Everything you need to know about the restaurant, chef, and media awards
In December 2021, a group of workers at a Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York, kicked off a unionization wave that is now sweeping the country. Organizing as Starbucks Workers United, a union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, workers at the country’s biggest coffee chain are currently waging one of the most compelling battles in the American labor movement as they seek higher wages, improved health insurance, and better working conditions.
Since December, Eater has been keeping tabs on unionization efforts at Starbucks, starting with that first store in Buffalo. Stay tuned here for all of our coverage of the Starbucks union sweep.
NFT restaurants are dining clubs for the metaverse. But also sometimes IRL. Got it?
Just weeks before Christmas, with the restaurant industry reeling again from the omicron variant, chef Tom Colicchio was tweeting about penetrating the metaverse. In a series of tweets, he announced CHFTY Pizzas, a new NFT (non-fungible token) venture with Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn. The company’s website promises that owners of the NFTs — a “minting,” or release, of 8,888 unique pizza designs onto secure digital tokens — will enjoy “one-of-a-kind physical and virtual experiences” and “future integration into the expanding metaverse.” Colicchio’s pies are still in the virtual oven, but according to CHFTY’s Discord channel, a pre-sale will be offered to its “Slicelist” members on March 23 and to the public shortly thereafter with an initial supply of 2,777 NFTs priced at .07 ethereum each (at publication time, the equivalent of around $200). On paper, the total proceeds from these sales would surpass a half million dollars, which, any way you slice it, is a lot of extra cheese.
On a basic level, NFTs are a record on the blockchain, the rapidly expanding web of decentralized digital ledgers where cryptocurrency transactions are recorded. Each record is an irreplicable digital receipt that can be issued for almost anything. And in recent months, non-fungible tokens have emerged as a new way to define ownership in a digital world — buyers have been snapping up NFTs of everything from specific clips of NBA basketball dunks to silly renderings of bored apes. In simple terms, an NFT signifies that its holder has exclusive ownership of something in the virtual world — a digital image to place in their Twitter avatars, for example. (In this case, Colicchio’s pizza designs are like limited-edition digital trading cards where no two cards are exactly the same.)
For the creators, the current value proposition of NFTs is that they are engineered with “smart contracts,” meaning that they’re coded with built-in terms and conditions that can generate commissions on secondary sales. So if someone buys and then resells an NFT you made, you would receive a cut each time it changes hands. This is partly why NFTs were originally created — to give artists more financial control over their work and ensure that they would benefit from the resale value of their art.
Despite these earnest intentions, NFTs have morphed into speculative assets fueled by fame and FOMO, and as with most baffling trends, celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Bieber, Reese Witherspoon, and Kevin Hart are cashing in. Amanda Mull wrote recently for The Atlantic about the embarrassing spectacle of Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon “uninterestedly cooing” about their Bored Ape NFTs on Fallon’s late-night talk show. “With NFTs,” Mull writes, “America may have reached the logical extreme of celebrity endorsements.”
The relationship between restaurants and celebrities has always been symbiotic, so it’s unsurprising to see chefs join the NFT circus. When food writer Geraldine DeRuiter’s recent piece describing her tragicomic experience in the Michelin-starred Bros’ Restaurant in Lecce went viral, an image of one of the dishes she panned — a plaster mold of the chef’s mouth filled with edible foam dripping from its lips — was shared millions of times. Soon afterward, the restaurant’s owners announced plans to turn the now-iconic image into an NFT. Bros’ chef Floriano Pellegrino told the New York Times that he saw the NFT sale as “a big opportunity” from all the publicity generated from DeRuiter’s review. The image is still widely available online, so it’s unclear, besides the obvious PR grab, why there’s a need to authenticate a digital version of it.
But if foodies are willing to line up for hours to buy a Cronut, some creators argue, why wouldn’t they get in line for a limited-edition NFT of one? The psychological impetus for wanting to acquire a scarce NFT isn’t all that different from the obsession with “scoring a rez” from a restaurant that’s impossible to get into. A hard-to-get reservation is simply a record for access to a table, and getting tables at in-demand restaurants has become a valuable commodity, so much so that finance bros recently tried to create a secondary market for them.
And many restaurant owners and chefs, including Colicchio, argue there are use cases for NFTs that transcend their collectibility. Late last year, David Rodolitz (a co-founder of the Empellón Group in New York City), Gary Vaynerchuk (the digital media mogul and early NFT evangelist), and chef Josh Capon (of Lure Fishbar) announced they were creating Flyfish Club, “the world’s first NFT restaurant.” According to its press release, purchasing a Flyfish Club NFT grants holders “unlimited access to a private dining room that will span 10,000+ square feet in an iconic, New York City location.” Plans include a cocktail lounge, fine dining restaurant, intimate omakase room, and outdoor space. NFT holders earn exclusive access to the space without monthly or annual dues; any food or beverage tabs will still need to be paid out of pocket. The Flyfish Club owners have planned a calendar of exclusive virtual and in-person events for NFT holders in the coming year, but have yet to secure a physical space.
“By leveraging NFT, we’re able to authenticate ownership of the membership,” Rodolitz says. “So it truly becomes something that’s owned by the token holder — there’s no ongoing fees and no yearly initiation.” To the founders, this transforms private membership into an asset that can be resold by its owner. “As the token holder you can sell it, you can use it, you can lease it, or you can monetize it over time. It creates a different dynamic between us and the token holders.”
Attaching resale value to the membership, Rodolitz argues, aligns member and owner financial interests: Everyone wants to see the club succeed since token holders should want their NFTs to appreciate in value. Flyfish, of course, has multiple opportunities to make money off each token purchase: It profits from initial sales, takes a fee on secondary sales, and charges members for dining in the club, all while engineering the scarcity of its NFTs as a way of sustaining demand. Nonetheless, Rodolitz and his partners believe there’s value in offering membership as a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.
But a restaurant staying open for an extended period of time is not a guarantee, even in non-pandemic times. For Flyfish Club, failure might translate into several thousand worthless JPEGs of cute tropical fish and sushi. But the NFT trend means people are still buying: Flyfish Club won’t officially launch until 2023, but its initial tranches of membership NFTs, capped at 3,000 total, have already sold out. Prospective buyers will need to buy them on OpenSea, a digital marketplace for NFTs, for an average of 4 ethereum, a popular but volatile cryptocurrency. This would value Flyfish Club tokens at above $11,000 each (based on ethereum’s current value). Special tokens that grant holders access to the Flyfish Club Omakase Room are selling for over twice that amount. “Imagine if people owned their tables at Rao’s from 100 years ago,” Rodolitz said. “Imagine if someone could actually sell that? What would that be worth? That’s what we’re doing.”
Beyond the hype and opportunism, however, many hospitality professionals see NFTs as an opportunity to build brand awareness. Andrew Friedman launched his Industry Spirits brand in 2019 and recently released a limited-edition NFT bottling of its American-made vodka and gin. Friedman partnered with Brian Wells, a Seattle photographer and cafe owner, to release a series of 10 bottles with custom labels, sold as NFTs: In this case, buyers own both the digital art and the physical bottle. Friedman admits the NFT market is oversaturated, but he cites Fernet Branca Challenge coins — which have become a currency of sorts within the bar community — as a real-world equivalent of what NFTs can potentially become. “Industry people would go to Fernet events just so they could get the new Fernet coin. It’s an identity issue, and it will eventually be the same with NFTs.”
Ruth McCartney, a digital media entrepreneur, and David Skinner, the chef of the 12-seat restaurant Eculent outside Houston, created Gourmet NFT to take chefs “from the butcher block to the blockchain” by offering them a place to sell individual recipes directly to consumers. “I’ve always thought it was terribly unfair that chefs don’t get royalties and residuals unless they go through all the trouble of writing a cookbook,” McCartney says, “which most chefs don’t have the resources or the time to do… Most chefs that produce cookbooks make very little [money] from it, so it’s also a great way to support your favorite chefs.”
Skinner sees NFT recipes as the virtual version of his grandmother’s recipe box filled with soiled index cards, except here the recipes live in a digital wallet. “The ability to create a bespoke, custom cookbook that you own makes it different from buying an eBook, which isn’t curated for you,” Skinner argues. McCartney refers to their product as a “fractional cookbook.” Chefs have total control over how many NFT recipes they mint, and the data is encrypted on secure links that can’t be accessed by anyone without verified credentials.
Protecting a chef’s intellectual property is a thorny issue. It’s unclear how Gourmet NFT and other companies can authenticate the rightful owners before recipes are minted and ensure the proceeds go into the right pockets. Most recipes can’t legally be copywritten, although some exceptions exist when cooking instructions are accompanied by other content, like lengthy personal narratives, that make them unique. In the case of NFT recipes, offering them as a “package” that includes one-of-a-kind digital art and curated experiences may legitimize the recipe owner’s claim, but it’s too early to know if any of this will pass muster. It’s worth noting that owning an NFT of anything is not a copyright on the content itself; it is merely proof of ownership in the digital realm. As with cryptocurrencies, early investors are banking on the fact that digital properties will be a much more valuable commodity in the future.
Many bar owners are drawn toward NFTs as a way to offer their clientele new products and experiences built around cocktails. Adam Handling’s Eve Bar in Covent Garden has announced plans to release “London’s first NFT Cocktail Menu Collection,” featuring 13 NFTs inspired by their signature cocktails that will include digital recipe cards, in-person or virtual classes, and an undisclosed amount of complimentary cocktails at the bar. “It’s a new frontier, and there’s a lot to test and learn,” Handling says. “But there are many credible drink enthusiasts and experts who want to do something in this space. People on the other side of the world can now not only own a part of what we do, but it incentivizes them to actively join us on our brand journey.”
Colicchio’s amorous tweets about NFTs suggest that he also sees them as a way for food lovers and chefs to bond, virtually, over their shared love of a great slice. “We are building the strongest and largest foodie community in Web3,” Colicchio tweeted in late January. Apps like Discord and Clubhouse have already become popular forums for NFT enthusiasts to exchange information on the latest trends. CHFTY Pizzas recently hosted a “Top CHFTY” cook-off on its Discord channel, inviting followers to demonstrate their pizza-making skills. The company also plans to partner with Kimbal Musk’s nonprofit climate advocacy group, Big Green DAO (decentralized autonomous organization), on philanthropic initiatives to fight climate change and food insecurity.
“In the long run, I think the utility of NFTs will definitely matter more than collectability,” says Supreet Raju, co-founder of OneRare, an NFT-based “Foodverse” which launches this month as a metaverse-based game using a native cryptocurrency called $ORARE. In the game, players use their bankroll to acquire NFTs of popular ingredients that they can cook in a virtual kitchen: Users will be able to combine ingredients they’ve collected in their “pantries” to unlock NFTs of virtual dishes that are redeemable for exclusive events like online cooking classes with partner chefs from around the world. According to Raju, OneRare is less interested in the investability of NFTs and more in how exchanging them can facilitate more virtual and real-world connections. “Not everybody has the capability to create a collectible and cause demand for it,” Raju says. “I can see that already building up [among early crypto adopters], where people are beginning to draw up use cases for NFT — they act as access tokens, concert tickets, or entry to a special club.”
“Some chefs see NFTs as a way to celebrate their culinary journeys,” Raju says of their growing appeal. “It gives them more of an ability to reach global audiences and they can use it to create social impact.” But more importantly, she believes, the isolation of the past two years has taught us how important it is to share experiences, even when virtual spaces are the only option. “If people are stuck in different places, as we have been during the pandemic, we could have a coffee date where I can use an NFT to order us both coffee and a bagel and we can be in a virtual setting doing this together.” While it’s still difficult to gauge how NFTs will impact the food and beverage industry going forward, first movers like Raju hope to find success by staying ahead of the curve. For the rest of us, playing with imaginary food makes the whole NFT game extremely confusing.
Adam Reiner is the founder and executive editor of the Restaurant Manifesto. He’s written about food and restaurants for Food & Wine, Taste, Plate Magazine, and the Counter.
Drink moonshine in the morning with this boozy butter pecan coffee creamer
Because I, like many Americans, am reliant on a jolt of caffeine to make mornings possible, I’m always on the hunt for new and creative ways to jazz up a boring cup of joe. For all the talk about fruity flavors and nutty aromas, coffee is merely a vehicle to wake me up, not a delicious flavor experience. That was, until I discovered Appalachian Sippin’ Cream.
Made with unaged whiskey (read: legal moonshine), this sweet cream liqueur is sort of like an American riff on classic Irish cream and is available in flavors like butter pecan, banana pudding, and “electric orange.” I’d never heard of Appalachian Sippin’ Cream, made by Sugarlands Distilling in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, until my mom threw a small jar of the stuff into my Christmas stocking. Taking her advice, I poured a slug into my morning coffee and now I can’t stop.
As much as I enjoy a classic shot of french vanilla Coffeemate, Appalachian Sippin’ Cream is better than anything you can find at the grocery store. Sippin’ Cream adds sweetness, velvety texture, and just the tiniest hint of booze, making even the most miserably brewed coffee taste creamy and delicious. It doesn’t have all those weird emulsifiers and extreme amounts of sugar that give regular flavored coffee creamer that thick, strange mouthfeel. And because it’s only 40 proof, throwing a tablespoon or so into a mug of coffee isn’t enough to bring on a mild buzz for even the lightest-weight drinkers, and that’s preferable in the morning considering that we’re expected to do annoying things like “commute to work” and “perform labor in exchange for money” as functional members of society.
If, for you, any amount of alcohol in the morning just seems unacceptable, it’s worth noting that Appalachian Sippin’ Cream is also pretty excellent in the evenings, stirred into a mug of black tea or hot cocoa, perfect for sipping while lounging with a book. The distillery’s website also lists a number of recipes that use the libation as a substitute in desserts like bread pudding and pound cake, both of which sound absolutely incredible.
Equally, I enjoy the fact that this boozy coffee creamer has a connection to one of the most absurd reality shows in American television history — Discovery’s Moonshiners. Set in rural Tennessee and other Appalachian locales, the show follows the exploits of moonshiners like the legendary Jim Tom Hedrick as they traipse through the mountains making illegal booze. Many of the show’s stars have made their way into the legal whiskey game with their own branded moonshines with Sugarlands Distilling, like Jim Tom’s unaged rye or a cinnamon-flavored ‘shine created by moonshiner Steven Ray Tickle.
Appalachian Sippin’ Cream isn’t directly affiliated with the Moonshiners crew, or its namesake region’s long and storied moonshine history, but it’s now a tradition in this house. Thanks to its versatility, and irresistibly creamy flavor, the liqueur has earned a permanent place on my bar cart.
Beloved for its wonderful tartness, sumac is a spice that goes well with just about anything
Sumac is the secret weapon in your spice cabinet: it has the power to bring incredible acidity to your food without adding extra liquid. It’s not bitter like lemon zest or astringent like vinegar, but somewhat fruity and floral without being noticeably sweet. Chances are, if you’ve had Middle Eastern or Mediterranean dishes like kebab or anything dusted with za’atar, you’ve tasted sumac’s wonderful tartness. It’s also a spice that goes well with just about anything, which is why so much of the world uses it. But for all of its popularity, sumac still hasn’t found a place in the average American’s spice arsenal — which is why there’s no better time to give it a closer look.
What is sumac?
If you search for sumac on the internet, your results will probably churn out images of shrubs and bunches of fuzzy berries. These fruits, which are the edible portion of the plant, are roughly the size of a pea and grow in dense, bright-red clusters at the end of the plant’s branches. (There are also sumac plants that bear white berries, but this kind of sumac is poisonous, and should be avoided at all costs. More on that later.)
Sumac berries grow on deciduous shrubs and trees in the Rhus genus of the Anacardiaceae family, making them distant cousins to cashews and mangoes. These trees are known for their pinnate leaves, vertical clusters of red berries, and white or green flowers. Deciduous sumac species also change colors with the seasons and come in shades of orange, red, and purple when fall rolls around. These plants grow in temperate and subtropical climates and can be found in the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, and all over North America. And while the Rhus genus consists of over 150 species, the two most commonly consumed variations today are Rhus coriaria and Rhus typhina.
Rhus coriaria (also known as Sicilian sumac, Iranian sumac, and Syrian sumac, depending on who you ask) is the variation that originated in the Mediterranean basin before spreading across southern Europe and the Middle East. It can reach up to 10 feet in height and is principally grown for its edible berries, which are dried and ground to produce powdered sumac.
Rhus coriaria and Rhus typhina are two of several edible varieties of sumac found in North America. Rhus glabra, Rhus aromatica, and Rhus copallinum can be found from southern Canada to parts of northern Mexico, each with their own distinct characteristics. Rhus glabra and copallinum, known as “smooth sumac” and “shining sumac,” respectively, lack the same fuzzy coating as Rhus typhina. Instead, these variations produce hairless fruits and twigs and have been used to create sumac-ade for centuries. The young sprouts of Rhus glabra trees are also edible and were historically eaten in “salads” by American Indian communities.
Rhus aromatica, or “fragrant sumac,” is the rarest of the three North American varieties. Known for releasing a strong lemon scent when its leaves and twigs are bruised, its tart berries are also commonly used to create beverages and were a common source of dye and tobacco flavoring for the Cheyenne people.
Where does sumac come from?
Sumac’s history is often disputed — some insist it originated in Sicily, while others contend it originated in Syria or Iran.
“I think humans have been eating sumac berries for as long as we’ve been on this planet,” says Ethan Frisch, the co-founder and co-owner of the spice company Burlap & Barrel. That said, he adds, “I don’t think it’s possible to isolate a single origin of sumac.” Instead, he theorizes that it “began growing all over the eastern Mediterranean around the same time.”
Its name also has some mixed origins, with potential sources being the Old French word sumac, the Arabic word summaq, and the Syriac word summaaqa, all of which translates to “dark red.” In addition to being descriptive, these names paint a picture of just how far this ingredient has traveled throughout history due to migration, trade, and cultural blending. And even though not everyone might agree on exactly where it came from, it certainly has stood the test of time.
In ancient Greek and Roman societies, sumac was used for dying wool, tanning leather, treating indigestion, and, of course, adding acidity to food. Its culinary uses eventually spread throughout Europe before lemons were imported from the Middle East in the second century. By the 15th century, Europeans began to widely cultivate the lemon and utilize it as a main source of acid in their diet, causing sumac to fall out of favor. Nevertheless, it continued to play a major role in the foods of the Middle East.
What does sumac taste like?
The flavor of sumac can be likened to the tang of fresh-squeezed lemon juice; it’s tart and sharp, but also contains a hint of sweetness, along with lingering floral notes.
“It’s a subtle tang with some fruitiness that you wouldn’t get from lemon juice,” says food blogger Amina Al-Saigh. “I also love its pink color. It just makes food look amazing.”
“Sumac is slightly smokey and quite earthy as well,” says Sami Tamimi, the co-owner of London’s Ottolenghi and co-author of three best-selling cookbooks. “You can taste it when you add it to dishes because it’s so astringent.”
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Sophia PappasWhat is sumac used for?
Sumac berries can be used either whole or ground into a spice. The ingredient’s prevalence in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking illustrates how versatile it really is.
In the Mediterranean, sumac berries are traditionally dried and ground into a powder for seasoning or garnishing a number of dishes. “Typically the whole sumac berry is crushed during processing,” explains Burlap & Barrel’s Frisch. “You can remove the sumac berry’s fruit from the pit, but it’s very labor intensive and has to be done one by one. There hasn’t been a method to mechanize it yet, so usually both the fruit and pit get crushed together in commercial processing.”
In his work as a chef, Tamimi says, “sumac is used to tenderize meat” thanks to an enzyme it contains that “helps make meat juicier and softer.” Using sumac to season barbecue is also a common practice across the Middle East, including in Al-Saigh’s native Iraq.
“You’ll always find it on grilled meat, like kebab, grilled chicken, or lamb. The acidity of sumac cuts through the heavy richness of meat, balances the flavors, and gives it a nice contrast,” says Al-Saigh. “I use it daily for multiple [foods], like salads and dressings. Iraqi cuisine, to me, really values tanginess. That’s the thing we do — bringing that sweet and sour note through sumac or pomegranate molasses and tamarind. We really amp the tanginess of our dishes.”
With its ability to enhance flavors, sumac spice can also be used to add tartness to both sweet and savory dairy-based dishes. “It is delicious on dairies like labneh and cheese, and I also put it on ricotta with a little bit of olive oil. I love it on ice cream as well. Its flavor is so tart, but mild enough that you can add it to sweets like condensed milk or vanilla ice cream,” says Tamimi.
Whole, dried berries also have their uses. They can be used to season foods, such as sumagiyya, a Palestinian stew, and when they’re crushed and soaked they can create sweet, refreshing drinks. When he was growing up in East Jerusalem, says Tamimi, “I remember one of my aunties in Hebron had a few [sumac] shrubs, and she used to pick their berries and slightly crush them. She’d make a drink from them by soaking them to make a slightly sweet drink.”
Crushed and soaked berries can also be used for a tart broth for stewing dishes, such as Iraqi dolma, a stuffed vegetable dish. “Dolma is a dish that varies across the region, but the Iraqi version must be super tangy. Instead of lemon juice, we use water flavored from soaked sumac,” says Al-Saigh. “You can crush and soak the berries or stir the powder into boiling water and strain it after.”
In North America, where sumac species evolved independently from their Mediterranean counterparts, sumac is also used to create tart beverages. They are often made with Rhus typhina, also known as staghorn sumac, which gets its nickname from the red hairs covering its fruits and branches, similar to the velvet covering a deer’s antlers. Staghorn sumac’s reddish-purple berries taste similar to those of Rhus coriaria. Historically, American Indians used staghorn sumac in a variety of ways, brewing the berries to create a beverage known as sumac-ade, and smoking or mashing the leaves to formulate various medicinal treatments for sore throats, diarrhea, and fevers.
“Sumac berries are quite hard, so you need to dry them to remove the skin,” notes Tamimi. “It’s not like a ‘fruit berry’; it’s more like a black-pepper berry.” So if you come across an edible sumac shrub or happen to have one in your backyard, you’ll need to tenderize its berries first before using them in your kitchen.
Speaking of finding sumac in the wild, what’s this about poison sumac?
While this harmful species shares a similar name to edible sumac, it’s a very different plant. While it resembles Rhus copallinum with its glossy leaves, it grows white berries instead of red. Like poison ivy and poison oak, poison sumac can cause contact dermatitis if you brush up against it, with symptoms like itchiness, redness, and burning appearing on the skin within a few hours. This is why it’s important to pay attention to the color of the berries; if they’re white, remember to steer clear.
Where can I buy sumac?
Ground sumac is available in the spice aisle of most American grocery stores or at your local Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian markets. Finding dried sumac berries is not as common in the United States, but they can be ordered online or found in specialty markets.
What if I want to grow my own sumac?
You sure can, but make sure you plant the species that offers what you’re looking for. Aside from double-checking that you’re not growing poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), choose a deciduous sumac species to experience its wonderful fruits and a beautiful change of color during the fall season.
Sumac is easiest to grow from cuttings, so search for a wild plant nearby or buy cuttings at your local nursery. These trees commonly appear alongside highways and on the edges of large fields across North America, so finding a sumac tree shouldn’t be impossible. If you decide to grow your sumac from some seeds, note that they have a hard coating that takes years to break down, even in the wild.
Overall, sumac trees are very sturdy and have a relatively high tolerance to various conditions. Although they typically thrive in full sun and well-drained soil, they can easily adapt to their surroundings as long as they have ample space to grow. That is why sumac trees are usually not recommended for anyone with a small garden. Once it’s given the space it need, expect your sumac plant to grow rapidly, and make sure you keep track of new colonies. These trees have a reputation of becoming invasive species when allowed to spread freely.
If so much of the world eats sumac, then why isn’t it a staple over here?
Sumac can be found in American grocery stores, so its lack of mainstream popularity is likely due to a lack of consumer awareness. But, says Al-Saigh, “I think sumac is definitely starting to become more popular, in the same way we witnessed more awareness for things like za’atar. With social media, more Middle Eastern bloggers out there or even Western bloggers discovering Middle Eastern food, I see a lot more awareness of it.”
“Play with it,” Tamimi advises. “It’s an ingredient you can use in so many ways. Use it on fish, dairy dishes, dips, or use it to tenderize your meat. It’s a shame not to use it.”
If you’re interested in playing with this wonderful spice but don’t know quite where to start, below are some recipes that can point you in the right direction.
Sami Tamimi’s Chicken Musakhan
Naz Deravian’s Mahi ba Somagh
Melissa Hamilton & Christopher Hirsheimer’s Yogurt & Sumac Sauce
Yumna Jawad’s Lebanese Fattoush Salad
Amina Al-Saigh’s Sumac Chicken and Onion
Sara Leana Ahmand’s Iraqi Dolma
Yasmin Khan’s Adana Kebabs
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Sumac-Roasted Strawberries with Yogurt Cream
Nik Sharma’s Sumac & Saffron Refresher
Sylvio Martins is a freelance writer and actor based in Los Angeles.
Sophia Pappas is a Pittsburgh-based illustrator.
‘Dan Does’ host Daniel Geneen takes a tour of Raaka Chocolate’s factory in Brooklyn
Chocolate is one of the most popular sweets in the world, and at Raaka Chocolate in NYC, obsessive sourcing, intricate machinery, and expert craftsmanship allows the company to produce what Dan Does host Daniel Geneen calls one of the highest quality chocolate bars in the world. Follow Geneen as he takes a tour of Raaka Chocolate’s factory to observe and participate in their process of making the company’s signature Maple & Nibs bar.
The process begins in the bean room, where one machine cracks the beans and uses a gentle vacuum to pull away the shell, and another separates the two. The process will run multiple times which will leave 100 percent pure cacao. The final machine in the bean room crushes the nibs into a fatty paste, or “flake,” to get it ready for the grinding step.
“The first pass is going to grind the nibs into smaller nibs, and then on the second or sometimes third pass, we’re going to get the consistency that we want in the paste,” says co-founder Nate Hodge.
Two kilograms of flake are added to the grinder every five minutes, followed by sugar. Once it all comes together, it needs to sit for 24 hours.
The chocolate is brought back to the roller mill for the final smoothing; from there, it’s added back into the grinder once more.
Next the chocolate is brought up to temp, or 88.5 degrees, which begins a chemical reaction that allows the cacao to bond with the sugar crystals once it’s cooled. The chocolate is then poured into the molds to make the bars, and toppings are added before the bars and unmolded and sent to the fridge for a cool down.
The finished bars are then sent to the wrapping station, where they’re encased in colorful, 1970’s-style wrappers, and sent out to local shops.
“This is not just a product, it’s a lot of work from people from all kinds of different parts of the world to make one chocolate bar,” says Hodge. “Being able to tell that story, [of] real people who have chosen to do this as their life’s work, like that’s really cool.”
To me, A1 sauce evokes a steak-and-eggs morning at the diner with my father
The first time I had A1 sauce was at a tiny Glendale, California diner tucked into a strip mall: Toasted Bun, like a typical Anytown, USA restaurant, had dusty mini blinds, formica laminate tabletops, tan vinyl booths, a waist-high counter, and sassy waitresses. My father, a Korean-born, Brazilian-raised former coffee farmer who became a mortgage banking executive, loved eating American breakfast there every week before taking me to Little League games. Ham and eggs were his go-to, but steak and eggs was the occasional treat, and an opportunity to create his favorite flavor combination: meat with A1. I always copied what my dad ordered, so I did the same with my steak and eggs, dipping a bite of half-inch griddled steak into the dark elixir.
There’s something about the way A1 sauce spreads when you pour it into the corner of an elliptical plate, the viscous brown liquid permeating the corners of a medium-well steak, seeping into runny sunny side up eggs, and soaking into the crispy fringes of hash browns. Its flavor, ineffable but always memorable, is like raisins mashed into an old orange and then plunged into the dregs of a long-neglected beef stock with dribbles of expired tomato paste. It makes everything taste so good that it tastes overwhelming, and therefore kind of bad, like an ’80s power ballad or ’90s action flick that works because of some combination of nostalgia and bewilderment from how inexplicably over-the-top it is.
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And yet, true gourmands frown upon A1, relegating it to the table ends of myriad diners as a masking agent for steaks of questionable provenance. Originally conceived by one of King George IV’s cooks in 1824, A1 lives in the strata of flavorings called brown sauces, influenced by chutneys in India and co-opted by the British as something to cover the flavor of old fowl and meat. Until the ’60s, A1 was marketed as steak sauce — until the brand realized that would limit its potential, at which point it was declared good “on everything,” like chicken, pork, seafood, and even vegetables. This might explain why serious cooks and food people see A1 as a marker for low-brow eating, despite being a genuinely tasty ingredient. And in a way, in this era of “know your butcher” and eating local, A1 has lost the plot. Most grocery store or restaurant steak is pretty good now, and the people serving prime-grade, dry-aged stuff at fancy steakhouses would gasp if you asked for a bottle of it.
But, like all things, the right time and place can give something purpose again. There’s no shame in searing up last night’s fancy steak leftovers with some eggs or toast, and slathering them with A1 for a quick breakfast. On a recent camping trip, a few friends and I grilled some grocery store T-bone steaks over wood, the fire as the main source of light, with A1 as the only seasoning beyond salt and pepper. It pooled onto our paper plates, blending the crunch of onions and sweet baby peppers I cooked on a cast iron skillet with the juicy, blackened slices of corn-fed beef that was tender, if otherwise unremarkable. A1 completed our dinner, making us feel like a bunch of Old West cowboys with full bellies falling asleep to the crackle and warmth of the fire.
That’s why I love A1. It makes me remember happy Saturday mornings with my dad in the Toasted Bun, soaking up the last bites of egg and fried potatoes with a dab of brown sauce. It takes me back to a time when I was less concerned about how many days the beef was dry-aged. A1 might not be called steak sauce anymore, but there’s something magical in how it can take any mediocre piece of meat — a supermarket T-bone, leftover rib-eye, or even tough diner steak — and make it into something I really want to eat.
Set in 9,000 miles of pristine parkland, the restaurants of the Canadian Rockies reflect abundant natural resources like wild elk, Saskatoon berries, and fresh trout
The Canadian Rockies take everything up a notch. Over the course of 1,000 miles from the U.S.-Canada border in Montana to northern British Columbia, the jagged peaks look like layer cakes of snow, ice, and fossil-studded 100-million-year-old limestone and shale. As the mountains wind their way up along the border between Alberta and British Columbia, lakes sparkle in shades of aquamarine and turquoise, torrential rivers surge down from lofty icefields into deep valleys, and lush evergreen conifer and larch forests hug the roadsides. This protected land is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Canadian national park system, and some of Mother Nature’s finest work.
To pair with all this natural splendor, there’s equally dazzling Canadian Rocky Mountain cuisine. The area is home to wild game like elk, venison, and bison as well as trout-filled rivers, along with abundant mushrooms, Saskatoon berries, and herbs. First Nations groups like the Tsuut’ina prospered in the dramatic alpine environment. In the 19th century, the Canadian Pacific Railway brought European food cultures and grand lakeside hotels. And most recently a locavore, mountain-to-table food movement has built on these overlapping historical influences and endemic Rocky Mountain ingredients to create bold meals fit for the breathtaking setting.
The region has long been an outdoorsy playground for thrill-seekers (from kayakers in the summer to dog sledders in the winter), but its food and drink scene is finally drawing the attention of adventurous eaters. Especially since the founding of local culinary festival Canmore Uncorked in 2014, chefs have shined a spotlight on regional dining, tempting travelers to pop over from nearby Calgary or Edmonton, or cross the reopened border from the U.S. Visitors are discovering what the area’s original First Nation inhabitants and farmers markets regulars know well: The Canadian Rockies offer incredible bounty.
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Paul Zizka
As the Canadian Pacific Railway cut across the Rockies in the late 1800s, First Nations and European food cultures started to blend. Chefs on board the trains — and at the grand hotels, like the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise and Fairmont Banff Springs, that the trains precipitated — introduced lavish Victorian fine dining. European mountaineering guides also brought dishes from their homelands, like fondue. As the vast, fertile plains of the Alberta province became a farming and agricultural powerhouse, grains like wheat, barley, and canola, as well as the region’s internationally renowned beef, also joined the roster of signature local foods. Although erasure and government-sanctioned assimilation policies have largely buried First Nation contributions to the food culture, their influence remains in the farm-to-table practices of chefs, restaurateurs, bakers, distillers, foragers, and brewers today.
The unique, hyper-regional flavors of the Canadian Rockies and the nearby Alberta prairies are the main draw for dining in the region’s mountain towns and remote backcountry lodges. You’ll also find plenty of other international cuisines represented, especially Germanic and European alpine. Despite the strong meat focus, there are some great vegan and vegetarian options. Thanks to Alberta’s bountiful grain fields and an endless supply of fresh water from glaciers, icefields, and snowmelt, the Canadian Rockies also has its own cottage industry of hip, independent craft breweries, as well as trendy distilleries incorporating native botanicals into heady spirits. And yes, you can also get your fill of beloved Canadian chains like Tim Hortons and BeaverTails, and quintessential Great White North dishes like poutine.
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Fairmont Resort Hotels
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Fairmont Resort Hotels
The parks: Most of the culinary attention in the Canadian Rockies centers around a cluster of the best known parks at the southern end of the mountains. Covering 9,112 square miles, the national parks of Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay, and the provincial parks of Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine, and Hamber received over 9 million visitors a year pre-pandemic. With its low light pollution, Jasper also boasts of the second-biggest Dark Sky Preserve in the world.
Canmore Uncorked: Set to return in 2022, this award-winning springtime food and drink festival in Canmore, the “gateway to the Rockies” town on the outskirts of Banff National Park, celebrates the chefs, brewers, distillers, and bakers of Canmore and the Bow Valley. Highly anticipated signature events include the multi-course Long Table Dinners, where guests find a spot among a hundred dining companions, and Progressive Dinner Tours, which treat guests to specialties at multiple restaurants over the course of an evening.
Watch for wildlife: Grizzly bears, black bears, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and other wildlife roam free on the protected lands, and you are the guest in their territory. When hiking, practice bear safety protocols, and keep an eye out for animals around resorts, in towns, and while driving along the Trans-Canada Highway (though well-maintained fences and wildlife overpasses generally keep the roads free).
The Boss: If you hear locals talking about someone called the Boss, they’re not talking about Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is Banff’s most famous bear, a massive 600-plus pound grizzly, whose size and stature have made him so popular. He’s survived being hit by a train, fathered numerous offspring, and has been known to eat the occasional black bear. The railroad tracks around Banff are a favorite haunt of his.
Après-ski: Powderhounds of all skill levels, from pizza-french-fry beginners to black-diamond experts, love skiing here for the multilevel terrain, scenic vistas, lengthy ski seasons, and lively après-ski culture. The ski resorts at Lake Louise, Banff Sunshine Village, and Mt. Norquay form the SkiBig3 trifecta, which dominates the local skiing scene.
Seasons: The Canadian Rockies are an all-year destination. Park visitors enjoy hiking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking, mountaineering, and navigating via ferratas in summer; and skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, dog sledding, and ice climbing in the winter. But not all hotels, restaurants, and attractions stay open year round. Be sure to confirm that your desired restaurants and hotels will be open before booking.
Icefields Parkway: Set time aside to drive this 144-mile highway from Lake Louise to Jasper, considered one of the most scenic routes in the world. You’ll pass mountains, lakes, waterfalls, rivers, forests, glaciers, and hopefully wildlife, and you can stop along the way at famous viewpoints like Peyto Lake, which is shaped like a dog’s head.
Rocky Mountaineer: One of the best ways to experience the Canadian Rockies is onboard the Rocky Mountaineer. With several different routes all originating in Vancouver, the multi-day train ride into the heart of the Rockies comes with a standout gourmet dining program featuring seasonal flavors and ingredients from British Columbia and Alberta, and unobstructed views of the mountains, thanks to the glass ceiling observation cars.
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Paul Zizka
Canmore: Before heading into the Bow Valley, stop at the Nakoda First Nation-owned Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino, whose menu uses traditional First Nation foods like elk, bannock, and Saskatoon berries. Then visit speciality food purveyor Valbella Gourmet Foods, which has been keeping the Bow Valley stocked with big game, processed meats, and European-style charcuterie since 1978. Grab some venison pate, bison sausage, and other artisan treats, or maybe one of their extensive to-go boxes, like the grass-fed bison box with steak, sausage, osso bucco, and ribs. To learn more about local herbs and plants, go on an educational plant walk with the Indigenous-owned and -operated Mahikan Trails.
Banff: Located next to the spot that once housed Banff’s first bakery in the late 1800s, Wild Flour Bakery carries on the sourdough tradition with fresh-baked organic breads and pastries. Start the day with a cup of locally roasted coffee and a comforting baked good. For rarefied campfire cooking, sample Farm & Fire’s wood-fired, farm-to-table, modern Canadian fare — like sizzling tomahawk steaks and flatbreads heaped with wild mushrooms. For a classic steakhouse experience, head to Saltlik for some of the juiciest Angus beef in town. Housed in a charming Bavarian cottage, the Waldhaus Restaurant at the Fairmont Banff Springs whisks you from Canada to the European Alps with its crispy schnitzel and decadent fondue. For a meal with a view, dine at the Juniper Hotel’s valley-view Bistro or head up the Banff Gondola to Sulphur Mountain’s Sky Bistro for seasonal specialties like elk Bolognese and foraged mushroom porridge, paired with a curated drinks menu of Canadian wines, local ales, and craft cocktails featuring local spirits.
Lake Louise: The house specialty in Walliser Stube — the intimate, dark-wood-paneled alpine restaurant at Lake Louise’s Fairmont Chateau — is rich, indulgent fondue with all the fixings, best enjoyed with something from the 500-plus bottle wine list. The fondue is prepared with gruyere, emmental, appenzeller, and white wine, and you can zhuzh it up with foraged black truffles or Nova Scotia lobster. Located inside a disused historic train station, the Station Restaurant blends fine dining and railway history with local ingredients, for both European-influenced dishes like schnitzel burgers as well as homegrown items like succulent Alberta beef short ribs.
Rocky Mountain House: While a bit off the beaten path, this small town is worth a detour to pick up a “Hunter Gatherer Graze” box from Creative Cuisine Catering, owned and operated by Indigenous chef Denia Baltzer. The to-go charcuterie selection is inspired by Canada’s First Foods (the ingredients of First Nations inhabitants), including venison and bison sausage, Alberta fireweed jelly, Saskatoon chutney, indigenous honey, and bannock. Grab a box for a trailside picnic.
Jasper: Jasper’s lively food scene ranges from haute cuisine to laid-back pubs. For a great introduction, take a walking and eating tour to sample a rotating selection of popular local dishes and drinks with Jasper Food Tours. Opened in 1952, regional favorite Tekarra offers hearty, adventure-ready meals rooted in local, seasonal ingredients, all served inside a quaint, chalet-esque cabin on the grounds of the Tekarra Lodge. The bison short ribs, rainbow trout, and elk meatloaf (prepared with elk, wild boar, bison, and forest mushrooms) are all crowd pleasers.
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Meghan McMaster
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Meghan McMaster
Canmore: Canmore Brewing Company’s lineup of pale ales, lagers, stouts, and IPAs, as well as seasonal sours and Belgian witbiers, are named after local landmarks like mountains and hiking trails. Featuring a constantly rotating tap list, Sheepdog Brewing features fun beer styles like saison and German-style Hefeweizen. With the aid of foraging tour operator Full Circle Adventures, Wild Life Distillery utilizes sustainably foraged summertime botanicals like Rocky Mountain juniper, Labrador tea, and rose hips to flavor their one-of-a-kind Alberta botanical gin.
Banff: The Banff Ave Brewing Co. is a cozy gastropub and tasting room where housemade brews like the rich Mt. Rundle stout and blonde ale pair with hearty fare like poutine and bison burgers. The woodsy Three Bears Brewery and Restaurant brings the outdoors in with forest-inspired dining rooms. There’s also a beer garden, where you can enjoy signature microbrews like the Boss, a chocolatey brown ale named after Banff’s favorite bear, or the golden Pinery pilsen made with Alberta malted barley. Giant draughts of Rockies microbrews can be found at the hip High Rollers bowling alley, while the moody Rundle Bar at Fairmont Banff Springs is a bastion of the local craft cocktail scene. Grapes and the Three Ravens Restaurant and Wine Bar have you covered with wine lists featuring both Canadian and international vintages.
With an award-winning range of small-batch, artisan gins, vodkas, ryes, and experimental aged whisky, Banff’s Park Distillery is the only distillery inside a national park in Canada. Their glacier-to-glass spirits are made using limestone-enriched glacial water and high-altitude Alberta grain. Their London-style dry gin, flavored with Canadian spruce tips, is one of their most popular creations, alongside a rye flavored with Quebec maple syrup.
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Fairmont Resort Hotels
Lake Louise: The bars at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise are popular après-ski spots for ski bums to unwind. Delivering on its name, Lakeview Lounge has the best seat in the house, with a terrific view out onto the lake. The Art Deco-inspired Fairview Bar, meanwhile, is a cozy hideaway for a nightcap, with sumptuous decor and elegant cocktails with playful names like Fairytale in Lake Louise and Arctic Reindeer. Finally, Alpine Social’s decor pays tribute to the regional history of mountaineering. Warm up with their signature Untamed rye, made in partnership with Park Distillery. As if three bars weren’t enough, every winter an entire ice bar is hewn from ice out on the lake, and it serves mulled wine and winter-inspired cocktails.
Golden: Take a trip through Yoho National Park to try Whitetooth Brewing Co’s Belgian-inspired, West Coast-influenced witbier, stout, and pale ale beers.
Jasper: At Jasper Brewing Co, opened in 2005, you’ll get to drink a microbrew at the first brewery in a Canadian national park. The trademark creations include the fruit-forward Trail Session IPA and a robust 6060 stout. They’re equally good enjoyed with elk meatloaf or poutine at their brewpub, or out on the trail in cans. On the edge of the national park, Folding Mountain Brewing Taproom and Kitchen serves imperial stouts, hazy IPAs, lagers, sours, and porters with great views. Warming stouts, brown ales, crisp IPAs, and amber ales can be found at Three Ranges Brewing Co near B.C.’s Mount Robson Provincial Park.
First opened in 1888, the Fairmont Banff Springs feels like something out of Beauty and the Beast. With stately towers and steep-pitched gable roofs, the hotel rises dramatically out of the forest on the southern edge of town, overlooking the Bow River. The hotel has 764 rooms and 12 restaurants and bars, as well as a spa, summertime golf course, and childcare. If you’re staying here, take the Eat the Castle tour with Alberta Food Tours, which visits a handful of the castle’s eateries to sample house-made (or rather castle-made) seasonal specialties with curated beverage pairings. Just try not to sing “Be Our Guest” in your head the whole time. Prices start around $325.
One of the grand, palatial hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railway to encourage tourism in the late 1800s, the elegant 539-room Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise overlooks glacier-fed, aqua waters. The place has six bars and restaurants, and guests can enjoy the spa, canoe on the lake, hit the slopes, and hike to the historic Agnes Teahouse high in the mountains. Come winter, the lake completely freezes over, setting the stage for ice-skating and an epic ice sculpture contest. Rooms start at $510.
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Fairmont Resort Hotels
This stylish boutique hotel with rooms starting around $100 a night, conveniently located on Banff’s main drag, is within walking distance of the bulk of Banff’s dining, shopping, and mass transit. With 133 rooms, guests have access to a cozy lounge, general store, and on-site food and drinks at the Cascade Bar. The best part of staying here is enjoying the rooftop hot tubs, where you can soak while soaking up views of Cascade and Sulphur Mountain.
Instead of birdsong outside your window when you wake up, here you may hear the creaks and pops of a moving glacier. Located by the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park, the luxe Glacier View Lodge has a front-row seat to the Athabasca Glacier, a 10,000-year old giant that’s open to the public for walking tours. With two on-site restaurants, a majestic glacier-view lounge, and minimalist rooms, the lodge offers exclusive packages that include private glacier tours without the crowds. With prices starting at $427 CAD per night for double occupancy ($335 USD), the resort is closed from mid-October to mid-April due to snowfall.
One of Yoho National Park’s few hotels, the remote Emerald Lake Lodge elevates the typical log cabin retreat with its rustic-chic decor, digital detox ethos, gourmet culinary program, and top-of-the-line bar. Situated on a peninsula in Emerald Lake, the 24 guest cabins come with cozy features like wood-burning fireplaces and private wrap-around lakeview balconies. In the main lodge with its rough-hewn wood and stone fireplaces, you’ll find the renowned Mount Burgess Restaurant, where chef Valerie Morrison serves free-range local meats like elk, bison, and caribou with seasonal sides. Take in local history — and some high-end scotch — at the Kicking Horse Lounge, whose bartop dates to the 1890s. In the low season, rooms start at around $100 a night.
Why is so much space food blue?
Welcome aboard Galactic Starcruiser, a windowless Star Wars space yacht forever moored in a galaxy far, far away alongside Florida’s Interstate 4 highway. It’s not quite Westworld by way of Naboo, but it’s the closest to playing pretend padawan that Disney’s offered to date.
Walt Disney World’s ambitious new project — officially titled Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser — isn’t just a place to stay; it’s a theatrical performance. When it opens to the public on March 1, 2022, each two-night journey will be jam-packed with Resistance challenges and First Order shenanigans unfurling into varied storylines that involve you, the guest, and culminate in a face-off between Kylo Ren and Rey. (Bunking with Luke Skywalker and C-3PO is a non-starter. As goes for Disney’s modern galactic build outs, we’re squarely set between Episode 8 and 9 in the timeline, so they’re nowhere to be seen.)
The hotel might mimic a starship but it operates like an earthbound cruise: each stay is two consecutive nights with all food, activities, and entertainment included. With a price tag upwards of nearly $6,000 for a family of four (almost $5,000 for two), it’s the priciest Disney World experience on offer, one that’s left its most dedicated fans reeling. The ambitious project has been in the works for years, developed in tandem with Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park land, offering what Disney hopes is the next level of immersive entertainment for Star Wars fans, gaming buffs, and anyone who’d throw down a few grand to spot Chewbacca from across the bar.
I was among the first passengers to launch into orbit on a recent preview stay aboard the Halcyon — the gem in Chandrila Star Line’s fleet of imaginary spaceships. Here I slept in a capsule bunk bed large enough for most adults, completed odd missions for random characters aboard the ship, and peered out of my viewport into the wonders of “space.” Like Las Vegas for cosplayers, you won’t see sunlight for two 17-hour stretches while aboard the Halcyon, but I found it only added to the effect.
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Carlye Wisel
Of course like any good cruise, so much of the experience’s overall success rides on the food, which for captive passengers is equal parts sustenance and activity. Eating aboard the Galactic Starcruiser is not unlike eating aboard your average luxury liner, and the modernist tricks (Blue stuff! Smoke! Ice spheres!) might seem old hat to anyone who ordered from a high-end tasting menu in the early 2000s. Still, within the parameters of an intellectual property cruiser erected in Mickey Mouse’s Floridian backyard, the culinary program is, overall, a feat. (Just look at the Bantha blue milk and green milk on tap beside a Coca-Cola fountain soda machine.)
Disney isn’t new to creating robust theme menus for galaxies far far away — Satu’li Canteen, a fast-casual Avatar eatery, offers earthy grain bowls while Docking Bay 7 in Disney’s Star Wars theme park land splits ribs horizontally to a prehistoric likeness and fashions cubic, child-friendly chicken nuggets. During my preview stay aboard the Halcyon, breakfast offered some predictables, like buttermilk waffles imprinted with the ship’s insignia, but also yielded two of the trip’s best dishes: a satisfyingly cheesy, eggy potato stack and a corn dog-esque cake batter-dipped Scotch egg atop a turmeric aioli.
The lunch buffet (because what’s a cruise without a buffet?) featured more intriguing bites than I could cram on my single segmented cafeteria tray. A lot of them were familiar, kid-friendly tastes dressed up in space-age packaging — a grilled cheese bubble waffle with tomato cream dipping sauce; a cosmic Uncrustable with PB&J hiding inside a crusted green orb — but others, like a savory granola bar with a curry sauce for dunking, were inventive, tasty, and decidedly un-Disney.
Dinners stuck to the usual cruise script with assigned seating and a repeat server, but the format changed each night. The first was akin to a space bar mitzvah, with Twi’lek diva popstar Gaya performing her hits and leading a short dance party between courses of colorful bao stuffed with “tip-yip” chicken and a mirror glazed “jogan” passionfruit tart. The second evening had a more on-the-nose “Taste Around the Galaxy” theme, with Mustafarian bread service with whipped cheese dip and Bantha beef short rib. Few dishes were groundbreakers — this is, after all, a pretend ship in the distant parking lot of a theme park — but the kitchen’s wackiest and buzziest creation was also maybe its best: Felucian blue shrimp, served on a platter of dry ice. (In actuality, it’s tiger shrimp soaked in butterfly pea powder, but the otherworldly effect was potent.)
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Carlye Wisel/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23270195/IMG_6924.jpg)
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Top left, an alien pop star serenades during dinner on night one. Top right, a breakfast egg and potato stack. Bottom left, ice spheres chill an on board cocktail. Bottom right, the atrium of the Sublight Lounge.
Everything is included in the overall price except for cocktails, mocktails, beer, and wine. If you weren’t able to squeeze into Oga’s Cantina, the overwhelmingly packed watering hole inside Disney’s Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge theme park, it’s nothing in comparison to the ship’s Sublight Lounge, a real party-starter whose revelry spills out into an atrium with crimson benches. Like at Oga’s, drinks here are pre-batched, but the menu is split between location-specific concoctions like the Fiery Mustafarian — a mezcal margarita served with a test tube of “lava extract” for increased heat — and more standard options like an Old Fashioned, Negroni, or even your choice of preferred spirit, something the park’s cantina never provided. (Cocktails are also offered tableside at all meals, including a bloody mary with “Carbonite-dipped Bloody Rancor cubes” at breakfast.) There is no cantina band — one of a handful of true misses that feel nonsensical — but complimentary late-night eats, like a smoking cloche with cheese balls, and actually fun digital gambling at the Holo-Sabacc table, nearly make up for it.
The waitstaff exist entirely in story, substituting phrases like “you’re welcome” and “good morning” for “my honor” and “good passage,” while menus use non earth-centric space speak, like calling carbonation “sparkling bubbles,” potatoes “tubers,” and vegetables “flora.” You’re free to come dressed in intergalactic finery, whether that’s Jedi fatigues, a velveteen senate robe or, like one guest aboard, your flesh tinted a shade shy of International Klein Blue. (My great hope to putz around in the likeness of Emperor Palpatine was squashed by Earth bureaucracy, as adults are not permitted to wear costume masks.)
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Matt Stroshane
The bulk of Star Wars experiences on board, however, come from interactive game play with the ship’s characters, both in-person and by way of the Play Disney Parks phone app. Here, a “choose your own adventure” narrative unfolds plotlines and unlocks surprises over the two main days. Follow the Resistance both in person and in your “datapad” and you’ll find yourself summoned to the engineering room of the Halcyon, uncovering codes to break Chewbacca out of the onboard jail; hang back with the First Order and you’ll hatch a plan to sabotage the ship from the inside.
The more you lean in and complete digital odd jobs for these characters, the more action you’ll become privy to. When the story works, it’s magic, but when it doesn’t, it’s exhausting. I felt permanently pressed to do more, and the intertwining plotlines are overwritten, particularly for guests who adore but don’t bleed Star Wars — or even those who may want to vacation while on vacation.
There is also no gym, pool, hot tub and, rather confoundingly, no space spa, despite how welcoming an Endorian seaweed wrap and Hoth plunge pool would have been after a day jam-packed with meetings, tasks, and chores. The two-night stay, both criminally short and overwhelmingly fast paced, needed to be three, but even a few extra hours aboard would help with the feeling of being rushed: multi-course meals are churned through in under 90 minutes and guests are unceremoniously booted off the ship by 11 a.m. on check-out day. Despite covering theme parks full-time, I emerged from the experience exhausted and serotonin-socked — like the culmination of three simultaneous New Years Eves.
And even still, with all that, I can safely say Disney’s new, slightly deranged hotel experience is the most fun you’ll have at Disney World. After disembarking, I made up for the vitamin D I’d sacrificed onboard by visiting the Magic Kingdom, where Cinderella Castle and Fantasyland felt banal and pedestrian compared to the ship’s intricately designed interiors; even Dole Whip was bland and uninspired after days of biting into sweet orbs with surprise centers. There’s some kind of magic in a bottle happening within that cruise-hotel’s walls and I, a middling Star Wars fan, somehow left inexplicably changed by it. It’s nothing if not aggressively inventive, which is remarkable for a franchise with this many corporate cooks in the kitchen. Despite some necessary story retooling that could streamline the experience, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is delightfully unhinged — the highest compliment I can give the biggest entertainment corporation in the galaxy.
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Caitlyn McCabe
Carlye Wisel is a theme park journalist and expert who reports about things like how Butterbeer was invented and Disney’s secret food lab on her podcast, Very Amusing With Carlye Wisel.
Where banana bread whispers of pandemic lockdown, plantain cake speaks of a brighter future
It’s 2022, and banana bread is so lockdown 2020. But platanos upside down cake? That will never get old.
As someone who always keeps yellow platanos, or plantains, handy on my kitchen counter or in my freezer, I’m always looking for new ways to make use of them. And though making them into platonos en tantacion (pretty much the Latin American version of bananas foster) is never a bad idea, I recently began thinking of ways to transform my trusty platanos into something more magical. I pondered banana desserts that I could give a Hispanic kick to. Plátano cream pudding crossed my mind (and I’ll probably make that too), but what’s more breathtaking than an upside down cake to show off what a platano can do?
Although they look alike, there are some key differences between bananas and plantains. The latter are a starchy banana variety commonly used throughout Latin America. They’re usually larger and tougher than bananas, with a much thicker skin. They may be green, yellow, or very dark brown. Green plantains are used for savory preparations, while the yellow ones find their way into sweeter dishes. When ripe, plantains have a dry texture, whereas ripe bananas are smooth and creamy. And while ripe bananas are eaten raw, plantains are not — they need heat and fat (and lots of it) to be palatable and help break down their starches. When they’re cooked, they’re sweet like a banana but don’t taste like one — instead, they have a vegetal flavor. That means that neither plantains nor this plantain upside down cake have that banana flavor we’re so used to in the United States, where “banana” usually refers to soft, sweet dessert bananas, namely those from the Cavendish family.
To develop this recipe, I pored over a ton of classic banana upside down cake recipes and also recalled my favorites. One thing I knew for sure was that my cake would contain sour cream, since some of the best banana upside down cakes I’ve ever had used sour cream or buttermilk. That’s no accident: the acidity in both ingredients brings a pleasant tang to the cake and helps to tenderize the gluten in the flour, which gives the cake a softer texture and more body.
For this cake, look for the yellowest plantains you can find. Spots like a leopard are good. And if you can’t find fresh ones, try the freezer section, where plantains are sometimes sold peeled and frozen.
Instead of frosting, the plantains themselves are used to decorate the cake. Sliced in half-lengthwise and dripping in caramel, they’re simple yet stunning. So the next time you come across a plantain and wonder how to use it, well, now you know — go and bake a cake.
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake
For the caramel topping:
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup (100 grams) brown sugar
1 pinch kosher salt
2-3 large ripe yellow plantains or 6 small plantains
For the cake:
1⅓ cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream or yogurt
Flaky sea salt for garnishing
First, make the caramel topping:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a round 9-inch springform pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Wrap the pan with tin foil in case you happen to have a sugar leak.
Step 2: Add the butter and sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil, stirring, until the sugar is fully dissolved, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Pour the caramel into the springform pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly across the base, working quickly and carefully before it cools. Slice the plantains into halves or thirds lengthwise and arrange on top of the caramel, cut side down to cover the base of the pan in a single layer.
Next, make the cake:
Step 1: Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
Step 2: Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or an electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one by one, scraping the bowl between additions. On low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, then add all of the sour cream or yogurt, mixing until just combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the cake batter over the plantains and spread it evenly across them. Place the cake on a rimmed baking tray and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Step 3: Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert it upside down onto a plate and release the springform pan — you don’t want to wait any longer than this because the caramel will harden and glue the cake to the pan. Let the cake cool for another 10-15 minutes, or until it’s warm but not still hot (you don’t want it to cool fully, or the plantains will toughen up a bit). Garnish with sea salt and serve. The cake is best eaten as soon as it is made, but can be stored wrapped tightly in plastic in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Marisel Salazar is a New York City-based food and restaurant writer, cook, and recipe developer. She is originally from Panama and has lived in Hawaii, Japan, Virginia and Madrid. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram, and on TikTok at @mariselmsalazar.
Celeste Noche is a Filipino American food, travel, and portrait photographer based between Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco.
Recipe tested by Deena Prichep
Check out the full list
Today in a press release, the James Beard Foundation revealed the semifinalist nominees for the 2022 James Beard Awards.
At a glance, the list appears to be one of the most diverse — across race, gender, geography, styles of service, and styles of cuisine — in the foundation’s history. There are some new categories this year, meant to address the findings of an extensive 2021 audit to address the longstanding biases baked into the awards process. There is now an emerging chef award; unlike previous years’ rising star chef award, the nominees below were not subjected to an age cut off. The regional best chef categories have also been reconfigured, with California, New York, and Texas each getting their own categories, in hopes of recognizing a broader geographic range of winners.
Voting is also different this year: previous JBFA winners (a group that skews white, and male) are no longer automatically included in the voting body that determines who from the semifinalist lists moves onto the finalist list, and then the winners list. The voting body has broadened to also include food experts beyond traditional food media and chefs, all with a goal of having 45 percent of committee members and judges be people of color this year, and 50 percent next year.
Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, March 16, while winners will be feted at a gala in Chicago on Monday, June 13. Check out the full semifinalist list below.
Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Foundation Awards.
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