Kinkead gone, Manufactory disassembled, Michelin HK, Gifts galore, and more...

Family Meal - Tuesday, December 17th, 2019

Dec 17, 2019

Hello Tuesday,

Getting deep into holiday season, which may mean some scheduling disturbances for Family Meal. Greatly appreciate your understanding there. On a brighter note, there’s a plan coming together that should take this show on the road to DC, Baltimore, and NYC in late January / early February. If there’s an event somewhere around then I shouldn’t miss, please let me know. Will try to schedule accordingly, and send concrete dates when I have them.

Let’s get to it…

First, Some Sad News – “Chef Bob Kinkead, one of the pillars of DC’s modern dining scene, died Sunday after a long-term battle with heart disease and diabetes. He was 67.” Jessica Sidman has an obituary in the Washingtonian here, and her colleague Ann Limpert re-shared a 2016 piece detailing Kinkead’s influence on chefs throughout the city. Under his tutelage at one time or another: Jeff Black, Jeff Gaetjen, Mike Huff, Jeff Heineman, Damian Salvatore, Brendan L’Etoile, Will Artley, David Collier, Chris Kujala, Ris Lacoste, Tracy O’Grady, and more.

Meanwhile in LA, “Rosa Porto, the baker and Cuban émigré who founded the popular Porto’s Bakery & Cafe chain in Southern California with her family, died Friday, according to the business’ Instagram page. She was 89.” Christopher Goffard has her story in the LA Times.

The Close – Headline in Eater LA: “Tartine’s Expensive Downtown LA Manufactory Has Closed Its Doors After Just One Year.” Context from Farley Elliott: “The shocking closure comes less than one year after Tartine first opened its multiple restaurant and retail spaces at the Manufactory in Downtown Los Angeles. The construction reportedly cost tens of millions of dollars, and was billed as a big collaboration with Tartine’s Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt working alongside Phoenix chef Chris Bianco to bring the place to life.”

The Eater LA comments section is being a bit pedantic about Elliott’s use of “shocking” (they all saw this coming, of course), but think it’s fair to say that an investment of this size falling this fast is… shocking.

Lists I like – Eater cities are starting to come out with their “Most Anticipated Restaurants of Winter 2020” lists to help us keep track of (not even close to) everything (not even close to) everywhere. Available links so far for Atlanta; Chicago; D.C.; and New Orleans. Hopefully more soon.

Michelin Season – This Family Meal is actually coming to you live from somewhere in the South China Sea, on the return ferry to Hong Kong after attending the 2020 Hong Kong and Macau Michelin press conference in Macau. (Next time I’m invited to a press conference, someone please remind me about press conferences.) After Michelin director Gwendal Poullennec started things off by showing off his Mandarin to the assembled Cantonese-speaking press(…), the big news here was Forum moving up to three stars, and Bo Innovation dropping down to two. Full selection and some further thoughts are via Bernice Chan in the South China Morning Post.

If you’re bored, you could also while away a little time trying to find the one female chef in the group photo…

The Media – Freelancers across California are getting ready for a complicated year ahead after a new law to takes effect January 1st. Eater roles are already under scrutiny, per CNBC’s Ari Levy and Alex Sherman: “Targeted primarily at ride-hailing and food delivery companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and PostMates, the legislation requires gig economy workers to be hired as employees with benefits like health coverage and minimum wage protections… The law forbids nonemployees from submitting more than 35 pieces per year. Most of the changes at [Eater’s parent company] Vox will be at SB Nation… but will also touch other sites like Curbed and Eater, according to a person familiar with the matter.”

For Design Fans – Not as many pictures as I’d like, but this Anastasia Miari NYT piece on themed restaurants in Moscow is still worth a look. I want to summer at Kazbek, read Asimov at Voskhod, and eat dumplings with you at Varenichnaya No. 1. But I refuse to sit on the plaid couch in the latter. Not worth the weeks-long, psychosomatic bedbug infestation. Sorry.

And that’s it on news for today. Short and sweet, BUT… below is a bonus last minute gift guide, which is perfect for… perfect last minute gifts. Astute readers will notice that this is actually just a list of ways to buy gift subscriptions to some of the news outlets I use to put Family Meal together. Bingo.

I’ll see you here Friday for next Family Meal.

And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or bingo 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!

The Official Family Meal Gift (Subscription) Guide –

Washington Post: https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/gift/#/offers/promo/g_r

San Francisco Chronicle: 1-800-310-2455*

L.A. Times: (213) 283-2274* or email customer_service@latimes.cust-serv.com

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/multiproduct/lp8R34X.html

Chicago Tribune: 312-222-3232*

Miami Herald: There’s an option to “deliver to a different address” at checkout here.

The Seattle Times: 206.464.2121* or 1.800.542.0820, or customerservice@seattletimes.com

Charleston Post-Courier: 853-POST (7678)*

The New Yorker: https://subscribe.newyorker.com/subscribe/newyorker/115218

The Washingtonian: https://www.washingtonian.com/_subscribe-washingtonian/

NY Mag: https://subs.nymag.com/magazine/gift/gft-frm-gpul.html