THB Bagelry and Deli, a small chain based in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Md., teamed up with Baltimore-based spice company McCormick to feature this wintertime treat made by mixing Swiss Miss hot chocolate with Old Bay seasoning and then topping it with whipped cream and more Old Bay. It has reportedly been a huge hit with locals.

Meatless chicken substitutes have been predicted to be a hot trend in plant-based protein for 2022 and that has been borne out by KFC’s national launch on Jan. 10 of this item as a limited-time offer. It’s a meatless, breaded and fried product developed by Beyond Meat served with choice of honey barbecue, ranch, honey mustard or proprietary KFC Sauce.

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In contrast to meat-free chicken, Vaso, a rooftop bar in Dublin, Ohio, has seafood-free calamari. Squid isn’t to everyone’s taste, so chef David Belknap soaks thin slices of chicken breast in buttermilk, dusts them with gluten-free flour, fries them and serves them with a sherry-sweet chile sauce made by reducing sherry, red pepper flaxes and sugar with a little salt and tapioca starch.

Noodles & Company, the fast-casual noodle chain based in Broomfield, Colo., has scored major successes in recent years with its “zoodles” — zucchini spiralized to resemble noodles, as well as gluten-free, lower-carb gnocchi made with a blend of cauliflower and potatoes.

Now it’s testing actual wheat-based noodles that have been developed by the chain’s culinary team to have 56% fewer net carbs and 44% more protein than traditional pasta. It’s  currently in test in markets in Colorado, Illinois and Ohio

Beef tartare drifts in and out of fashion, and currently it’s in, especially if it has some regionality and a story behind it. If you can use local ingredients, all the better. This dish has all of that.

Joe Humphrey, director of Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group in San Francisco, said he has been interested in the combination of beef and oysters since he worked as a line cook in New Orleans, where beef filet is often garnished with poached or fried oysters, and he decided to do a variation of that at The Madrigal, which opened in December.

He starts with grass-fed beef from Point Reyes, Calif., which is diced and mixed with minced shallots that have been cooked in sherry vinegar, along with the Japanese spice blend shichimi togarashi. It’s dressed with Nashville-style hot oil, made by infusing olive oil with several varieties of chile, and some minced chives.

The tartare is plated with oyster cream (basically oysters poached in cream and puréed) that is then topped with more tartare, and then garnished with fried oysters that are dressed in Nashville hot oil once they come out of the fryer. The dish is accompanied by sliced sourdough toast smeared with seaweed butter.