dubbed "chaos cooking," food prognosticators say.

Those concoctions will live or die depending on how well they play on TikTok, the latest must-use channel for restaurateurs.

Why it matters: With dining out almost back to pre-pandemic levels, people continue to crave novelty in their meals as well as video-friendly foods they can show off to their friends (butter boards, anyone?).

Still, restaurants are struggling to manage soaring food prices and ongoing labor shortages amid high demand.
They're pruning their menus, paring back portions and (sometimes) offering takeout-only during certain hours.

What they're saying: "Dining is back — we've been seeing that," Debby Soo, CEO of OpenTable, tells Axios.

"We remain bullish about dining even in potentially turbulent times."

Driving the news: A review of year-end restaurant prediction reports reveals many common themes, such as the rise of "eatertainment," new interest in Latin American cuisine and nonalcoholic booze, and the emergence of a jumbled culinary genre called chaos cooking.

Eater describes chaos cooking as "a new, brash food style" that's "part neo-fusion, part middle finger."

Examples include pork keema papadi nachos from Nashville's Chauhan Ale & Masala House and pastrami tacos from Delirama in Berkeley, California.
Evidence this is going mainstream? TGI Fridays' new curry-laden FRIjitas with tandoori chicken.

It's part of a trend called "flavor tourism" that has consumers seeking "to expand their palates with unique global fare," according to the National Restaurant Association's 2023 culinary forecast.

On the rise, per the group: Hot sauces (pun intended) like Sriracha, ganjang (Korean soy sauce) and guajillo chili sauce.

What we'll see in 2023: Mondays are trending as a dining-out night, as they're seen as "an extension of the weekend" in the hybrid work era, Soo says.

Expect more showy tableside experiences beyond the familiar guacamole-prep ritual. Hot spots such as Miller & Lux in San Francisco turn Caesar salad into an artfully choreographed cheese-and-lettuce-slicing event.
Colombian restaurants are having a moment, as is other Latin and South American fare, as well as Hawaiian cuisine.
Charcuterie boards, elevated bar snacks and loaded fries — with flavors like ghost pepper and hot honey — are going strong.
And all bets are that the chicken sandwich wars will persist.

The intrigue: There's an arms race to create video-friendly dishes for TikTok, which is rapidly supplanting Instagram and Facebook as the go-to social platform for people deciding where to eat.

"Cheese pulls, sauce drips, drink pours, tableside preparations are all key," Mike Kostyo of Datassential tells FSR Magazine, a food service periodical.

People "don't just want that static shot of a dish against a nice background — they want there to be some action," he said.
While search engines remain the #1 way people discover new eateries, TikTok "is becoming the marketing channel that restaurants can't ignore," per BentoBox, a restaurant tech vendor.

Where it stands: Restaurant sales have recovered to about 75% of pre-pandemic levels, according to a survey by TouchBistro, which sells point-of-sale systems. But high food costs are tamping down profit margins.

Also making a comeback: Reservations, which fell out of style during the pandemic.

Flashback: Last year's predictions included the ascendance of breakfast — which continues to get the food industry excited — plus some prognostication duds (avocado coffee, anyone?).

What's next: Delish predicts that the biggest trends of 2023 will include tinned fish (!), kelp, dates, plant-based pasta and solo dining.

The National Restaurant Association name-checked flatbread sandwiches, CBD desserts, globally inspired salads and espresso martinis.
Fine dining, steakhouses and interactive forms of dining — like hibachi and Korean barbecue — are also on various "hot" lists.

The bottom line: "People are craving memorable experiences this holiday season and beyond, and they're willing to pay more for it," says Soo of OpenTable.

Bonus: Here are New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells' top new NYC restaurants of 2022.

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