Hello Friday,
And hello, all! As usual, paying subscribers got a Tuesday edition on Tuesday, and that edition is copy / pasted below for non-paying subscribers today.
I settled on this system as a way to allow everyone in the industry who was suffering through the pandemic to suffer Family Meal only once a week if that helped.
That said, if you like this newsletter, want to keep it going, and have the means…
Let’s get to it…
Michelin Season – In NY, Eater critic Ryan Sutton reports, “Michelin’s 2022 Bib Gourmand awards are here — in part.” True to their newly tease-y selves, Michelin released only a list of the new Bibs in the book this year, so we still don’t know who may have dropped off or moved up. 18 new entries this year, with Sutton most surprised that “Dhamaka, a packed South Asian spot that highlights overlooked regional dishes from India — and that topped ‘best of’ lists from the New York Times and Eater — [is a Bib and will therefor] be denied a star this year.”
P.S. I missed the fact that Michelin raised the Bib Gourmand spending level by $9 from $40 to “two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for under $49 before tax or gratuity” this year.
They shoulda gone with $8 and called it a 20% surcharge…
The Suits – On the serial ADA litigator front, “A Florida man who has filed disability lawsuits against hundreds of businesses, including dozens of Bay Area wineries and restaurants, may not actually have the disability he claims, defense attorneys allege.” The SF Chronicle’s Esther Mobley has the story of a man who told the court he couldn’t use defendants’ websites because, “he cannot read text on a computer screen enlarged to 3200% from less than two feet away,” even though a private investigator later managed to get video footage showing “him looking at his phone screen at about the same range.”
These suits are always a bit hard to talk about, because while it’s sometimes obvious people are filing endless driveby lawsuits against small businesses they don’t actually care about patronizing, and it usually feels good to catch “scammers” in general, the other side wonders — quite reasonably — why small businesses can’t just comply with the ADA…
The Rethink – Headline in Eater: “Celebrity Chefs Flocked to This Food Nonprofit. But Employees Allege It Was Plagued by Inappropriate Behavior and Mismanagement.” Erika Adams has a report on Rethink Foods that sounds like a mix of startup growing pains and some of (hate to say it) the usual accusations (which are mostly denied).
You should read those and decide for yourself! (And if you’re the boss you should read twice!) But there’s also a food charity aside that stuck out to me: In 2019, Rethink had near-record revenue of $1,209,084. “In 2020, Rethink shattered those previous financial records. It pulled in nearly $38 million in total revenue in 2020, a year-over-year increase of more than 3,000 percent.” Sounds a lot like World Central Kitchen, which went from revenue of $29M in 2019 to $270M in 2020, and had a similar jump of $635k in 2016 to $21.6M in 2017 after hurricane Maria. And that’s before Jeff Bezos gave José Andrés $100M in 2021.
The funds are there. It’s just tough to tap them until things collapse.
The Monthly – FYI, PR: Bon Appétit is launching a new, monthly, “Most Exciting New Restaurants” series to compliment its big annual spread. Won’t include these every month, but… good lists to make if you can make ‘em! Kate Kassin has September’s here.
And Last but not Least: The Podcast – We are back at it! Expedite’s Kristen Hawley and I talk through a few of the things we’re following this week in the restaurant and restaurant tech worlds on our new Restaurant Week (working title) podcast. Minute marks: “2:00 - some impromptu Carbone chatter; 4:38 – New Bourdain bio in the NYT; 16:18 - Do diners care about POS systems?; 21:48 - The White House conference on hunger and what that has to do with DoorDash.” Right here for your listening pleasure:
And that’s it for today! Except of course for Tuesday’s paid subscriber Family Meal, which is copy / pasted below as usual.
I’ll see paying subscribers here Tuesday, and everyone else on Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or 3 STAR MEALS AT A 1 STAR PRICE 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!
Here begins the Family Meal that went out to paying subscribers on Tuesday. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…
Unauthorized Bourdain, Balancing Grace, Carbone wins, and more...
Hello Tuesday,
And hello to paying subscribers only!
This one is short, sweet, and late, or as I like to say: Smart Brevity. Flexible Punctuality.
Let’s get to it…
The Unauthorized – “On Oct. 11, Simon & Schuster will publish what it calls the first unauthorized biography of [Anthony Bourdain]. ‘Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain’ is filled with fresh, intimate details, including raw, anguished texts from the days before Mr. Bourdain’s death, such as his final exchanges with [Asia Argento] and Ottavia Busia-Bourdain his wife of 11 years.” The NYT’s Kim Severson reports journalist Charles Leerhsen “said in an interview that he wanted to write a book without the dutiful sheen of what he called ‘an official Bourdain product.’ Indeed, he portrays a man who at the end of his life was isolated, injecting steroids, drinking to the point of blackout and visiting prostitutes, and had all but vanished from his 11-year-old daughter’s life.”
While a lot of the usual suspects said no to interviews with Leerhson, Severson says “one person close to Mr. Bourdain who hasn’t pushed back against the book is his wife, Ms. Busia-Bourdain, who controls his estate. The book’s most revealing material comes from files and messages pulled from Mr. Bourdain’s phone and laptop, both of which are part of the estate.” Leerhsen tells Severson he expects no objections to the book from the estate.
However much truth this book actually gets at (or misses), sounds like it reads tragedy all the way down. “‘I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job,’ Mr. Bourdain wrote to Ms. Busia-Bourdain in one of their near-daily text exchanges. ‘I am lonely and living in constant uncertainty.’”
The article ends with a PSA: “If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.”
The Balance – Earlier this month in Chicago, a judge found that “in spring 2011, [former Grace owner Michael Olszewski] transferred all funds from [his real estate] company’s employee benefit plans to personal annuity policies in his own name with his wife as the beneficiary. However, in 2012 and 2013, he filed annual reports for the employee benefit plans indicating the plans had assets. In spring 2016, Olszewski deposited the amounts withdrawn in 2011 into plan accounts on behalf of each plan, but in 2017, Olszewski withdrew $79,649.50 from each plan and deposited the funds into a money market account in his name and his wife’s name.” As writer Michael Gebert points out: “What else was happening around that time in his world? Well, Grace opened in late 2012, and shut down in late 2017.”
Olszewski was ordered to pay a fine and has been “permanently barred from serving as a fiduciary in the future.”
For Grace?
The Suits – Buried in a parenthetical in his Bon Appétit piece asking “What Do We Lose When Every City Has a Carbone?”, former Carbone captain Adam Reiner says Dallas restaurant Carbone’s Fine Food and Wine has dropped its trademark infringement lawsuit against Major Food Group newcomer Carbone: “(Since I interviewed [Carbone’s FF&W owner Julian Barsotti], he’s withdrawn the lawsuit, and confirmed a settlement will not be announced. When reached by Bon Appétit for comment regarding Barsotti’s original claims, Major Food Group did not respond.)”
And last but not least: The Media – FYI, CA: Tejal Rao, previously the NYT’s California restaurant critic tweeted Monday: “Some news: I’m staying in LA and starting a dream role at the Times, covering food and culture as a critic at large!”
Will the NYT hire a new California restaurant critic? And is it me? TBD.
And that’s it for today.
I’ll see you all back here Friday for next Family Meal.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or food and culture as a critic at large 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!