Hello Friday,

A very rushed send today, as this morning’s Family Meal is coming to you live from an undisclosed location on Lantau Island, just across Magic Road from a “Mystic Manor”. If you see a grown man cackling or crying as his three kids run wild around Hong Kong Disney tomorrow, there may be many possible reasons. Pat his back and pass him by. Thank you.

Let’s get to it…

The Relief – “The Small Business Administration announced Tuesday that the Restaurant Revitalization Fund will open on Mon., May 3 at noon EST, and restaurant operators can begin the registration process starting Fri., April 30 at 9 a.m. EST. Operators will be able to register through the SBA RRF portal and the applications will remain open until funding runs out.” RH’s Joanna Fantozzi has a full list of preparation recommendations from the SBA, but the gist is: Get on it now. “As a reminder, for the first 21 days that the application is open the SBA will prioritize businesses owned and controlled by women, veterans and socially / economically disadvantaged peoples. However, all applicants should register and apply as soon as the portal opens. The SBA has confirmed that funds will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis and that likely demand will supersede available funds.”

The Willows – In her latest restaurant world exposé, the NYT’s Julia Moskin got 35 (thirty-five) former staff members of The Willows Inn on Lummi Island to talk about their experience working under chef Blaine Wetzel: “For years, they said, Mr. Wetzel’s culinary pedigree and the Willows’ idyllic image have hidden an ugly reality that includes routine faking of ‘island’ ingredients, physical intimidation and verbal abuse by Mr. Wetzel, including racist, sexist and homophobic slurs; and sexual harassment of female employees by male kitchen staff members…. Former employees who grew up on the island told The Times that as teenage girls, they were touched inappropriately, given drugs and alcohol and pressured into having sex by men on the kitchen staff and visiting chefs. Former managers said Mr. Wetzel and the inn’s longtime manager, Reid Johnson, have been aware of these troubling patterns for years, but did little or nothing to change them…

“Mr. Wetzel, 35, denied the substance of most allegations. Mr. Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.”

I won’t go into all the details (if you haven’t read it, read it), but discourse around it online (in my bubble) shows: incredulity at Wetzel’s denials of sexism (“I have a wife!”) and racism (“My wife is Mexican!”); a familiar questioning of how the media missed all this over the years (the NYT links to a very positive 2019 LA Times piece as an example of media being misled by Wetzel); jokes about how Costco is the winner here (Wetzel allegedly subbed its chickens for Lummi’s); frustration that despite all the human-hurting allegations in the piece, the ingredient fraud issues will be what actually hurts Wetzel’s career; and sighs / anger at the crickets from Wetzel’s fine dining contemporaries.

Each could fill an essay. Send those when you see ‘em!

Side note: The SEO – It used to be that it would take a while for a story like this to work its way into a person’s main Google results, but within about a day, anyone searching for Willows Inn was served this story (and stories about the story) before even ads. It’s also on the first page of news results for Wetzel’s wife Daniela Soto-Innes, just below an NYT profile from last year where she is seen walking the beach on Lummi, picking wildflowers, “focused, as ever, on her staff, on honing her vision for a more compassionate future for the industry, one in which workers are valued over prestige, influence and the bottom line.”

The Date – I will bet you a night at the Willows Inn (loser goes) that one place Wetzel will not wind up this fall is Antwerp. 50 Best has finally announced the date for their in-person awards event there: October 5th.

The Self-Cap – After fighting against government imposed fee caps throughout the pandemic, DoorDash has decided to offer a new set of plans that coincidentally site the floor exactly where local governments had been setting the ceiling: 15%. Per Kristen Hawley in Expedite: “In a media event Monday, DoorDash chief operating officer Christopher Payne said that these changes were not in response to mandated fee caps in some markets. Instead, he said, they’re a result of research and recent feedback from restaurants.” Which is coincidentally the exact same reason my kids think we’re at Disney. (“We are not here to temporarily blunt your endless complaining about what other kids get to do. Instead, this is the result of research and recent feedback from other non-Disney attending children.”)

NB: “Restaurants located in cities that have placed temporary caps on commissions (most cap at 15 percent) won’t see higher fees even if they sign up for a higher-tier plan. ‘When [fee caps] expire, then the rates discussed here will go into effect,’ Payne said.”

Still, delivery companies hoping to get regulators off their backs have a very long road ahead. Per Luke Fortney in Eater this week, NYC is considering “proposed legislation [that] includes measures that would require third-party delivery apps to pay workers at least once per week; allow workers to set maximum delivery distances for orders; create minimum per-trip payments; and provide workers with free insulated delivery bags, which workers currently pay for out-of-pocket.” And on the brick-and-mortar-and-plumbing side of things: “One of the hallmarks of the package… would fine restaurants and bars up to $100 for refusing restroom access to workers delivering their food.”

The Regulations – Speaking of rules, can anyone tell me what’s going on with protections around on-street dining setups? Will street seats be allowed to stick around without stronger separation between car and table? Last night in NYC: “One person was killed and others were injured after a car crashed into an outdoor dining area in Queens. The incident was reported Thursday just before 8 p.m. on Ditmars Boulevard.” The ABC7 video shows it could have been worse.

Michelin Season – “Michelin Guide released its… Chicago star list Thursday morning, the travel guide’s first updated ranking since the pandemic. It consists of 24 restaurants, including three new ones: Ever in Fulton Market (two stars), the Bar and the Dining Room at Moody Tongue on the Near South Side (two stars), and Porto in West Town (one star).” Detailed notes via Ashok Selvam in Eater. Congrats, all! As with DC last week, if your restaurant is still in business — closed or open — you kept your star(s). BUT in Chicago, “There was one removal: Kikko.” A spokesman told Selvam it basically lost the star when it lost its chef, Mariya Russell.

That Fast Casual $$$ – Is there another restaurant group that spun off its core sit-down concept into fast casual as successfully as DC’s Cava Group has? Headline in Bloomberg: “Cava Restaurant Chain Nears $1.3 Billion Value With New Funding”. Story from Deena Shanker.

The Book Deals – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you’re thinking about writing a cookbook, Stained Page News is the newsletter for you. Paula Forbes’s spring cookbook preview is out.

And last but not least — Some sad news for the Bar: Sorry to leave you on a down note today, but seeing several tributes to beverage industry people coming across my timeline this week. First, from Fredric Yarm, I learned that Brian Rea, a bar legend and recent author of a collection of bar stories (B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S.) passed away at 94 recently. Yarm also pointed me toward this heartfelt obituary from Robin Robinson on Wednesday: “Gable Erenzo, Young Whiskey Distiller Extraordinaire, Leaves Us Too Early.” Erenzo was 41. And then I saw Camper English tweet: “Another sad passing of a lovely person in the spirits industry. Tomas Estes of Tequila Ocho / Cafe Pacifico has passed away, according to the brand's Facebook account.” That Facebook post says Estes died peacefully in his sleep last Sunday.

And that’s it for today, except for Tuesday’s paid Family Meal, which is copy/pasted below.

But before I go, a request! The hotel I am coming to you from tonight is the furthest I’ve stayed away from my home in almost a year and a half — not seven miles as the crow flies. But I have officially booked tickets for a trip in the Hong Kong / Singapore travel bubble in the first week of June, so please tell me what’s changed in Singapore since I was last there writing about 50 Best in 2019?

For now I’m reading two recent articles: One in Eater by Jacklin Kwan (“Can Singapore’s already fragile hawker centers withstand third-wave coffee and gourmet burger stalls?”) and a companion / rebuttal piece from Boston chef Tse Wei Lim (Backbar in Somerville) for a deeper dive into the forces behind the changes there. What else should I be thinking about (and maybe writing about), Singapore-knowing readers? Restaurants! Food! Drink! Complicated issues! At a destination! That I will be going to! See you there?!

Either way, I’ll see paying subscribers here Tuesday, and everyone else on Friday for next Family Meal. If you’re on Clubhouse, don’t forget to join Kristen Hawley and I to talk through all these stories and more on Monday morning at 10:30AM East Coast / 7:30AM Pacific.

And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, and send tips and/or up to $100 for refusing restroom access to workers to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, become a paying subscriber! If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!

Here begins the Family Meal that went out to paying subscribers on Tuesday, April 25th. If you’d like to get Tuesdays’ on Tuesdays too…

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Garces back, Epicurious sans, Favorite Chef $$$, and more...

Hello Tuesday,

Let’s get to it…

The Relief – Guess I’ll keep ringing this bell till the fund is live (those “mid to late April” bets looking a bit dicey right now…): The Independent Restaurant Coalition has a fresh slate of Restaurant Revitalization Fund video talks scheduled this week. There are state/city-specific round tables; Small Business Administration led trainings; and at least one Chinese-language webinar. Plus, most of their site can be translated into six languages so far, and archived talks are available too. And if none of the past guides have been your thing, Eater NY’s Ryan Sutton put out his own summary of “Everything Restaurants Need to Know About the Restaurant Revitalization Fund” last week. Good luck!

The Second Act – As America comes out of COVID here and there (knock on wood), I’ve been thinking mostly about opportunities for first-time restaurateurs and established operators with spare cash (or low-interest credit), but this news from Michael Klein in the Philadelphia Inquirer reminded me to keep a look out for comebacks: “As part of a new act in his restaurant career, chef Jose Garces plans to open a Chicago-style pizzeria with a nautical vibe called Hook & Master this summer… Garces, 48, is rebounding after a bankruptcy sale in 2018 that left him with a smaller ownership stake in his popular restaurants such as Amada, Village Whiskey, and Tinto.” Klein says since then Garces has mostly been a brand ambassador and “kitchen coach,” but also opened two delivery-only concepts in 2020. A real pandemic tubthumper?

The Instagram Revolution(ish) – Speaking of first-time restaurateurs… There has been a lot written about (especially pastry) chefs going out on their own via Instagram sales during the pandemic — so much so that in Bill Addison’s LA Times piece about it a couple weeks ago he wrote: “Food writers across the country have reported on the phenomenon, including Khushbu Shah at Food & Wine, Pete Wells at the New York Times and, most recently, Meghan McCarron at Eater.” Each of those touches on the hardships involved in going solo, but I really appreciated this longer piece from Erika Adams in Eater NY. It makes clear that:

This isn’t easy (Betsy Alvez: “I only spent six months at Gramercy Tavern and it wasn’t enough time for me to learn everything… When you’re running your own business, you don’t have anybody to run to. It’s just you.”).

Oftentimes the non-traditional is just a detour that leads right back to the traditional (“Autumn Moultrie and Brian Villanueva of Back Alley Bread… are saving money and applying for small business loans in the hopes of moving the [Instagram pop up] bakery into its own brick-and-mortar spot by the end of this year.”).

And now that restaurants are (kinda?) back, many a solo act may rejoin the band (“Some pop-ups, like Extra Helpings from pastry chefs Miro and Shilpa Uskokovic, have completely paused as restaurants reopen…. Miro has returned to Gramercy Tavern.”).

Which is not to say all this entrepreneurship isn’t going to yield some incredible new/permanent food businesses! Just that cottage industries have caveats…

The Media Beef – Not directly restaurant related, but… A sign of the times (sub)headline on Condé Nast recipe site Epicurious: “In an effort to encourage more sustainable cooking, we won’t be publishing new beef recipes on Epicurious.” They made the announcement yesterday, but editors David Tamarkin and Maggie Hoffman say, “we actually pulled the plug on beef well over a year ago, and our readers have rallied around the recipes we published in beef’s place…. The traffic and engagement numbers on these stories don’t lie: When given an alternative to beef, American cooks get hungry.” In other words, Epicurious did what a lot of restaurants have been doing for a while: going (more/somewhat) meatless without explicitly saying so (remember when “plant-based” was “vegan”?). And it worked. Of course, now that they’ve put their heads above the parapet a bit, replies to the announcement on Twitter and Instagram are mostly predictable and boring (from all sides), BUT I did learn that some people are using the term “meatflake” to describe “snowflakes” of the meat eating variety. Seems like that will add some nice nuance to the already very pleasant discussions around meat consumption and the environment, idiot.

And last and least: That Payola $$$ – Remember that scammy, pay-to-play “Favorite Chef” competition that let people pay for votes and promised a cash prize and a Bon Appétit “feature” (that turned out to be a paid advertorial) to the winner? Well, the BA feature may have been fake, but the money seems very real, both for the winner and the organizers. The competition announced it has given Sémone Hopkins of Newport News $50k for her win, so congrats to her! And as writer Tiffany Langston pointed out on Twitter, Favorite Chef also says they donated just over $1.15M to Feeding America. Since the organization originally promised to donate 25% of paid voting receipts to charity, that would put the contest’s total take at about $4.6 MILLION DOLLARS.

NB: I’ve reached out for confirmation from both Favorite Chef and Feeding America, but haven’t heard back yet, so this is all based solely on the former’s press release.

Also NB: I’ve just launched a new “Very Bestest Cook”(TM) competition, which you can join exclusively by Venmo-ing any amount over $7 to @Andrew-Genung-1. To be fair to all participants — and ensure we crown a clear and legitimate winner — whoever sends the most money wins. Good luck!

And that’s it for today! After almost a year and a half spent within a maybe ten mile radius of my house, I now have Cathay tickets on 72 hour hold for some of the first flights within the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble. It won’t work with the kids, but I’m told it’s fair enough for me to go solo if I have enough stories / work to cover the trip, so… wish me luck! (Or hit me up.) I could use a trip…

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 a Chicago-style pizzeria with a nautical vibe to andrew@thisfamilymeal.com. If you like Family Meal and want to keep it going, become a paying subscriber! If you got this as a forward, sign up for yourself!

Family Meal

RRF launch, Lummi lost, 50 Best fall…