A version of this post originally appeared in Eater Today, which spotlights the freshest news and stories from across the food world every day. Subscribe now.

I’ve never really liked the Resy interface. It’s functional when I know exactly where I want to eat and when, and can therefore go directly to the restaurant’s Resy page and select a time, but God forbid my search has to be any more advanced or flexible than that. 

Dinner for two at 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, anywhere in North Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan? Well, tough luck: Restaurants that I know exist at a specific intersection and that I know are on Resy (I know this because I can go to their individual bookings pages and see that they have availability at that exact time on that exact night) fail to populate on the map, or on the platform’s list of available venues. (“It only ever shows me sushi restaurants?” said one colleague, when I verified that this was, in fact, a common experience and not a skill issue.) And yet, what’s that they say about “the devil you know”? 

In New York City, here’s what it feels like to make a reservation now (especially if I’m trying to go to a relatively new, relatively in-demand restaurant). Let’s say that as a starting point, I would like to go to our 2025 Best New Restaurant Bong, which is on Resy. Predictably, there’s still not a table to be seen before 9 p.m., which is the very latest I’d consider going to dinner. Hmm, I might think. What else is on my to-eat list? Perhaps the hype over Wild Cherry has died down? That doesn’t come up on Resy, because the Google search that follows tells me that it’s actually on OpenTable, as with Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson’s other restaurants. OpenTable surfaces zero open tables; the hype has not died down. 

So, how about Adda? It’s been a while and I haven’t checked out the new location. Last I tried, Adda was on Resy. But then, wait, there’s that email I got a few months ago telling me that “booking looks different now,” because the restaurant has moved to DoorDash Reservations, powered by SevenRooms. A secret third thing! I don’t have that app, nor do I care to download it. 

That reminds me: A similar email appeared in my inbox last week from the Italian restaurant Swoony’s. “Book a table through our website or Google Reserve,” it told me, both options of which appear to also be powered by SevenRooms. As if reservations weren’t already hard enough to get based on availability alone, we must now seemingly keep track of several apps simultaneously and have a mental index of which one each restaurant uses — woof! When did the very act of making a reservation or finding one get so tedious, requiring all this cross-referencing and Google searching and the downloading of so many separate apps? 

For this user-experience hell, we can blame only the continued reservation wars. It was hard enough to keep track a few years ago, when waves of cool restaurants started making the switch from Resy to OpenTable in late 2024, wooed by the latter’s promises of revitalized tech (and, as the rumors go, compelling financial incentives as well) as it tried to regain cultural relevance. Now, the idea of the status-conferring reservations platform has fully gone out the window: It’s like every restaurant is ping-ponging around ever more platforms as companies try to get in on the reservations game. 

In September 2025, food-delivery platform DoorDash announced its entry into the niche as well, following the company’s acquisition of the reservations platform SevenRooms a few months earlier. In NYC, DoorDash has since scored in-demand restaurants such as the entire Unapologetic Foods group, which includes the aforementioned Adda and the trendy Semma.

And while SevenRooms grows its list of restaurants, Resy has also made moves to bulk up its portfolio. Earlier this year, Amex announced that it was folding Tock into Resy, ending Tock’s existence as a standalone brand but adding about 8,000 venues to Resy’s offerings. In June, Expedite’s Kristen Hawley, who’s been at the forefront of restaurant tech coverage, reported that Amex is now in the process of acquiring European reservations platform TheFork, which could put it ahead of OpenTable in terms of its number of restaurants globally. (Despite OpenTable’s diminished cool factor amid Resy’s rise to prominence, the company has boasted massive reach, with more than 60,000 restaurants using it.)

There are, it should be said, some upsides here, especially since one company holding the lion’s share of the reservations market is objectively bad for restaurant operators. More booking platforms means restaurateurs can now pick and choose from a marketplace of options as opposed to feeling locked into one of two. And as Eater NY’s Melissa McCart put it, the increased competition between companies has also meant some new perks for diners, such as exclusive restaurant offerings and special access to restaurants, though these are typically tethered to having specific credit cards.

But speaking purely from the point of view of the diner experience, especially as someone without a fancy credit card, it feels a little bit like another form of enshittification. Just as I can no longer rely on the first page of a Google search to find the very specific thing I’m looking for, I can no longer go to my trusted reservations app and seamlessly find the reservation I want. Despite Google’s increasingly obvious flaws, this system can push us back into an overreliance on Google, which is something I’ve also grown very resentful of in recent months, for similar enshittification reasons. 

This is now the predictable tech trajectory: Tech companies get everyone hooked on something (cheap rideshares, cheap food delivery, easy reservations) and then make the experience worse, harder, or paywalled. While I might have more capacity and patience than most people to remember that Lei and Bridges are on Resy but that Sunn’s and Demo are on OpenTable (and all of those examples are with a heavy, implied “for now”), I can say with some certainty that most people would rather devote that mental space to literally anything else.

Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned from all of this. Perhaps, as with downloading more dating apps in pursuit of more suitors, most of whom have grown flaky and flighty from the tendency to do the same thing, there is a limit to how much one can play the field. Perhaps my frustration with app-switching and Google searching is a sign to stop and look at what’s already in my roster, on the app with the flaws I have already come to accept — at least until those restaurants make the switch to another one.

Plus, there’s always the Eater app, which now offers the ability to book reservations across multiple platforms without having to hunt for them.

from Eater https://ift.tt/cLpESo8

Dear guest of someone else’s home: I hope you didn’t show up empty-handed. Bringing a host or hostess gift isn’t just chic; it’s good manners! Everyone wants to go to a party — well, maybe not those professional bed-rotters on TikToks who just want to remain horizontal and scroll, but most of us — yet being a host can be burdensome. I speak from experience as someone who throws at least two relatively decadent gatherings a year; while it is one of the joys of my life, it’s expensive and exhausting, although I’d argue that it’s (almost) always worth it, even if a recycled glass Champagne flute or a stolen pint glass from The Commodore inevitably gets shattered on the floor every time… simply a sacrifice to the party gods. 

Now, different situations (and different hosts or hostesses) call for different gifts, from earnest to cheeky, casual to Very Special. A three-day weekend at someone’s recently renovated Joshua Tree compound merits something a little more premeditated than a $20 bottle of wine; for an intimate evening of takeout, couch rotting, and watching Bend It Like Beckham, perhaps a box of Japanese incense matches will do the trick. 

Maybe this person isn’t just hosting you in their home for a few hours, but as an overnight guest for a night or three (or longer — maybe you’re staying with someone for two months while your divorce proceedings get sorted, for instance). In these contexts, when you might unwind on their premises, disrupt their daily routine, and stroll their grounds (even if their “grounds” are just 400 square feet in Greenpoint), a host gift is an excellent way to show your self-awareness that you drank all of their fourth-wave coffee and used all their two-ply toilet paper and come forth with a token of gratitude — even if it’s just a simple set of wine glasses or some tiny tins of fancy salt. 

What makes a great host or hostess gift? Something that feels a little luxe, but not enough to embarrass the recipient; think a lovely little indulgence that you feel like you’d need an excuse to buy for yourself. Price doesn’t always dictate value — such an object can be acquired for less than 10 bucks. It’s the thought that counts, and you want to be clever.

If you’ve been invited to a party, detach your eyeballs from the infinite scroll and go make some memories! And bring one (or more) of the offerings below.

---

A hinoki-scented candle

It’s no secret that candles make great gifts. They smell good; they establish an elevated ambiance, like you’re in a luxury hotel lobby; and they let you build a very tiny little fire in your home. Fun! But as with any heavily fragranced product, tastes diverge and preferences differ as to what smells “great.” One relatively safe bet: the scent of hinoki, a Japanese cypress tree with a sophisticated, woody, calming aroma. While many hinoki-scented candles are out there, I’m personally a fan of Boy Smells’ Hinoki Fantôme. It’s a very sexy gender-agnostic scent that’s both mysterious and inviting, with notes of cardamom, pear, and oakmoss, like a quiet walk through a forest. 

---

Nice olives (for snacking or martinis)

While there’s a case to be made that cheap olives make the best dirty martinis, they do not make the best gifts. A $30 jar of Williams Sonoma olives may read “I stay at the Four Seasons,” but in terms of flavor and snackability, I’m partial to Filthy’s olives, these ones stuffed with creamy blue cheese. (FWIW, my friend bartends at an excellent cocktail bar in Hollywood and he says the brand’s brine makes the perfect dirty martinis.)

---

Luxardo cherries

Speaking of small, round things that are intended to be the finishing touch on a cocktail but which you will want to eat straight out of the jar, one absolutely must mention Luxardo cherries. You’ve probably seen them on the shelves of high-end cocktail bars, but if you’re unfamiliar, these are not just any old maraschino cherries, like the bright red ones that came in your childhood Shirley Temples; they’re made with marasca cherries and possess a romantic, sophisticated, almost marzipan-like flavor and a superior texture, and come swimming in a syrup made only of cherry juice and sugar — no weird chemicals or artificial colors. Luxardo is an Italian-run family company that’s been in business since 1821, and it takes its cherry products very seriously, specializing exclusively in maraschino liqueur and these fabulous cherries. Plus, the label is gorgeous.

My uncle, who is an architect with excellent taste in restaurants and can quote every single film ever shown on Turner Classic Movies, turned me onto these when I was in my 20s, when I watched him frantically search for them at multiple gourmet food stores in Manhattan as he verbally emphasized that they are the only cocktail cherries that matter.

---

Embroidered cocktail napkins

In fact, while we’re on the topic of bettering a home bartending experience, I’d like to revive appreciation for the embroidered cocktail napkin — a staple of Mad Men times that has been unfortunately subjugated in popularity by stupid millennial graphic coasters. May I never receive a chevron-patterned foam coaster again, and let’s imagine the joy one would experience to instead be handed, along with their spritz, a soft linen napkin embroidered with a tiny taxi.

If you’re into thrifting, the designs of cocktail napkins from the 50s and 60s suggest that maybe people really were partying harder back then.

---

…Don’t sleep on cocktail picks, either

Cocktail picks are the perfect gift for toting to a party, since they easily fit in a pocket or purse and can immediately be enjoyed with a garnished drink or to pick up and bite into one of those blue-cheese-stuffed olives. I love all of Joanna Buchanan’s cocktail picks (this $200 zodiac set is to die for, truly, though certainly not cheap), but to get out of dream world and back into reality, this $25 stainless steel set from West Elm is surprisingly sexy.          

---

An espresso cup

Practical and wholesome, a great mug will become a kitchen-cabinet staple. Of course, the number of great mugs out there is infinite, making it hard to decide which one your host deserves. As far as gifts are concerned, I like the petite and more niche aura of the espresso cup. When I remodeled my kitchen a few years back, my contractor gave me a pair of tiny double-walled espresso mugs as a gift once the project was completed. I now use them all the time, and when I do, I think of him and his thoughtfulness while I drink my morning caffeine shot. Stainless steel ones feel very current and their reflectiveness adds a less-expected element on open shelving.

---

An ashtray that doubles as a snack receptacle

Similar sentiment, slightly edgier feel: a cool ashtray remains highly useful for non-smokers, too, serving as a home for keys, matchbooks, or those really good sesame cashews from Trader Joe’s. This one looks like radicchio; fitting for a food lover.

---

A chef-approved hand wash that leaves your hands smelling fresh

We caught a tip recently that chefs are going wild for Naomi, a new brand of high-end hand wash that is specifically formulated to help eliminate cooking odors. (As garlic-lovers, this promise definitely appeals.) Our shopping team recently took the bergamot- and black-pepper-scented After-Cooking Hand Scrub for a spin and it’s absolutely phenomenal, getting the job done in spades and leaving behind an appealing fragrance on par with the historical king of status hand soaps, Aesop. Plus, love the Yves Klein blue packaging. 

---

Impressive olive oil

One of the problems with gifting a bottle of wine is that as soon as it’s opened, it needs to be consumed within a few days, and therefore will quickly be forgotten. But if you hand someone a bottle of flashy olive oil, it will live on their counter or in their pantry for months, reminding them over and over again of your considerate gesture and your good taste. Flamingo Estate, home to many gifts that are so nice you could confidently give them to Gwyneth Paltrow herself, makes our current favorite fancy-schmancy olive oil, announcing on the bottle itself that it’s produced with olives from 150-year-old trees. This is the kind of stuff that rich housewives in the Silver Lake hills try to manifest in yoga class.

While I haven’t tried it myself, I’ve also symbolically (and aesthetically — look at that tin) taken to this beautiful Palestinian-made olive oil, Ya Albi, after recently editing a piece about the region’s new generation of olive oil makers.

---

A couple of chic cocktail or wine glasses

Yes, we are currently in a renaissance of incredible glassware; I doubt that I need to tell you that, or to remind you that everyone could use another set of nice glasses to bring out when they have company. Last Christmas, I got my sister this set of geometric stemless cocktail glasses by the glass wizard Sophie Lou Jacobsen. They’re unfortunately sold out now, but in the same spirit, these Anthropologie stemless martini glasses are very similar and reasonably priced, and I’m also blown away by these Serax glasses with a rounded, bubbly foot. 

As far as wine glasses go, the Eater staff is currently obsessed with short, chonky glasses — they feel more comfortable to wave around while you tell a fascinating story, compared to the nerve-wracking thin-stemmed ones. I’d much rather sip out of one of these Gianfranco Frattini glasses than one that feels like I could shatter it with a quick squeeze.

No need to buy a whole set — it’s a little oppressive to give someone who’s not a family member or romantic partner something that takes up a lot of cabinet space. Two will do! Three is awkward and four is too many. 

---

A very cultured coffee table book

If you choose it wisely, gifting a coffee table book makes you look so artistically astute that it will reinforce that you’re a fascinating person who deserves to be invited to future dinner parties. Anything from TASCHEN is a pretty safe bet (see: this book about menu design in America), but for a little more humor and cross-cultural appeal, A24’s 2024 cookbook-coffee-table-book Scrounging is a collection of recipes from cult-fave films — some more useful than others— that promises to spark intrigue and conversation, from Phantom Thread’s omelet to Napoleon Dynamite’s nachos.

You could also get them a proper cookbook from which they will actually want to cook. Fair enough! In that instance, I’d recommend perusing our guide to the best cookbooks of spring 2025 and picking the most fitting option for your friend. If you are my friend, please get me Salt Sugar MSG.

---

Psychedelic peppercorns

I was over at a fellow food writer’s house about six months ago and he made me try one of these. It was one of those things where he said, “You’ve got to taste these peppercorns. They are way different from any pepper you’ve ever had, I promise,” and frankly, I took one out of sheer politeness but didn’t believe his claims. That is, until I tasted one of these crunchy little guys for myself; I can confirm that honestly, they’re downright psychedelic in their depth of flavor and unique aroma. What makes The Reluctant Trading Experiment’s Tellicherry peppercorns so mind-blowing? Sourced from India and mainly sourced to high-end restaurants, they’re somehow intoxicating and dimensional, extra-hot and extra-peppery, yet citrusy and floral and shockingly complex. A grinder full of them would be a culinary gift from the heavens.

---

A vase that looks like a bunch of garlic

I mean… just look at it. A real conversation piece. The tomato one is nice, too. 

---

Real-deal Russ & Daughters babka 

Not all of us live within close proximity of a proper Jewish deli that can offer a revelatory doughy, cinnamony babka experience. Who wouldn’t (besides the gluten-free among us) be delighted to receive a sweet, decadent duo of babkas — one classic, one chocolaty — from famed New York deli Russ & Daughters?

Pro tip: Order this gift set from Goldbelly ahead of time and schedule the delivery date to align with your arrival or the day of the party. That way you can not only arrive hands-free, but hopefully be offered a slice yourself. Two birds, one stone. 

---

Flaky, fancy salt 

In the great tradition of things we all want to have around but are sometimes too cheap to buy for ourselves, let us consider fancy salt. A box (or bucket) of Maldon is always appreciated, of course, but showing up with Jacobsen Salt’s aesthetic, transportable set of infused salts just feels a little more gift-y. 

---

Handsome serving spoons (or better yet, salad claws)

Our editorial director Lesley Suter makes a strong case that serving spoons are the ultimate host gift, and it just makes you think: When you set down a beautifully assembled Caprese salad or tray of tater tot casserole, isn’t it nice to have some diva’d out utensils with which to serve it? Her picks in this persuasive piece are all top-tier, but right now I’m really into the short-handled (or even handle-free) claw-like ones, like this wood set from Williams Sonoma or the kind-of-nutso stoneware set below that’s probably quite heavy but sure looks swish. Still, they’re easier to maneuver than two long-handled spoons and a bit easier to store, too.  

---

A teeny little frying pan

It’s unrealistic to buy a host or hostess an entire cookware set, no matter how fabulous their party or home is. But you know what makes a surprisingly clever gift? A small skillet for when you’re in the mood for a cheeky fried egg or two, or you want to quickly put together a little Béarnaise sauce for your steak. We’re partial — naturally — to the one from our collab with Heritage Steel. It’s American-made with 5-ply stainless steel and is easy to clean and care for. Sometimes littler is better! 

---

A Le Creuset butter dish

You know when you take a stick of butter out of the fridge, hoping to spread it all over your beautiful slice of Out of Thin Air sesame gochujang sourdough, and instead it’s hard and it’s going to tear up the surface of your bread and you’re SAD? No longer a problem once you have your butter on the counter, displayed in a timeless little Le Creuset bungalow. Also, a great way to gift Le Creuset prestige without spending a fortune.

Sure, it’s a bit of a stocking-stuffer type gadget, but it’s currently June, and we still think everyone should have one. Design-forward butter dishes are also having a major moment right now — more on that here.

---

The Bentley of cutting boards

Cutting boards are, again, one of those things you could always use more of, especially from a chef-fave brand like Boos. We’ve gone on and on about how Boos blocks are the Bentleys of cutting boards, thanks to their high-quality wood and durable construction.

---

A vintage Christian Lacroix plate 

Don’t ask me how I stumbled across this discovery, because it’s a very long and convoluted story, but it has come to my attention that the French designer Christian Lacroix — in addition to producing beautiful and theatrical clothing — has also made some really exquisite tableware and, more specifically, plates. Prices vary wildly on secondhand sites such as eBay, but if you look strategically, you can get a trompe l’oeil dessert plate in perfect condition for under $60. Love the whole butterfly collection, but this more avant garde set based on playing card suits is nice, too.

---

A box of matches worthy of display

Matches come in handy for many reasons; lighting candles, of course; sparking up a slim, cheeky joint; or keeping in your bathroom for houseguests in search of discretion about their activities. Yes, you could grab a matchbox for free at your favorite dive bar, but having a box of illustrated Diptyque matches sitting next to your soap dish is just a quiet flex. I was devastated to find out that all of Diptyque’s scented matches are currently sold out, but thankfully, Hibi’s beloved Japanese incense matches are currently in stock a few different places online. An eight-pack (below) will probably do the trick for a casual dinner party gift, but a 30-pack will keep your host’s home in a state of zen for weeks or months.

I also genuinely love the gold-foiled, retro-hippie-chic look of classic Incense Matches, and I find the paper incense from Optatum to be so stylish and decorous, it looks like it belongs next to the sink of a bathroom in Versailles.

---

The perfect candle for living on a kitchen countertop

Diptyque, while foolish not to immediately restock its scented matches, also makes a basil-scented odor-removing candle. Yes, it is $75, but according to the brand, it’s “based on a technology that targets and eliminates the molecules responsible for unpleasant odors. It replaces them with green and aromatic combinations of basil, mint, and tomato leaf.” There’s a somewhat convincing case here that it could quickly become a high-end kitchen essential.

---

Cookies from an ‘it’ bakery

Eater has accurately referred to Levain as New York City’s most popular bakery, although it now has locations in multiple cities, all of which are very busy. I’m going to be totally honest with you: I do not love the cookies from Levain. I’m a flat, chewy, doughy cookie girl and I don’t like nuts in my cookies, and Levain’s cookies are tall, thick, gooey, and very nut-positive. But I can tell you this with confidence: People go absolutely feral for these cookies. The bakery’s closest location to me, in LA’s Larchmont neighborhood, is inundated with cookie-seekers at all hours of the day, with lines snaking down the block. I seem to be the only person in the world that simply doesn’t vibe that hard with Levain’s cookie style, so I can still advise that they will make a well-loved, quickly devoured gift. And honestly, this photo is borderline pornographic and makes me “get it.”

---

A tasty amaro

Perhaps thanks to the modern ubiquity of the Aperol spritz, aperitifs and digestifs have never been more on-the-radar for the home-bar-cart crowd. As a Bay Area native, I came of indie-sleaze age drinking a lot of Fernet-Branca, the face-contorting bitter of choice for San Francisco bartenders. But, thanks to their sweetness, amaros are a little more user-friendly and giftable, and many of them feature beautiful bottles and offer an air like you went and fetched them directly from Italy.

While there are dozens, if not hundreds, of superb amaros out there — I love the smoky honey flavor of Amaro Dell’Erborista and the fanciful bottle design of Amaro Nonino — I’d argue that the best bang for your buck is Amaro Meletti. Butterscotchy and cola-like (but not cloying) with notes of chocolate, anise, and saffron, it’s well-balanced, cheerful, and equally enjoyable neat, on the rocks, or with seltzer. It doesn’t hurt that at $24, its price is incredibly reasonable.

---

A bottle of special-occasion tequila

Step it up by bringing a bottle of really good tequila. Eater’s guide to the best tequila is comprehensive and might just leave you even less decisive, since they all sound amazing, so I’ll narrow it down to two options for you.

If you’re looking to spend less than $100, go with a cristalino such as Volcan di Mi Tierra, which is aged in oak barrels like other añejos but then charcoal-filtered to attain its clear color. This particular blend is a 70/30 blend of añejo and extra-añejo tequilas, respectively, and is aged in Glenmorangie and Hennessy barrels, resulting in a flavor profile with notes of tobacco, caramel, and citrus.

If you are blessed with ample expendable income and/or are hoping to impress the unimpressible, show up with a bottle of Rey Sol Extra Añejo. It’s lauded as one of the finest tequilas available — for real! — falling into a special category reserved for those spirits aged a minimum of five years in carefully constructed oak barrels. Its aroma is known for offering rich notes of vanilla, caramel, and wood, and is on par with the most storied, world-famous whiskies in terms of quality and smoothness. Plus, that bottle — you’ll definitely want to keep it long after you’ve taken the last sip.

---

You can trust me, wholeheartedly, on all of the ideas above, and I’ll trust that you won’t break another one of my Champagne glasses.

---

from Eater https://ift.tt/o57trhP

Grab your soccer jersey and TSA-approved bottle of ranch, because Eater is hosting a sprawling, one-day-only culinary event — our largest ever! — to commemorate the biggest weekend in international soccer. On Saturday, July 18 at Pier 36 in New York City, join us for Eater World’s Fare, an immersive, family-friendly event where food-lovers can congregate and eat their way through delicious representations of food from around the globe, prepared by heavy-hitter chefs and some of the most seasoned folks in the food game. 

You don’t need to understand the offsides rule to appreciate a great empanada, and there’s no language barrier when it comes to bonding over noodles, tacos, and the collective stress of a penalty kick. Food and sports are universal unifiers, and this summer’s truly global sports event offers the opportunity to celebrate in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. 

Eater’s World’s Fare borrows from the world’s fairs of old, which famously brought a vast array of nations together in the name of culture and innovation. We’re giving that idea a delicious update for a new generation —and a bigger appetite. As Eater Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Wu says, “We wanted to create an experience that brings together the very best of food and sports, and celebrate the many, many communities that make up this city, at a time when all eyes are on New York.” 

Eater World’s Fare tickets start at $30, granting Fare-goers access to 30+ dishes by many of Eater’s favorite chefs from across the country. Consider your matchday squad stacked with the likes of Golden Diner, Mokbar, Caffe Panna, and Win Son Bakery; expect Charles Pan Fried Chicken, Banh Anh Em, Sally’s Apizza, and dozens of other Eater-fave restaurants, all with specialty dishes available for purchase. Plus, all guests can score 10+ complimentary bites and wander through interactive fan experiences thanks to brand partners including Cathay Pacific, Square, Maruchan, Milagro Tequila, Dole, San Pellegrino, Edible Arrangements, Lifeway Kefir, and Manhattan Beer. 

A limited number of VIP tickets will permit entry to an exclusive lounge presented by award-winning airline Cathay Pacific. VIPs will receive access to complimentary culinary creations from Dominique Ansel, South Philly Barbacoa, Sushi Noz, and the Jose Andres Group’s Mercado Little Spain — oh, and an open bar.   

Stamp your culinary passport at the Gateway to Asia, also presented by Cathay Pacific, which will feature Hong Kong-inspired bites by chef Calvin Eng of Bonnie’s in Williamsburg. The Taste of Maruchan Around the World will showcase the versatility of ramen through an exclusive culinary pop-up with chef Shota Nakajima. Attendees will also experience Gourmega, a dining pop-up from the acclaimed Ghetto Gastro collective, showcasing small and local NYC businesses powered by Square. Dole will be offering a tropical smorgasbord of its world-famous pineapple juice, refreshing fruit bowls, and other juicy favorites.

Official event waters Sanpellegrino and Acqua Panna will be complementing the food, and presenting flavors of Sanpellegrino CIAO! seltzer. There will be a pitch-side concession stand by Edible Arrangements doling out free fruit and baked goodies, as well as an interactive soccer challenge using a larger-than-life, inflatable Lifeway Kefir bottle by Lifeway Foods. (Wash down all the excitement with complimentary probiotics.) 

We hope to see you there.

Tickets are on sale now at eaterworldsfare.com. 

from Eater https://ift.tt/dv87rcC

Recently, we partnered with Square for a special Pre Shift Lounge in Chicago before the James Beard Awards.

The Pre Shift Lounge is a community hub. We wanted to offer a space for chefs and others in the restaurant industry to connect with one another amid the awards season chaos. Thanks to brand partners Jacobsen Salt, Yeti, Lauren’s All Purpose, Naomi Soap, Smithey, Bixby, Psyche and The Reluctant Trading Experiment, attendees had access to gifts that can level-up their kitchens and bring some much needed self care. We also gave away limited-edition Pre Shift x Square merch.

We hosted the event at J.P. Graziano Grocery, who made their signature, giardiniera-topped sandwiches for guests—including some awardees.

As with all award shows, there are plenty of hot takes to go around, and folks from the trade shared their thoughts on everything from the most overrated ingredients to the most underappreciated parts of working in hospitality.

One question we were particularly curious about: What’s a role in the industry that doesn’t have an award, but should? Here’s what some of the country’s best chefs had to say:

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

If you were able to make it, thanks for stopping by! And if you missed us this time, we hope to catch you at the next one. The best way to know about future lounges and other industry events is to subscribe to Pre Shift—we’ll let you know when we’re popping up in your city next.

from Eater https://ift.tt/ntQIOch

After more than a decade of working in Michelin-starred kitchens — including helping Atomix earn two Michelin stars and, most recently, a stint at three-starred The French Laundry — chef Hasung Lee is opening his own restaurant in New York City. Oyatte features an eight-course tasting menu using farm-fresh produce from Crown Daisy Farm in upstate New York.

In this episode of Now Open, Lee walks through how to prepare some of the new restaurant’s signature dishes, starting with a smoked quail dish with an incredibly rich, egg-based sauce. The quail from Wolfe Ranch is brined, glazed, and finally smoked over the course of two days. For the accompaniments, a bearnaise sauce is whipped in a blender, an einkorn base is mixed together, and white asparagus is seared quickly. The fowl dish is plated with delicate greens on top and a bubbly, fermented butternut squash hot sauce.

Crown Daisy Farm owner Brett Ellis stops by with Oyatte’s produce delivery for the week, including tender, small kohlrabi that are served peeled and delicately covered in pickled lilac flower and Amagansett sea salt. The root vegetable is served with dipping sauces that utilize more preserved produce, like kumquats and cherry blossoms. The spring green porridge is another vegetable-filled dish that Lee famously cooked on Netflix’s Korean competition cooking show, Culinary Class Wars. The rice dish’s base is a sauce made with chrysanthemum and wild water parsley. After the rice is cooked in that green sauce, it’s plated with a pile of soy sauce-macerated truffle slices.

A large squid, the protein for a dish showcasing cucumber four ways, is carefully butchered before being aged overnight. The cucumber course uses Kirby, Persian, and English cucumbers that are used in a beer sauce, charred, sauteed, and turned into a relish. A bowl is layered with a smoked eel mousse panna cotta, thinly sliced charred cucumber, squid, caviar, and beer sauce.

During service, diners move across the two restaurant’s two floors, enjoying five to eight canapés downstairs before being led to the upstairs dining room by general manager and sommelier Cécile Chastanet, who Lee met at Per Se.

“I say it’s a contemporary cuisine, but to be honest… I have no idea what’s my cuisine yet. I think it’ll take a little more time,” Lee says. He hopes to develop the menu and the concept behind Oyatte over the next few years; for now, it’s definitely a restaurant to keep an eye on.

Watch chef Hasung Lee navigate all the hurdles of opening his first restaurant, from developing a brand new menu to calmly training his staff, in this episode of Now Open.

from Eater https://ift.tt/HVuA8zX

We know you love restaurants — now join us for a Bang Bang.

The Bang Bang, aka the double dinner, is when a great night out starts at one restaurant and ends at another. This summer, Eater is turning the twofer tradition into a dinner series spanning the country. And we’re giving you a chance to snag a reservation before everyone else.

What to expect: an epic, back-to-back menu featuring the dishes of two distinct restaurants, but in one location, to save folks the hassle of actually moving around. These are pairings it’d be nearly impossible to get on your own, whether due to geography, access, or the sheer audacity. 

The series kicks off in Los Angeles on July 15, 2026, when Ray Garcia of Broken Spanish Comedor will be welcoming Deau Arpapornnopparat and Joy Yuon of Holy Basil into the kitchen.

How to get tickets? Get on the Eater app. Priority early ticket access will be sent to registered app users, so download the Eater app, set up your free profile with your home city, and join us as an Eater Regular to get tickets before they open to anyone else (plus future perks…).

Tickets to the LA dinner drop soon, so download the app now. We’ll see you at the Bang Bang.

from Eater https://ift.tt/2cf9Ind

Earlier this month, Pre Shift readers joined us for a special event at Bar Convent Brooklyn in partnership with Square.

The Pre Shift Lounge offered a space for bartenders and other industry professionals to recharge, unwind, and connect with fellow attendees. We gave away limited-edition Pre Shift x Square swag along with gifts from brand partners like Jacobsen Salt, Yeti, Lauren’s All Purpose, Naomi Soap, Smithey, Bixby, Psyche and The Reluctant Trading experiment.

We hosted the event at Sahadi’s, who provided coffee and bites, and — of course — we also had a bar. There were plenty of Bloody Marys, Pineapple Jalapeño Margaritas, N/A Mojitos and more to go around.

BCB is one of the largest bar and beverage trade shows in the world, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the industry’s hot takes on everything from overrated drinks to underrated ingredients to the red flags and pet peeves they can’t stand behind the bar. Here are some of the standouts:

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

If you were able to make it, thanks for stopping by! And if you missed us this time, we hope to catch you at the next. The best way to know about future lounges and other industry events is to subscribe to Pre Shift—we’ll let you know when we’re popping up in your city next.

from Eater https://ift.tt/pWTvh3I

There was a time when the words “do you want a Jell-O shot?” were synonymous with fratty bonding rituals surrounding Flubber green masses in paper Dixie cups. What more could a Jell-O shot be, after all, than an amuse-bouche for a keg stand? Until recently, gelatin’s reputation in the United States was as a dated ingredient for midcentury aspics and jelly molds, if not as a boozy party trick. This straddling of extremes was part of Jell-O’s 20th-century identity crisis, a culinary Madonna-whore complex. By the turn of the millennium, Jell-O salads had long been deemed a kitsch, nightmarish fever dream, and jelly shots were probably most often dispensed at tailgating gatherings. 

But the last Jell-O shot I took didn’t come in a dinky paper cup. It was a postmodern-looking, standalone cocktail jelly cube artfully made by Solid Wiggles, the Brooklyn-based culinary team at the helm of what one could call the fancy Jell-O-shot renaissance. 

In lieu of mystery blue Jell-O shots in disposable cups, Solid Wiggles proposes more elaborate creations: say, a mango mezcal margarita jelly shot, complete with chile de árbol; or an aperitivo spritz jelly. It offers a lychee martini shot, a Hennessy colada shot, and an espresso martini jelly shot that looks like a glass tortoiseshell objet d’art — and these are just a few of its many wiggly offerings.  

Solid Wiggles has experienced significant growth since its founding in 2020, when co-founder and pastry chef Jena Derman made the first batch as an experimental treat for a friend’s birthday. Currently, the team’s booze-filled jellies (there are nonalcoholic versions, too) can be found in bars and restaurants across New York City such as Shy Shy, Milady’s, Bad Roman, and over a dozen other locations. 

While Solid Wiggles is undoubtedly the reigning jelly shot king, the concept of an aestheticized, sophisticated jelly cocktail shot has become more and more popular across the country. Vandell, one of LA’s hottest new cocktail bars, is known for its inventive drinks — but regulars also love its off-menu Jell-O shots, available upon request and served in tiny stemmed goblets. Oma’s Hideaway in Portland, Oregon, not only serves up Flamin’ Hot chicharrones and popcorn shrimp, but, in the words of its website, a rotation of evolving Jell-O shots with “a touch of sparkle and textural intrigue” befitting of the maximalist, black-light-poster-decorated Southeast Asian restaurant. In Chicago, jelly shots have taken on a particularly regional flair with Bub City’s Malört shots, made with the famously polarizing, intensely bitter liqueur that’s so beloved by the city. And artful jellies have also emerged in DIY home-kit form with brands like Gelée, and even taken over food Instagram, too, as seen from creators like @eatnunchi, @adventuresinjelly, and @thubuser. 

View this post on Instagram

This June, Derman and co-founder Jack Schramm of Solid Wiggles released their debut cocktail jelly cookbook, allowing gelatin lovers to bring the trend into their own kitchens (there will also be a DIY jelly-making kit available for purchase with the book). 

“We’re definitely inspired by artists like Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol,” says Schramm, who cites the importance of the visual component in making jelly shots. Schramm comes from an extensive bartending background; as Derman says, he was key in helping achieve the initial jelly liquid clarification that they needed to create their graphic jellies. When it comes to the booze-filled jellies’ rising popularity, Schramm says it’s likely a mix of nostalgia for Jell-O and a general curiosity about eating something that looks like a small work of art. 

Solid Wiggles’ mastery of the Jell-O shot may sound niche, but that hyperfocus and attention to detail has proven to be its greatest strength. “I still don’t think either of us imagined that this was going to be the thing we’re doing,” Schramm says. “But it’s also allowed me to have a much healthier relationship with the food and beverage industry. [Making jellies is] a different [production] output and use of creativity.” Today, the Solid Wiggles team is made up of eight full-time employees and a rotating cast of delivery drivers. 

When it came to making a cocktail jelly cookbook, Derman and Schramm wanted to create a guide that felt both accessible and aspirational. There are two levels: “Party Animal” (beginner) and “Party Pro” (more advanced). They also didn’t want the cookbook to look quite like anything else on the market. “What you won’t find are checkered-tablecloth picnic shots with the jellies on a plate,” Schramm says, explaining the team’s choice to go with photographer Hugo Yu for the glamorous, black-backdropped spreads. Yu had never worked on a cookbook before, but his eye for showstopping, macro product shots for luxury brands such as Loewe captured the Wiggles team’s heart. The result is a cookbook that doubles as an art book: a spread of highly-stylized jellies that could be equally at home on a kitchen shelf or in a 1970s-style conversation pit. 

The thriving cocktail jelly culture of today has reinstated the dignity of molded jelly creations, giving them the allure that they perhaps once had on the tablescapes of 14th-century kings (after all, some of the earliest jellies date to medieval England). Jelly, this time, is for everyone. Most importantly, as Derman says, “It’s just fun. It’s the kind of thing you can go back to again and again because it’s a constant dopamine replenisher.” 

from Eater https://ift.tt/SVmzULH

During the last few years, there’s been a major evolution in the geography of Cannes’s restaurant scene. Formerly, the restaurants of the glamorous hotels that line La Croisette, the city’s signature seaside promenade, employed celebrity chefs in their kitchens and ran dining rooms where suits did deals over exorbitantly priced meals. Anyone wanting a reasonably priced meal or a taste of local flavors headed to Le Suquet, the old part of Cannes; there, classic restaurants surprisingly soldier on, prices are reasonable, service is friendly, and spots like Table 22 offer contemporary Provencal cooking made with the freshest seasonal local ingredients. 

Now, the celebrity-chef craze looks to be ebbing, as several of the city’s five-star hotels opt for branches of upmarket chain restaurants instead, like the just-opened Beefbar at the Hotel Majestic. The gastronomic action has shifted to the Pointe Croisette, a plush peninsula at the very end of La Croisette. Previously little known to tourists or festival-goers, this palmy part of the city stepped into the spotlight with the May 2024 reopening of the meticulously renovated neo-Moorish style Palm Beach, a seaside beach club built in 1928. While certain parts of the club are members-only, most of its restaurants are open to the general public, including the hugely popular Zuma, which offers a modern take on Japanese Izakaya style dining.

The most eagerly awaited new address on the Pointe Croissette, however, is the reopened Tetou, the legendary fish and bouillabaisse restaurant originally established in Golfe-Juan in 1918 and razed in 2018 as part of a government campaign to enforce strict zoning regulations on seaside construction. The bouillabaisse is as spectacular as it is expensive, making Tetou the place to see and been seen in Cannes right now, so book as far in advance as you can.

from Eater https://ift.tt/QJpC9LY

Well, folks, the first wave of early Amazon Prime Day deals is currently crashing, but — wait, what’s that on its crest? Why, it’s the Breville Smart Oven, aka Eater’s favorite air-fryer-toaster–convection-oven combo appliance, for 20% percent off. I’d know the gentle shine of its brushed stainless steel design anywhere… 

---

The Breville Smart Oven is just one of those appliances that stays top-of-mind amongst the Eater shopping team; many of us are apartment-dwellers looking for multi-functional appliances that are worthy of our limited counter space. And when Eater contributor Charley Lanyon put five high-tech toaster ovens to the test, the Breville was a clear winner in terms of its ability to replace multiple other gadgets (and even your full-size oven). This beast is an air fryer, convection oven, toaster oven, and a dehydrator — basically a full-blown sous chef, to paraphrase Lanyon, who goes on to explain how the appliance’s Element IQ system adjusts the power of its heating elements to cook food faster and more evenly. At nearly two feet in length, the Breville is big enough to take on an entire roast chicken, and considering that it could function as a “real” oven for someone in a very small apartment, it’s worthy of its girth.  

Of all the great options out there, it’s Breville’s model that took home the crown for its combination of functionality, aesthetics, and genuinely cool bells and whistles. And if you’re tired of settling for “meh” appliances that collect dust, the Breville may just be the best big little oven to blow your socks off (and perfectly crisp your chicken). 

The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is on sale at Amazon.

---

from Eater https://ift.tt/M1T0yfQ