Cookie dough butter

Smell ya later cronut, see ya cupcakes… when it comes to comfort eating, New York is going back to basics (well, kinda). At the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, cookie-dough type spreads were the event’s sleeper hit. Gourmet retailers across Manhattan are loading up on oatmeal cookie butter, graham cracker butters and marshmallow cookie spreads. New Yorkers can also seemingly look forward to bourbon-spiked pickles, smoked cola gum drops (whuh?) and beer-flavoured beef jerky.

Will it work in Ireland? Unlikely. We’ve yet to get our heads around the original incarnations of cookie dough, pickles and beef jerky first.

Shuffleboard

Those wily Brooklynites have managed to snatch the humble Shuffleboard game from under the noses of OAPs and turn it into a semi-ironic pastime. Gowanus’ Royal Palm Shuffleboard Club certainly looks like a Floridian retirement community, but the youngsters have moved in with their eggs Benedict, food trucks and craft beers and turned this joint into the trendiest spot in town. Bingo and floor dancing optional.

Will it work in Ireland? In some pockets of the country – like The Porterhouse on Shears Street in Cork – Shuffleboard is already being enjoyed. However, we’re some way off a critical mass situation. It hasn’t even reached Stoneybatter yet.   See link in opening para re Shuffling in Ireland. 

Anthropologie

There are many, many reasons why one should head to NYC with a massive, empty suitcase, and Anthropologie is just one of them. Brought to you by the same folks as Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie do a rather fine line in amazing homewares and hipstermum clothing. Bring someone else’s Mastercard, mind: a beanie hat will set you back around €50.

Will it work in Ireland? HMV is occupying 26 Grafton Street on a short-term lease, but Anthropologie is one of the retail giants chasing the premises (along with Gap, Zara Home and & Other Stories). In a word, we remain hopeful.

Generation Confession

New Yorkers have always been candid… but a new wave of writers are taking personal writing and over-sharing down to the bone. Where The Bard of Bushwick, Lena Dunham, blazed a trail on the world stage, countless others have followed: Gawker’s Emily Gould (and sometime Dunham nemesis) released And The Heart Says Whatever in 2010, while Sloane Crosley is the thinking man’s essayist.

Will it work in Ireland? We’ve no dearth of personal writers ourselves… but will any of them be brave enough to write about getting into bed with their therapist like Dunham has? The jury is out.

Toddlercore

Salon.com has pinpointed this new trend which, much as its name suggests, sees grown women wearing onesies, dungarees, kitten-ear headbands and pineapple prints on everything. Blame Katy Perry, who showed up to the Philadelphia Museum Of Art in a pizza onesie.

Will it work in Ireland? In a way, we’ve been ahead of the curve. Flannel onesies have been a Irish fixture for years.

Normcore

The fine line between ‘geography teacher’ and ‘bang on trend’ is taken to its very limits with Normcore. Essentially, New Yorkers have dropped the try-hard flamboyance and Sevigny-style individualism and opted instead for the most non-descript, basic clothing going. Not to be confused, incidentally with ‘basic’, which is a pejorative term for fans of Starbucks and Kings of Leon.

Will it work in Ireland? If you discount the fact that many of us have unwittingly been bang on trend for some time, sure.

Kale pizzas

Roberta’s in Greenpoint do arguably the best pizza in Brooklyn, and they’ve managed to team good and bad with the Baby Sinclair: putting prairie breeze greens and kale on a pizza. Miraculously, the dysfunctional marriage of superfood and junk food works.

Will it work in Ireland? Quite possibly coming to a menu near you soon.

Slouchy pants

MC Hammer killed the trend decades ago, but Donna Karan has resurrected the slouchy pant with a new twist: leather. This season’s New York Fashion Week saw plenty of loose trouser action: not just at Karan’s show but also on the catwalks of Malan Breton, BCBG and Rag & Bone.

Will it work in Ireland? Fingers crossed. Those things hide a multitude of pre-Christmas session sins.

Drunk Brunches

If you like your eggs with a side order of bottomless booze, New York has no shortage of all-you-can-drink deals. For the best under-$30 deals, head to L’Asso in Nolita for Bloody Mary, Agave in the West Village for Margharitas and Calle Ocho on the Upper West Side for sangrias.

Will it work in Ireland? Unlikely. Surely profit margins would all but disappear?

Food trucks

Fashion-forward New Yorkers would barely get fed were it not for the proliferation of food trucks across the five boroughs. It’s a simple idea that New Yorkers have taken to the next level: try Calexico at Prince and Wooster Street in Manhattan, or the Souvlaki GR truck, which offer Greek bites all over town.

Will it work in Ireland? Give that Irish folks have a nose for a bargain, it certainly should. K Chido Mexico have already set up shop near Dublin’s Four Courts, while Gaillot & Grey’s pizza truck is the toast of Greystones.  Food trucks are “the thing” at the Royal Palms!!  We also had them at St Petersburg for the ISA Event.

Rooftop bars

With arguably the best cityscape views in the US, rooftop bars are a dime a dozen in New York. We particularly like the Rooftop bar at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, though.

Will it work in Ireland? It already has. The Marker Hotel in Dublin overlooks the Grand Canal area, and is positively abuzz, bordering on aflame, on weekends.

Cold Fried Chicken Pie

Prospect Heights’ PeteZaaz do a fine line in weird and wonderful pizza combos – think baked potato pizza – but it’s their Cold Fried Chicken pie that has fast become their signature offering.

Will it work in Ireland? Spuds on pizza. Hashtag genius.

Cattoos

Pinterest is teeming with images of New York denizens making their moggy love permanent with some body art. Brooklyn tattoo artist Betty Rose has noticed a spike in cattoo requests.

Will it work in Ireland? Of course… yet their popularity Stateside leaves us no choice but to issue a stark warning: they could very easily become the new tramp stamp.

Acupuncture Cafes

Crown Heights’ Mountain Café & Acupnture Clinic opened just this month and is already being populated by city dwellers freaking out, according to New York Magazine, over the approaching flu season. Mountain – founded by hubby and wife team Tom McCauley and Justine Lynch – also serves as an art gallery and classroom.

Will it work in Ireland? The Yoga Hub in Dublin combines both the holistic and the hangout already; expect many more to follow in its wake.

Amazon groceries

If you’re lucky enough to live in Park Slope, you can now get fresh groceries along with your books and DVDs. This month, Amazon Fresh launched on the East Coat in a bid to break into the burgeoning grocery delivery market. For now, the service is only available to Amazon Prime members, who pay $99 a year for Prime’s fringe benefits.

Will it work in Ireland? Tesco, SuperValu and various organic veg outlets have seemingly got the market sewn up here… but there is room for a more ‘artisanal’ service.

Tasting Menu-only restaurants

Tasting menus are nice as an occasional foodie foray, but a number of restaurants in New York are making it the norm. . Try Atera’s staggering (in every sense of the word) 20-course menu in Tribeca, to the tune of $200. Luckily, you’re in safe hands for every mouthful.

Will it work in Ireland? We’re adventurous, but will our bank accounts allow for regular tasting menu blowouts? Not likely.

Whiskey Cocktails

Cosmos are so very last century; instead, things have gone a bit Don Draper and whiskey cocktails are de rigeur. The Old School Old Fashioned at Jack The Horse Tavern’s is worth a visit to Brooklyn Heights alone. The cocktails come in proper tavern form, against the sumptuous backdrop of their oyster room.  The cocktails of the Royal Palms are rated highly!! 

Will it work in Ireland? Um, have we met?

Irish Independent