Bon App's 50 Best, Eater's Lists on Lists, Private Clubs, Target Merch, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, September 9th, 2022
Hello Friday,
And hello again from Bali, where my family is not, and the little project I’m working on has me so far out of my depth I find myself running off at night to unfamiliar restaurants for the familiar solace of dining alone at unfamiliar restaurants.
Know what I mean?
Let’s get to it…
The Lists – Bon Appétit is out with its big “50 Best New Restaurants 2022” (not to be confused with, you know, 50 Best) this week. It’s unranked and broken down by region, and will work as a long list for their more marquee 10 Best New Restaurants 2022 list due out on Wednesday.
Congrats go out to all!
Unfortunately…. Apologies also went out to Magpie and the Tiger in DC. Seems BA accidentally included the restaurant’s email on a big “You made the list!” send, even though it had actually already been scratched due to the restaurant closing its brick and mortar during editing. Husband and wife team Caleb Jang and Roren Choi got a follow up email with the “disappointing news” from [MERGE NAME EDITOR BON APPETIT].
The Lists Too – Eater’s useful “Most Anticipated Restaurants of the Fall” lists have also been coming out this week. So far I see Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Carolinas; Chicago; Detroit; DC; Houston; Las Vegas; London; Los Angeles; Miami; Nashville; NYC; Philly; Portland, OR; Seattle; and the Twin Cities.
All those come under a “Just Trust Us” page, which says the Eater folks are specifically keeping eyes on: Omar Tate in Philly; the Dame team and Kwame Onwuachi in NYC; Daniel Rose in LA; Ravi Kapur and Matt Horn in SF; and the Sichuan Fry / Dumpling Shack brick & mortar effort in London.
And all that comes under a big package Eater’s calling its “Fall Preview 2022,” which features a Bettina Makalintal profile on the Ghetto Gastro team that includes maybe the most aspirational(?) we-do-what-we-want resume of any food-based brand I’ve seen in a long time: “For the 10 years Ghetto Gastro has existed, the collective has been hard to pinpoint… An early focus on event planning and catering led to parties in the 2010s that initially enmeshed the collective in the fashion world. In recent years, Ghetto Gastro’s name has started to pop up in broader spheres: alongside air fryers, waffle makers, and cookware in a CruxGG retail line available at Target and Williams-Sonoma; in their line of syrup and waffle mixes advertised on Instagram; and in collaborations with brands like Nike, Timberland, and Fly by Jing. One of the collective’s biggest moments yet came at the 2022 Oscars, when it worked with Wolfgang Puck on food for the official post-ceremony celebration. ‘Is it an art collective? Is it just entrepreneurship? Is it mutual aid?’ [Jon Gray] says. ‘It’s multitudes; it’s all of those things.’”
Multitudes. All of those things. Air fryers.
The Tips – Looks like DC voters will get another chance to vote on eliminating the tip credit. The Washington Post’s Michael Brice-Saddler says Initiative 82, a measure that “seeks to raise the city’s tipped minimum wage (about $5.05 per hour) to match D.C.'s standard minimum wage ($16.10 per hour) by 2027” will be on the ballot this November.
And in a total coincidence… The NYT’s Talmon Joseph Smith says he’s “investigating the prevalence of wage theft for tipped workers,” and is fishing for tipsters on Twitter…
The Tease – On Tuesday, Michelin NYC did that thing again where they say “These restaurants will be in the next book!” but don’t say where the restaurants will rank in terms of stars, bibs, or “plates.” 30 restaurants made the tease. Official announcement here. Michelin NYC’s full guide is due October 6.
For TV Fans – Chef’s Table Pizza is now streaming on Netflix, with episodes on Chris Bianco in Phoenix; Gabriele Bonci in Rome; Ann Kim in Minneapolis; Franco Pepe in Caiazzo; Yoshihiro Iami in Kyoto; and Sarah Minnick in Portland, OR. Trailer here. Coltrane here:
And Last But Not Least: The Clubs – Is it just me, or are the major food groups all in on private clubs lately? In Chicago, NRN’s Ron Ruggless reports: “Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Tao Group Hospitality have announced plans for a first-time collaboration on a private members-only club in Chicago, the companies announced Friday. Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You restaurants and New York-based Tao Group Hospitality said the new venue will be in Chicago’s River North neighborhood with a scheduled opening in late 2023.”
Says one Mr. Melman: “We believe this project will bring a new, curated social and dining experience to our community.”
Hell yeah! See you there, fellow curated?
And that’s it for today! I’ll see paying subscribers here Tuesday, and everyone else on Friday for next Family Meal. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
(Oh, and the podcast should start up in earnest as soon as I’m ready to come up for air on everything else.)
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or air fryers, waffle makers, and cookware 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!
P.S. – Hey Eater readers! I got kicked off all your newsletter lists and can’t seem to get back on no matter how many times I try to sign back up. Can someone at Eater please tick all the boxes and start sending me all your newsletters again? I do read them, from time to time…