I never heard of mesquite until a few years ago, then you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting something mesquite flavored in the spice/gravy section of the store.
Looks like that meteor is about to hit the dirt.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/01/the_absinthe_backlash_begins.html
It’s all over Mad Men, maybe that will help you out. I’m sure that’s why suddenly I don’t have to explain to bartenders how to make an old fashioned anymore.
But I don’t want rye to become more popular! If it does, the price will go up and it won’t be the magnificent bargain it is today. 
In the late 80s/early 90s, there was a “clear” fad. Crystal Pepsi, Zima (clear malt liquor), “Invisible” Kool-Aid, and other clear soft drinks.
I remember foam being huge a few years ago (root beer foam, marrow foam).
Also - pomegranates were pretty big recently.
Polenta was huge there for a while–we weren’t impressed–too much like fried grits.
Truffle oil.
Tuna tartare.
“Kobe” beef.
Hipsters are drinking PBR now. What’s up with that?
I seem to recall “Soul Food” being popular for a while.
Then there was the insurgence of California style and ecclectic food. My dad fell hard for the ecclectic food craze. I wasn’t sure he really knew what the word meant, but everytime I’d get dinner with him, he’d say he wanted something “ecclectic,” which I think meant casual to him.
I hear bruch is becoming popular again.
And for a while people were putting edamame in everything.
They’re not drinking it seriously; they’re drinking it ironically.
The reason polenta seems a lot like grits is because polenta is grits.
“Too much”? That’s what polenta is. It’s ‘grits’ if you eat it at breakfast with eggs and cheddar, it’s ‘polenta’ when you eat it at dinner with marinara and mozzarella.
D’oh! Lemur got there first.
Actually, they’re not quite the same. Grits tend to be more coarsely ground, and are usually from hominy.
Chipotle in everything–taking over from habanero in everything which supplanted jalapeno in everything… This one I don’t mind because chipotle is delicious!
Jello Pudding Pops.
It was shortly joined in the back of the under-stairs closet by the pasta-rolling machine used to make noodles from scratch.
(Not mine. It’s mounted in the kitchen and gets used. But everybody else seems to have taken a shot at noodle-making, and then said, meh, I’ll just buy the box of dry, and put the machine on the top shelf of the pantry next to the fondue pot.)
I use my trendy little wok to make fondue sometimes…
Currently “wraps” (sandwiches made like a burrito, with a tortilla instead of bread) seem to be everywhere. I kind of prefer them because you can put a lot of veggies in without making a big mess.
Krispy Kreme seems to be slowly shrinking back to their pre-fad size. They’ve been around forever in the south but exploded everywhere earlier this decade with lines down the street. Now the mega-stores are closing up and cease to exsist in places like Minnesota.
Bread makers were an ultra-hot Xmas gift in the mid nineties. Stacks of them in the middle of aisles. Now you might find only 1-2 on a shelf at Target.
Chipotle peppers. Seemed to hit it big when Chipotle restaurants appeared. Now everyone has chipotle mayo this, chipotle sauce that.
Paninis. Probably been around forever as “grilled sandwiches” but everyone suddenly adopted the panini knickname to be trendy.
Fajitas. Again have been around forever but became trendy in the 80s when chain mexican restraunts adopted the showy presentation of bringing out a sizzling-smoking tray to your table. Oooooo, fajitas!