Eater's big List, Thrillist's big list, Michelin's Canto list, and non-list news too...
Family Meal - Friday, November 16th, 2018
Hello Friday,
First, a PSA: Curbed has a list of all the places selling respirator masks in the Bay Area, along with current estimated inventories. Sincerely hope that tech companies making money off their “contractors” delivering food all over town have stocked up.
Second, FYI: Substack, the platform that supports Family Meal, just launched a sleek new landing page that allows first time visitors to start reading without entering an email address. SO, now is a great time to tell your friends about Family Meal.
Unless your friends hate lists, in which case, skip today and wait till Tuesday.
Let’s get to it…
The Lists – Mr. Bill Addison is out this week with Eater National’s big “America’s 38 Essential Restaurants” for 2018. Congratulations to: 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio); Al Ameer (Dearborn); Atelier Crenn (SF); Bad Saint (DC); Bateau (Seattle); Benu (SF); Bertha’s Kitchen (North Charleston); Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY); Brennan’s (NOLA); Compère Lapin (NOLA); FIG (Charleston); Franklin (Austin); The Grey (Savannah); Here’s Looking At You (L.A.); Highlands Bar & Grill (Birmingham); Himalaya (Houston); Jose Enrique (San Juan); JuneBaby (Seattle); Kachka (Portland, OR); Koi Palace (Daly City, CA); Mariscos Jalisco (L.A.) Mary & Tito’s Café (Albuquerque); Milktooth (Indianapolis); Momofuku Ko (NYC); Mud Hen Water (Honolulu); n/naka (L.A.); Palace Diner (Biddeford, ME); Parachute (Chicago); Park’s BBQ (L.A.); Prince’s Hot Chicken (Nashville); Smyth & the Loyalist (Chicago); Spoon & Stable (Minneapolis); Staplehouse (Atlanta); Superiority Burger (NYC); Via Carota (NYC); Xi’an Famous Foods (NYC); Xochi (Houston); and Zahav (Philadelphia).
Come for the list, stay for the prose, and tip your hat to the photographers (mostly Addison himself, making the rest of us look bad) on the way out the door.
P.S. Addison’s newsletter also includes three honorable mentions: Taco Maria (Costa Mesa, CA); The Purple House (North Yarmouth, ME); and Ghee Indian Kitchen (Miami); plus a shoutout to Ops in Brooklyn.
Also this week: Thrillist’s Khushbu Shah’s published her 13 Best New Restaurants 2018, including Bavel (L.A.), Cadence (Philadelphia), Canard (Portland, OR), Fancy Radish (D.C.), Hai Hai (Minneapolis), Kargi Gogo (Portland, OR), Nancy’s Hustle (Houston), Nyum Bai (Oakland), Passerotto (Chigago), Renzo (Charleston), SheWolf (Detroit), Sofreh (Brooklyn), and Spoken English (D.C.). Bonus feature: Slo-mo heavy videos included with every entry, all narrated by the chefs/owners.
Michelin Season – Thailand Edition 2019: No three-stars, four two-stars, and 23 one-stars. No stars for Phang-Nga, despite this being the guide to “Bangkok, Phuket, and Phang-Nga”…. “Sühring, a contemporary European restaurant in Bangkok, is elevated to a two-star rating after it was lauded with one star last year. The restaurant joins three other two-Michelin-starred restaurants — Gaggan, Le Normandie and Mezzaluna on the list. The one-star category has the most movement with 10 restaurants across Thailand making their debut on the list. They are Canvas, Gaa, Le Du, Methavalai Sorndaeng, PRU, R-Haan, Ruean Panya, Saawaan, Sorn and Suan Thip. Popular Thai shophouse restaurant, Jay Fai, retains its one star.” Official release here.
Michelin too – The red book just launched a new, international (Asia, Europe, and USA) Fine Cantonese Food Guide. A press release says, “This is the first time that the teams of the MICHELIN Guide have created a selection that does not cover a particular geographical area but which compiles the best addresses offering a regional specialty.” Assume this is just a repackaging of Canto reviews from other guides, but will be interesting to see if they attempt it with any other cuisines. Easy controversy generator: “We didn’t include [restaurant] because it’s not truly [cuisine].”
The New Guard – The massive, recently-shuttered Isabella Eatery outside D.C. is starting to find new life post-Mike. First in: Nicole Jones and her Stomping Ground coffee and biscuits shop. Jones told Stefanie Gans in Northern Virginia Mag, “It’s just kinda funny that a queer woman is taking over the first space that you come into at the Isabella Eatery, and I’m sure it wasn’t by accident either.”
P.S. – Also in D.C., Laura Hayes says there’s a bit of a local super group forming: “Restaurateur and sommelier Max Kuller of Estadio, Chef Rob Rubba formerly of Hazel, and bartender Adam Bernbach formerly of 2 Birds 1 Stone hope to open Oyster Oyster in 2019.”
The Close – Per Serena Dai in Eater NY, “After more than four years in business, Delaware and Hudson — a Williamsburg neighborhood restaurant that held a Michelin star for years — is closing its doors at the end of the month.”
And the International Culinary Center is closing its Campbell, CA campus, citing South Bay’s high housing costs and lack of public transportation. “The ICC will consolidate classes at its flagship New York center by mid-2019, the school announced Tuesday. The move means that the students entering the culinary and wine programs in January will be Campbell’s last graduating classes.” Linda Zavoral has an obit of sorts in the Santa Cruz Sentinal.
The Move - In Chicago, Phil Vettel reports, “Sad, but not particularly surprising, news came late Wednesday from Terrace 16, the restaurant in Trump International Hotel & Tower. Nick Dostal, the restaurant’s executive chef, will resign his position effective Nov. 27…. ‘I can say that I will definitely stay in town,’ said Dostal, reached by phone. ‘I can’t divulge where exactly yet.’”
The Suits – “A Manhattan judge has ended a family feud between the owners of the legendary Palm steakhouses by granting a late founder’s grandkids about $20 million… Her ruling means [the controlling business partners (including a cousin of the plaintiffs)] must repay the restaurant business approximately $120 million, including $71 million in past royalties, $1.7 million in lost rent plus interest and legal fees, said the siblings’ attorney Fred Newman. His clients are due about $20 million of that award.” Julia Marsh has the details in the NY Post.
The Media – FYI: Cooking Light has run its final print issue, Saveur is looking for a digital editor, and Eater Chicago is looking for a reporter.
For Design Fans – Here’s Rey Lopez’s Eater DC photo spread on the new Scott’s Restaurant and Bar. I love the nook-by-nook booths across from the bar, though wish they didn’t have high-tops hovering above between them. I am confused by the booths along the wall in the second room, which face each other instead of out, have no seats on the open sides, and have two-tops in between, so some in the booth are just staring right at other diners all night? And I’ll tell you my thoughts on the members-only room — accessed by fingerprint(!) — if you meet me on the club level of your local Sheraton.
And in Eater S.F., will everyone appreciate tasting wine while facing walls hung with leg irons? The Prisoner’s new Napa tasting room aims to find out!
Last and least – When you’re done with Addison’s long list, spend about 30 seconds with the Onion’s “Fussy Eater 38” from a few years ago. It’s all of one paragraph about a Bryan Wilcox, and ends: “Sources later confirmed that Wilcox, a fully grown human, just pushed his food around his plate until he got to have dessert.”
And that’s it for today. Take care, West Coast.
I’ll see you here Tuesday for next Family Meal.
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