What about pit roasting of the kind they do in Hawaii and the other Pacific Islands, or in Mexico, or Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic? That seems like it has a family resemblance at least to BBQ.
Not as much as you might think. A caja is closer to slow roasting in an oven than it is to grilling.
Itās all cooking with fireā¦
I use the pre-shredded fresh hash browns,nwhich has the added benefit of making it a last-minute meal.
Last night was a package of hashbrowns and a sliced onion sauteed together with a handful of chopped prosciutto, the slowly cook with 6 eggs. Delicious!
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From a trending point of view molecular gastronomy and twee dainty precious foods seem to be declining in favor of more relatable rustic cooking techniques and plating.
Just five years ago egg white omelettes were as common as fat free frozen yogurt spots, whereas now we are seeing an increasing number of tiny specialty spots focused on a super limited menu, everything from bone broth, to open face sandwiches, to the place that basically just does egg sandwiches.
With changing diet trends it is common to find menus that highlight gluten free items and offer options for dishes to customize them.
Nyc has chopped salad spots everywhere- not the same as a salad bar restaurant, you choose from ingredients and they chop and toss it how you like. New to nyc is sweetgreen which focuses on seasonal ingredients and signature salads with quality produce, and a higher price point of course.
I miss the steamed vegetable plates you used to be able to order at restaurants. Now all vegetables are roasted, and there are no vegetable āplates.ā Each vegetable must be ordered separately, at $8-$10 per.
I canāt wait for the roasted vegetable trend to end already.
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True for high-end restaurants, but in terms of itās real life usage, molecular food preparation is wide spread in food industries, create meat without protein, cheese sauce without cheese.
Indeed ā xanthan gum has been used for 50 years and is not going away; for example, itās in many commercial gluten-free baked goods.
I love roasted veg, but some are better simply steamed.
There is nothing that grinds my gear like people who insist that a word (See: BBQ, chili, etc) must mean only one narrow thing and that it can never change or grow to mean other things in addition to the original. Even though the entire world calls it the other thing (BBQ to mean things that are grilled, chili to mean beef n beans, etc) they insist the whole world is wrong. Alrighty.
Off my soapbox now. I donāt see how KBBQ remotely falls into a trend or hype category. I live in NJ, which is one of the most densely populated states in the country, and itās impossible to find Korean BBQ anywhere outside of 3 small pockets. On the other hand every town seems to have at least 1 sushi restaurant, if not more.
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Iāll agree with you on Korean BBQ. I live within easy reach of a city of 1 million plus, and in a metro statistical area thatās several million.
I would have to do some significant research to find anyplace in the area that has Korean BBQ.
(but if you walked down the street in Tampa and asked where to find BBQ youād be sent to a Southern BBQ place because thatās what the word barbecue means here.)
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I see it more like every strip mall has a Japanese placeāwell, maybe half of them, anyway. Matawan/Aberdeen alone has nine. Every strip mall has a Chinese restaurant, though. I think itās a law. 
Iām curious what the Korean BBQ pockets are. I would guess Cherry Hill , Edison, and Fort Lee, but thereās Maru sitting all lonesome in East Brunswick, and I donāt know if you lump Palisades Park in with Fort Lee.
It seems like thereās a 1:3ish Sushi to Chinese ratio around these parts. I love me those cheap tasty Chinese takeout places though. 
So Edison would be one pocket - there are Korean restaurants in a few surrounding towns also.
The Fort Lee / Bergen County area is actually quite sizeable and may be the biggest in the US outside of NY and LA. There are plenty of Korean places in that general area, especially Palisades Park. I got curious so I did some googlin, and according to Wikipedia, Palisades Park is the municipality with the highest concentration of Koreans in the country, at 51%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_significant_Korean-American_populations 
Iām not as familiar with the Cherry Hill area, but thatās the third place I was thinking of. Iām literally aware of zero Korean restaurants outside of these areas though. They pop up here and there but none of them have managed to stay in business.
But yeah, I kind of wish Korean BBQ was plentiful here like it is in the LA area. The AYCE places out there rock.
I suppose you are correct that full Korean-BBQ is difficult to find comparing to sushi restaurants or taco standsā¦etc. Still I get the impression that it is on the raise and on the radar.
Like Japanese Ramen, it is actually still not that easy to find restaurants which specialize Japanese Ramen (excluding restaurants which has one/two Ramen items and usually not very good).
A lot of olive oil involvedā¦total delicious!
When did āstockā become ābone brothā? This overpriced shit needs to go away.
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LOL. Bone broth sounds new and exciting and curative, while stock has been around for forever, and oh so boring.
How about poke- it seems to be spreading like disease around here, and the unfresh ones need to go away.
Also, all the Chipotle-clones need to fade. Get a viewpoint and be a cook!
Bone broth is only one of the many type of stock, right? Not all stocks are made from bones.
To me stock is made with bones, flesh, vegetables and broth has no bones.
Youāre right about the new term being oh so new and exciting. Some startup\home based business here was selling a quart for $20! I passed
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