Butter-dipped soft serve and a Kristen Kish-hosted queer dating show? Yes, please. Welcome to Eater Today’s monthly recap of all the industry trends, noteworthy gossip, and food happenings that we can’t stop talking about by the water cooler (Slack). Let’s dive in. |
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5 food trends we noticed this month |
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Butter-flavored and butter-dipped soft serve |
All signs are pointing towards a buttery summer. Last fall, Papa D’Amour — the NYC-based, Taiwanese- and French-inspired bakery by Dominique Ansel — dropped a butter-dipped vanilla soft serve; then, the Northeast grocery chain Stew Leonard’s hopped on board by dipping its vanilla ice cream in butter and salt. This April, Milk Bar also announced a limited-time drop of an English muffin and butter soft serve, made in collaboration with Thomas' English Muffins, which will be available until June 15 at select Milk Bar locations. Smaller scale soft serve spots and ice cream parlors are also following suit, from Carmen's Italian Ice in Rockville, Maryland, to Dairy Delite in Lakeville, Minnesota. Personally, I think we all forgot about the buttered baguette with jam ice cream from Caffe Panna in Greenpoint, NYC, too soon — but I’ll take all the butter I can get.
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Solo dining is up, and now, it’s “self-care” |
It appears that solo dining is up 32 percent year-over-year, according to insights shared with Eater from Tastewise’s 2026 trend forecasting. The uptick has spawned multiple thinkpieces and theories, with some calling it a salve for loneliness (rather than just a symptom), and others reporting on restaurants’ growing incentives for dining solo, like at Asador Bastian in Chicago; as Food & Wine reported, the Basque steakhouse offers a hand-cut, bone-in steak that’s under a pound “inspired by and named for a regular, Victor San Miguel, who typically dines on his own.” (The math for offering smaller portions can also be challenging at a restaurant where many of the dishes are designed to be shared.) One of the most interesting aspects of the recent study is that the generation leading the uptick is Gen Z, who has been rebranding the act of dining alone as a form of self-care and confidence.
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Salad-inspired martinis are still on the rise |
I always thought of the bloody mary as a drink that knows how to accessorize — those giant, kebab-like garnishes! The towering celery stalks! But martinis have kind of started upstaging them over the past year, from the Honey’s martini made with literal “Montauk ocean water” to the burger martini at Sepia in Chicago. I think we’ve finally come to a peak (positive) with these ultra-garnished and unexpected ‘tinis thanks to a fresh wave of salad-inspired martinis: last week, a soon-to-open cocktail bar in Brooklyn enticed the Eater staff’s inboxes with a Greek salad martini (tomato crop vodka, Boatyard gin, piparra brine, brine vermouth, Carpano Bianco, dill aquavit, and cucumber distillate); Shy Shy bar in Manhattan offers a Caesar salad-inspired martini (vodka washed with olive oil and anchovy vermouth); the newly-opened Frankie’s cocktail bar in San Francisco has been gaining attention for its “animal-style” martini (a garnish of pickled onion, a lemon twist, olives stuffed with feta, anchovies, and caviar); there’s a tzatziki martini at Rick’s Food and Spirits in Kingston, New Hampshire; and a Caprese Martini on the menu at Jac’s On Bond in NYC’s Noho.
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Froyo branches out from the West Coast |
My West Coast colleagues will remind me that, for them, the frozen yogurt spots have never stopped churning. Now, it seems like this very Y2K delight is spreading from the froyo epicenter of Los Angeles to many other cities: Chicago just got its very first Greek frozen yogurt shop, Mikono. Fifth & Emery, a locally owned, Kansas City, Missouri, frozen yogurt chain, just celebrated its recent rebrand and expansions. Myka Greek frozen yogurt shop (originally from Spain, and with another location in Miami) just landed in New York City, along with Go Greek Yogurt from Los Angeles and Birdie’s, a brand new frozen yogurt and candy shop in the West Village. Dippin’ Dots glow-up when?
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Is the food world primed for a queer dating show? |
Chef and Top Chef host Kristen Kish made an official-ish pitch to the internet via Threads, where she wrote, “I’d like to host a queer dating show. Leave a comment helping my pitch. Thank you. TV networks and Executives, feel free to reach out to my people.” Personally, I’d love to see her revive the tragically cancelled The Ultimatum: Queer Love, but the comments section of her post had some clever, more food-related ideas: “Kish the Cook, and it’s 12 bisexual individuals,” one user replied, “Whoever wins the ‘best dish’ gets to take someone out on a date”; another suggested “‘Blind Plate,’ [a show where] your contestants choose their date by their favorite dish out of [however] many that have been cooked.” Netflix, please: Give us something to look forward to for Pride month?
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Check out the Eater app for our editors’ running list on the best soft serve spots and best places to get a $10-ish martini.
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There were several noteworthy food moments during Milan Design Week, including the release of JW Anderson’s new picnic basket purse; Chloé’s giant, plump tomato chair; and Osteria Fiori di Marimekko’s darling green pea cocktails. But the most showstopping moment of all came from Laila Gohar of the whimsical lifestyle brand Gohar World: the designer put her own spin on an 18th-century Italian carousel by swapping its antique horses for larger-than-life vegetables. What a ride.
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Mother’s Day is just around the bend, folks. Shower the mother (or mother-like figure) in your life with bouquets of peonies, seasonal food-lover’s gift sets, and so many more treats from our Mother’s Day shopping gift guide.
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