Michelin SF, Tarlow's tips, Zimmern's sorry, Thrillist stands corrected, and more...
Family Meal - Friday, November 30th, 2018
Hello Friday,
Busy, busy week. Let’s get right to it…
Michelin Season – San Francisco’s 2019 Guide came out yesterday, with two new members of the three-star club: Atelier Crenn and SingleThread. They join Benu, The French Laundry, Quince, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Saison and Manresa, which each retained three stars. Coi moved down to two stars after its chef / menu shuffles late last year. Per the press release, “Michelin inspectors will be watching the kitchen closely as it continues to settle in.” Fun!
There are also five new single stars: Bar Crenn, Birdsong, Madcap, Nico, and Protégé.
Most notably, Ryan Sutton and Ellen Fort point out that Atelier Crenn’s new ranking means, “In the thirteen years since Michelin came to the states, [Dominique Crenn] is the first female head chef of a three-starred restaurant in the U.S.” The heart flutters at what the guides might look like by 2032…
The Lists – Esquire is out this week with its big Best New Restaurants in America, 2018 list. Jeff Gordinier has them in ranked order as: 1. Angler (SF); 2. Atomix (NYC); 3. Nancy’s Hustle (Houston); 4. Misi (NYC); 5. Celeste (Somerville); 6. The DeBruce (Livingston Manor, NY); 7. Bavel (LA); 8. El Jardín (San Diego); 9. Hai Hai (Minneapolis); 10. Carnitas Lonja (San Antonio); 11. Lady of the House (Detroit); 12. Bar Crenn (SF); 13. Petra and the Beast (Dallas); 14. The Love (Philadelphia); 15. Voyager (Ferndale, MI); 16. Del Mar (D.C.); 17. Tie between Che Fico (SF) and Don Angie (NYC); 18. Longway Tavern (NOLA); and at number 19: Karenderya (Nyack, NY).
Whole list well worth a read, including shout outs to Chef of the Year Missy Robbins, Pastry Chef of the Year Genevieve Gergis, Rising Star Christina Nguyen, and more.
Tipped out – “In a blow to the gratuity-free movement in NYC’s restaurant market, Andrew Tarlow — one of the biggest restaurateurs to embrace it years ago — is reverting back to a tipping model at all of his Brooklyn venues next month. Restaurants that fall under Tarlow’s Marlow Collective, including local hits like Roman’s, Diner, and Marlow & Sons, will begin accepting tips once again on December 17… ‘It’s become impossible to ignore that removing tips has created new challenges that we are unable to solve, chiefly that prices have hit a peak that the market cannot bear,’ [Tarlow told Eater’s Carla Vianna]… Menu prices will go down again as part of the change.”
P.S. – Eater ran a big “Definitive Guide to Tipping in America” piece this week, beginning with this line: “Sure, tipping is inherently exploitative, but as long as tipped minimum wages exist, you don’t get to opt out.” Not really. As Tarlow’s story shows, the reason guests have to tip has almost nothing to do with the tipped minimum. It’s because Americans are unwilling to pay the true cost of dining out if it’s presented to them as mandatory, in full, and includes living wages, as opposed to minimums.
The Apology – On Wednesday, Andrew Zimmern responded to criticism of last week’s problematic Fast Company interview with a 700-word public apology on Facebook: “The upset that is felt in the Chinese American community is reasonable, legitimate and understandable, and I regret that I have been the one to cause it. That is the very last thing I would ever want to do. And in this case neither intentions nor context matter. Feelings matter.” But the apology leaned heavily on his past career “of making invisible communities, cultures, tribes and businesses visible,” and Eater editor Serena Dai was quick to remind Zimmern that discussions of relative visibility are a lot more revealing when they accurately identify the viewers alongside the viewed.
The good news: Folks at Eater tell me Zimmern, Dai, and possibly others will be discussing this very issue on an episode of their Upsell podcast — hopefully taping next week and airing soon after. Should be an interesting listen...
The Correction – There’s a new Editor’s Note on that viral article about how Thrillist writer Kevin Alexander’s Best Burger in America list “killed” Stanich’s in Portland by naming it #1: “EDITOR'S NOTE: Following the publication of this story, additional reporting in Willamette Week has revealed details of Steve Stanich’s legal issues, including a history of domestic abuse, all of which is vital to the story of what happened to Stanich’s restaurant. We missed a very important part of the story, and we deeply regret and apologize for our error.”
Turns out what Alexander originally called “personal problems” and “the type of serious things that can happen with any family,” were actually a no contest plea to misdemeanor strangulation and harassment of his then-wife in 2014, and a long list of financial and legal problems since then.
Don’t think this necessarily negates Alexander’s original premise (after all, the restaurant was still open while those problems were ongoing), but as the New Yorker’s Helen Rosner puts it, “Alexander’s elision of Stanich’s legal history is a bruising reminder of how easily violence committed by men against women slips into the realm of the uninteresting, and from there to the realm of the forgotten.”
End of an era – In S.F., “Farmerbrown, the city’s most celebrated black-owned restaurant, closed Sunday after 13 years in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Sister restaurants Little Skillet and Isla Vida will remain open, as will a newly opened San Francisco International Airport outpost of Farmerbrown… ‘Sadly, we were busy as we ever were, but operations and labor for large formats are increasingly challenging in San Francisco,’ [chef/owner Jay Foster] said.” The Chronicle’s Justin Philips has the full story, and a tough question — “Is San Francisco a city for soul food?” — here.
Some sad news – “Tom Margittai, who with a partner rejuvenated the Four Seasons restaurant from autumnal senescence into a majestic — and, for the first time, profitable — three-star magnet for Manhattan’s power brokers, died on Friday in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 90.” Full obit by Sam Roberts in the NYT.
Also, per Eater Chicago: “Cherry Circle Room’s Andrew Algren, one of Chicago’s top sommeliers, sadly passed away earlier this month. The Kansas native was named a Star Chefs rising star earlier this year. Fellow acclaimed local sommelier Jon McDaniel wrote a touching tribute to Algren.”
And, as promised, an English-language obituary for Patricia Quintana: Here’s Tejal Rao’s tribute in the NYT.
The Suits – Might be some prime real estate opening up in Chicago soon... Crain’s Brianna Kelley reports, “The owners of the building that houses Seven Lions on South Michigan Avenue are suing Maj Restaurant, which operates Seven Lions, for nearly $764,000. An initial breach of contract complaint was filed on May 17, followed by an eviction order filed on Oct. 15 and a distress warrant on Nov. 20.”
The Media – “Vox Media is pleased to announce that Clair Lorell is now the editor of Eater New Orleans.” Couldn’t find much of a social media presence beyond her LinkedIn profile and this unused Twitter account (both with pictures).
And FYI: LA Times Food is looking for an audience engagement editor to help promote all that new content they’ll be pushing out. Details and application here.
For Design Fans – Not a ton of pictures here, but man I love that classic, nearly 3D Georgia peach wallpaper in this Bon Appetit photo spread of Atlanta’s Tiny Lou’s.
And that’s it for today. And that’s probably everything you need to know for the week, since there’s no non-food news happening right now in America. I checked.
I’ll see you here Tuesday for next Family Meal.
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