Thursday, December 29, 2016
10 Restaurant and Food "Predictions" for 2017
Well, here we go again. Over the past four years, a number of "predictions" were posted here at the tail end of each year, with basically none of them coming true until last year, when one or two of the predictions for 2016 actually happened, more or less (mostly less). It is time once again for some predictions, this time for 2017, and who knows? Maybe the streak of getting absolutely none correct will start up again.
1) Boston Summer Debuts at City Hall Plaza
Following up on the success of the new Boston Winter seasonal festival, which includes food vendors, shops, an ice skating path, and more, the city will work with sponsors to transform City Hall Plaza into a desolate, windswept, treeless space during the warmer months.
2) Eataly Express Opens in Cambridge
Another success story in 2016, Eataly goes in expansion mode, with the folks behind it setting up a quick-service version of the place over in Kendall Square, with 300,000 Italian products available in a 100,000-square-foot kiosk with a small counter out front where people can order everything from olives to full-roasted pigs.
3) Arlington Installs More Parking Meters in Order to Attract More Restaurants
This fall, meters were put up in the center of this northwest suburb, and after a careful study of the situation, more meters will now be set up in order to help fill all the empty storefronts with dining spots.
4) "Recipe, Please Bar and Grill" Opens in Allston
Taking advantage of the Instagram trend where every single food photo posted receives multiple responses of "recipe, please," a couple of local chefs open a dining and drinking spot on Harvard Avenue where anyone who posts a picture of their meals and gets asked for the recipe gets 10% off their next dinner.
5) A Luxury Residential Tower in Boston's Seaport District Gets Replaced by a Dive Bar
Reversing a trend in many parts of Boston of late, a 75-year-old couple from Dorchester Heights pools their money together to purchase a condo complex at Fan Pier, converting it into a 22-story watering hole with darts, pool tables, and bowls of peanuts.
6) Transponder Cafe Opens in Multiple Service Plazas
With the razing of the toll booths on the Mass. Pike and the debut of an all-electronic tolling system, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation decides to use a new system called E‑ZFood to open a series of cafes where people get billed once they walk through the doors of the restaurants, with fixed prices being $10 for lunch and $20 for dinner.
7) First Poke Bowling Alley Debuts in Cambridge's Porter Square
One of the hottest trends is the poke craze, with several spots featuring these raw fish salad bowls either open or ready to open in Somerville and Cambridge. In 2017, a Hawaiian chain will open a poke spot attached to a bowling alley within the Porter Exchange, allowing folks to enjoy some oily tuna or octopus while trying to throw strikes.
8) Boston Licensing Board Rejects Proposal for a Northern Goshawk Cafe
Following up on the soon-to-open cat cafe in Brighton, a bird lover meets with the city of Boston in the hopes that a dining spot full of bird-eating forest hawks could open in Jamaica Plain, but the board shuts the idea down, saying in a prepared statement that "We are concerned that people could die."
9) Win Remmerswaal's Neighborhood Restaurant Opens in Boston's Fenway
Seeing how other members of the Boston Red Sox have opened restaurants and bars in the local area, the former Sox reliever opens a breakfast place on Boylston Street that focuses on pancakes served with stroop and gingerbread topped with butter.
10) United States House of Pizza Makes Its Presence Known
Seeing the success of all the Greek pizza places in Arlington, a family from the Morningside section of town open a shop in Arlington Heights, then a second in the center of town, soon franchising their houses of pizza across the country. Arlington takes advantage of the chain's success by installing more parking meters.
Posted by MH, Boston's Hidden Restaurants, on December 29, 2016.
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