If doughnuts were this year's whoopee pie, cocktails were this year's craft beer. You can hardly look at a menu without a trio of tacos as an option, and baristas are brewing enough coffee to flood the streets.

These are just some of the trends that shaped Hamilton's food and beverage landscape in 2015, a year when it felt like a new restaurant opened up in the city every day.

And, says local food blogger Chanry Thach, most are being opened by entrepreneurs — young, creative chefs who run their restaurants the same way they'd run a dinner party with friends. In inviting spaces, serving the food they want to eat.

"I love a restaurant that can do one thing and do it very well," she says. "Places that do 20,000 things, I think, are so passé now. Do one thing, do it very well and that's it. You don't need to please everybody anymore."

"It's not just business and money-oriented anymore, it's really driven by foodies," she says.

The Spectator sat down with a handful of those foodies to talk about new developments, food fads this year, and what the city should expect in 2016.

Chanry Thach — Food reviews at Thehungrygnome.net

Ambience is one of the biggest trends Chanry Thach, local food blogger, has noticed about Hamilton restaurants in the last year.

"Everyone wants hipster money. And in order to get hipster money you have to be a pretty place," she says, waving her arms around Ark & Anchor, a new coffee shop on King Street West.

The counter is done in white subway tiles. On a grey day, the lighting is cosy. The seating is a mix of blond and turquoise wood. Neat stacks of The Believer, a literary magazine, sit on a nearby shelf.

"People enjoy that now and they're almost willing to pay for a pretty space now, I think," she says.

"Hamilton has that reputation of being dirty and grungy and I think a new generation of people are opening up restaurants that are like 'No, we give you atmosphere, we give you space, you can hang out and chill and be proud of the environment you're in,'" she says.

Thach is also impressed by the creativity of various offerings, particularly those at the Hamilton Farmers' Market.

You didn't used to be able to grab much for lunch at the market. There has always been Sensational Samosa and a few places to get sandwiches, but the options are growing now.

Thach cites a coconut sticky rice ice cream from Henry Brown's, the ramen from stall Eat Ramen, and the new Pokeh bowls, available at a bar on the market's lower level.

"If you told me that raw fish and rice was going to be this popular in Hamilton I'd be like, 'No way,'" she laughs.

She says the market's transformation is also a sign of the way entrepreneurs are doing things the way they want to. A few years ago, food trucks were an affordable entry point for new chefs. Now, Thach says, the market stall has shown it can provide that opportunity.

So can co-ops such as Kitchen Collective. That's where companies including Donut Monsterbake their goods before sending them out for sale at retailers Mustard Seed Co-op, Willy Dog's GTO, Butcher and the Vegan, and Relay Coffee.

The common thread among all of these trends, though, whether it's a $10 lunch at the market or a $100 dinner at an oyster bar downtown?

"Good food and good prices," says Thach. "I think Hamilton's very big on a good bang for their buck … if they feel like they're being ripped off, they will shun you."

Erin Dunham — Co-founder of The Other Bird

"If I had to identify a major trend in 2015, it would be people expanding," says Erin Dunham, co-founder of The Other Bird, the restaurant group behind establishments including Two Black Sheep and The Mule.

Not only is Dunham's own company growing (The Other Bird plans to expand into Kingston and Halifax in 2017), plenty of her contemporaries are too.

Dundas catering company Nellie James opened Nellie James Too, a restaurant on James Street South. Shane McCartney, owner of Saltlick Smokehouse, opened Knead on James North. The Burnt Tongue is opening a second location on Locke Street. Food trucks Southern Smoke and Gorilla Cheese both opened up in bricks-and-mortar storefronts.

Similarly, she says the number of coffee shops is increasing at an incredible rate. Every time a new one opens, Dunham says, she thinks they're crazy, but every one ends up doing well.

She thinks it's because they all offer something unique — Mulberry Coffeehouse is a classic hangout. Saint James Eatery has excellent pastries. Smalls keeps it quick and simple.

Dunham doesn't know if the core will hit a saturation point, but says the city overall definitely needs more of them, especially near Tim Hortons Stadium, where the coffee landscape is dominated by (you guessed it) Tim's rather than independent shops.

She says there's a need for more there.

"It's really easy to open restaurants and be good right now because there's just this need and everybody's so excited about it," Dunham says.

She says owners look around, see the need, realize how well they're doing, and gain the confidence to open a second location.

It's rare in the restaurant industry, but Dunham says this is a different and exciting time in Hamilton.

While she thinks that momentum will carry into the new year, she also worries that the overconfidence that's such a strength right now could be a weak point in a way.

Dunham says a lot of the city's restaurateurs are people with a passion for food, but not necessarily business sense.

Over time, Dunham worries, that could pose a challenge to new establishments.

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To that end, she thinks some sort of management company, or companies, will crop up in the coming years to help restaurants navigate the business part of the business.

Dan Megna and Laurie Lilliman of Lake Road Restaurant

Starting small. That's one of the trends Dan Megna and Laurie Lilliman have noticed.

Places are popping up with just 30 seats, a move that's financially easier, Megna says, but has the added bonus of being more manageable from an owner's perspective. It's easier to maintain quality in a small establishment, and it doesn't hurt that the place looks full from Day 1.

Another trend, one being embraced by owners and diners alike, is the relaxed attitude people are taking to finer dining. Megna says diners no longer subscribe to the idea that a spectacular, creative meal has to go hand-in-hand with white linen tablecloths and chef's hats.

A dining experience is still polite and professional in practice, says Lilliman, but that's paired with a more laid-back atmosphere, chefs with tattoos, bartenders with beards, and a fun, casual approach.

Megna cites the trend toward chefs coming up with dishes that reference childhood favourites. There's a gourmet version of everything you grew up on. He says there are dozens of high-end takes on the grilled cheese sandwich, or a mac and cheese bowl.

"It's a marriage between skill and talent and art, but a comfort that people recognize very clearly," he says.

Megna says dropping that pretension has spilled over to the way people talk about their food too. Twenty years ago, if you used the word balsamic or quinoa, it meant you were a high-class foodie. Now, he says, you can drop the word "emulsion" in a restaurant and most diners would have a point of reference for it.

"Ten years ago, people hardly had a concept of how food comes together, but rock star chef culture means people are aware of what's going into food," he says.

Tied to that is an affinity for craft beer, craft cocktails and house-made charcuterie. For keeping it simple.

"Seven to 10 years ago, everything was infusion. Everything was very processed," says Lilliman. "Now we're coming back to minimal processing so you're seeing the food ingredients speak for themselves."

Jesslyn Collins, Owner of Vintage Coffee Roasters

When she opened her café on King Street East this summer, Jesslyn Collins was in a bit of a no man's land, but things are changing.

These days she's started to field questions from people walking in to ask about the neighbourhood. What's it like to run a café there, they want to know. Because they've been thinking about opening a pub.

Collins counts herself among the many Toronto defectors who came to Hamilton looking for an affordable building. She bought at King near Sherman Avenue. She wasn't sure what the area would be like, and kind of thought she'd be playing a long game, waiting for the surrounding residential to beef up.

On its first day open though, Vintage Coffee Roasters saw 250 customers.

Collins says the real estate market has helped push the food scene beyond the core.

At the same pace restaurateurs are being priced off certain downtown streets, home buyers are being pushed out of certain neighbourhoods. And wherever they go, they have an expectation of downtown amenities outside the core.

"There's a ton of room for more shops. Maybe not on James Street North," she laughs. "I think that they've got enough now but if you kind of head east, this is where the majority of people are moving to if you follow the real estate trend."

She says a coffee shop can act as the canary in the culinary coal mine. It's easy to open and has a low overhead. Then, when people see it sticking around, they wonder what else the area might sustain.

"Coffee comes first," Collins says. "Now I think we're going to see a wave of maybe some smaller restaurants, and people will start getting more adventurous and start trying some of these newer areas."