Foodies Clan

Inside a Brooklyn chef’s first apartment — without roommates

This is Right at Home, a series in which Eater explores the home kitchens and cooking habits of fascinating food people. To kick things off, inside Francesca Chaney’s Brooklyn apartment.

The big party speaker in Francesca Chaney’s snug Bushwick apartment sits in a corner of her living room, but she wheels it into the kitchen when she cooks. The vibey, rich tunes of South African DJ Black Coffee reverberate from the speaker as Chaney’s oven preheats and the windows fog with steam. The 2019 Eater Young Gun is greasing a cornbread pan when she realizes she’s missing cornbread mix, and pretty much every other ingredient she’ll need. She just moved into this apartment, her first without roommates, and the kitchen is still relatively bare, the fridge unstocked.

This kind of realization would be a catastrophe at Sol Sips, the Bushwick-based vegan cafe Chaney opened when she was 22 years old. But at home, it’s not a big deal to switch into sneakers, shrug on a coat, and pop over to the grocery store. In Chaney’s kitchen, cooking is an act of improvisation, and the stakes are never too high. “When I cook at home, I can be in an experimental state,” she says.

Freewheeling dinner parties used to be routine for Chaney, when she was still in school, living with her family, before her little cafe took off and demanded all of her time. But with Sol Sips to manage, days at home filled with cooking became less frequent. “I was mostly in the restaurant,” Chaney says as she chops a just-bought apple directly on her dining room table. She’d come home to a kitchen full of roommates (and dirty dishes), and in the constant daze of exhaustion, the magic seemed to drain from her own kitchen.

As she prepares to open her second restaurant, it’s easy to imagine Chaney cooking at home even less often. But in this new apartment, she’s excited to cook in a way she hasn’t been in a long time. Last month, she also announced Sol Sips would be closing for six weeks, until her new restaurant opens. “It’s sad, mixed with so many other feelings,” she says of the decision. “What do I need for me, personally? That’s been a recurring theme in my life recently. How can I take care of myself?”

Along with a bit of rum and more than a little dancing, the answer lies in plenty of home-cooked meals. “I have this kitchen to myself, and it’s big,” Chaney says. “So recently, I’ve just been baking sweets.” Cornbread, cookies, cakes, and muffins stream out of Chaney’s oven. In her past apartments, a rotating crew of friends came and went, eating whatever Chaney might have cooked that day. Now, Chaney texts her friends in the neighborhood to let them know she’s got food, but often, the invite is to pick up the freshly baked treats wrapped to-go. “I’ve just been cooking for myself,” she says. “I really don’t want anyone coming to stay for too long, because they might not want to leave after they taste the cornbread.”

When this batch of cornbread is done, Chaney cuts a slice, but pauses with fork hovering over plate. Recently, she’s been thinking a lot about how owning a restaurant has changed her position in the world, giving her privilege she didn’t always have. Where she used to use the less expensive Jiffy cornbread mix, she’s switched to Bob’s Red Mill, she notes. It’s a little thing, but it represents a lot for the young entrepreneur and cook.

“I have to always recognize where I’ve come from and also the privilege to be able to even make a meal in my kitchen,” Chaney says as she takes a bite. “Even though it sounds simple, it isn’t. Because this kitchen is a very meditative space that I have available to me right now, and it feels liberating.”

From Anita Baker and Summer Walker to Megan Thee Stallion and booming Afrobeat like Wizkid, there’s always music coming from Chaney’s wireless rechargeable speaker while she cooks (and dances). “I’m generally a chill person,” she says. “So I love to have some type of music to hype me up. If I didn’t have any music, I’d just be standing here.”

A small wooden table draped in a crisp white cloth fills a corner in Chaney’s entryway. On the table are pictures of her family, as well as earrings, silverware, and other family memorabilia and heirlooms. “These are people that cooked for me growing up,” she says. “They may not be here anymore, but now that I have my own apartment, I want them to be in my kitchen as I was in theirs.”

Chaney doesn’t typically set the table with her grandmother’s silverware, but she keeps it in her kitchen, where she can easily pick the pieces up and turn them over in her hands. “I keep them tucked away,” she says. “These were passed down, so maybe I should pass these down too. I don’t want to think about it too much or get too sentimental, because at the end of the day it could also be something I keep for the rest of my life.”

A bright rug greets friends and family at the entry to Chaney’s kitchen, but the slightly chipped tiles are exposed throughout the rest of the room, much like the ones lining her family’s kitchen in Belize. “Because of the high ceilings and tiled floors, this apartment reminds me of Belize so much,” Chaney says. “They’re imperfect, but they fit really well into the space. It just makes me feel really good.”

Restaurants require all kinds of well-kept machinery and plenty of equipment. At home, Chaney is happy to measure her ingredients by feel and use a plate as a pot lid, something she’s been doing for as long as she can remember. A hand gingerly placed on the plate tells her how hot the food within is getting. “When I’m at the restaurant, I have to make sure that everything is fully up to par, stainless steel, and wiped down,” she says. “When I’m home, I’m just relaxing. No one is going to see.”

Chaney has yet to buy spices or fully stock her refrigerator since moving into her apartment, but she made sure to have a great cornbread pan on hand as soon as she settled in. Though she grew up eating the Belizean-style cornbread of her mother’s family, Chaney has integrated some tricks from her father’s Southern side of the family, such as mixing whole kernels of corn into the batter that pop with sweetness in each bite. “I wouldn’t make cornbread at the restaurant,” she says. “It’s a home meal.”

Elazar Sontag is an Oakland-raised, Brooklyn-based cookbook author and food writer. Find him on Instagram, and read more about his work.
An Rong Xu is a photographer based in New York.

If there’s one kitchen item worth giving, it’s this reliable kitchen classic

Since my sister, Molly, graduated from culinary school, she has been my guiding star. She’s greatly improved our Thanksgiving meals, promptly answers my frantic texts about whether it’s okay to eat lentil soup I left on the counter all night, and gives me the best kitchen gifts, like a chef-favorite vegetable peeler and a pepper grinder that looks like an alien obelisk.

The best thing she ever gave me, though, was my All-Clad fry pan. Like most of her cooking-related gifts, it’s not especially cute; it doesn’t come in millennial pink or millennial rust or millennial turmeric. In fact, it looks like the platonic ideal of a pan. It’s a real pan’s pan.

The pan achieves its purpose beautifully. Because of its heavy composition, it retains heat evenly; because it’s made of aluminum and steel, it can go straight from the stove into the oven. Its curved walls let you toss food easily, if you so choose. You can probably flip an omelet in it, though I haven’t tried, because I prefer my eggs scrambled — which it does very well, especially when you use both butter and olive oil (another trick from Molly). And I’ve been told it will last forever, or at least much longer than the lifespan of our family’s early-2000s nonstick set, which began flaking its coating around year three. It’s humble, but high-quality, something you might find in a fine dining kitchen; regular restaurants probably have something more like these.

As a gift, it pairs well with a $1.99 canister of Bar Keepers Friend, an abrasive scrubbing powder. No, the pan is not nonstick, but it shines right up. Get something stuck on it? Just scrub the hell out of it — you can’t do that with nonstick pans or even fancy Le Creuset. It’s a Black Friday staple, too, subject to breathless discounts, if you’re into that kind of thing.

A lot of the time, the gifts we give and receive seem extraneous, like objects invented to fulfill the need to gift-give, rather than the need to cook or eat or live. There’s something dispriting about White Claw wine tumblers and novelty spatulas, items that seem destined to end up in the trash. Which is why what I love most about this pan as a gift is that it is just that: a pan.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

The Good Food 100 list considers restaurants’ big-picture impact over taste and technique

It’s been said before: There are problems with traditional restaurant awards. They favor fine dining above other styles, the winning chefs are mostly men, and they’re consistently lacking in cuisine diversity. It’s only in recent years that power wielders in the hospitality industry have attempted to fix these problems. But one restaurant recognition vehicle, now in its third year, has decided that to truly change the kinds of restaurants that get recognized, the definition of good has to change first.

For the Good Food 100, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, “good food” isn’t about taste and technique, it’s about restaurants’ big-picture impact. “Bad-tasting food is a conversation stopper,” co-founder Sara Brito says. “But a good-tasting meal should open the conversation up to all of those other elements of food: the soil, the water, the animals, the farmers and ranchers and fishermen, and the restaurant workers.” The 137 restaurants, caterers, and food service operators recognized on the 2019 Good Food 100 — including LA institution Lucques; Pacific Northwest bakery chain Grand Central Bakery; and Button & Co. Bagels in Asheville, North Carolina — opted into sharing their practices on all of these points. They receive a rating of up to six “links” based on how their “good food purchases” compare to other participants, and all of the data they submit contributes to an annual industry impact report.

In an interview with Eater, Brito discussed how the Good Food 100 works for the restaurants that participate and why it has implications for the restaurant industry as a whole. The following has been edited for clarity and length.

Eater: What inspired the Good Food 100?

Sara Brito: Our ultimate vision is to change the way restaurants are viewed and valued, and to me, the first way you can change the way something is viewed and valued is to change the types of restaurants that are being recognized. There’s no other list that I’m aware of that puts the power of recognition back in the hands of chefs and restaurants. Every other list is done based on an editorial producer or awards committee. It’s professional expertise but still subjective expertise. The criteria that are used to get on the list tend to be very opaque, and that lack of transparency in the editorial process favors the privileged; it favors the establishment. And so, I wanted to create a recognition vehicle.

In 2020, the conversation about food needs to be about more than just taste; it needs to be about what I like to refer to as the whole story of food. Why are we, in 2020, only focused on making the eater happy? The eater is important, but they’re the beginning. We need to care about the whole story of food. If there are chefs and restaurants that are really and truly dedicated to caring and trying to do the right thing for food, we need to give them a way to get recognition so that they, too, can get the investors they need to ultimately change the world. We like to say, “Change the world for good, both positively and permanently.”

What kind of metrics are you taking into account?

There are three parts to the survey: There’s the sourcing piece, here’s the business practices piece, and there’s the labor practices piece. In the sourcing piece, we’re tracking restaurant purchases in six categories and how much of their total budget they’re able to allocate towards good food producers and purveyors that meet our minimum guidelines for defining good food. So, for example, in the seafood category, purchases either need to be wild fish or seafood or sustainably farmed fish or seafood.

On average what we’ve found is that the chefs are spending almost 70 percent of their food dollars on “good food” but for whatever reason around about 30 percent of their food is still coming from non-good food sources. Then, we evaluate them versus their peers. So if on average the list is spending close to 70 percent of their good-food dollars, those that are doing better than that are going to get a higher rating and those that are doing not as good as that will get a lower rating. It’s a peer-to-peer rating system that we’re only able to do because of the transparent actions of these chefs.

How has the Good Food 100 list evolved?

Last year, we added labor practices to the survey. We also collaborated with the Food Chain Workers Alliance and got input from ROC (Restaurant Opportunities Center) and incorporated a number of questions from their surveys: “What are you paying your people, both tipped and non-tipped employees? Are you offering health insurance? Are you offering vacation? Are you only offering vacation to your management or to full-time employees, or to part-time employees?” We ask them if they have an official sexual harassment policy. We’re trying to create industry benchmarks because going back to our vision of changing the way restaurants are viewed and valued, I’m a big believer that you can’t change anything unless you know where you are. [According to Good Food 100 2019 report, over 78 percent of the survey respondents reported providing access to health insurance, and 87 percent of the responding restaurants had a sexual harassment policy in place.]

Independently owned restaurants don’t have to report their data or practices to anyone, and so we thought that by creating an independent nonprofit whose mission is really to advance the industry by accelerating transparency, that we could then start to provide some benchmarks to these restaurants that would help them know. You know, maybe I thought I was a leader. Maybe I trained with one of the early pioneers in this good food movement, and maybe I thought I adopted all those practices, but now all of the sudden the Good Food 100 industry impact report comes out and I find out that I’m just average.

How do you ensure the accuracy of self reporting?

We start with self-reported data, and then we partnered with another nonprofit called NSF International [founded as the National Sanitation Foundation]. They verify the self-reported data on a spot audit basis so the restaurants don’t know when they’re going to be audited and what they’re going to be audited on. If they are chosen to be audited they have to provide invoices and all of the backup calculations that led to what they put in the report.

We’re always getting chefs’ input on how we can make this easier for them, because ultimately we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with an educational mission and so we want the data that we’re collecting for restaurants and for the restaurant industry to be of service and to help them improve their practices. If it’s not of value to them, if it’s not helping to move the industry forward. then we have more work to do to improve it.

What has been the most surprising insight you’ve gleaned in the three years of the Good Food 100?

We had no idea if chefs would feel comfortable giving us information, and when I told other people this in the beginning they were like, “You’re going to ask chefs to give you actual producers that they’re buying from and the contact information of those producers?” I was surprised at how willing they were. Three years in we now have a lot of data. We recently asked the chefs if they would be interested in us doing something with the producer and purveyor data to help restaurants know how to source good food, and if they’d be open to us sharing that data with other restaurants. I was really surprised that the answers to those questions were yes, and yes.

That’s really powerful because today that data only exists in what I like to refer to as the chef whisper network, but nobody has aggregated all that data. Nobody has made that data transparent and available and accessible to a broader section of the industry. Ultimately, to grow the market for good food, we have to share who those producers are so that people know how to buy good food. My hypothesis is part of the reason that number has been consistent around that 70 percent mark of purchases coming from good food and why it’s not 100 percent, part of that is a supply issue. Something that we’re exploring is how could we help grow the supply of good food to then help restaurants be able to find good food more easily and to make good food more accessible and more affordable to all.

What do you envision for the future of the list?

Participating in the Good Food 100 is sort of the on-ramp or the gateway drug for chefs to get a little bit of a taste of becoming more vocal in their beliefs and values. It’s a way wave the flag to say, “We’re a restaurant that cares, and we care about good tasting food, but we also care about the environment. We care about farmers, we care about people, we care about our restaurant workers, and of course we care about you, the eaters.”

It’s great that awards like Michelin and the World’s 50 Best recognize the fine dining and tasting menus that are serving the one percent, but we need to also have recognition programs that are recognizing the restaurants that are serving the 99 percent. We would love to get the Sweetgreens, the Dig Inns, the Little Beets. We would like to get those types of restaurants showing that they are willing to be transparent and demonstrating to eaters that they are walking the walk. It’s one thing to put farms on chalkboards; it’s another thing to put pen to paper and fill out an application and be transparent with your purchasing practices.

Plus, Dry January is CANCELED (in France), and more news to start your day

Everyone was wrong about food on the internet

On November 19, Jon Becker tweeted a prompt seemingly designed by a malevolent trickster god to fuck up everyone’s hard-earned weekend: what is your most controversial food opinion? Twitter feeds were inundated with opinions, jokes about opinions, fights about opinions, and pleas for the opinions to stop. Nobody was safe.

The takes tended to fall into one of three categories. The first was the I-just-wanted-to-say-something opinion from people who forgot the “controversial” element of Becker’s request. Stuff like “boxed stuffing is good” and “I don’t like ketchup.” Good for them, moving on. The second was stuff designed to rile people up, like diving into the old “should there be beans in chili?” question, or claiming that In-N-Out is overrated.

But then there were the racists. One man claimed Indian food is terrible, and that “we” pretend it isn’t. Another said all Chinese food is bad. There are, of course, many things to take issue with in these statements. India and China are huge countries with multiple region-specific cuisines (many of which existed before modern borders were drawn), making it highly unlikely someone could search the entire country and not find something they enjoyed eating. There’s the presumption of “we,” as if everyone shares the same palate, and that Chinese food is “gloppy” and salty, as if Panda Express is the arbiter of an entire country’s cuisine.

Chef Pim Techamuanvivit suggested English-speakers adopt a Thai idiom that, instead of “I don’t like this food,” translates to “I don’t know how to eat this.” That way, it’s the eater’s problem, rather than a dismissal of an entire cuisine (or cuisines).

Anyway, if white people think Asian food is so bad, maybe they should return the spices they’ve been taking since about 1500 A.D.

And in other news...

• Harry Morton, the founder of the Pink Taco, has died at the age of 38. He is the scion of the founders of the Hard Rock Cafe and Morton’s Steakhouse. [CNN]
• How the recipe on a can of Libby’s canned pumpkin became the recipe for pumpkin pie. [Bon Appetit]
• The French government has canceled its plans to run a “Dry January” campaign. [Food & Wine]
• Tony Hawk has a card that allows him a free burrito at Chipotle every day for life, safety scares be damned. [CNBC]
• Last week, WeWork laid off 2,400 workers, and got rid of some of its honesty-based snack bars. The next day, WeWork execs got the tasting menu at Babbo. [BI]
• A man was convicted of murder after a KFC receipt linked him to the crime location. [NY Post]
• A look at the world’s biggest Starbucks, which just opened in Chicago. [Sprudge]
• Kim Kardashian West is shilling for Uber Eats Australia? Ok, sure.

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]

Tips, recommendations, and intel for getting the most out of the annual sales fest, for the sake of your kitchen

Should you care about Black Friday? If you’ve been hankering for a pricey appliance like a Vitamix or even a KitchenAid, love the thrill of a good deal (and don’t mind the emotionally taxing journey to get there), or just find online shopping relaxing: Sure. This coming Friday, November 29, is the official shopping holiday, with Cyber Monday following on December 2 (and sales running in between). But countless brands and stores have been touting all their major deals for several weeks now, and plenty of stuff’s already on sale.

So what are the decent (or even legitimately good) deals, what should you bother buying, and when should you tackle it? We’ve attempted to gather up some useful intel for the food-loving and cooking-inclined shoppers out there. Godspeed.

And if you want to keep up-to-date with food-related shopping intel more regularly, subscribe to Add to Cart, Eater’s weekly shopping newsletter.

Forget Amazon: Brands like Great Jones, Field Company, and Made In are offering their own promotions 

I know what you’re thinking: Does Black Friday even matter if I already own an Instant Pot? But if you’ve contemplated trading in your busted old Teflon frying pan or crusty, warped sheet pan for something a little more aesthetically pleasing, you can save a little cash by doing it on America’s biggest shopping holiday of the year — and you don’t have to give money to Amazon to enjoy the savings. (PS: I don’t know who needs to hear this, but… you probably need to replace your sheet pan.)

A spate of slick, new cookware startups geared toward the aesthetically-minded millennial home cook have brought sleek, colorful cookware to market in the last couple of years, skipping the big-box retailers and selling directly to consumers (a la Everlane, Glossier, and Warby Parker). Brands like Great Jones and Field Company aren’t just selling nice-looking products or even an aspirational, Instagrammable lifestyle; they’re marketing a more individualized, perhaps even more responsible purchase — an alternative to forking over money to a big-box store, or further padding Jeff Bezos’s coffers.

As some shoppers, particularly millennials, grow wary of supporting potentially problematic retail giants, direct-to-consumer brands and the stories they tell can almost feel like shopping small. (It’s worth noting that some of these brands aren’t exactly homespun operations anymore: Made In got a $5 million funding round earlier this year, while Great Jones drummed up $3.35 million last year.) And although these young companies may have built their cultural capital as feel-good alternatives to mega chain retailers, even they aren’t immune to the ultimate siren’s song of consumer culture.

When shopping these brands for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, don’t expect doorbuster-worthy price-slashing: most DTC discounts are on the less impressive end, presumably thanks to the tighter margins presented by the factory-direct model — when you aren’t the middle-man, there’s simply less markup to take away. But, if you’ve been eyeing a chef’s knife or feel compelled to engrave your new Dutch oven, read on to see how 10 DTC brands are getting in on the sales frenzy this year:

Brandless

Brandless is getting a headstart on sales season: Throughout the week of Thanksgiving, the minimalist one-stop-shop will offer 40 percent off home, pet, and travel products, excluding their Pro Blender. It’s a good opportunity to stock up on wooden spoons, replace your measuring cups, or buy a back-up cheese grater (for, you know, when your other cheese grater is in the dishwasher). Starting on Cyber Monday and extending through the week, Brandless is offering 20 percent off sitewide, excluding Plant People CBD products. And now through November 24, they’re offering 50 percent off all food products.

Field Company

For a lot of home cooks, cast iron is the indisputable heavyweight champ of cookware material. But modern cast-iron skillets can feel unwieldy. This is perhaps why Kickstarter backers threw so much money at Field Company, a startup that promises a cast-iron skillet “lighter than a MacBook pro.” If you have a handful of cast iron-curious cooks in your life, Field Company’s batch-shopping promotions for Black Friday and Cyber Monday should probably be on your radar. For any size of their Field Skillet, customers can buy one, get one half-off; buy two, get one free; or buy three, get two free — ideal for knocking out some gift shopping while perhaps also treating yourself. Field Company is offering additional discounts on the brand’s cast-iron cookware sets: the full, five-piece set will be marked down from $595 to $500; the three-piece set from $365 to $315; and the two-piece set from $235 to $205.

Our Place

Our Place

Our Place’s Always Pan, a handsome ceramic-coated skillet that comes in modern colors like muted eggshell (“Steam”) and a dusky blush (“Spice”), looks more like a piece of West Elm pottery than a utilitarian kitchen workhorse. It’s billed as an all-purpose skillet that promises to do the work of eight pieces of cookware (though, we should note, it isn’t fully oven safe). On Black Friday, shoppers who buy the Always Pan will also get their choice of a free set of four main plates, four side bowls, or four hand-blown drinking glasses, a savings of $45 to $55 depending on which you choose.

Misen

Some kitchen pros swear that a cook is no better than their knife, and Misen’s knives have gotten a lot of attention. For both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Misen, another Kickstarter-backed startup, will offer a flat 25 percent discount across the whole store (plus “potentially a few extra surprises,” according to a brand spokesperson). If you have your eye on that $65 chef’s knife, sign up for their email list so you’re in the know when the sale starts, since inventory can be limited.

Milo

Milo’s tight lineup of three products — a Dutch oven, a 3.5-quart “mini Dutch,” and a skillet — have gotten good reviews for being durable and easy to care for. There’s also the price tag: at $95 for a 5.5-quart Dutch oven, Milo’s goods are far more affordable than fellow enamel-coated, cast-iron products from Staub and Le Creuset, which the brand attributes to its Everlane-esque, factory-direct sales model. Snag 20 percent off on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, site wide.

Equal Parts

Founded with the budding (and potentially burned out) home cook in mind, Equal Parts set out to design cookware that’s straightforward, beginner-friendly, and unintimidating. On Cyber Monday, the brand will offer a 20 percent discount across the whole site, including their brand new nonstick, ceramic-coated Your Big Pan, which also happens to be dishwasher-friendly. All purchases come with Equal Parts’ signature eight-week coaching service, a kind of on-call, culinary sherpa who can guide you through questions like “What should I cook tonight?” and “What’s the difference between dicing and chopping?” via text in real time.

Material

Material, a slick cookware brand founded with a “fewer, better things” ethos, offers knives, essential cooking utensils, and copper-core pots and pans that have earned the millennial home cook equivalent of Oprah’s favorite things — which is to say, the Alison Roman seal of approval (she works with the brand in an advisor role). On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Material will have a one-time offer of up to 25 percent off.

Made In

Made In

Made In made headlines when investor and advisor Tom Colicchio announced that he plans to kit out his new New York restaurant with Made In cookware, and then again when it tapped Alinea’s Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas to join its advisory board. If a gold, stainless steel nonstick frying pan is good enough for the pros, it’s probably good enough for a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen dumplings. The professional-grade kitchenware brand will offer a few different deals for Black Friday: a flat 15 percent discount with a $15 gift card; 20 percent off and a $20 gift card for orders over $250; and 30 percent off and a $30 gift card for orders over $500. For shoppers who hold out until Cyber Monday, expect a flat 20 percent off discount side-wide.

Caraway

Do you (or someone you really, really love) need to upgrade an entire cookware collection? Caraway, a newer line of ceramic cookware in very pretty colors, touts its non-toxic and non-stick coating as a major selling point, and sells its cookware in one-and-done sets. The brand will offer $50 off site-wide, starting on Thanksgiving at 6 p.m. ET and running through the following Tuesday, December 3rd, at 3 a.m. (The offer will be automatically applied at checkout, so no code needed.) Each set includes a fry pan, lidded saucepan, lidded saute pan, and lidded 6.5-quart Dutch oven in Instagram-friendly colors like salmon, sage, and cobalt, plus magnetic bookend-esque pan racks and a handy canvas lid holder for vertical storage.

Great Jones

Great Jones is synonymous with the whole “cookware, but make it Instagrammable” moment — just take a look at its latest launch, a warp-proof sheet pan in a striking shade of Yves Klein blue. This year, the brand won’t offer any deep discounts — in fact, they won’t discount at all, instead offering a nod to the holiday with complimentary engraving on all stainless cookware with the code PERSONALPAN. My suggestion: Skip the monogram and engrave your Dutch oven with helpful cooking advice. Mine would be “add more garlic.” (Whether you spring for the pan or not, note that the brand’s Potline, an on-demand kitchen advice texting service, is free.)

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

A worker alleged a manager told her to throw deep-frier oil at customers if she felt threatened

Recode has learned that this startup, Zume Inc., is in talks with investors to be valued at about $4 billion in a new round of fundraising, according to people familiar with the matter

Sorry, Instant Pot

In this era of hyper-convenience, the most coveted items for at-home cooks are often wildly outfitted, high-tech multitaskers sold as shortcuts to save time in the kitchen: a “multi cooker” that’s a slow cooker, a miniature oven, and a food warmer; a pressure cooker that’s also somehow an air fryer and dehydrator; and yes, of course, the ubiquitous Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker and slow cooker (plus a bunch of other things) rolled into one.

But here’s the secret: While I often evangelize for the Instant Pot, I pretty much only use it as a pressure cooker, leaving its rice cooker, yogurt maker, and sous vide functions fallow. Essentially, I’ve turned the complicated appliance from a fancy multitasker into a weighty unitasker, that hyper-specific category of single-use (and therefore not particularly useful) items like a garlic press, a countertop pizza maker, or a salad chopper. Which is a shame, because multitasking kitchen devices are indeed worth owning. But you don’t need one with a million buttons or Bluetooth capability. In fact, the only multitasker actually worth owning is decidedly less high-tech: the toaster oven.

Growing up, my family never owned a “traditional,” just-for-sliced-bread toaster, and we rarely used the microwave. To my mom, the toaster oven was the go-to vehicle for heating up American convenience foods. The toaster oven’s longer cook time would render them far less “convenient,” of course, but undoubtedly made everything taste better: Stouffer’s frozen mac and cheese trays (the top layer of cheese would bubble and broil beautifully), leftover grocery store fried chicken (the breading would crisp up into something oil-boilingly crunchy and not soggy), Hot Pockets (a Hot Pocket in a toaster oven takes an absurd 35 minutes, yes, but gets the crust way crispier than the weird microwave-friendly “crisping sleeve” ever will). For more than a decade as an adult, I lived in an apartment without a microwave. Everything frozen I just cooked in the toaster oven, and I firmly believe my 99-cent pot pie and that pepperoni pizza Hot Pocket tasted all the better for it.

But the toaster oven is more than capable of cooking “actual” foods: roasting vegetables, making kale chips, drying apple slices, toasting nuts and seeds, and (I’m told, though have never personally attempted) baking a small cake or pie. For those who live alone and don’t want to turn on an oven to cook a single-serving item, like a foil-packeted salmon steak, the answer is a toaster oven. If it’s 100 degrees outside and I don’t want to do any “real cooking,” the answer is a toaster oven. To make any sandwich a melt, the answer is a toaster oven. To toast toast, the answer is a toaster oven. It’s a pretty impressive list when compared to the tasks accomplished by that ultimate unitasker: the toaster.

It’s hard to resist the siren song of the Instant Pot and the other multi-use gadgets flaunting their “7-in-1!” and “10-in-1!” bona fides, convincing us we need tools we didn’t even know existed or already own. (Did you know that the hot-ticket countertop item of recent years, the air fryer, is… just a fancy convection oven?)

But really, the only multitasker you need — and maybe the one you already have — is the humble toaster oven. (Seriously, if you’re in the market, get this one.) Everything else is toast.

Cooking classes, food tours, and wine-tasting experiences are popular experiential gifts — for good reason

I’ve always been a fan of an experience-based gift. You want to take me to my favorite restaurant as my birthday present? I’m all in. Yes, I’m that millennial who prefers to spend my money on experiences over physical products, and apparently I’m in the majority: 72 percent of millennials feel the same way, according to a 2016 study.

With newish platforms like Airbnb Experiences and EatWith, there are more options than ever for food experiences that go beyond just a nice meal at a restaurant. Private street food tours, intimate cooking classes, wine tasting classes, and bread-making workshops are some common offerings. But it can be a little confusing when you want to gift an experience. How do you choose which experience is best for your recipient? How does gratuity work? I spoke with three professionals from different aspects of the industry to get a primer on how to gift (and get!) food experiences like a pro.

How to gift a food experience

Alena A / Shutterstock

1. Think about the recipient’s likes, tastes, and interests

Everyone (probably) loves at least one type of food, but there’s a different level of engagement at work when choosing food experiences as gifts. Some people might be super into the idea of trying different cuisines, but not really want to walk around during a formal tour. Some people might want to become an expert about one specific cuisine by taking cooking classes. Others might appreciate reliving a recent trip, or prepare for an upcoming one.

”I sometimes get people who are like, ‘Hey, I was just in Southeast Asia for my honeymoon two years ago, and I saw you offer this great tour of Elmhurst, and I want to re-experience that,’” says Joe DiStefano, a food writer and tour guide focusing on different neighborhoods in Queens, New York. He recommends his food tours to travel enthusiasts or locals who haven’t explored the neighborhood. Is there one friend who floods your Instagram feed with pictures from different restaurants? They might be a fit for this style of tour.

Ali Killam, a trend expert at Airbnb, which launched its Experiences arm in November 2016, encourages the gift giver to look for experiences that combine food with other passions. “The New York City food tour. The Turkish coffee experience. A quartet music concert experience that also provides dinner and bites,” he lists. “Very niche experiences are becoming increasingly popular on Airbnb.” Is your friend interested in astrology? This Turkish Coffee Fortune-Telling Workshop might be perfect.

You can gift food experiences for one person, but they are even more ideal for a group: couples, families, co-workers. Take that into account — will your recipient definitely want to bring along a spouse or a kid? — as you browse the options. And consider the location: Even if the experience seems perfect, if it’s inconvenient for the recipient to physically get to where a tour starts, it’s not necessarily an ideal gift.

2. Read the descriptions thoroughly

Edouard Massih, a private chef and caterer mostly focusing on Middle Eastern flavors, offers cooking classes in his spacious kitchen in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Massih advises paying attention to the little details in the description, since each offering is vastly different.

”You should make sure that it’s private or not private,” he says of cooking classes specifically. “Where is it hosted? Is it BYOB, or are drinks included? What’s on the menu? Are you going to be having appetizers and dessert before classes or only eating what’s taught? Those are the types of things you should look at.”

Be sure to look for keywords, depending on the recipient’s interests, when choosing. If your friends are not social butterflies who thrive among strangers, provide them with a private experience: Some chefs are flexible with private lesson locations. (For public cooking classes, recipients usually have to travel to a designated place.) Your friends who have a gorgeous kitchen might prefer having private cooking classes in their own space.

And pay attention to what you get for the cost of the reservation. Most food tours include food, but not necessarily a full meal. Are the tours more educational, with samples? Your friend who expected a full-on feast might be disappointed.

3. Read the reviews, but remember they’re not everything

Killam stresses the importance of reading reviews. There are hundreds of reviews for popular Airbnb experiences: a “handmade pasta with grandma” course in Italy boasts more than 900 reviews averaging 4.99 stars; this “retired NYPD gangster crime and food walk” has over 1,200 reviews averaging 4.85 stars. With both the star rating system and written reviews, gifters can have a clear picture of the effectiveness of the experiences.

”They’re a great way to get a sense of what people get,” says Killam. “They’re a tremendous way to see: Were these groups booking the experience? Was this an individual? Was the reviewer a local or a traveler? It’s really great to get those different perspectives.”

Reviews, however, are subjective. Don’t let a few negative reviews stop you if the description fits what you’re looking for. I would avoid gifting new experiences with no reviews, but if the descriptions are too good to pass up, consider joining your recipients and taking part in the experience, as well. If it ends up being terrible, at least you and your friends will have the memories together — and a fun story to tell after the fact.

4. Transfer the experience to make things easy

Airbnb offers gift cards, but not all platforms do. No matter what platform you purchase from, it’s easier to buy the experience under your own name and transfer it to your recipient after the transaction.

The best way to avoid any confusion is to be in touch with the host directly: Airbnb supports a direct communication channel through its application, but that’s not always the case for experiences found on other platforms. To avoid any potential problems, be sure to get in touch with the host so that your recipient can enjoy the experience stress-free. And, as the gift giver, it’s a nice courtesy to confirm a few days before the event to finalize all the details. No one wants to be the person who’s not on the list when the tour starts.

5. Understand different pricing

What factors into the price of a one-off experience? Location, drink options, quantity of food, and more. For example, Massih’s Greek chicken souvlaki class starts at $85 per person, with BYOB options, while this sushi-making class with a Japanese sushi chef in London costs $26 per person. They’re both cooking classes, but different ingredient costs and the premise of the course factor into the price.

Locations play a big factor as well: Some chefs might have to rent out a separate space. But a variety of price points means everyone can find something that fits their budget. “You can find anything from a food tour for $20 to huge, multi-day, adventure-type experiences on the whole other end of the spectrum,” Killam says. ”No matter what your price point is, there’s truly something for everyone.”

6. Shop around on different platforms

Besides Airbnb, there are various platforms to widen your options: EatWith, CozyMeal, IfOnly, Groupon, and FoodsofNYTours are some of the most popular websites offering food-focused experiences. Many tour guides and chefs use multiple platforms, and both DiStefano and Massih agree that Instagram is a new, potentially powerful place for new customers to discover their services.

”People are asking me about cooking classes on my Instagram,” Massih says. “I’ve been exposing my brand different ways from demos to caterings, so I think those have sparked up interest.” DiStefano also uses his Instagram as an extension of reviews, where potential customers can see DiSteafno’s food adventures before deciding to join him on tours.

How to get a food experience

Felipe Mahecha / Shutterstock

1. Be open-minded

If you’ve never done one of these experiences before, be grateful that your friend has decided to gift you something unique and memorable instead of a $20 bacon-scented candle that you will probably never use. Don’t do too much research before going into the experience, but if you’re concerned about food allergies, contact the host in advance rather than the day of the event. You don’t want to be the “difficult” one, especially if the experience is offered in a group setting.

2. Check whether it’s BYOB

Massih’s cooking classes are mostly BYOB, but some cooking classes might have different rules about alcohol. Be sure to ask the host, whether it’s a class or a food tour, how you can bring a drink in advance if that’s of interest. Most likely than not, there will be a way to booze up the experience. And if you are taking a cooking class, take the extra step and ask the instructor for pairing recommendations. Massih, for example, offers seasonal cocktail mixes for an extra charge.

3. Engage with the host

The host is there to educate and entertain you, so the more actively you participate, the better. If you’re taking a cooking class, soak up the instructor’s expertise and ask questions: What are their favorite grocery stores? What knives do they use? This is the time.

If you’re on a food tour, ask the guide about their other favorite restaurants. You likely won’t be able to taste too many items on a tour with multiple stops, but ask the guide for their other favorites at each restaurant, as well.

4. Prepare to tip at least 20 percent

Tipping might be one of the most confusing parts of gifting a food experience. Because most experiences have to be transferred to the recipient, it’s hard to hide the cost. As a gift-giver, you could elect to include a pre-paid tip separately to make sure that the recipient doesn’t pay a dime; if not, make it clear to your recipient that they should prepare the tip, if appropriate.

Both DiStefano and Massih agree that a tip of 15 to 20 percent would be appropriate, though not strictly required. Cash is the preferred method, but nowadays, Venmo is also acceptable. “People who are going to tip are going to tip, and people who won’t, they won’t,” says DiStefano. “But this is a service. It’s like going out for a meal. So it’s certainly appropriate to tip, but I don’t like to be heavy-handed about it.”

Massih also has received tips that range from 18 to 20 percent. “I feel like most of the time when it’s a present, and you feel like you haven’t put anything into it, then you’re happy to tip,” he says. “But, if you’re buying a cooking class yourself, I think you probably would like to skip on the tipping.”

5. Spread the word

If you enjoyed the experience, add reviews or share your experience on social media, and be sure to tag the tour guide or the instructor. It may seem a little tedious, but reviews from participants become excellent marketing materials for the hosts. Since a lot of them are entrepreneurs, going a little extra mile with sharing and documenting your experiences will be much appreciated.

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Plus, Drake’s Toronto restaurant hasn’t been paying its rent, and more news to start your day

Wash your hands, not your turkey

A new study suggests that one-quarter of Americans are grody humans who handle meat in unsanitary ways, basically inviting food poisoning into their flesh vessels. The Water Quality and Health Council conducted a survey around kitchen hygiene practices, and the results are that y’all are clueless. 26 percent of the respondents said they didn’t wash their hands while cooking, only before or after — something that can lead to cross-contamination between food. But one thing plenty of Americans are washing is their turkeys (not a euphemism): 62 percent rinse raw turkey in their sinks, even though it can splatter biological matter as far as three feet away.

On top of that, a little over half of the respondents didn’t know that you should store turkey and other meat at the bottom of your refrigerator (so that any juices coming out of the bird don’t drip onto your soda or other fridge-things). Oh, and about one-quarter said they left their turkey out for three hours or more after cooking, even though bacteria starts to proliferate on it after about two hours. Enjoy your turkey with a side of salmonella!

Millionaire rapper forgets how to write rent check

Rapper and famous Canadian Drake has closed down his restaurant Pick 6ix, a year and a half after it opened (and drew bad reviews in the process). Well, technically speaking, Drake didn’t close the restaurant, but his landlord did: the blingy sports bar was $67,000 behind on its rent, and its lease was terminated as a result.

It seems that the restaurant is trying to window-dress the situation, as an Instagram post from just three days ago said that the restaurant had closed until further notice due to flooding. But, the Toronto Star reports that the notice of lease termination was put up at the restaurant before the news of flooding went on Instagram. The restaurant’s voicemail also claims it will reopen in early 2020, but that’s going to be a tall order without a tangible, physical space to occupy. This is the second time that Drake, worth some $150 million, has closed down a restaurant — his previous venture, Frings, closed for no particular reason in 2018.

And in other news...

• Edible Arrangements is leaning into the “edible” part of its name with CBD treats. [NY Post]
• How much will the Thanksgiving meal cost you this year? One survey says $49, the other says $227, so really, it’s up to you. [Food + Wine]
• Amazon is planning to give more of your jobs to robots, as it wants to open up a bunch of cashier-less grocery stores, following the model it has trialled in Seattle. [Bloomberg]
• Berkeley, California has banned natural gas in many new buildings, and the California Restaurant Association is lawyering up against the city. [SF Chronicle]
• Slather your steak in mayo: no, really! [Mel]
• A lawsuit against Chipotle from a California student who alleges she got food poisoning from a chicken bowl has been reinstated. [Bloomberg Law]
• Nice one, Miss Universes Vietnam. [Twitter]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]

Spanish restaurant Cenador de Amós has three stars in the new guide to the Southern European countries

Michelin’s latest dining guide brings the French tire company to Spain and Portugal, where 30 new restaurants receive stars, for a total of 241 starred restaurants. In the 2020 guide to the Southern European countries, there are 23 new restaurants with one star, six new two-star restaurants, and one restaurant with three stars, Michelin’s highest rank.

Cenador de Amós, which Michelin describes as “a charming mansion-palace lying in the Catabrian village of Villaverde de Pontones,” was promoted to three-star status. Naturally, the Spanish restaurant serves multiple tasting menus. It joins 10 other three-star restaurants in Spain. (There are no three-star restaurants in Portugal.)

Five of the new two-star restaurants are in Spain: Angle in Barcelona; Noor in Cordova; El Poblet in Valencia; and Skina and Bardal in Malaga. Casa de Chá da Boa Nova, located in Leca da Palmeira near Porto, Portugal, is the only new two-star restaurant from that country. In all, Portugal has seven two-star restaurants to Spain’s 29.

Among the restaurants with one Michelin star for the first time, 19 are from Spain, including Eater essential Gofio in Madrid. Epur, one of Lisbon’s essential restaurants, also appears in the guide with a star for the first time, along with three other Portuguese restaurants.

Check out the list of new restaurants below, and click through for the full Michelin guides to Spain and Portugal.

Three-Star

Cenador de Amos, Cantabria, Spain

Two-Star

Spain

Angle, Barcelona

Bardal, Málaga

El Poblet, Valencia

Noor, Córdoba

Skina, Marbella

Portugal

Casa de Chá da Boa Nova, Porto

One-Star Restaurants

Spain

Aurt, Barcelona

Cinc Sentits, Barcelona

Deliranto, Salou, Tarragona

Dama Juana, Jaén

Gofio by Cícero Canary, Madrid

99 KŌ sushi bar, Madrid

Es Tragón, Ibiza

Iván Cerdeño, Toledo

La aquarela, Gran Canaria

La Biblioteca, Pamplona

La Salita, Valencia

Los Guayres, Gran Canaria

Magoga, Murcia, Cartagena

Mantúa, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz

Ola Martín Berasategui, Bilbao

Retama, Ciudad Real

Taller, Valladolid

Tula , Javea, Alicante

Voro, Mallorca

Portugal

Epur, Lisboa

Fifty Seconds, Lisboa

Mesa de Lemos, Viseu

Vistas, Faro

• MICHELIN Guide Spain & Portugal 2020 Selection [Michelin]

Eater Young Gun Jason Chow (’19) wants to save his host oven space and brings grillable meat

This is Party Time, a column featuring industry and Young Gun-approved approaches for acing a dinner party. In this installment, some tips to take into consideration when you’re the guest, rather than the host.

Jason Chow (EYG ’19) is hyper-conscious of your oven space. “Most of the time, oven space is very limited, especially during the holiday time,” Chow says about being mindful of potluck party etiquette. “I try not to bring anything that requires an oven.”

But perhaps not surprisingly for the butcher, who has experience with Hawaiian, Chinese, and Filipino cuisine, the better cooking implement to borrow from your host is one that’s outdoors: the grill. “There’s always a grill at big potlucks and family get-togethers,” Chow says. “My go-to if somebody [confirms] that they have a grill is to make kalbi — Korean-style short ribs.”

Chow seasons his ribs with a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar to add depth of flavor, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil, and if he wants to make it a little spicy, he’ll add gochujang, a Korean red chile paste. He marinates the ribs overnight the day before a party by throwing the mixture in bags, then transporting the bags themselves to the event. “I love Ziploc bags for marinating or brining anything,” Chow says. “A good tip when you’re bringing it to the house is to empty out the marinade before you go. That way you’re not carrying around a bag full of marinade; just in case it pops, it’s not going to go all over your front seat.”

Chow’s special tip for the kalbi is a plug for small butcher shops: He gets flanken-style short ribs cut at about three quarters of an inch. “I find that it’s hard to get at a local grocery store because that’s not the standard size, but if you go to a small butcher shop, they should be able to do that for you,” Chow says. A common cut is called English style, or a two-inch-long single bone typically meant for braising, but Chow says flanken-style short ribs, which have three or four ribs lined up in a row, cut crosswise, will yield a nice chew.

“It feels more meaty to me, more like a steak on a bone, essentially, versus when you cut it thinner,” Chow says. “It has a tendency to burn really fast and then overcook.” Cook the ribs over medium heat for five to seven minutes per side, Chow recommends, and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onions. Your host will be glad you got out of the way in the kitchen.

• All Party Time Coverage [E]

The founders behind So Good Pupusas, Mac Mart, and Foxy Falafel explain how they got their starts

There is more than one path to a career in the kitchen. In fact, one popular path could more aptly be described as a highway. Increasingly, chefs and food entrepreneurs are ditching the daunting prospect of setting down roots in a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and instead starting their culinary careers from the back of a truck.

The flexibility of food trucks make them a particular draw for young entrepreneurs hoping to break into the food industry. But for those pondering a business on wheels, there are some big questions to keep in mind, chiefly, is starting a food truck actually that much easier than just opening a restaurant?

Eater chatted with three food truck founders — Cecilia Polanco (So Good Pupusas), Marti Lieberman (Mac Mart), and Erica Strait (Foxy Falafel) — about the challenges and rewards of operating a food truck business. These answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Cecilia Polanco

So Good Pupusas, Durham, NC

Courtesy of Cecilia Polanco

Eater: How old were you when you started the So Good Pupusas truck, and how did the idea come about?

Polanco: The idea started when I was an undergrad. When I established the business in June 2015 I was 21. I started the food truck as a means to an end. The food truck business was created to generate funds to sustain scholarships (for undocumented students) for our partner non-profit, Pupusas for Education. So it was really just a way to be able to fulfill the mission.

What were some of the hurdles to joining the food industry as a food truck entrepreneur?

I was entering two markets that I’d never worked in. I’d never worked in food, and I didn’t have a business background, so I was breaking into both of those markets, and I had a huge learning curve. We also had to consider prioritizing the planet, how to be environmentally friendly, buy recycled materials, and compost — those are all business models that are celebrated, but not supported or enabled. I think operating, from the beginning, as the business you want to be is very difficult. To hold yourself to that caliber and standard of being environmentally friendly or having a social mission makes it harder to become successful and marketable, which is what a lot of big companies prioritize.

I think people don’t take me seriously when I show up, and I’m used to that. People always want to say, “You’re too young, you haven’t been in business long enough, you’re not making enough money.” They don’t expect me to be a contender, so that’s a really big challenge — to walk into a room and not be seen as an entrepreneur or a social entrepreneur or a small business owner, but to be seen as someone who is trying to be those things and isn’t there yet. That impostor syndrome is a huge challenge. And I know there’s a lot I don’t know, but I’m also very capable and very capable of learning. It’s not about already knowing everything or being good at everything; it’s about having the capacity to learn, and putting the effort into it.

Who did you rely on during the planning and opening process?

Mainly I relied on my family, and my sisters in particular. They are some of my biggest resources — one is a lawyer, one is an accountant, and the other does insurance. So those skills were huge for us. I relied on my parents too, with my dad helping run the business and my mom being the head chef.

We’ve also relied on students since the beginning, helping out on the truck and letting us get things done. It’s very much a community and collaborative effort. It’s taken a lot of people, a lot of hands, and a lot of work to get us to where we are, and that’s something we celebrate. We are mission-driven, and that’s largely because of the community. So we make sure that we’re continually giving back to the community that supports us.

What is the most surprising part about owning and operating a food truck?

People in food are super nice. Everyone in food is excited about what they’re making; they put a lot of love into it. They’re excited, not just to be selling and making money, but for people to eat their food. There’s a pride there, and it shows in the food.

Food is hard, food is not high margin — so I don’t think people get into the food industry to get rich. Some do make it, but people really get into the industry to share something. With the right resources, it can sustain them and build wealth, but it also provides something really valuable to the customers, more than just a meal. It’s an experience; you’re creating a bridge between people through food.

What advice would you give to a 20-something thinking about opening a food truck?

It’s something worth exploring. It’s less risky than trying to open a [brick-and-mortar] business or something on a greater scale. Even if you don’t end up being successful with a truck, you could flip it and sell it or you could try something new. Truly anything you’re thinking of exploring as a 20-something is worth trying, at least for a year or two. You can always walk away from it having learned something. When you’re young, all of the things people say are setbacks for you because of your inexperience can also be strengths. You’re coming in with a lot of energy, plus potentially less responsibilities like a family or mortgage, so you have a little more freedom to try things out. We’re all scared that we might try and fail, but there’s a real possibility that you can try and succeed.

Marti Lieberman

Mac Mart, Philadelphia, PA

Courtesy of Marti Lieberman

Eater: How did Mac Mart start?

Lieberman: I started it when I was 22. I wanted a way out of the job that I had gotten right out of school, which was working at a high-end retailer. Long story short, I made mac and cheese for some family and friends. They really loved it. Food trucks were at the breaking point of popularity, so put two and two together, and in order to get out of one job I had to get into another.

I didn’t have a food background. A lot of the other truckers didn’t think that we could last or we knew what we were doing. We were lucky. We lasted more than a lot of them.

When did you know your business would take off?

I think it really kind of hit us when we were at food festivals and would realize in the most humble way that they would strategically put our truck somewhere because they knew our lines would be so long, and because we were one of a kind. There were no other mac and cheese trucks, so that worked to our benefit as well. Even if — and I don’t think we do — but even if we had the grossest food, we were still going to be a draw for people because there was only one of us there, versus a taco truck where there were four or five. Once we popped our window open, it was like “Go! Go! Go!” and we would serve thousands of people.

How has Mac Mart expanded? How did you make that growth possible?

We got a storefront because we were lucky enough to have so many regulars and loyal customers on the truck. Now we try to keep it as simple as possible. The size of our shops and anything that we would ever do going forward has to be small. We’ve tried things outside of mac and cheese, but at the end of the day we just have to stick to what we know. Mac and cheese is what works for us. Beyond that, just staying focused and being present is huge. People really like that the owners are always around. We know our customers, we take care of issues firsthand. Not trying to be something we’re not, and not trying to be fancy or keep up with food trends has kept us on a good path, and that’s what’s brought us success.

Going forward, we’re probably not going to do any more storefronts. Unless one day someone wants to give us $1 million or so to open up in a Vegas casino, which would be awesome. We’d love to maybe do some concession stands at amusement parks or sell in colleges, but we’ve really turned our focus to the online, wholesale retail world. We’d love to sell our cheese sauce to restaurants, and we’re planning to get our product to the rest of the country, because we’ve been asked to so many times.

What would you tell a 20-something exploring the world of food truck ownership?

Are you ready to work? It’s a seven-day-a-week job. If you’re not on the truck or cleaning the truck or prepping the food or cleaning up after an event, you are booking events in your computer, and trying to cater, and getting supplies, and fixing your truck. You have to sacrifice your 20s. That’s what I would say. If you’re willing to sacrifice it I’m sure there’s a reward at the end. I just turned 30, and we’ve had plenty of rewards, but I keep saying I’m still waiting for that one day I will sit back and take a deep breath and go, “Holy shit. That was worth it.” Even if you’re successful, which we’re lucky enough to be, the work doesn’t stop once you reach that point. You have to keep up with it and make sure you stay relevant.

Erica Strait

Foxy Falafel, Minneapolis, MN

Courtesy of Erica Strait

Eater: How old were you when you started the Foxy Falafel truck, and how did the idea come about?

Strait: I was 31 when I started the truck, and I was 29 when I started at the farmer’s market. Foxy Falafel started at the farmer’s market with just me, a tent, and a table, and my pedal-powered smoothie bike.

At the time, a food truck boom was happening, and so, in the Twin Cities, it just was a natural progression for me to go from the tent and tables set-up to a truck to be able to do more. And I felt that I was ready for that and there was a demand for it as well.

What challenges did you experience when you first opened? What resources did you rely on for guidance?

There were everything from mechanical problems with the truck to issues with all the equipment and just needing to learn how to be really efficient with the space and the set-up that I had. Then I had to learn how to make that all flow and to create a menu that could go well with the set-up, because every truck is set up differently.

Not getting burned out was also a huge thing to balance and to figure out, because at the beginning, you’re just constantly going. I wanted to take every opportunity I possibly could, but learning to say no was a hard thing for me. I think just because I wanted to do everything, but I had to also learn how to take care of myself in the business as well.

How has Foxy Falafel changed since the beginning? How have those changes impacted you as an operator?

So from the farmer’s market I got the truck, and then in that same year I opened the restaurant. So that progression from truck to restaurant was very quick.

One of the important things when going into a brick-and-mortar is figuring out if there’s a demand for it and then finding the right space. And I was fortunate that I had a wonderful space that landed in my lap. It was just something that I couldn’t pass up. And going from truck to restaurant there was a shift in that feeling of being mobile to the feeling of being grounded. The restaurant is stable; if you run out of something, you can just run down to the walk-in and grab more. On the truck you really can’t do that; you’ve got what you’ve got.

What does someone need to be ready to start a food truck?

They need a good vision of what they want their truck to be, what they want their food to be, and what they want their food to say to people — plus passion, a ton of passion and drive. It’s a heck of a lot of work, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Just being on your truck, there’s a lot of physical work. I always call it a CrossFit workout because we just going up and down stairs, loading the truck, and pushing things all day. You need money, some sort of financial backing to get started.

Then, download all the weather apps. What the weather’s doing every day determines whether or not you go out or how much food you bring. I always joke that I feel like I’m a farmer. I grew up with my parents and grandparents being farmers, and my brothers are farmers now. I’m always joking that I feel like one too because I’m always talking about the weather — “What’s it doing now? What’s going on?”

What is the most surprising part about owning and operating a food truck?

The food truck community has been so supportive. I find that if there is a problem, or you’re troubleshooting something, or you’re looking for someone to fill in, or you have questions, there’s just a really great network of truck people that are there to help. If I’m at an event and my generator breaks down, there’s someone from another truck who’s coming over and offering solutions or saying, “Hey, you can plug in here.” It’s been really cool to be a part of that community and to see how generous people are with time and advice and mentoring. It’s actually amazing.