Bocuse d'deux, Fullilove out, Deadline day, The PepperDome, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, January 17th, 2020
Hello Friday,
Bit of a light one today, but first, a quick reminder that the next few weeks may be a little choppy for Family Meal. Starting Wednesday, we’re taking three small kids from Hong Kong to New York, DC, Baltimore, back to New York and back to Hong Kong. Greatly appreciate your understanding along the way, and thanks so much to everyone for all your recommendations. Can’t wait!
Let’s get to it…
The Opportunities – A reminder that today is the last day to apply (or nominate someone) to be a 2020 Eater Young Gun, which is basically a free PR bonanza for up-and-coming F&B folks. Deadline: 3PM EST.
And for food writers, today is the last day to apply to run the Washington Post’s new recipe newsletter. They’re “looking for a versatile, lively writer who can spot, adapt and create easy, delicious weeknight recipes [and] enhance the recipes through engaging, smart commentary.” Good luck!
The Profile Treatment – In NYC, Eater’s Stefanie Tuder has a long-ish look at “How [Sakura Yagi] Is Modernizing the East Village’s Most Legendary Japanese Restaurants.” In 2012, “Yagi paused her career in public relations to take over operations at [her father Bon Yagi’s T.I.C. Restaurant Group (Hasaki, Sake Bar Decibel, et al.)], where she expected to stay on for five years while coming up with a succession plan. She found a company whose inner workings were practically fossilized: Managers still counted employee hours by hand and faxed the totals to the main office each pay period; her father would then head to the bank, withdraw money, and pay employees in cash. (The company at one point also encompassed a private detective business, video rental, and beeper rental.)” NB: The company still acts as “an authorized Toto washlet dealership.” As one does.
The Profile Treatment Too – Over at the NYT, Alan Richman has a profile of Jean-Georges Vongerichten this week. It’s a much-covered subject, but probably lots more to learn if you’re interested. I only had time to skim and basically came away with this key quote from his wife: “He is not handy. ‘He can’t change light bulbs,’ she said, but he has demonstrated inordinate interest in their leaf blower.” Key quote.
Michelin Season – Not sure why this is coming out now, but per Thibaut Danancher (and the ever-elegant Google Translate) in France: “Le Point revealed on Thursday evening that the restaurant Paul Bocuse will lose its third star in the 2020 edition of the Michelin, whose prize list will be revealed on Monday, January 27… The oldest restaurant at this level in France, which has held 3 macaroons continuously since 1965, in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, will be demoted after more than half a century in the firmament. The Red Guide confirmed the information on Friday.”
The restaurant put out a statement this morning, and Bloomberg Paris bureau chief Geraldine Amiel summed up the local mood on Twitter: “THIS IS FRANCE: Forget the strikes, the flu epidemic, the misery of mid-January, the climate scare ... main headline in France this morning: late chef Paul Bocuse restaurant lost one of its three Michelin stars...”
The Departure – In LA, “After just nine months, Magic Castle chef Jason Fullilove has left the Hollywood restaurant.” Fullilove garnered a lot of big media coverage for the Castle when he first took over the kitchen in April, but the LAT’s Jenn Harris got her hands on “a candid email to members on Wednesday,” and it sure doesn’t sound like this was an amicable split: “‘I have decided that Jason Fullilove will no longer serve as the executive chef at the Academy of Magical Arts,’ general manager Joe Furlow wrote... Furlow said Magic Castle’s next chef would ‘possess the necessary leadership skills to take our culinary program to the next level.’”
Some Sad News – Per an obituary from Daniel E. Slotnik in the NYT, “Gladys Bourdain, a longtime copy editor at The New York Times who helped kick-start the writing career of her son Anthony… died on Friday at a hospice facility in the Bronx. She was 85.” If you don’t know how Anthony Bourdain got from journeyman chef to world-famous celebrity writer / presenter / cook, take a minute to read about his mom and her friend and her friend’s husband. Then give yourself a break (and/or find your in).
Posthumous P.S. – People Magazine’s Ana Calderone announced on Tuesday: “A new book by [Bourdain] and his longtime assistant and co-author, Laurie Woolever, will be published by Ecco this fall. World Travel: An Irreverent Guide goes on sale Oct. 13.”
And last and least: The PepperDome – It’s fun to think that money for creative endeavors is not a zero-sum game, and that growing readership / viewership / attention for one project or another, could mean a larger pot for everyone trying to do big, interesting things in food and food media. I hope you keep that thought in mind as you watch the trailer for Hot Ones: The Game Show on TruTV. I mean, I definitely couldn’t, but I hope you do.
And that’s it for today.
I’ll see you here Tuesday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or 3 macaroons held continuously since 1965, to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, please chip in here. If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself