Eating L.A.'s 2007 top L.A. food trends

Eating L.A. is going to break down the Best in Food 2007 into two parts: today, Top L.A. Food Trends; next up, Top Tastes of the Year. And don't worry, there's no Pinkberry involved.
L.A. gets Frenched: Bastide and Comme Ca were the high-profile openings, while on the quasi-Eastside, Sgt. Recruiter serves oysters and wine, Mes Amis goes bistro, and Cafe Stella expands.
More places to spend money: From small shops offering only the best (Froma's prosciutto from La Quercia) to medium-sized celeb-magnets (Joan's on Third expands, the Little Next Door opens) to mega-foodie amusement parks (Whole Foods Pasadena), it's been a good year for buying rare and pricey groceries.
L.A. gets its just desserts: Boule Atelier expands on the jewelbox patisserie; Crumbs and its more-is-more cupcake, Paulette macarons and Sno:LA sweeten up Beverly Hills; Milk adds ice cream sandwiches and such to the mix; Lark brings Silver Lakes the cupcakes it needed.
The city gets a buzz: LaMill Coffee will soon join Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake; all of a sudden, it's not so hard to find a decent cup of joe anymore.
Local food writing has a hell of a year: Jonathan Gold wins the Pulizer; the L.A. Times debuts the Daily Dish food blog and a much-improved Guide section with more food tidbits; Epicurious spiffs up its Epi-blog with contributions from Neal Pollack, the dad everyone loves to hate; the Michelin Guide debuts in L.A. but fails to wow foodies; Los Angeles magazine publishes the definitive guide to eating locally in its November issue.