In the first half of the 20th century there were a lot of one off (mom and pop type) European restaurants. German beer gardens were popular in the northern part of the country especially. There seemed to be a lot more Greek and Russian restaurants during the 50s through the 70’s. Italian and French restaurants were a huge success. Now, the first and second generation have moved on to other ventures. It’s getting hard to find Italian restaurants owned by people who have a direct connection to Italy, but Olive Gardens and Macaroni Grills are everywhere.
Little romantic French restaurants weren’t hard to find in Anytown; Julia Child was teaching our moms how to *Master the Art of French Cooking *at home. But the old Escoffier methods have been falling out of favor for at least 25 years - too much butter and cream! That kind of cooking isn’t even easy to find in France these days. I’ve read that Spain has replaced France as the center of creativity in European cuisine. (See also the rise of tapas worldwide.)
What replaced those? Cuisine by the newest wave of immigrants, of course! It’s an American tradition.
Twenty years ago Concerto in F and I were delighted when the owner of our favorite Chinese restaurant brought us these incredible, gorgeous little treats that weren’t on the menu…dim sum. Now every Chinese restaurant I go to has dim sum on the menu. Places like Costco and Whole Foods have dim sum in the refrigerated, in-store prepared, take out areas. Lesser grocery stores have it in the frozen food cases. It’s current and it’s ubiquitous. Lots of other Asian cuisines (Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, etc.) have gotten popular in the past 20 years, too.
Japanese restaurants have been around since the post-war era began, but sushi took off in a big way about 15 years ago. That’s everywhere, too! Almost every grocery store I go to (and it doesn’t have to be high end) has fresh sushi made daily on premise.
For the past ten years we’ve been seeing more and more Middle Eastern places. We’ve got Lebanese, Turkish, Moroccan, Persian and Israeli restaurants all around now. The food is usually pretty light, with grilled meats served with saffron and summoc; rice dishes with saffron, nuts, berries, orange peel; flat breads served with hummus, baba ganoush, or some other salad/spread. Middle Eastern also features a huge variety of salads, things like diced cucumber, tomato, and cilantro served with oil and lemon juice; beet salads, taboula - it’s endless! There are fast food kabob and falafel places at the mall - sheesh! (There’s a large overlap here between Middle Eastern and the Mediterranean Diet, too.)
Lately we’re getting into Argentine foods. Yeah…we always knew about grilled steaks, but not about grilled steak with chimmichuri! There were Argentine restaurants around for a long time, but now ther is an explosion of Argentine (and Brazilian) “gaucho” restaurants where the servers bring various types of asado to your table and slice off whatever you want - as much as you want, or bring a parilla (small grill) directly to the table. Peceto en casserole is the way we’re making our pot roast at home these days. Dulce de leche, a traditional caramel dessert is in everything from flaming crepes to Jello pudding and Betty Crocker cake mixes to Hagen Daas ice cream. You can’t visit a grocery store with any kind of tea selection that doesn’t offer maté. The traditional yerba maté tastes more or less like a lawn mower catch bag, so the stuff in the grocery store is usually tarted up with lots of other flavors, but still… The accouterments like the maté gourd (serving cup) and bombilla (metal straw to filter the tea) are going mainstream in housewares sections at the local mall.
