The New Dining World Power Players

February 06, 2020 Admin 0 Comments

From the Editor: Everything you missed in food news last week

This post originally appeared on February 1, 2020 in Amanda Kludt’s newsletter “From the Editor,” a roundup of the most vital news and stories in the food world each week. Read the archives and subscribe now.

This week we got to hold a very fun party at the Manhattan restaurant Chinese Tuxedo to celebrate this editorial package put out by Eater New York. The guest list included longtime established restaurateurs, up-and-coming power players, and all manner of other fun people who like good food and drink.

The editorial package examines what power means now in New York City dining and how it’s shifted over the last decade or so. Who are the secret power brokers behind the scenes? Does PR matter? How much does it cost to open something these days? Who is the new guard and what does the Establishment have to say about it and their legacy? Where are the uber-rich dining these days? (Spoiler: sushi bars and members-only restaurants.) Are there even celebrity chefs anymore?

This week, The Spotted Pig closed and Daniel Humm exited the NoMad. They are very different stories but both signal an end of a certain era. It was a fitting coincidence for me in a week where we celebrated this new wave of influence. I’m very much looking forward to the restaurants, projects, and talent the new decade will bring.

On Eater

• Intel: The restaurant community mourned the passing of artist Jason Polan; The NoMad Hotel group officially split from chef Daniel Humm; Chef Pim Techamuanvivit voiced her annoyance at delivery platforms that made it seem like her Michelin-starred restaurant Kin Khao was offering delivery; the Spotted Pig closed, and its closure (not the events leading to it) was “the saddest thing” owner Ken Friedman had to face in his professional life; Danny Meyer opened a rooftop restaurant with views of D.C’s Nationals Park called Anchovy Social; no one asked for a Chicago baseball hat with a deep dish pizza on it and yet here we are; superstar London chef Clare Smyth will open a destination restaurant in a giant development in Sydney; and Brett Kavanaugh brought crappy pizza to the Supreme Court cafeteria.
• Sometimes you just need to do something stupid. Say hello to Bowl Bowl.
• The Move: always go to the local grocery stores when traveling.
• Inside the one diner in New Hampshire that every single candidate has to visit.
• Christina Tosi is my idol so this Ryan Sutton review of the new flagship Milk Bar location is a true testament to the editorial freedom we allow the restaurant critics.
• The coronavirus is reigniting old strains of racism and xenophobia that frame Chinese people as uncivilized diners.

Off Eater

• The next frontier in interior makeovers: Playhouse flippers. [Curbed]
• Say hello to Wellness Barbie. [The Cut]
• On the hotdish beat this week: The Omaha World-Herald and The New York Times.
• How appliances and cookware became markers of stability and sophistication. [The Atlantic]