--- title: This Is the Hottest Menu Item In America Right Now description: Forget Quinoa. This is the hottest dish at U.S. fast-casual restaurants right now. authors: - name: Shaina Mishkin url: https://money.com/author/shaina-mishkin/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 131 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Economy and Politics - Housing - Investing - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology former_staff: true published: '2018-05-23T18:23:20.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T10:30:31.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Dining Out - restaurants word_count: 370 canonical: https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![180523-hottest-menu-item-tempura](https://img.money.com/2018/05/180523-hottest-menu-item-tempura.jpg) Forget quinoa. America has a new favorite food. And, yes, it's fried. Tempura, a stalwart menu item at Japanese restaurants, is the hottest appetizer at America's so-called fast-casual restaurants, according to a recent report by food industry researcher Datassential. The dish -- which traditionally consists of lightly-battered and fried seafood or vegetables -- beat out other trendy items like quinoa and Brussels sprouts in terms of menu growth last year. "Fast casual" is the term the dining industry uses for [a wide swath of restaurants](https://money.com/best-fast-casual-restaurant/) like Chipotle and Noodles & Co. that are quick and ubiquitous but seen as a viewed as a cut above fast food in terms of cost and quality. If the specialty isn't on the menu at your favorite eatery yet, there's a good chance it will be soon. Tempura is listed on just 3.7% of fast-casual restaurant menus, according to the report, but it appeared on nearly 400% more fast-casual menus in 2017 than it did in 2013. The availability of favorites like quinoa and Brussels sprouts, for comparison, grew only about 130% over the same four year period. (Datassential ranks what diners might consider appetizers and side-dishes together.) So, are more Japanese fast-casual restaurants opening, or are chefs at non-Japanese eateries incorporating more tempura techniques? Both are likely explanations for the uptick in popularity, says Jackie Rodriguez, Datassential senior project manager. "Tempura fits really nicely into the fast-casual segment because it does bring something new and different," Rodriguez says. "It definitely is a difference from the old fried zucchini sticks." The dish also appears to appeal to health-conscious consumers in ways other deep-fried foods do not, Rodriguez adds. "Because the batter is a lot lighter, there may be this perception that \[tempura\] is not quite as heavy as a beer-based batter," she says. "There may be that perception that it’s healthier." Tempura might be growing in popularity right now, but it's not a new food by any means. The dish's roots can be traced back to the 16th century, when Portuguese sailors brought a battered green bean recipe to the Japanese island of Tanegashima, according to [the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170808-the-truth-about-japanese-tempura). Japanese cooks adapted the dish to seafood and other vegetables, creating the tempura we know today. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Restaurants", "item": "https://money.com/restaurants/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Is the Hottest Menu Item In America Right Now" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/", "name": "This Is the Hottest Menu Item In America Right Now", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-05-23T18:23:20.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/hottest-restaurant-food-japanese/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T10:30:31.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "This Is the Hottest Menu Item In America Right Now", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/05/180523-hottest-menu-item-tempura.jpg", "width": 2800, "height": 1867, "caption": "180523-hottest-menu-item-tempura" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Shaina Mishkin", "url": "https://money.com/author/shaina-mishkin/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/shaina-mishkin/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-05-23T18:23:20.000Z", "description": "Forget Quinoa. 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