Tonight, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants were announced at a ceremony in Lima, Peru, with Basque Country restaurant Asador Etxebarri crowned the new top slot on the list. Bangkok tasting counter Gaggan was ranked No. 2, Copenhagen’s immersive, 50-course experience Alchemist was No. 3, Mexico City’s Quintonil No. 4, and Hong Kong’s Wing No. 5, shuffling most of the top rankings from last year. New York City’s Atomix was the only U.S. restaurant to make the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Of the specialty awards, Singapore’s Lesley Liu received the Best Sommelier Award (sponsored by Vik), Ghana Food Movement was given the Champions of Change (sponsored by illycaffe), Yiaga in Melbourne was named the One to Watch, Doris Lam received the 50 Best Restaurants Scholarship Award, Jessica Rosval of Al Gatto Verde was named Best Female Chef (sponsored by Lexus), Thailand-based Dej Kewkacha was Best Pastry Chef (sponsored by Sosa), Atomix’s Junghyun Park was given the Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award, and Ferran Adrià was given the SevenRooms Icon Award.

Just as a review, U.K.-based media company William Reed launched the 50 Best Restaurants lists in the early 2000s, publishing the first World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in Restaurant magazine in 2002. The 50 Best gained greater fame in the 2010s, with the top spot going to the likes of Noma (Copenhagen, Norway), El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain), and Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy). The organization made the wise decision in 2019 to move each year’s winner to a separate “Best of the Best” list — a sort of hall of fame for takers of the top spot —  giving new restaurants the opportunity to take the crown. Since then, Geranium in Copenhagen (2022), Disfrutar in Spain (2024), Central (2023), and Maido (2025) in Lima have earned the No. 1 ranking. Noma qualified as a winner again in 2021 because it had “closed and reopened.” 

The 50 has also expanded its reach with multiple regional lists, such as the Latin America’s 50 Best, Middle East and North Africa’s 50 Best, Asia’s 50 Best, the 50 Best Bars (which also has its own regional lists), 50 Best Hotels, and even 50 Best Wineries. The entire brand has reached a level of global reputation and fungibility that rivals something like the Michelin Guide ( which has itself ventured into hotels and wineries). But the 50 Best Restaurants is the granddaddy of all listicles, and the one that draws the most attention and criticism regarding its methodology and alleged pay to play. One vocal critic, chef Ana Roš of Hiša Franko in Slovenia, announced earlier this year that she would not attend the ceremony, a move commenters like Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio lauded.

The polling is conducted anonymously among more than 1,100 voters, a mix of industry professionals, food writers, and “well-traveled gourmets,” with at least 25 percent turning over annually. Each voter nominates 10 restaurants in order of preference, up to six in their home region and at least four outside it. The rankings are just a pure tabulation of those votes.

The organization has made efforts to clarify its voting and ranking policies, stating that any restaurant can qualify and that what constitutes “best” depends on each voter. The 50 has also expanded its awards to consider diversity and inclusion, recognizing female chefs (which itself has raised eyebrows), sustainability, sommeliers, pastry chefs, hospitality, and Champions of Change, an award that “celebrates and recognizes unsung heroes” who are “driving positive change in their communities.” 

Last week, the “back half” of the list, also known as 51-100, was announced, with the only U.S. restaurant, SingleThread (Healdsburg, California), ranked at No. 93. On the 2025 World’s 50 Best Restaurant list, New York’s Atomix was the only U.S. restaurant to make the top 50, ranked at 12. Perhaps in order to remedy the dearth of U.S. and Canadian restaurants on the World’s list, the 50 (the organization previously known as 50 Best), commenced North America’s 50 Best Restaurants in the fall of 2025. Atomix topped that list, followed by Mon Lapin (Montreal), Restaurant Pearl Morissette (Lincoln, Ontario), and other U.S.- and Canada-based restaurants.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026:

1. Asador Etxebarri, Axpe, Spain

2. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand

3. Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark

4. Quintonil, Mexico City, Mexico (Best in Latin America)

5. Wing, Hong Kong, China

6. The Chairman, Hong Kong, China

7. Kjolle, Lima, Peru

8. Kadeau, Copenhagen, Denmark

9. DiverXO, Madrid, Spain

10. Plénitude, Paris, France É

11. Atomix, New York, USA

12. Sorn, Bangkok, Thailand

13. Mérito, Lima, Peru

14. Sühring, Bangkok, Thailand

15. Odette, Singapore

16. Tuju, São Paulo, Brazil (Highest new entry)

17. Mingles, Seoul, South Korea

18. Nusara, Bangkok, Thailand

19. Jan, Munich, Germany

20. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy

21. Meet the Bund, Shanghai, China (New entry)

22. Boragó, Santiago, Chile 

23. Vyn, Simrishamn, Sweden

24. Al Gatto Verde, Modena, Italy (New entry)

25. Lasai, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

26. Masque, Mumbai, India (New entry)

27. Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy

28. Trèsind Studio, Dubai, U.A.E.

29. Enigma, Barcelona, Spain

30. Steirereck, Vienna, Austria

31. Celele, Cartagena, Colombia

32. Potong, Bangkok, Thailand

33. Elkano, Getaria, Spain

34. La Coquillage, Saint-Méloir-Des-Ondes, France (New entry)

35. La Colombe, Cape Town, South Africa (Re-entry)

36. Ru Yuan, Hangzhou, China (New entry)

37. Nuema, Quito, Ecuador (New entry)

38. Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler, Brunico, Italy

39. Schloss Schauenstein, Fürstenau, Germany

40. Jordnær, Copenhagen, Denmark (New entry)

41. Onjium, Seoul, South Korea (New entry)

42. Bozar, Brussels, Belgium (New entry)

43. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy

44. Don Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina

45. Mayta, Lima, Peru

46. El Chato, Bogotá, Colombia

47. Le Louis XV – Alain Ducasse à l’Hôtel de Paris, Monte Carlo, Monaco

48. Ikoyi, London, United Kingdom

49. Naar, Kasauli, India

50. Saint Peter, Sydney, Australia (New entry)

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Known for their roasted and slow-cooked meats at Taqueria Ramirez, Tania Apolinar and Giovanni Cervantes partnered with chef Carlos Barrera to open a new seafood-focused wine bar this year. Here’s what a full day of prep looks like at El Camarón Peludo in the West Village.

First, fresh shrimp from Sinaloa, Mexico; Ecuador; and more locales are de-shelled and de-veined for three central shrimp dishes. Then, Cervantes starts the fresh salsa for the day, taste testing and comparing each batch to the salsa from last week to make sure the flavor is consistent. A bright red salsa is mixed with mayo to create the sauce on the camarones zarandeados, a shrimp version of a fish dish from the Pacific coast of Mexico that is usually grilled in a flat wire grill basket.

Upstairs, Apolinar prepares the wine bar for opening, laying out chilled seafood on ice in the window and wine bottles that will be placed in chilled buckets for service. She recommends sitting at the long, winding bar to watch the bartenders and chefs work.

Back in the kitchen, Barrera starts breaking down Spanish tuna for a creative tuna tostada layered with spicy mayo, fish eggs, habanero-lime oil, avocado, and crispy leeks. Then it’s taco prep, including the pescadilla (a deep-fried fish taco) and a shrimp taco with queso fresco, refried beans, and slices of roasted poblano peppers. Cervantes and Barrera prep the raw bar area, making salsa verde and salsa negro. The green salsa is made with parsley while the black salsa is layered with habaneros, piquin chile, and squid ink.

Cervantes explains that his original idea to pair the innovative seafood plates with bubbly wine turned into a natural wine bar, with El Camarón Peludo sourcing bottles from all over the world.

Watch the team at the Mexican seafood wine bar prepare tostadas, tacos, and flavor-packed aguachile in the newest episode of Now Open.

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Eater’s under-$25 holiday gift guide is, unabashedly, one of my favorites to curate during gift guide season — both as a shopping writer and a writer who lives, laughs, loves to shop. I live for the thrill of a thrifty find; that rush of finding the perfect gift that somehow comes in way under budget is a sensation I first experienced while thrifting with my mom as a kid, when I was taught to sniff out authentic English ironstone bowls like an Antiques Roadshow bloodhound. I have been John Wick-training for this moment. 

The best gifts under $25 for the true food freaks in your life (including yourself) should speak to their specific culinary obsessions, tastebuds, and cult-fave restaurants. Keep an eye out for those limited-edition holiday gifts that are going to sell out soon, and, when you see a potential present, ask yourself: does it inspire whimsy? Why should I settle for a spoon rest that isn’t shaped like ravioli? Move those mugs and snacks from heritage and indie brands to the front of the line, and maybe even click add-to-cart twice so that you, too, can experience the magic of Spaghetti Dust. 

Whether you’re looking for a White Elephant present or an offering to impress your in-laws, let’s shop for the best food- and drink-related gifts under $25. 

A versatile gingerbread spice 

Diaspora Spice Co. is one of my favorite places to buy spices online, because the selection is always exciting and the company pays its farm partners an average of six times more than the commodity price. This year’s enticingly versatile gingerbread spice blend caught my eye, because it can be used for baking, or for simply sprinkling over coffee for a festive boost. Bundle it up with a nice velvet bow and a highly specific, nostalgic thrift-store mug for a delightful gift. 

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This cult-fave tube of seasoning for spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino

The wonder elicited from this traveling tube of “Spaghetti Dust” — aka ready-to-sprinkle dried garlic, Calabrian chile flakes, parsley, and sea salt — with its groovy graphics and gift-ready packaging, makes it one of the coolest food-themed presents that’s sure to sell out this holiday season. Just add olive oil and al dente pasta, and you’re ready to eat a delicious meal.  

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A stoneware mug for Mom or Dad’s collection

There’s something so comforting about a stoneware mug — holding one makes me feel instantly more cozy and learned, like a Nancy Meyers character rediscovering joy in an English countryside cottage. The ceramic material makes stoneware a great insulator when it comes to heat retention (without burning your hands), and this rustic, splatter stoneware mug from Hudson Grace is a looker. 

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For the Kewpie mayo devotee

Your giftee has all the deep-cut Kewpie mayonnaise flavors. They might even own the Kewpie cookbook. Now, give them the gift of a Kewpie mayo ornament to solidify their fealty to the Japanese mayo brand. 

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Beautifully packaged olive oil

Ya Albi is a Palestinian American, mother-daughter-owned company that sources its slightly sweet, full-bodied olive oil from the West Bank, and packages it all in a chic pink tin. Plus, all of the oil’s proceeds go toward HEAL Palestine, a nonprofit organization that supports Palestinian children impacted by the war on Gaza. (To shop for even more Palestinian olive oils, check out this Eater guide.)

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Soap inspired by Swedish princess cake

Technically, it’s 20 cents over our $25 budget, but this princess cake-inspired soap from Flamingo Estate is too good to pass up. The soap is made by whipping together shea butter and raspberry oil, and perfumed with a combination of scents like sweet almond, heliotrope blossoms, and musky amber to create a marzipan and cream-esque olfactory profile. The bar is then given a final romantic garnish, and elegantly engraved with its prinsesstårta namesake.

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Take Eater to Paris with you

From traditional, sprawling brasseries to the incoming wave of Parisian global gastronomy, Eater has you covered for dining out in the City of Lights with The Eater Guide to Paris. Whether your giftee is planning an upcoming trip to Paris or an aspirational one, this trusty tome is filled with vetted Eater favorites for every kind of hungry traveler. 

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The stocking stuffer for someone who watches The Gilded Age 

It’s always a bonus when you find a gift with packaging so stunning that it’s already gift-ready. Pastiglie Leone is a heritage Italian confectionery whose candies make a perfect stocking stuffer, host gift, or present for the person in your life who owns a silver-plated toast rack and goes to high tea at least once a year. 

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A snack food sticker pack

For the home cook who also loves to journal, I suggest a fresh batch of snack-centric stickers.  What better way is there to bookend a day than with a sticker spread featuring Pocky and Heineken beer?

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Because you love making (or just eating) sushi at home

This gift is great because it’s a present (novelty! whimsy!) and a hint about something quite practical (do the dishes!). 

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“If tang yuan and peanut butter had a baby”

In the words of indie pantry brand Rooted Fare, this crunchy black sesame butter is “like if tang yuan and peanut butter had a baby.” Creamy and nutty, it’s the ideal spread for the friend with a semi-sweet tooth. I can’t stop eating it.

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Think of this as a finishing spray for surface cleaning

If someone you love loves to cook, it’s likely that they also love nice kitchen hand soaps and cleaning products. This non-toxic, bleach-free all-purpose cleaner from Avant has been in my Sunday cleaning prod rotation ever since I had my first whiff at the always chic Field and Fort in Summerland, California. The linen scent transports me to the smell of the clean laundry carts at Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, France, because it’s crisp, elegant, and subtle. I’ll use it to spot clean any surface, but I especially enjoy cleaning with it at the end of the day (or before hosting) on everything from kitchen sinks to table to surfaces. Bonus points for the fact that its refills come in little recyclable glass jars.

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For the person who’s always making incredible salads

When designer Marta Cornwell invented this kale razor, she gave us the power to tame one of nature’s heartiest, most annoying versatile superfoods from the garden. 

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Postmodern martini glasses

You never know what gems are hiding in the sale section of the MoMA Design Store. In this case: a set of four postmodern martini glasses. At nearly 60 percent off, this set delivers a chipper, serotonin-boosting jolt of color to the cocktail party that is welcome all year long, but especially in the frostier seasons.

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A pasta-lover’s dream spoon rest

Weary spoons, whisks, and every other utensil under the Sun can find its throne upon this giant spoon rest shaped like ravioli. (As a perpetual splasher of sauce, the extra surface area is also appreciated.)

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For the Ina to your Jeffrey

Ah, our patron saint of al fresco dining, roasted chicken, and “quarantinis”: the Barefoot Contessa herself. The handmade element of this Ina Garten ornament makes it perfect for your loved one’s  shrine tree.

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In a TikTok video with over 82,000 likes, the person behind the camera zooms into the shelves at a Pennsylvania coffee shop, three rows stacked with an array of Torani syrups in flavors like blueberry, brown-sugar cinnamon, English toffee, and salted caramel. “I just know my latte isn’t going to be good,” the caption reads. Across social media, similar sentiments appear. “If I see these at a cafe, I’m walking out immediately,” says one tweet, co-signed by many commenters. In a multipart video series, another creator documents her journey of replacing all of her Torani syrups with ones from small businesses instead. Last year, the niche food newsletter Unsnackable published what was described as a “Torani tirade.”

It’s not just a Torani problem, though the brand — by virtue of its market dominance — tends to get the most flack on social media. While some people seem to prefer competitor Monin, it, too, draws backlash over allegations of tasting “like chemicals.” The problem, for some drinkers of dessert-like specialty beverages, is premade syrups across the board. 

For a certain sect of consumers, they’ve become a coffee shop red flag, a sign that a so-called “specialty” establishment asking them to fork over $8 plus tip for a latte is unfairly cutting corners when it comes to quality or craft. For these consumers, mass-market syrups now symbolize exactly that: They’re synonymous with coffee chains and corporations, the kind of impersonal institutions that many people are trying to get away from when they patronize a small business. The flip side: For independently owned coffee shops across the country, house-made syrup now represents a major opportunity.

When Carrie and Dennis Medina first envisioned their coffee shop, Room Service, in Ventura, California, they thought they would take an approach similar to the one at Sightglass Coffee, where they’d both gotten their start. “Very purist, with no syrups, no specialty drinks,” Dennis says. They imagined eight kinds of pour-over coffee and an emphasis on single-origin beans, since the couple also runs a roastery. “We said we’re never gonna do cream tops; we’re never gonna do these crazy drinks,” Carrie says. But in the first week alone, every customer was asking for them. 

Now, Room Service offers 10 to 12 different syrups at any given time (and six different cream tops), all of them made in-house. It offers drinks such as a cinnamon roll latte topped with a cinnamon roll, and a honey cornbread latte with an ube cream top. “I hear that question all the time,” Dennis says. “‘Hey, do you guys make your syrups in-house?’” To him, a shop that isn’t trying to do at least the basics — like vanilla — in-house is “falling behind what the times are pushing for.” 

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The demand for syrups and other embellishments is so intense that the Medinas have brought on a full-time prep person who works exclusively on “all these things that we do in-house that make us special,” Carrie says. Room Service’s PSL, for example, starts with kabocha squash. It’s roasted, blended with spices such as cloves and cinnamon, and cooked into syrup, a process that takes two days. Echoing a sentiment that seems common among coffee shop owners right now, Carrie describes their current approach as “not necessarily the coffee shop we wanted, but it’s more like the coffee shop we have to be.” And if the market demands syrups and cream tops, then the Medinas wanted to ensure that the intention and emphasis on quality that they applied to their coffee beans also carried over. 

In 2025, Michael Smith opened Trust Coffee Co. in Bay Village, Ohio, taking over, remodeling, and rebranding an older coffee shop. He, like the Medinas, imagined a more “pour-over, third-wave” style establishment. “But I’ve been a business owner for a long time,” says Smith, who also runs a restaurant and a catering business. “I’ve realized over the years that your customers tell you more about who you are than who you actually think you are.” His customers, it turned out, wanted seasonal syrups in niche flavors like maple rosemary, caramelized banana, and strawberry rhubarb. 

The purist is no longer coffee’s north star; the maximalist is. 

We live in the era of what the New York Times has dubbed “hyperflavor,” in which familiar foods are deemed newly interesting by the addition of complex new flavor profiles: The concept of miso in a peanut butter or chocolate chip cookie is no longer truly novel, but banal. Naturally, coffee drinks have followed the same trend. Where a studied self-seriousness once applied primarily to pour-over coffee meant to be drunk black, the tide has turned that precision and craft toward the previously derided, sometimes frivolous category of the sweet-treat coffee drink. How specialty shops now approach these creations feels more akin to how a pastry chef might assemble a dessert, or how a bartender might build a complex cocktail. The purist is no longer coffee’s north star; the maximalist is. 

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Syrups like Monin, which the shop’s previous iteration used, “serve a purpose in the industry,” Smith says, but he wanted more control over the menu. The two full-time pastry chefs from Smith’s other businesses oversee the shop’s syrups. “It’s become such a huge thing,” he says: Every time Trust’s social media manager posts a new syrup, the line is out the door for a week. “It sets us apart,” he explains.

When Sabrina Kaylor opened the first location of Bizarre Coffee in Canton, Georgia in 2020, the shop used bottled syrups. She hadn’t worked in coffee prior, and she said that approach felt like the norm at the time. “It allowed us to hone our craft and learn what we were doing,” she says. Over time, Kaylor — who’s quite active on the company’s official social media platforms — noticed that the tenor of the conversation was changing: In the immediate post-COVID years, people were making more things at home and there was more pride to be gained in “scratch-made.” With her business becoming known for lattes in flavors such as blueberry, banana, and guava, Kaylor decided to shift toward more house-made syrups. Previously, her customers didn’t ask about their sourcing, but now, they ask all the time.

As much as there is a sense of valor in the entirely from-scratch approach, Kaylor retains some skepticism about the current torrent of Torani and Monin backlash. Today, 90 percent of Bizarre’s drinks use house-made syrups, though one of its best-selling drinks still relies on the bottled stuff; Bizarre’s menu is extensive and making everything in-house would be a significant investment of labor. On the part of coffee shops, “I think a lot of [the house-made syrup conversation] is marketing, quite honestly,” Kaylor says. As for the bandwagoning that is all the anti-Torani memes, “I think it’s part of consumer behavior,” she says. And that, she acknowledges, can be really “discouraging” for small business owners.

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In a sense, that’s what the premade-versus-house-made-syrup conversation boils down to: the stand between small businesses and big ones. For more consumers, the economic and social conditions of the current moment have inspired increased skepticism toward the influence of corporations and private equity in the food and beverage world.

The Minnesota coffee shop Little Joy has become famous across social media for posting the recipes of its signature drinks in detailed DIY videos. It has since launched a membership program through which other coffee shop owners can purchase its recipes, scaled up for commercial usage; gain access to training videos; and sell its drinks without even needing to attribute them to Little Joy, though the ones that would like to can pin their use of Little Joy’s recipes to a Drink Finder map.

Yes, these might just be recipes for syrups and foams, but in an interview with Eater’s industry newsletter Pre Shift earlier this year, Little Joy owner Cody Larson described the system as a way to build solidarity among independent businesses. “The big coffee chains, they’re never gonna do house-made syrups, so I think that’s where independent shops can get a leg up,” he said. “Ultimately, the chains are our competition… If independent shops can, in any way possible, raise the bar across the board, that’s good for all independent shops, including us.”

It’s hard to look at the drinks coming out of specialty coffee shops today — fluffy with foam, flavored to emulate nuanced desserts like princess cake and tiramisu— and not think of the Starbucks Frappuccino. The combination of app-ordering and social media “hack” culture have mainstreamed super-elaborate beverage requests, allowing Starbucks and coffee chains like it to become purveyors of highly complicated customizable beverages, mainstreaming the mindset of the aforementioned “hyperflavor.”

When it comes to why consumers have moved away from the single-origin pour-over approach at shops like his, “my guess is that these are a lot of people who used to be Starbucks loyalists and they’re looking for something that’s more local,” Smith says. “It’s a trend across everything where people want local, and we’re able to provide what Starbucks did, but in a more high-quality, more local way.”

Intentionality is what people are gravitating towards, especially as prices rise. If consumers are spending so much on a drink that’s undeniably a luxury, then they want to know that every part of that drink has been made carefully. And if they’re going to make the trip to a new, independent shop, they want to know that the offerings there aren’t the ones they can get anywhere, made with easily attainable, big-brand flavorings. For small coffee shops, the key to success could be as simple as syrup.

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You’ve probably heard of the Potato Potato Potato dish at Somssi, the newest restaurant from Na:eun Hospitality. The triple-layered potato dish is the most labor-intensive dish on the menu but has also become the most popular order, with the kitchen going through up to 100 pounds of potatoes each week. The whimsical, caviar-topped dish really encapsulates what the restaurant is trying to achieve: “We should have serious food, serious hospitality, but we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously,” says managing partner Ahris Kim. Here’s how the Somssi kitchen preps to create the newly famous potato and plenty of other dishes before a night of service.

Yukon gold potatoes are put through a ricer to become a cream and butter-heavy puree that is set in molds in the freezer. After being toasted in breadcrumbs, the logs of potato are wrapped in russet potato ribbons before being fried up to order.

Next is the ox tongue, which is brined for just over 16 hours before being slow-cooked in herbs, aromatics, and beef tallow for four hours. Huge cuts of tongue are carefully scored so they will get a great sear when they hit the grill. It’s served on a romesco sauce with just a bit of wasabi on the side.

Finally, pork loin is coated in ground shrimp for a creative schnitzel that is reminiscent of shrimp toast. The schnitzel is topped with a sweet-and-sour plum sauce that balances out the thick, crispy fried exterior. Scallop crudo is made up of pressed scallops surrounded with a strawberry sauce and topped off with gooseberries and peppers.

Watch the team at Somssi create creative dishes like a triple-potato bite and a show-stopping grilled tongue dish in this episode of Mise En Place.

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This excerpt was originally published in Pre Shift, our newsletter for the hospitality industry. Subscribe for more first-person accounts, advice, and interviews.

Now Open is a yearlong series celebrating some of 2026’s most exciting new restaurants. Throughout the year, we’ll check in with teams in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., to hear what it’s really like behind the scenes of a buzzy opening. Then, we’ll host exclusive meals at these restaurants as part of Dinner Party, presented by Capital One. Read along for challenges, candid reflections, and advice from the proprietors behind some of the country’s hottest new openings.

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Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar spent the last five years slinging tacos at breakneck pace to keep up with the lines at Taqueria Ramírez and Carnitas Ramírez and rowdy World Cup crowds at Socceria. Now the duo is slowing things down a bit for their first full-service restaurant El Camarón Peludo, a playful wine and seafood spot in the West Village where guests linger over mariscos.

At the tiny, walk-in-only restaurant, the menu fuses Mexican seafood dishes with Spanish influences and excellent wine from around the world. For the project, Cervantes and Apolinar teamed up with chef Carlos Barrera, a Mexico City-born chef who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain and hosted dozens of popular pop-ups around NYC. When I sat down with Cervantes and Apolinar, I planned to pick their brains about how and why they manage four wildly popular (and very different) New York City restaurants. Then I learned how much El Camarón Peludo was the result of fate: If it weren’t for space constraints, a tapas-fueled trip, and a social media superfan, the duo may have had an entirely different restaurant on their hands.

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Pre Shift: Where did the idea for El Camarón Peludo come from?

Tania Apolinar: When we were looking at [the space], we considered making it a taqueria, but because of the [long shape of the restaurant], it wouldn’t have worked for that concept. We knew we wanted to do something different, focused on seafood and wine.

Giovanni Cervantes: I was in conversation with Carlos about this idea to serve mariscos in New York when we saw the space. We didn’t know [at the time], but we were setting up the basis of the menu because we were talking about what we like and what we miss a lot [from Mexico]. We also talked about [our past trips] to Europe. We were really interested in how to match [the style of European tapas and wine bars] with what we do, which is the Mexican approach.

How did you connect with Barrera for the project?

Cervantes: Carlos was one of the first clients that we ever had in Taqueria Ramírez. We met basically through that and through Instagram. He was always commenting a lot…

Apolinar: And giving us the flame.

Cervantes: Exactly. Sending the flame emoji. Then soon enough, we find out that we were neighbors because he lives in Greenpoint, so we started seeing each other more often.

Apolinar: Then we did a pop-up with him serving his famous Trompo Negro, which is like al pastor with [a smoky black spice paste that is widely used in Yucatán and surrounding regions], and that was the first time we actually connected in a working setup. We’re really aligned and happy with the partnership. 

Can you tell me about how you balance Mexican and Spanish influences on the menu?

Cervantes: When we found the space, we knew it was the perfect setup to try something different. Then we made a trip to Europe and a trip to Mexico. After we came back from Europe, I think I was feeling very “Europeanized.” I remember having a conversation with Tanya and Carlos about making it even more Spanish, and both of them were like, “What?” And I’m glad they [pushed back], because we definitely found the right balance. 

Apolinar: We’re talking about Mexican and Spanish, but in the end, it’s about the seafood and the freshness, the product that we really want to stand out. That’s why [we serve a] very simple gambas a la plancha, and the carpaccio has that approach as well, but then other more Mexican classics [like tostadas topped with tuna or aguachile] have more sauces and all of that.

Cervantes: And it’s not just the food. The influence that we took from different parts of Europe is the setup, the vibe, the size of the plates, the type of space. We want the space to feel cozy and friendly.

How is the service different from your other spots?

Cervantes: At Taqueria Ramírez and Carnitas Ramírez, it’s all about efficiency. Making it right, as fast as you can, and getting people in and out of the place. It’s nonstop volume. The consistency is awesome over there, and that’s [how we] measure that we’re making it right. Here it’s different. It’s more about the experience of the space and the music and the wine. [Our staff are] with these people for an hour or two, so you try to make it personal in a way. It feels different when you have that much time to see how people are enjoying the experience and transporting people to that world through what we’re doing. That’s comforting to me.

Now that you have four different restaurants around the city, how do you balance your time between them?

Cervantes: For Taqueria Ramírez, the very first one, we can sleep very well because almost everybody on the staff has been there since we opened. I’m just mentioning that because it’s all about building the right team because you can only be in one place at a time. Then at Carnitas, our partners [Yvon de Tassigny and Kari Boden] are really great and the plan was for them to be the day to day operators from the beginning. So right now we’re between El Cameron Peludo and Socceria because they’re the new babies and there’s a lot of work to do there.

Tania: It’s tiring, but at the end of the day, I’ve been enjoying it a lot. It’s nonstop but it feels rewarding to see the point of view of customers and make people feel happy and connect to them.

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Recently I spent a few days exploring Prince Edward Island, a place that embraces its local foodways with gusto. There’s a complex history here, with roots in Indigenous Mi’kmaq, Acadian, Irish, Scottish, and other cultures. And if one thing unites these histories, it’s the island’s abundance of seafood and produce, which have helped earn it the nickname Canada’s Food Island. How can you not want to visit Canada’s Food Island?

On a stretch of land only about 140 miles long, you can eat oysters pulled out of nearby waters, potatoes grown on local farms, dig into a juicy burger made with PEI beef, and lick ice cream made with milk from the cows you pass along those famous red-dirt roads. That’s a lot of good eating packed into a place you can drive across in an afternoon.

I had to structure my visit, therefore, around where to dine, but also include a bucket-list visit to Green Gables Heritage Place. (I am a complete freak for L.M. Montgomery’s novel Anne of Green Gables, set on PEI around the turn of the last century.) I also had to schedule time at the PEI International Shellfish Festival, which promised endless trays of freshly shucked oysters and clams, hot buttered lobster rolls, steaming bowls of mussels, and plenty of entertainment, from shucking competitions and cooking demos to live music and dancing.

My husband and I rented a car and stationed ourselves in Charlottetown, the island’s main hub. Prince Edward Island is situated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, just a hop away from Nova Scotia. You’re never far from the ocean here, and on a sunny day, the air seems to sparkle. The island is known for its red-sand cliffs and beaches, rolling landscapes, fishing harbors, and lighthouses. If you’ve read Anne of Green Gables, you’ll know just how pretty PEI is.

We landed late Thursday afternoon, ready to hit the ground running. With just shy of three days, I had carefully mapped out the places I wanted to visit, using Charlottetown as my base. 

Day 1

Drinks and snacks: Slaymaker & Nichols

Charlottetown isn’t big, and most things here are walkable within 20 minutes or so. First stop in PEI: Slaymaker & Nichols, a gastropub and inn with the feel of an old-fashioned supper club. It takes its name from the 19th-century circus that once performed on the site. They take cocktail making seriously here. The summery feel of the day prompted me to try the watermelon mule, with hibiscus-infused vodka and chunks of pickled watermelon. I liked it, especially alongside the creamy lobster dip with tomatoes and harissa, and the buttery shrimp pil pil, with lots of tasty little spears of asparagus.

More drinks: Reddins

I was saving myself for my first lobster roll, which we grabbed up the street in an unremarkable spot. It was pretty mediocre, so I won’t go on about it. But after eating, we stopped into Reddins, a speakeasy that channels PEI’s Prohibition history in a dark, intimate third-floor bar with vintage furniture, good jazz, and whimsical cocktails. Our excellent bartender, AB, told us the space had once been a pharmacy where folks came during Prohibition to get their “medicine” — drugstores could legally dispense alcohol by prescription. We tried a few of the signature cocktails, and the one that stood out was the Pink Canary, with vodka, rose, lychee, citrus, and rosé bubbles, served in a small bathtub. Yup, you heard that right. It was sweet and awfully fun to sip. 

Tip: You need a secret password to get in when you buzz from downstairs. You can get it online, or just do as we did and ask the hostess next door for help.

Day 2

Breakfast: Receiver Coffee

In the pouring rain, we made our way to nearby Victoria Row for breakfast at local roaster Receiver Coffee. Fuel for the day included strong coffee, a particularly good cup of Earl Grey cream tea, and the Ham Slam, a big fluffy cheddar biscuit layered with a runny fried egg, Black Forest ham, Swiss, and Dijon mayo.

Lunch and more: Landmark Oyster House, Island Chocolates

We swung by the shellfish festival (more on that later) but the rain wasn’t welcoming, so we got back in the car and drove out to tiny and charming Victoria-by-the-Sea. When I say tiny, I mean it: The town is half a square mile, with a population under 200. Despite the town’s size, Landmark Oyster House, set there in an old general store with pretty green shingles and a steep gabled roof, thrives.

Our friendly waiter (everyone is abundantly friendly on PEI) suggested Raspberry Point oysters to start. They hit the spot: medium-sized, briny, and sweet, served with lemon wedges and freshly grated horseradish, which is now how I think every oyster should be eaten. We also tried the scallop dog, with buttery sweet scallops, bacon jam, red pepper aioli, and pickled shallots nestled in a toasted bun. It came alongside a very good, eggy potato salad. 

After seeing the cheery lighthouse and visiting a couple of little gift shops, we popped into Island Chocolates, a family-run shop and café where bars and truffles are hand-crafted, often using local ingredients like haskap, a berry that tastes somewhere between a blueberry and raspberry. That fruity haskap truffle had a nice thick shell of milk chocolate.  

Sun out? Check. We spent the afternoon at the festival and got a substantial fix of oysters and clams. The lobster rolls here were stuffed with unadorned lobster meat, then melted butter from a gigantic vat was ladled over the top.

Dinner: North Shore Canteen

For dinner, both our bartender and waiter at Slaymaker recommended North Shore Canteen in French River, a local haunt for sure. (A slew of chefs from the shellfish festival were two tables down from us.) The menu, which changes with the current haul, hit on the day’s best ingredients: halibut, striped bass, the aforementioned shellfish, beef, and potatoes. We opted for a very generous portion of local beef tartare, amazingly tasty with capers, roasted garlic, and freshly grated Parmesan, served with Covered Bridge potato chips. We wanted to try more PEI beef and opted for a juicy hanger steak with chimichurri and black garlic, which showcased it well. Dessert was a must: parsnip cake drizzled with caramel sauce for the win.

Day 3

It was time for me to check Green Gables off my bucket list. This is an article about where to eat, so suffice it to say that if you’re a fan, this is 100 percent worth a visit to see the house, wander the Haunted Wood and Lover’s Lane, and taste some nonalcoholic raspberry cordial (IYKYK).

All that walking made me hungry, which was good because this was a much anticipated two-lunch day.

Lunch x 2: Blue Mussel Café and Richard’s Fresh Seafood

First stop: Blue Mussel Café, a bright and very welcoming, beloved PEI restaurant set just back from the water in Rustico Harbor. I think it’s obvious what to order, and for good reason: These are excellent mussels — plump, fresh, and brought to the table piled high in a large stainless steel bowl. You can have them prepared with rosemary and lemon or beer and wine. I’d rate them equally, but I did like the hit of rosemary. Melted butter comes in a small ramekin on the side; I used it to dip each mussel, and my husband poured it all over the top. I didn’t have it, but the other signature, seafood chowder, looked popular. It’s made with haddock, salmon, scallops, mussels, and PEI potatoes, and served with a giant biscuit. Noted for my next visit.

We hightailed it to our next meal because I had yet to have the perfect lobster roll. Richard’s Fresh Seafood in Covehead Wharf delivered. This is one of the island’s longest-running fish shacks, where you can savor fish and chips and beer on the deck overlooking the fishing boats, or camp out on the nearby beach under the lighthouse with a lobster roll. no mistake: This is the quintessential lobster roll. It was an exercise in abundance, packed with sweet lobster meat that managed to be chunky and fine, bound with lemon and chive mayo and tiny bits of onion, all stuffed in a buttery toasted bun. It came with crunchy coleslaw, crispy fries, and a paper cup of ketchup. There are other menu items, but this lobster roll alone is worth the trip to PEI.

Dinner: Rustico Cannery

For our final dinner, we drove back toward North Rustico Harbor to Rustico Cannery, which opened this past spring. The airy, modern space has giant windows and a big deck that takes in super sunset views.

I needed greens, and Rustico delivered. We had crisp romaine hearts with a creamy, spicy charred jalapeño dressing, lardons, Parmesan, and sourdough crunchies. My husband hit the jackpot with his dinner: panko crusted, pan-fried haddock with pickled beet remoulade, jalapeño relish, confit potatoes, and coleslaw.

Ice Cream: Cows Creamery

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include our multiple visits to Cows Creamery, the island’s local ice cream shop, which — conveniently — has locations across PEI. It sources the milk for the ice cream from small, local dairy farms and the results are winning!  A few standouts were Coffee Cowrunch (English toffee and Oreo), Cownadian Maple (a triple hit of maple ice cream, maple swirl, and maple cookie chunks; when in Rome), and Messie Bessie, chocolate ice cream with Oreo, toffee, and Cow Chips — the thick, ruffled local potato chips covered with rich milk or dark chocolate that are for sale by the bag all over the island.

A final note: Many places are seasonal, so check if they’re open if you’re visiting in cooler months.

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These days, Bushwick is perhaps best known for its graffiti art, ecuavolley, and queer bars; the Brooklyn neighborhood is famous for its family-owned taquerias, American-Italian pastry shops, and the hallowed grounds of the Girls episode where Shoshanna accidentally does meth and runs around pantsless at a warehouse rave. Situate yourself at the heart of its largest park, Maria Hernandez, and you’ll see a kaleidoscopic blend of ravers, Latino families, and the baklava guy.

Starting this week, it’s also home to a $200 cup of coffee. 

Bushwick’s Sey Coffee recently announced that it would be touring a rare Panamanian geisha from Finca Sophia, a coffee farm in Panama’s Chiriquí highlands. Sey scooped up the geisha at auction for $44,275, which comes to $6,325 per kilogram, or roughly $200 per cup. The geisha is billed as extraordinarily aromatic, floral, and juicy; Doug Cohen, Sey’s director of brand strategy, advises enjoying it with a clean palate, completely black, and taking your time with it. “As the coffee cools, different aspects of its character become apparent, and that evolution is part of the experience,” he says. 

Even among fourth-wave coffee shops where prices continue to climb higher, Sey’s $200 cup is an outlier. “Coffee as a premium product is relatively new,” says Cohen. “For so long, coffee has been treated as a commodity, and its value has been constrained by that perception.” He says that both before and right after COVID, folks were becoming more curious about coffee, and educating themselves on platforms like Youtube, Discord, and online forums about how to appreciate it and “understand just how high the ceiling of quality can be.” The arrival of the $200 cup of coffee from a cafe in a neighborhood at the epicenter of conversations about both culinary innovation and gentrification feels ripe for closer examination.

So, how did this coffee end up at this price? “We have been purchasing coffee from Finca Sophia for several years,” Cohen says. “This release really grew out of that existing relationship.” When Finca’s general manager told Cohen that the farm’s yields were down by approximately 95 percent, Cohen says a bigger question was raised: “What does it mean to be a good partner when the people you have built relationships with are facing a difficult year?” Buying up the geisha beans felt like a way to both support Sey’s producer, and further develop what Cohen calls “elevated coffee experiences.” 

In the 2010s, the artisanal coffeehouse wave washed over the country, and especially Brooklyn, with hipster gusto. Sey Coffee was an integral part of that boom. Initially called Lofted Coffee, it operated out of its founders’ Bushwick loft until it rebranded to Sey in 2017, and expanded operations to its present Bushwick location on Grattan Street. That space has become something of a local icon since; Sprudge called its aesthetic “shoebox crossed with an airplane hangar”; the minimal-industrial, cream-hued interiors hit a very Axel Vervoordt-with-a-cyber-sigil-tattoo note (positive). The shop’s cachet has drawn coffee lovers, artists, yuppies, and artist-yuppies; customers have snacked on the gluten-free pastries from L’imprimerie (and now, post-L’imprimerie closure, pastries from Smør), and often post up with their dogs thanks to the semi-indoor-outdoor layout. 

Sey is hoping to elevate the coffee shop model to something more premium, with a stated focus on ethics and sustainability. Thus far, it’s earned acclaim for those efforts. Food & Wine named it the best coffee shop in New York and received positive media attention for opting out of tipping, choosing instead to pay its staff up to more than 80 percent above the NYC hourly minimum wage; full-time baristas can make up to $31 per hour in addition to receiving benefits and a share of the cafe’s revenue. 

Increasingly, coffee is getting the same treatment as high-end dining and tasting experiences. There’s the omakase-style menu at NYC’s Driftaway Coffee, or San Francisco’s Komakase coffee tasting room, both of which steer coffee away from quick consumption and toward a world of degustation that appears to have more in common with pricier wine and spirit tastings. The expansion of “espresso house” chain Watch House stateside is also an indicator: The London-based specialty roaster expanded to a fourth location in New York City this summer, raising eyebrows for its $32 cup of coffee while also reportedly scouting for more locations in Austin, Chicago, and Miami. 

The emerging demand may be just much about luxury as it is about craft. I can’t help but wonder if the $200 cup of coffee is happening in Bushwick because the Girls-era Bushwickian has grown up and wants more exclusive experiences. Is this what happens when, as culture writer Raven Smith said on his new BBC podcast last week, the indie outgrows its sleaze? “For us, this is not about pushing prices higher for the sake of it,” Cohen says. “It is about challenging how we assign value to coffee in the first place. What is an extraordinary coffee actually worth?” 

As much as we may lament climbing prices for specialty coffee and espresso, why wouldn’t this happen to the category when so many other aspects of food and beverage — from cocktails to sushi to bread — are following the same trajectory? Higher consumer costs notwithstanding, the marketing of specialty beans does steer U.S. coffee culture away from its productivity-focused consumption and the work-optimized “coffee break.”

“Why do we accept that certain wines can command thousands of dollars, yet question whether coffee can have comparable value?” Cohen asks. It’s a fair question, albeit one that I’d answer with another: Once we acknowledge that coffee should command a higher price, who still gets to drink it? 

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There was a time, not too long ago, when a purse shaped like a baguette felt like a thrilling — even subversive — novelty. Now, we hardly bat an eye when we see that Moschino has made a trompe l’oeil celery purse, or that Big Bud Press is making a hot-dog-and-pretzel-print jumpsuit in collaboration with a Los Angeles bar. How did we get here? And has it all become a little too much? 

Fashion has long found inspiration from the culinary world, but the influx of food-fueled prints, graphics, and trompe l’oeil accessories that picked up steam during the pandemic have now reached a cultural tipping point. 

Today, there are truly countless examples of these food motifs and edible, wearable trompe l’oeil creations, at all price points. Loewe’s summer collection featured a $4,150 lambskin tomato clutch, while Walmart’s included a line of rotisserie chicken bag-like purses and charms starting at $5.97. As with many trends, this trajectory started in high fashion and worked its way down to mass-market ubiquity. In 2020, a chocolate chip cookie went down one of New York Fashion Week’s most buzzed-about fall runways. It protruded from a black purse by the designer Puppets and Puppets, a design that quickly went viral for its whimsical inclusion of a classic dessert on a high-end handbag. 

The then-emerging brand made food a central theme of its vision: Its cake-topped aviator caps, Ferrero Rocher heels, and beeswax-sculpted cheese hats — hyperrealistic, absurdist food designs capable of achieving instant social media virality. Prior to working in fashion, Puppets designer Carly Mark was working as an artist whose pieces revolved around candies and snacks. As she told Business of Fashion in 2023, the Puppets universe felt like the ideal pairing given what she considers food and fashion’s motivators: pleasure and money. 

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During the pandemic, the much-duped “strawberry dress” took over TikTok, and Tombolo Company found a hit on its hands with its vongole shirt, which debuted in 2019, but found peak popularity in 2021. The shirt appeared in Vogue in 2020, and InsideHook called it an “obvious bedfellow to day-drinks, rooftops and weekenders” — in other words, a status symbol. Katie Kimmel’s T-shirts made chicken-parm enthusiasm akin to being a devout sports fan, and in 2022, this very publication called “seafood kitsch” the look of the summer, as items like Rachel Antonoff’s super-popular seafood-tower dress flew off the digital shelves. 

Why was food so primed to become a motif in clothing at this point in culture? One could make the argument that it has roots in the millennial optimism years: Earlier in the 2000s and 2010s, the concept of “foodies” was new. Brands printed tongue-in-cheek food- and coffee-related motifs and slogans (a fervent love of avocados comes to mind) on hipster apparel, as the idea that “you are what you eat” developed growing fervor. That period was a key stepping stone in the evolution toward the far more elaborate and pervasive marketability of food-as-identity we see today. Content creator Cole Poska, who is a partner and creative director at Beyond Studios, tells Eater that “food brands have something most brands would kill for: decades of nostalgia, iconic identities, and consumers who are borderline obsessed with them.” Poska’s own Instagram often reimagines restaurant merch just for fun; his designs for Cheesecake Factory apparel went viral, such as a hat that resembles the iconic brown bread. He points out that people will defend their favorite fast-food order like it’s a family member, and with the kind of loyalty that’s hard to manufacture. The same could be said about their martini order, or favorite taco spot; it’s all a way of telling others who we are through what we like.

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But the fatigue is undoubtedly here. In 2024, Bon Appétit asked “Why Does Every Dress Have Pasta and Cocktail Shrimp on It?” And as the novelty factor of a shrimp-print dress has worn off, the next question might be: Will there be any true longevity for these food-as-fashion moments? Our feeds overflow with products that are hurriedly designed for flash-in-the-pan viral trends and quickly destined for a landfill; arguably more so if the object in question prioritizes shock value and gimmicks over function and brand identity. 

This is undoubtedly all related to the accelerated speed of trend cycles and shortened consumer attention spans. However, as Leah Asmelash wrote last year for CNN, the rising costs of food also casts an increasingly sinister shadow over food-themed fashion. In 2026, a $425 cardigan emblazoned with oysters has waning originality compared to a few years ago; it falls into banality at best and the Hunger Games at worst; its wearer indicating that they’re financially comfortable and, more importantly, well-fed. In that light, beyond its role in identity, food has become more of a status symbol than ever. A sweater touting one’s love of caviar is shorthand for their access to and appreciation of luxury, culinary and otherwise. But sporting the mass-market Temu version? It’s more akin to wearing a faux Gucci belt.  

“Food brands have something most brands would kill for: decades of nostalgia, iconic identities, and consumers who are borderline obsessed with them.”

Cole Poska

If it’s possible to escape the sense of accelerated-trend-cycle disposability, it may have to be through a more subtle approach than, say, a bag that looks like a giant stick of butter. Sam Salad is the co-founder of Meals, a Los Angeles-based, workwear-inspired apparel company that, by its own description, “bakes ‘food culture’ into apparel, blurring the lines between the clothes we eat and the food we wear.” Utility is at the forefront of Meals, which offers a classic chef pant with a slightly fuller cut, in both basic colors and subdued aesthetic homages to blue cheese and watermelon. When Meals launched in 2019, Salad was selling premium denim along Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a hotbed of Instagrammy food culture and trendy restaurants like Gjelina that helped inspire his own brand. “Design today has to translate across languages and platforms,” Salad tells Eater. 

Food is hardly a new bedfellow for fashion designers, even if today’s hyper-fast trend cycle has kicked it into overdrive. “Food is totally universal,” Salad says. “Issey Miyake once merchandised their pleats collection as little omakase sets.”  He cites that collection among other fashion-meets-food moments that he considers successful, such as the iconic Salvador Dalí- and Elsa Schiaparelli-designed lobster dress. At the time of its 1937 creation, the dress was a scandal: It assumed a conformity-defying sartorial stance and was fittingly worn by Wallace Simpson. Today, its highly devolved spawn are available on Shein for $13. 

As it stands, one clear way out of corny, food motif purgatory is for brands — fashion or food — to focus less on quantity and more on storytelling and quality. “We do a few things really well, and that’s enough,” Salad says, “Like In-N-Out [Burger].” 

Poska’s philosophy is similar. “I’d rather make one thing people talk about for a year than 20 things people forget about tomorrow,” he says. “The first person to make a candle look like a stick of butter is a genius. The hundredth person is just making a candle.”

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