Toronto, like all other cities is home to some yummy if predictable food trends. These can be broken down by price, meal, and urban/suburban. Today I’d like to address the new trend in medium priced lunch.
Gourmet Burgers (the concept, not just the Aussie chain)
After the great Shawarma war of 2007 came the burrito bonanza of 2008-9, now I still love my burritos but that trend is showing clear signs of saturation/decay. The next big thing is going to be specialized burgers. Now the burbs have long known the joys of exoticly named burgers, hell there’s a fantastic joint in my neighbourhood that serves everything under the sun on five different patty types. But downtown options have been limited to fast food, bar burgers (usually dry) and tourist joints.
In comes the Gourmet Burger trend of 2010. Exotic mayos four different types of cheese and bacon slipped under every surface. But it’s just a fucking frozen burger with extra fat (yum) and you’re paying $15 for it with a side of fries. Fuck that. I can’t/won’t cook schawarma or burritos at home, they are messy and take forever but any idiot can cook a burger. I’m not going to pay that much money for lunch when I can have lunch at any of three dozen different options within a five minute walk for less than that.

Keep the prices under $10 for lunch and I’ll be a loyal burger fiend. If not you’ll find me down the street having sushi, waiting for the next lunch trend