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… 

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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.

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On Monday, June 15, the James Beard Foundation will reveal the remaining winners of the 2026 James Beard Awards at its annual ceremony in Chicago, bringing the restaurant industry’s greatest annual honors to a close after months of anticipation. The awards, widely considered among the highest accolades for chefs and restaurateurs in the United States, recognize excellence across categories spanning Outstanding Restaurant, Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Chef, and regional Best Chef awards, as well as America’s Classics and other categories. This year’s host is cookbook author and Top Chef host Gail Simmons, and the event is taking place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

This evening’s Restaurant and Chef Awards follow the foundation’s Media Awards announcements this past weekend, which celebrated achievements in cookbooks, journalism, broadcast, social media, and other food storytelling. The 2026 restaurant and chef finalists were announced on March 31, narrowing down a field that included honorees from across the country. 

The foundation has also already recognized several 2026 honorees outside of tonight’s competitive categories, including No Us Without You founders Damián Diaz and Othón Nolasco, who received the Humanitarian of the Year Award, and chef and restaurateur Nancy Silverton, who was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The recipients of this year’s Impact Award were the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, ReFED, and the Southern Smoke Foundation.

The star-studded event featured appearances from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, hip hop duo Run the Jewels, and more familiar faces from politics and culture. Heartfelt speeches from both presenters and winners emphasized the immeasurable contributions immigrants have made to America, and especially to the world of food and dining. “Our industry is an industry of immigrants,” said No Us Without You co-founder Damian Díaz. “Immigrants are what make this America great… the system, as broken as it is, is carried by immigrant arms.”

Follow along with this post throughout the night for regular updates on the winners in each category.

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2026 James Beard Awards: Restaurant and Chef Winners

Emerging Chef

Adrian Torres, Maximo, West University Place, TX

Outstanding Restaurateur

Outstanding Chef

Outstanding Restaurant

Best New Restaurant

Outstanding Bakery

Wild Crumb, Bozeman, MT

Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker

Susan Bae, Moon Rabbit, Washington, D.C.

Outstanding Hospitality

Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program

Outstanding Bar

Best New Bar

Loma, Providence, RI

Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service

Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service

Kevin Diedrich, Pacific Cocktail Haven, San Francisco, CA

Best Chefs

Best Chef: California

Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)

Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)

Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)

Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)

Best Chef: New York State

Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)

Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR)

Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Best Chef: Southwest (AZ, NM, NV, OK)

Best Chef: Texas

Humanitarian of the Year

• No Us Without You LA, Damián Diaz and Othon Nolasco

Lifetime Achievement

• Nancy Silverton

Impact Award Honorees

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
• Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen
• Senator Ben Ray Luján
• ReFED
• Southern Smoke Foundation

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards.

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The annual James Beard Foundation Awards, this year held on Monday, June 15, are one of the most exciting and esteemed events of the year when it comes to American dining and food. Starting in January, the annual awards kick off their highly anticipated announcements with restaurant and chef awards semifinalists, follow by the America’s Classics awards announcements in February and a list of restaurant and chef finalists in March. The star-studded awards ceremony takes place in Chicago on June 15 this year, where the results of the final categories — including the restaurant and chef awards winners — will finally be revealed.

The James Beard Foundation also has awards for the year’s best cookbooks, journalism, broadcast media and television, and even social media, with the media winners revealed the weekend before the primary awards ceremony.

Eater will be posting live updates as new winners are announced, so stay tuned for the latest news and awards info.

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards.

• Here Are the 2026 James Beard Awards Restaurant, Chef, and Media Award Finalists
• These Are 2026’s James Beard America’s Classics Winners 
• Here Are the 2026 James Beard Awards Restaurant and Chef Semifinalists

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On Saturday, June 13, the James Beard Foundation announced the winners of the 2026 James Beard Media Awards during a ceremony at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Media Awards recognize cookbooks, food- or beverage-related books, radio productions, podcasts, documentaries, social media, and more. Sallie Ann Robinson — author of books including Cooking the Gullah Way, Morning, Noon, and Night — was inducted to the Book Awards Hall of Fame. The Restaurant and Chef Awards will take place in Chicago on Monday, June 15. You can find the full list of finalists here.

2026 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winners

The Book Awards are open to cookbooks and other nonfiction food- or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2025. Books from foreign publishers must bear a 2025 U.S. copyright date and/or must have been distributed in the U.S. during 2025. More information about the Book Awards eligibility and criteria can be viewed here.

Baking and Desserts

Baking and the Meaning of Life: How to Find Joy in 100 Recipes
Helen Goh
(Abrams)

Beverage with Recipes

Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean
Irene Yoo
(Alfred A. Knopf)

Beverage without Recipes

Wine Pairing for the People: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from Africa and Beyond
Cha McCoy with Layla Schlack
(Harvest)

Food Issues and Advocacy

Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison
Alex Busansky, Leslie Soble, and Aishatu Yusuf
(The New Press)

General

By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear
Hailee Catalano
(DK)

International

Kin: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen
Marie Mitchell
(W.W. Norton & Company)

Literary Writing

The Last Sweet Bite: Stories and Recipes of Culinary Heritage Lost and Found
Michael Shaikh
(Crown)

Professional and Restaurant

Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen
Melissa King with JJ Goode
(Ten Speed Press)

Reference, History, and Scholarship

Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato
Anny Gaul
(University of California Press)

Single Subject

The Japanese Art of Pickling & Fermenting: Preserving vegetables and family traditions
Yoko Nakazawa with Rochelle Eagle
(Smith Street Books)

U.S. Foodways

Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes
Sarah Ahn and Nam Soon Ahn
(America’s Test Kitchen)

Vegetable-Focused Cooking

Comida Casera: More Than 100 Vegan Recipes, from Traditional to Modern Mexican Dishes
Dora Ramírez
(Balance)

Visuals

MUMBAI: A Journey Through Its Kitchens, Streets, and Stories
Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal and Bhavya Pansari with Nandini Thirani
(Heirloom Project)

Emerging Voice in Books

Ozoz Sokoh
Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria
(Artisan)

2026 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Award Winners

The Broadcast Media Awards are given to nonfiction works in English that exemplify excellence and uphold the mission and values of the James Beard Foundation. They honor digital and terrestrial media — radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, documentaries, online sites, social media — covering food and beverage topics appearing widely for the first time in the U.S. in 2025. You can find more information about Broadcast Media Awards eligibility and criteria here.

Audio Programming

Heard Podcast: Become a Better Chef
“Lessons Learned”
Airs on: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple, and Castbox

Audio Reporting

Buzzkill
“A post-pollinator world”
Airs on: REAP/SOW and Food & Environment Reporting Network

Commercial Media

The Theory of Spice
Airs on: LA Times Studios, Documentary+, and YouTube

Documentary Visual Media

Raoul’s, A New York Story
Airs on: Vimeo

Docuseries Visual Media

Chef’s Table: Legends
Airs on: Netflix

Instructional Visual Media

Pati’s Mexican Table
Airs on: PBS

Lifestyle Visual Media

Duck Camp Dinners, The Texas Tour
Airs on: YouTube, Outdoor America, Tubi, WayPoint TV, and Outdoor Channel

Social Media

Michael Ligier
Airs on: YouTube

Travel Visual Media

Tucci in Italy
Airs on: National Geographic

Emerging Voice in Broadcast Media

Nasim Lahbichi
lahbco
Instagram

2026 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award Winners

The Journalism Awards recognize works in English that cover food- or drink-related content which were published — or self-published — in 2025 in any medium. You can find more information about Journalism Awards eligibility and criteria here.

Beverage

“Spiritual Awakening: Ukraine’s black currant brandy tradition was nearly lost to history. Now, one distiller is bringing it back.”
Craig Sauers
Wine Enthusiast

Columns and Newsletters

“The Cruel American Food Aid Crisis”; “A Tufts Student Abducted, Before Iftar”; “Immigrant Restaurant Workers Are Not Criminals”
Ryan Sutton
The Lo Times

Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award

“The Great Salt Shake Up”; “The Worst Sandwich Is Back”; “Elon Musk’s Utterly Mundane Vision of Dining”
Ellen Cushing
The Atlantic

Dining and Travel

“Rising Up: Hong Kong Looks Inward to Reinvent Itself”
Francis Lam
Conde Nast Traveler

Feature Reporting

“Caught! A historic, family-run restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, made its name selling freshly caught seafood. Then the feds showed up with an extraordinary accusation: The fish were a fraud.”
Boyce Upholt
Food & Environment Reporting Network and Inc. Magazine

Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication

Roads & Kingdoms

Foodways

“The hunt for the bean pie street sellers of legend, and how this dessert is a symbol of liberation for many Black Muslims”
Ahmed Ali Akbar
Chicago Tribune

Health and Wellness

“The MAHA Trend in Groceries Will Backfire”; “Brace Yourself for Watery Mayo and Spiky Ice Cream”; “The Cleaner Way to Get Ripped”
Yasmin Tayag
The Atlantic

Home Cooking

“Going Green”
Elizabeth Mervosh
Food & Wine

Investigative Reporting

“California’s Child Farmworkers: Exhausted, Underpaid and Toiling in Toxic Fields”; “Lax Oversight, Few Inspections Leave Child Farmworkers Exposed to Toxic Pesticides”
Robert Lopez
Capital & Main and Los Angeles Times

Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award

“These street vendors used their aguas frescas to fight tear gas at anti-ICE protests”; “Follow the red sauce to Burbank’s best Italian deli”; “After the Eaton fire, Bernee restaurant closed for good. This weekend it’s reborn as Betsy”
Stephanie Breijo
Los Angeles Times

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award

“Schmear Campaign”
Lauren Collins
The New Yorker

Narrative Photography

“The hunt for life-giving ‘country food’ in the Canadian Arctic”
Monica Herndon
The Philadelphia Inquirer

Personal Essay

“Intuitive Eating: On Poison, Pleasure, and Trust”
Erica Berry
Orion Magazine

Personal Essay with Recipes

“The Blueberry Oatmeal That Got Us Through Grief, Then Birth”
Hali Bey Ramdene
Bon Appétit

Profile

“No Papers, Just Peaches”
Sithara Ranasinghe
Cake Zine

Emerging Voice in Journalism

Jasmine Michel
Dreamboat Cafe

Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Foundation Awards.

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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.

Everyone needs a convenient, accessible place to socialize. But maintaining a cafe, bar, restaurant, or hybrid space that fits the bill has its challenges. We’re partnering with Spectrum Business to put a spotlight on third spaces and how their operators make them work.

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To cap off Pre Shift’s series on third spaces, we hosted an event at buzzy Café Tondo in Los Angeles to discuss the new third spaces, asking local operators to let us in on their secrets to running welcoming, community-oriented businesses.

Read on for the conversation with Abraham Campillo of Café Tondo, Matthew Glaser of the hospitality group Park, and Sarah Lewitinn of Jacaranda, moderated by Eater brand director Lesley Suter.

“Third space” has become a bit of a buzzword. What do we actually mean when we talk about these places? 

“I think that a third space is a place where people can get together and meet, which doesn’t necessarily include a commerce aspect. Maybe it’s a park, maybe it’s a bar, maybe it’s a food court at a mall. In theory, these have commercial aspects, but the important thing is offering an opportunity for people to meet where they might not necessarily have organically met at school or work or something like that.” —Sarah Lewitinn, co-owner of Jacaranda

“Lingering is such an important aspect of a third space. You shouldn’t feel pressured to go along with [something that a place is] prescribing, like ‘Wait in this line,’ or ‘Order or get out of here.’ A third space is somewhere you can settle in, you can have another friend come join you. There’s a stranger aspect — there are so few places you can interact with people you don’t already know — and third spaces introduce a level of chaos. You don’t know what exactly will happen, but you might end up on a journey.” —Matthew Glaser of Park Hospitality

“It’s a response to loneliness… Third spaces can have different iterations, but they need to combat that loneliness that’s really prominent as we get more and more digitized.” —Abraham Campillo, co-owner of Café Tondo

“Third spaces” are also entangled with community. What does building a community through a food and beverage business actually mean? And how do you get the community to keep coming back to you?

“I think it’s [about] inviting people in. We do music programming and food collaborations like we did with Lasita. It’s about not making [the space] about yourself and not even making it about the food and drinking, and asking yourself: Who are you doing it for? How can we create moments throughout the calendar that make it about our people? That is what builds an authentic community; people want things to look forward to… There’s also an importance of knowing your people: the people you get your wine from, your regulars, your suppliers. Having good food and drinks is available at a million places, but good people [are rarer].” —Campillo

“If you want to build community, you can’t do it with the idea that you’re going to make money off of it. It’s the people that met [at your place] and are then going to have their wedding there in five years; that’s not something you plan for, that’s something that’s kismet and beautiful. It’s the best part of the business. But it’s not a direct ROI. It’s a long, long, long game.” —Glaser

“When my husband and I were doing Jacaranda social club, which was a pop-up restaurant in our home, part of it was inspired by the massive shabbat dinners we were hosting. We ended up building a nice community through all this… We built a community of people who were coming to our home for this buffet-style meal, [and then we were able to ask,] ‘By the way, do you want to come for a 10-course pop-up dinner?’ and building it up to ‘Do you want to come to our restaurant?’ They always felt like they were a part of something… They’re now showing their friends our restaurant and saying, ‘I know these people. They’re our friends.’” —Lewitinn

There’s certain things about your businesses that feel especially welcoming. What are some of the decisions you’ve made that help contribute to that?

“My bar mentor Brian Traynam [of Uncle Ollie’s] really took me under his wing and taught me his little tricks. Like, the lighting has to be just bright enough that you can see your partner but just low enough that they have to lean a little bit forward. You want the volume high enough that you can hear the person across from you, but not the people around you. There’s all these little subtle things that are absolute gospel to me. In a really good third space, you walk in there with an aspiration for the night—like, ‘I’m going to have a great first date’ or ‘I’m going to see my old friends I haven’t seen in forever, and we’re going to have the best time’—and the space should not get in the way. You shouldn’t notice the space making your time better, it just does.” —Glaser

“We decided to do no turns at Jacaranda. When people come in, I let them know, ‘This is your table for the night. We’re not kicking you out. You want to sit here and drink water the whole night? Great, this is your seat. And if you see someone that you want to meet tonight, tell me, and I’ll introduce you to them. Make yourself comfortable.’” —Lewitinn

“One decision we made was with walk-ins. [Guests have the] ability to have spontaneous nights at Café Tondo. Everything now [requires a] reservation, and I’m not a reservation-type person. The greenhouse area and outside seating of our restaurant is all for walk-ins… I can squeeze eight into a six-top or six into a four-top, and I think that goes a long way for people. I think the worst thing you can do as a bar owner or restaurateur is turn people down because they have one too many. They will never forgive you for that.” —Campillo

Social media can be an easy way to build community, but it can also cause problems. How do you use social media for your third space?

“I don’t think we could function without it. For us being new in Chinatown, we knew we needed to get people here. It’s been hugely helpful for us, especially with communicating [how we work, since] we do coffee in the morning, wine and food at night [and have weekly programming like] boleros on Tuesdays, jazz on Wednesdays, DJs on Saturdays. I was scared when we opened last July, and seeing the good response on social media made it a lot less scary as a first-time owner.” —Campillo

“We have a full-time social media manager. Social media is a blessing and a curse [because it sometimes] takes you out of the third space; it’s like you’re creating something for someone who’s not actually there. That being said, if you open a new place, you used to spend $5,000 to $10,000 on PR, and now you don’t have to because you can get a ton of eyeballs on your space really quickly with social media.” —Glaser

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone who’s trying to create a third space?

“Find ways to introduce people to each other because the most important thing about having a third space is connecting people.” —Lewitinn

“People think that [restaurants and bars] that are close to each other are competing. But actually, we’re helping each other. If someone gets dinner there, maybe they’ll get a drink here. So I would encourage neighbors to collaborate.” —Campillo

“At least one person [on your team] has to love the space. They have to want to be there and love the crowd. You can always tell when you go to a place and the owner loves it; you can feel it.” —Glaser

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In our experience, the best food-related Father’s Day gifts check some combination of feeling personal, kitsch, useful, and delicious. There is no one right way to be a father or a father-like figure, or shop for one, but it feels fair to say that our most successful Father’s Day presents have either fulfilled a hyper-specific need, such as a kneeling foam pad for herb gardening, or celebrated our food-loving fathers’ rituals around grilling, fishing, or making truckloads of their deceased Italian mother’s marinara on Sundays. Riposa in pace, nonna! Your son has become a worthy sauce master in your stead. 

Father’s Day falls on June 21 this year, which means you have a little over a week to smash the order button on some Snake River Farms steaks or a high-tech Ooni pizza oven. Should you seriously procrastinate, there are always two-day shipping options from Amazon Prime, and retailers such as Nordstrom provide an estimate of the soonest day an order can arrive. Plus, you can also opt for day-of, shipping-free digital gifts, such as a Southern cooking MasterClass with James Beard Award–winning chef Mashama Bailey, or a gift card to Williams Sonoma.  

Your dad is the best dad out of all the dads, of course, so let’s find him the perfect present, whether that means something to throw on the grill (or in the Igloo cooler) or a themed apron that harkens back to his days following the Grateful Dead. 

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A next-level BBQ sauce set for the grilling dad

Barbecue is an incredible edible art form, and as any brisket- and rib-loving dad knows, opinions run hot about which regional barbecue reigns supreme. That’s why we love this Pitmaster Icons gift set from Goldbelly; it features delectable sauces from Kansas City’s Joe’s KC BBQ; Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, the James Beard award-winning restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina; world-famous Franklin Barbecue in Austin; Snow’s BBQ, the beloved Lexington, Texas spot; and a sauce created by North Carolina pitmaster Ed Mitchell. Five sauces, five distinct styles, countless delicious meals grilled by Dad. Plus, thanks to Goldbelly’s quick shipping, this set makes a great last-minute gift.

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He can always use more chile crisp

Speaking of condiments that feel extra-giftable, for the dad who loves to add heat to his eggs, noodles, sandwiches, or pizza, a jar of carefully selected chile crisp is a great way to broaden his horizons. We like Boon Sauce from chef Max Boonthanakit of LA’s Michelin-recommended restaurant Camphor, which remixes the classic Chinese seasoning with the addition of crispy anchovies, shallots, and fennel. It can be spooned right onto breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or be incorporated into sauces and salad dressings.

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Get your dad off crappy instant coffee and into the 21st century

Look, no disrespect to Dad’s massive jar of Folger’s, but he might not even realize that we’re in the fourth wave of coffee by now (maybe even the fifth?) and there are top-tier instant coffees out there that could be blowing his mind every morning while he gets his caffeine fix. If he’s stuck in the past with his freeze-dried crystals, introduce him to Cometeer, which our coffee expert has called “the best instant coffee on the planet.” Brewed as a high-extract concentrate and flash-frozen into individual pucks that you keep in the freezer, Cometeer’s coffee tastes super because it’s never dehydrated, and blooms beautifully with the addition of hot water. “When you do decide to dissolve the puck,” Oliver Strand writes in Eater’s guide to the best instant coffee, “you will have all of the nuanced flavors and delicate aromatics of an immaculately prepared pour over from a good coffee shop.”

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A handsome Snow Peak tote for lunch, beer, and beyond

Founded in Japan in 1958, Snow Peak has earned a cult following in the gorpcore crowd for making well-crafted, attractive outdoorsy goods. The brand’s Everyday 2Way Tote can be worn with either short or long straps, and includes plenty of pockets (and even a laptop sleeve), so it’s perfect for taking sandwiches, brewskies, or snacks al fresco, whether Dad is camping, picnicking, or enjoying an outdoor sports game.

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These Wagyu steaks from Snake River Farms

Family-operated since 1968, Snake River Farms has earned a reputation as one of the best ranch-to-table slingers in the game for the best meats you can buy, from Kurobuta pork to wild-caught seafood to dry-aged Porterhouse steak. While it’s an excellent source of dad-centric gifts in general — what father wouldn’t want a Smithey skillet or a custom meat subscription box? — but we’re thinking that Daddy deserves some of the meat purveyor’s wagyu beef, because it’s a rich, marbled cross between pure Japanese wagyu and American-bred beef. Plus, they’re 20 percent off right now at checkout.

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This set of grill-ready fancy salts

With its Grilling Trio, the highly aesthetic Oregon-based company Jacobsen Salt Co. has treated us to a holy trinity of grilling seasoning blends: Italian, House Special (a garlicky seasoning with a bit of heat), and a classic steak seasoning with paprika, fennel seed, rosemary and more herbs.

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One stainless steel frying pan to rule them all 

Ah, the endless versatility of a lidded, stainless steel 10-inch frying pan. There’s a good chance your pops has sizzled his own to the high heavens, no? Eater collaborated with Heritage Steel to make our very own iteration, which is made with durable, high-quality, 5-ply stainless steel and given an extra half-inch of circumference, making it the reigning favorite of our fry pan rotation. Plus, from June 15 through July 10, you can save 17.76 percent off all Eater Series cookware sets — y’know, in case Pops is looking for a total reset.

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A big stock pot for chili

Whether he’s making his signature pasta dish, chili for the family barbecue, or enough spaetzle to feed the whole Von Trapp family, this 8-quart stock pot sure would come in handy for Dad. (Those generously sized handles will come in handy when he transports his prized stew to the next potluck.)

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Cream cheese pound cake, of course

Listen, there’s pound cake and then there’s Mike’s Philly Fluff. I first tried this dense, creamy loaf at a birthday party potluck where it was consumed faster than the actual birthday cake. The secret, of course, is in the addition of cream cheese to the cake batter. There’s also a delightful retro angle to the cake’s packaging that makes it ideal for gift-giving.

Swaggy slippers for drinking wine on the patio

House shoes are, of course, a tried-and-true dad gift — and frankly, for good reason. We always need a quick pair of kicks to throw on to drink Burgundy on the lanai, grab a bag from the car, or scoop a package on the porch. Well, your pops might as well look a little rizzy doing all that, so instead of showing him you care with a boring generic pair of slippers that come zip-tied together at the discount store, step it up with these men’s Nike mules. Better yet, join him outside for a few glasses of wine and ask him to share some lore.

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A Deadhead dad’s dream apron… 

For the father who is still a headlight on a northbound train. Several Eater staffers own Hedley & Bennett aprons, and can attest to the comfort and durability of the cotton material. The brand’s collab with The Grateful Dead has spawned some of the coolest aprons money can buy, and the latest drop comes complete with a farmers market tote.

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… Or a denim apron for a cowboy dad

Maybe you won’t catch Papa at a Dead & Co. gig at the Sphere anytime soon, but you will catch him cranking Kenny Rogers or Tim McGraw while he’s turning some ribeyes over an open flame. Great news: Made In, one of our fave cookware brands, just dropped a very cool collab with Wrangler, and the collection includes this bitchin’ denim apron that adds a rugged edge while keeping his pearl-snap button up clean as a whistle.

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Bring the barbeque to him

For far-flung children, I suggest having a robust, high-quality smorgasbord of meats delivered to Dad for him to throw on the grill. Every piece of meat at Porter Road is hand-cut on-site in Kentucky, and its Grilling Heroes Box comes with two dry-aged steaks, two pounds of dry-aged burger patties, and two packs of dry-aged hot dogs. Think of it as the digital equivalent of picking up the check for the cookout. 

A digital picture frame for the kitchen 

What father doesn’t love flipping flapjacks beside a digital picture frame featuring the best snapshots of his kids, grandkids, and that time you all rode horses together on Catalina Island?  

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Ooni’s cult-fave pizza oven is $269 off

The Ferrari of pizza ovens. Ooni’s electric indoor model is 30 percent off right now, and can cook a Neapolitan-style pizza in just 90 seconds (a fact which your pops will love explaining to his pals before watching the game).  

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Track down vintage John Deere drinkware 

There’s an infinite bounty of vintage John Deere coasters, shot glasses — hell, there’s even a John Deere tractor-shaped decanter — on vintage and second-hand retailer sites such as Ebay. It’s like they say: you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the tractor out of his liquor cabinet. 

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For the pops who wants to sous vide all day

Give Dad the power of preserving his precious deer meats for seasons to come, at the touch of a button. 

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Olive oil on tap

If there’s one things dads love, it’s a novelty-meets-optimization moment. All of Psyche’s Greek olive oil is cold-extracted in Messenia in the Southwestern Peloponnese, and it’s packaged in lightweight, handle-endowed pouches with a built-in spout for easy use.

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Keep things cool with Stanley’s beer stein 

Lest we forget, Stanley makes more than Quenchers for dirty sodas. The company’s durable hunter green flasks and colorful beer steins deserve some extra TLC, especially because the latter will keep father’s ambrosia of choice (who knows, maybe it’s a dirty soda!) chilled for hours, whether he’s just chilling on the patio, is at the Big Game, or is chilling on a fishing boat.  

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One-of-a-kind serving utensils 

Qäsa Qäsa Carvers ethically sources all of its hand-carved pieces from the talented artisans of the Makonde tribe in Mtwara, Tanzania. No two sets will look quite alike, and the mixed assortment of blackwood utensils will look just as beautiful serving up a dense bean salad or spices as it will hanging from a pot rack. 

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This coffret of worldly sausages 

Olympia Provisions is the United States’ first-ever USDA-approved salumeria, and it has united 13 lucky sausages with flavor profiles from around the world (think, the cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg sausages of Alsace, France, and the bright citrus-kissed flavors of Greek loukanika) into this gift box for Dad. 

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Because dads deserve their flowers, too 

I have tried almost every flower delivery service, and Farmgirl Flowers always stands out as one of the best; the bouquets arrive on-time, looking fresh and perky, swaddled in a chic, gift-ready burlap wrap. This sunflower bouquet is aptly dubbed the “No Matter What,” because it’s a bundle of optimism and energy that pops will appreciate, no matter what.

Happy Father’s Day, champ. 

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From elevated Michelin-starred dining along Main Street to Robson Street with its dizzying array of dumpling shops, ramen-ya, Korean-fried chicken joints, and creative bakeries, Vancouver is a city that demands you come hungry and ensures you leave satisfied.

Since I arrived as an immigrant from the U.K. more than a decade ago, exploring the culinary delights of the city has been like a global food tour. (Hard to say whether I fell first for the city’s soaring mountain views or the easy access to superb, cheap sushi.) Over 40 percent of Vancouver’s residents are born outside of Canada, and the city is home to robust Chinese, Indian, and Filipino communities, to name a few. Chefs from around the world apply culinary traditions to exceptional produce from the Lower Mainland and superb seafood from the cold, clean waters around Vancouver Island, creating a unique style of West Coast cuisine. Add in mushrooming brewery and distillery scenes, as well as fruit-forward wines from the nearby Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, and you can see why Vancouver deserves its reputation as one of the world’s best places to eat and drink. 

Maple leaf pride — through supporting all things B.C. in particular and Canadian in general — continues to be the order of the day here in Vancouver. American wines and spirits have been pulled from shelves in response to the tariffs imposed by President Trump, creating more room for businesses to highlight whisky made right here at craft distilleries in B.C. along with superb wines and other spirits.

Please don’t judge the city on the rain-soaked disappointment that is ‘Juneary’, the annual return to grey skies and rain after blissful sunny days and the pretty pink pom-poms of cherry blossom spring. Summer is the time for the city to shine: the glut of juicy fruits — you’ve never lived till you’ve eaten an Okanagan peach — and crisp veggies that arrive from nearby orchards and fields teamed with the seasonal flow of wild seafood such as B.C coho salmon or the ultra-sustainable treat of spot prawns make menus across the city an annual delight. Now’s the time to visit one of the many city-wide farmers markets to indulge in picnic-ready treats, and to plan long evenings enjoying those endless West Coast sunsets on packed patios. 

We update this list quarterly to make sure it reflects the ever-changing Vancouver dining scene. Our write-ups include insider tips from our experienced writers and editors, as well as a rough range of pricing for each destination — ranging from $ for quick, inexpensive meals with dishes largely under $10 (or the equivalent in Canadian dollars), to $$$$ for places where entrees exceed $30.

New to the map in June 2026: Nero Tondo, a hyper local, ingredients-driven chef-y heaven; Rain or Shine, a delicious ice-cream truck on the sea shore; Nomo Nomo, a funky Tokyo-style snacks and cocktail bar; and Livia, part cafe-bakery, part pop-up space, and fully delicious.

Nikki Bayley is an award-winning freelance travel, food, and wine writer whose work has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, BC Living, and Whistler Traveller.

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Paris has changed a lot since Eater started rounding up its essential restaurants in 2016. Over the last nine years of writing this map, I’ve watched as the city’s entrenched food pyramid — a top tier of haute-cuisine, followed by dressed-up bourgeois restaurants, and finally a base of bistros and brasseries — has flattened out. Today, you can find outstanding contemporary French cooking at reasonable prices all over Paris.

Traditional French haute cuisine has become exorbitantly expensive, too formal, gastronomically staid, and increasingly irrelevant in a city that’s seeing the emergence of wiry young talents like Youssef Marzouk at Aldehyde. Across the board, modern Parisian menus are trending toward vegetables, with meat playing a supporting role to local produce from sustainable producers. But even as they embrace the new, many Parisians remain rooted in rock-of-ages French comfort food, which is available at a wave of traditional bistros; highlights include the very popular Bistrot des Tournelles in the Marais and thriving stalwarts like Le Petit Vendôme.

We update this list regularly to make sure it reflects the ever-changing Paris dining scene. Our write-ups include insider tips from our experienced writers and editors, as well as a rough range of pricing for each destination — ranging from $ for quick, inexpensive meals with dishes largely under $10 (or the equivalent in euros), to $$$$ for places where entrees exceed $30.

New to the map in June 2026: Valentin Raffali, one of the most gastronomically gifted young chefs in France, recently left Livingston in Marseille to take over the kitchen of Le Restaurant; it’s immediately become one of the toughest reservations in Paris, with the atmosphere of a Helmet Newton photograph, great people watching, and Raffali’s luminous contemporary French cooking. 

In the age of Tik-Tok, the same restaurants show up over and over again; the way to get beyond this congestion is to sleuth out neighborhood places. See, for example, L’Escale on the Ile Saint Louis, a long-running low key café-bistro which has developed a seriously good kitchen after the new owner hired two talented chefs; and Caius, with creative, impeccable cooking — and one of the best lunch menus in the city — tucked in to the little-visited 17th Arrondissement in Eastern Paris.

For even more advice for your next trip, order the Eater Guide to Paris, in which we detail our favorite restaurants and shopping spots, offer tips on dining etiquette, plus feature deep dives into the city’s Southeast Asian cuisines, drinking culture, evolving pastry scene, and much more.

Alexander Lobrano is a well-known Paris restaurant expert, has written Eater’s best restaurants map to Paris since 2016, and is the author of Hungry for Paris, Hungry for France and My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris. He writes often for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

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According to the Chinese zodiac, it’s the year of the horse — and that’s abundantly clear in hospitality. 

In February, Derby Cup Coffee swung open its New York City doors with an unbuttoned approach to Kentucky Derby prep. April marked the grand reopening and rebranding of Eugene, Oregon’s 80-year-old bar and restaurant the Paddock, a former sports bar that has retained much of its tavern-like spirit (now accented with cheeky, minimalist horse drawings), but with a new menu of nostalgic dishes like eggs Rockefeller, fried oyster sandwiches, and smoked potato poutine. Set to open this August in Red Hook, Brooklyn, is Pony’s: a cocktail bar whose WIP exterior teases its ambiance with a poster of a galloping pony whose expression reads, I trot where I please. 

This is all the continuation of an ongoing wave of horse-themed bars, restaurants, and businesses. There was last summer’s highly anticipated opening of Il Cavallini, the Four Horsemen team’s also-equine-branded follow-up restaurant, in Brooklyn; in August, the vinyl wine bar Horse With No Name trotted into the East Village with mustard-hued walls and the kinds of rodeo clown paintings that I imagine Terry Allen would enjoy. (We must also mention the loss of some big horse energy with the shuttering of Horses in Los Angeles, although it went out with all the drama of a Western.) 

Why all the horsing around in hospitality? And what does this new wave of equine (yes, I am running out of ways to say horse) branding say about the symbolism of horse decor, which is steeped in tradition, preppiness, and a Ralph Lauren-tinged version of Americana? A horse is a horse of course of course, but owning one has often reflected a symbol of either ascot-adjacent social status or rustic, John Grady Cole know-how. 

According to Nick Johnson, the creative director at All Good, an agency specializing in restaurant branding that has worked with the likes of Kellogg’s Diner (Brooklyn) and the Benjamin (Los Angeles), “There has been a push towards reinterpreting classic heritage branding over the past few years within the hospitality industry. I think there is a natural urge to pair those types of experiences with a timeless aesthetic […] be it a horse, swan, or fox, it’s a formula that works.” (The same couldn’t be said, he notes, of lions or snakes — animals with “far less versatile vibes.”) Horses offer a more flexible branding opportunity: “[They] can just as easily represent a sense of wildness, speed, and adventure as they can refinement, quiet luxury or prestige.” In an industry that hinges on dynamism, a horse can become both posh and approachable.

I spoke with Derby Cup Coffee founder Yasmin Kaytmaz (also a partner at the subtly horse-adorned River bar), who explained that her love of all things equestrian runs in the family. “I grew up as a horseback rider,” she says, “and my mom had a racehorse, which is kind of why I wanted to do something along those lines. And it kind of matched the idea of, like, drinking coffee and like going fast, getting ahead.” Outside, Derby Cup is decorated with a Dartmouth-green awning and striped walls; inside, you’ll find mellow shades of yellow and green rarely seen in often beige modern coffee shops. Should you choose, you can sip your matcha mint julep from a Brutalist stool, beside a delightfully Francis Bacon-y horse sculpture. It’s the kind of aesthetic that feels, well, not quite bound to tradition, but tipping a jockey cap to it — with a touch of irony. 

“That Ralph Lauren-y kind of look has been coming back to New York quite a bit,” Kaytmaz explains, “but I wanted Derby to feel more relaxed. The idea was that this might be a room that jockeys hang out in.” It’s a bit preppy, a bit moody, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The customer water station is inspired by a barn, and features a horse-shaped faucet that is positioned at an ideal bucket-filling height. “It may not have been practical,” says Kaymatz, “in fact we knew it would be an absolute pain in the ass. But we were like, We have to do this.”  

Pony’s co-founder and self-proclaimed horse girl Elana Shvalbe told me how her horse hospitality vision goes beyond, in her words, an overtly “horseback riding-themed or Western” bar. As Shvalbe says, “The concept of Pony’s is that it’s possessive. We talk about it like the pony owns the bar. We ask ourselves what the pony’s world is like.” Shvalbe and her co-founder and husband Michael Furac want Pony’s to exude a kind of casual, pastoral elegance. “Without sounding cheesy,” she says, “I’ll think, That shade of green? That’s Pony’s meadow, or Okay, the bathroom is going to be very blue.” There will also be glass elements intended to mimic sun and hay, intended to evoke an abstract interpretation of the pony’s field. 

Patrons can expect the occasional drawing of a horse on the wall or a tiny horseshoe in a corner, but both the space’s decor and menu (it’s slated to open later this summer) will lean into an ambiance that feels tenderly nuanced. Small bites and drinks will be reflective of Shvalbe and Furac’s “Eastern European origins, with a mix of Baltic and Mediterranean flavors,” and there will be nods to Pony, the entity, all over the menu: a grassy, vegetal martini “fit for Pony,” a beer and shot combo called the Double Pony (a working title), Miller High Life’s Pony bottles, and a pony shot, which Shvalbe says is an “old-timey word used to describe an ounce in the 1850s.”  

Instead of leaning into some kind of uppity dressage, this new wave of horse-branded restaurants, bars, and cafes feels more interested in being light and imaginative than exclusive. The Seabiscuit-paced rise of horse branding feels spiritually related to the wave of new British pubs and tavern-like restaurants; these are spaces with inviting, wood-panelled interiors, Mother Goose-like tchotchkes, and throwback dishes that read like childhood favorites of older generations (the popular stargazy pie at NYC British spot Dean’s comes to mind). As Eater reported in October, there has been a shift away from the postmodern beige-washed restaurants of the late 2010s and a move towards restaurants with more worn-in, intimate-feeling artifacts. As we trend further in this direction, we can likely expect to see even more personal, engaging reinterpretations of old-world motifs and traditions through a fresh (and less serious) lens. (In Derby’s case: Why not fill up your water glass as if you’ve just entered a barn?) 

Few animals can evoke such a unique mix of awe and affection as a horse: it trots, gallops, kicks, and nuzzles; it’s for romance-novel maidens, farmers, jockeys, and cowboys. Owning one has always been a marker of prestige, yet relating one’s spirit to that of a horse (please see: Season 2, Episode 18 of Sex and the City) traditionally signals a passionate and untamable sense of self-possession and headstrong independence. There’s a note at the end of the menu at the Paddock that echoes this feel-good daydream, reading: “There was once a time when horses ran free on [our location at] East Amazon Drive. Maybe? Probably.” All we can do is imagine.

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This episode of Large Format takes you inside the kitchens of Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, as the stadium prepares to feed the attendees of the 2026 Miami Open.

First, we step into the commissary kitchen where prep begins for dishes that will be served by vendors across the stadium during the tennis tournament, even at the highest club level. The giant prep kitchen is divided by cold and hot fare, but the biggest volume of dishes is always sliders.

Out in the Hard Rock campus, stands representing different Miami restaurants and iconic chefs are also doing their own prep before the big event. Miami Slice is one of those shops, preparing to make up to 7,000 slices per day at the Hard Rock Stadium. The shop has a dedicated dough room in order to make their pies on site, from scratch. Cafe La Trova is an iconic Cuban restaurant that was recreated at Hard Rock to look just like the Little Havana location, including its wide bar and roof tiles. The stand serves fresh ceviche and Cubanos during the busy event.

Watch over 150 chefs prepare for a huge event at the Hard Rock Stadium in this episode of Large Format.

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The 2026 edition of the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list will be announced live tonight at an awards ceremony in New Orleans, where the best chefs from across the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean will gather to compete and celebrate. The event is produced by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization, which also produces lists for Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa region.

You can watch the live stream of the announcement ceremony, which begins at 8 p.m. Central, here.

Last year, in the inaugural edition of the list, Atomix in New York was named the No. 1 restaurant in the region, while Mon Lapin in Montreal earned the No. 2 spot and Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Jordan Station, Canada, came in third. The top ranked Caribbean restaurant was Buzo Osteria Italiana in Barbados, which clocked in at 41. 

It seems safe to anticipate the top of the list will look pretty similar this year (especially since No. 1 winners can repeat in the top spot, under the organization’s rules), although there are sure to be some shakeups. Kabawa, one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in 2025, didn’t make the 50 Best list last year despite a slew of accolades, and based on early indications, that could change this time around. Also, in 2025, all five North American restaurants that appeared on the World’s 50 Best List reappeared in the North America list later that year; that cheat code isn’t available this year, since the regional list will be announced before the official reveal of the World’s 50 Best list, which will take place in November in Abu Dhabi.

We’ll update this story with the winners as they’re announced this evening, so stay tuned.

Eater’s coverage of the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants event was produced with assistance from the World’s 50 Best organization. All editorial content is produced independently. Read more about Eater’s ethics policies here.

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When I have friends visiting Los Angeles and I ask where they’d like to eat, of all the incredible restaurants that the city has to offer — old Hollywood steakhouses, elite sushi counters, taco trucks, bustling Korean barbecue spots — there’s one place that always comes up these days: Erewhon. 

Best known as a wonderland of intriguing specialty products with prices that feel like performance art — $24 coconut yogurt, $75 matcha, $18 bottles of camel milk — the health-focused grocery store opened in LA in 1969. But in 2011, it fell under new ownership that rebranded it as an ultra-premium food destination rather than a hippie-food depot, and in 2022, all hell broke loose when Hailey Bieber’s $21 strawberry smoothie debuted and became an instant phenomenon, bringing national, even global attention to the once-lowkey chain. New Erewhon locations opened one after another in Silver Lake, Culver City, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Studio City, with several more planned for the future. Its reputation is now both aspirational and polarizing; it’s known for its elaborate Tonic Bar beverages (including a never-ending series of celeb collabs), upscale hot bar, high concentration of influencers, and adherence to a particular mushroom-supplement vision of West Coast wellness. 

Despite becoming more and more omnipresent, the store seems to show no signs of waning interest from the public. I’m consistently fascinated by how many people in LA can afford to make the high-price-point chain their everyday grocer. A friend once casually told me she spends $2,500 at Erewhon every month. “On what?!” I asked, incredulous. “Oh, you know — food, my supplements,” she replied nonchalantly, as though spending $30,000 annually on groceries as a childless adult was perfectly normal. That exchange should perhaps have been a canary in the coal mine for what came next: the elite membership tiers that Erewhon announced in mid-April. 

Erewhon’s long had a membership program that can be joined by anyone for a $200 annual fee, offering 10 percent cash back, exclusive offers and discounts from “leading lifestyle brands” (examples include Lululemon, Cadillac of Beverly Hills, and a variety of five-star hotels), and a free smoothie each month. But it recently unveiled significantly more exclusive membership tiers, including the Premier tier, automatically granted to those who spend $5,000 or more per year at the store, and the Reserve tier, for members who spend upwards of $15,000 annually. These new tiers offer priority checkout, free delivery, “Your Drink Made First” privileges at the smoothie counter, and for Reserve members, a free daily coffee and pastry, butler-like assistance (carrying your groceries to the car; saving you a table in the cafe area), and most intriguingly, access to a “personal in-store concierge.” 

When Eater reached out to Erewhon for more details about the new tiers, its reps declined to give much comment but offered something even more illuminating: the opportunity to let us try Reserve membership perks for ourselves. I volunteered immediately. I am largely a Trader Joe’s regular, but I also patronize the three Erewhons within a 15-minute drive of my house when it feels reasonable (aka more often than I like to immediately admit), usually for canned adaptogenic beverages or a visit to the sushi case. The temptation to experience the Erewhon princess lifestyle in the name of journalism was simply too powerful. 

When you’re granted Reserve status, your rewards are visible through the Erewhon app. There’s a tally of how much money you’ve spent at the chain since starting or renewing your annual membership, as well as a list of amenities available to you at your tier. A button appears on your home screen that says “Concierge Check-In,” which allows you to request your complimentary refreshments, a personal shopper, curbside service for pickup orders, the ability to chat with a store director, and a table in the dining area. Unsure of what would happen, I selected my nearest location, hustled over with my friend Jamie in tow as an emotional-support human, and smashed that check-in button. 

Foolishly, I first attempted to use the concierge service at the Silver Lake Erewhon. Some Erewhon locations read as safe spaces for being as unapologetically entitled as you wish, but the Silver Lake location — perhaps because it sits near roughly 7 billion thrift stores and 4100 Bar, the Union Pool of the West — retains a faint air of anti-snob humility. Even if the customers ultimately retreat to gated Spanish villas in the hills (there are still plenty of celebrities in this Erewhon’s aisles), it’s still considered gauche to openly behave like a rich asshole in Silver Lake, so one major obstacle was my own embarrassment. I typically avoid valeting my car or allowing a hotel bellhop to carry my bags because I find it somewhat mortifying to outsource labor I can easily do myself. When I envisioned an Erewhon employee following me around and retrieving products I was fully capable of finding and reaching on my own, I feared it would seem pompous and self-infantilizing. 

Nonetheless, I committed to the bit. Before arriving, I designated my “daily beverage” in the Erewhon app (a double iced espresso with oat milk and a creamtop), selected my complimentary pastry (the chocolate banana bread; it’s good!), and for good measure, I also put in an order for a smoothie (The Madwoman) and eyed the little checkbox ensuring that “my drink was made first” and that I was cutting the line of commoners who don’t spend $15,000 a year at Erewhon. 

I half-expected a Jeeves-esque butler to approach me using facial-recognition technology and predict that I might want liposomal sea moss supplements, $55 sour apple creatine gummies, and a shot of Germ Warfare, a tiny bottled wellness tonic that tastes like medieval poison and is a signature Erewhon creation. Instead what happened was (at least at first) … nothing. My smoothie did arrive unusually quickly — just seven minutes instead of the common 20 — but when I asked about my coffee and banana bread, employees looked at me with visible confusion. “You ordered it through a concierge?” one asked cautiously, as though I might be hallucinating. It was via this interaction that I learned I was the first person ever to request concierge assistance at the Silver Lake Erewhon.

After being redirected to a white-tableclothed folding table that appeared to be newly erected in the store’s former adjacent wine shop, where I found myself lingering with growing embarrassment and a strong urge to take my smoothie and run, I was approached by two very lovely Erewhon employees named Justin and Fernando, both of whom were extraordinarily kind and patient as I attempted to understand what, exactly, the concierge service was supposed to do. Was this a personal shopper? Could be! Perhaps a meal-planning consultant? “Not necessarily at the moment,” Justin said, though he quickly added that it was “a good idea.” The concierge service, as it currently exists, appeared less geared toward radically transforming one’s shopping excursion and more toward smoothing out its friction points. Reserve members can bypass checkout lines, coordinate with store leadership to check stock before arriving, request specific employees to assist them, and generally receive what Justin described as “the best guest experience.” The service adapts itself to each customer’s comfort level… or ego level. He was quick to emphasize that the program is still so new they are “figuring out the ebbs and flows of it.”

Elite as it might seem, it turns out there are plenty of Reserve members — even at the Silver Lake store. “You’d be shocked how many people spend enough to get Reserve,” Justin told me. “When I’m ringing people up, I see, ‘You’re a Reserve member, you’re a Reserve member, you’re a Reserve member…’” Justin said. Still, they may be too timid to actually use the concierge service or find it unnecessary. “I think other stores have definitely seen more of it,” he added. 

Soon, Jamie and I were being absorbed into the gravitational pull of Erewhon hospitality. We asked for recommendations for snacks that might be enticing, and were directed to Erewhon’s kale chips (honestly, best-in-class), Buffalo-cauliflower-flavored popcorn, and Hot Girl Pickles, which I unfortunately hated the moment I actually tried them at home, but were a nice idea. Justin enthusiastically walked us through the hot bar offerings with the reverence of a Michelin sommelier describing vintage Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The cauliflower was beloved. The sliders were wildly popular. The hot wings, a new addition, had “the perfect sauce ratio.” Samples were offered of “anything we want.” “Our chef is one of the best,” he assured us before passionately recommending the butternut squash tagine, which Jamie sampled and immediately exclaimed was delicious. I thanked Justin and Fernando for their services and apologized for taking up so much of their time, despite their unshakeable positivity and friendliness. 

The Studio City and Grove stores seemed more lubricated for concierge activities; at one point, I was scolded by an employee at the Studio City location for reaching for my own iced espresso from the new pick-up fridge, which is manned to protect the preordered goods of members. Over the next week, I returned multiple times to collect my free coffee and banana bread, occasionally adding a smoothie, some pesto kelp noodles, or one of the wildly expensive combo plates I’ve unfortunately become addicted to. 

Eventually, I decided that the only way to get the truest version of the concierge service would be to go to the location that must, ostensibly, have the most concierge-ready customers: the Beverly Hills Erewhon. I entered to find a sea of Balenciaga and Alo, as well as a high number of free-range tweens at the smoothie bar. Once again, I checked in to the “concierge” on my app and hovered by the door, waiting for my coffee. Upon realizing that No One Was Coming to Get Me, I asked a friendly-looking employee whether I could use the concierge service. She retrieved a smiley, unflappably chill store representative whom I proceeded to grill about the lives of the Beverly Hills stores’ Reserve members. 

How many are there? “Many. Lots. So many,” he said, adding that the pastries now sell out much earlier than before on account of all the Reserve members snagging their free croissants, breads, and muffins. “And then there are the black card members…” 

My ears perked. What’s the black card?! “Oh yeah, it’s not online. You get that if you spend, like $25,000 a year.” (When I reached out to inquire about the “black card” membership, Erewhon declined to comment and neither confirmed nor denied its existence.) 

The representative told me that only a handful of people had actually requested concierge assistance so far. “But I don’t mind when people ask,” he said. “We’re here anyway. I like talking to people here.” He recommended some ashwagandha beverages, pointed me toward his favorite yogurt flavors, and told me interesting observations from his time working there (apparently the Beverly Hills store has a very active singles scene). He also offered to carry my groceries to my car, which I politely declined.

The most interesting thing that happened at the Beverly Hills store, other than the potential reveal of a mysterious “black card” membership tier, was that while I was checking out at the priority lane that’s exclusively for high-tier members, a woman in gigantic, face-obscuring Moncler sunglasses approached, stood right next to me, and put her items next to mine as though I was invisible. The woman working checkout gently informed the woman that I existed and asked her to please wait a moment until my transaction was complete. Her phone, glowing at full brightness, displayed her Erewhon membership dashboard directly in front of me. I glanced down. She had already spent almost $15,000 at Erewhon this year alone, meaning she was already on track to qualify for Reserve status again next year. Her lifetime savings totaled nearly $3,500, which meant she had likely spent roughly 10 times that amount — about $35,000 — at Erewhon in the past two years. Apparently, she’s far from the only one. 

Initially, it was thrilling to receive free drinks and pastries every day, but over time, the novelty began to wane. I realized that the appeal of Erewhon Reserve has less to do with the monetary value of the perks themselves than with the fantasy they represent: ascension into a more exclusive echelon and access to frictionless, flawless consumption, akin to the feeling one has in a high-end airport lounge. The flex isn’t really in the pastry; it’s in the feeling of becoming the sort of person who never has to think about paying for pastries at all. These days, VIP treatment often means less human interaction, not more. 

A few days later, I — unrelated to Erewhon, and very related to attending a densely populated karaoke night — came down with a rendition of the flu that I have come to describe as “an evil entity that escaped a bog.” Lying on my sofa for days, immobile and sweaty, I found myself taking advantage of the Reserve-member free delivery to obtain a steady stream of juices, soup, and Germ Warfare. As much as I tried to will myself into a state of self-flagellating guilt for spending an ungodly amount on luxury wellness goods, I was mostly grateful to receive a bit of edible and drinkable respite from every other awful feeling in the world — and to not have to pay delivery fees on it.

Overall, the Reserve membership, while a bit shameful to qualify for in terms of necessary spending, is not some absurdly decadent billionaire service, despite how it may sound. In practice, it’s mostly a gratifying set of convenience perks for Erewhon’s ultra-regulars. But if there’s one thing Erewhon understands better than almost any other modern retailer, it’s that today’s version of luxury is mostly about reducing inconvenience for people already accustomed to abundance. 

And perhaps more importantly, the brand understands how to transform grocery shopping into a lifestyle — one with an ever-raising ceiling for extravagance. So… who has the black card?

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