2014 dining preview: Predicting New York City's trendy foods

Foodies are taking over the world -- or New York City, at least.

In a foodie town like New York, there are trendy foods that come and go. Some are lasting, some are fleeting. While 2013 will go down in history as the year of the Cronut (although it would be surprising if that's a lasting trend), there's really no way to predict something magical like that.

But we can try. Here are the foods that will be all over menus and all over the internet in 2014.

Uni/sea urchin

Uni is already kind of a big deal in New York City restaurants. While historically something you eat at an (upscale) sushi bar, the sea urchin is slowly but very obviously making its way into creative dishes across the city. Consider just these two dishes, which are very adventurous and creative: Danny Bowien's new Mission Cantina is serving scrambled eggs with hominy, sea urchin and trout roe, and at Charlie Bird, arguably one of the most popular and discussed new restaurants of 2013, a popular menu item is duck egg spaghetti with uni, guanciale and lemon. "It's the extraordinarily delicate and versatile taste of the ocean," Charlie Bird Chef Ryan Hardy says about uni.

Will sea urchin grace even more menus in 2014? Our prediction: yes.

Kohlrabi

With every year comes a new "it" vegetable. This past year was the year of the Brussels sprout, and kale has been the big thing for a few years now. But a somewhat unknown yet similar veggie, the kohlrabi, is going to storm plates everywhere this year. A cousin to both the Brussels sprout and kale, kohlrabi looks like a spherical tuber and grows like a root vegetable but is actually a member of the cabbage family. It can be eaten cooked or raw, and tastes like a cross between broccoli and a mild radish. It has already appeared on the Instagram feed of the restaurant group Momofuku and we can report that the Brooklyn Grange, the largest rooftop farm in New York City, plans to grow kohlrabi this season.

Bison

New Yorkers are nothing if not both interested in fine foods and health-conscious. Enter bison, a lean and delicious meat that we foresee making its way onto more and more menus in 2014. Bison burgers have been on Bareburger's and other burger joints' menus for some time. But there's no reason why the tasty meat can't be used in more high-minded dishes, too. If chefs can do it with venison (like in the venison tartar at Manzanilla), they can do it with bison.

Classic Jewish-style food

In addition to the new-fangled operations selling classic Jewish eats -- like Shelsky's in Brooklyn and Mile End -- one of New York City's most famous purveyors of belly lox, caviar and matzo ball soup, Russ & Daughters, is expanding beyond its small storefront on the Lower East Side. In the next few months, the fourth generation of the Russ family will expand three blocks away, to 127 Orchard St., with Russ & Daughters Cafe, opening up the delicious foods to a whole slew of new people looking to eat out. The appetizing shop is celebrating 100 years in business in 2014, too.

Is this the year of chopped liver? At Russ & Daughters, yes. Citywide? Maybe!