It’s that time of year again: James Beard Awards season has begun. After dropping this year’s semifinalists last month, the James Beard Foundation announced the recipients of its America’s Classics awards today. The category, which the foundation introduced in 1998, recognizes “independently owned restaurants with timeless appeal and beloved in their region for food that reflects the character and cultural traditions of its community.” Below, you’ll find the six winners of this year’s award.

There’s more to come soon. Finalists in the Restaurant and Chef Awards categories will be announced on March 31, while the nominees for the Media Awards will be released on May 6. The James Beard Awards ceremonies will be held on from June 13-June 15 in Chicago.

The Serving Spoon, Inglewood, California

For over 40 years, this beloved family-owned restaurant has been a busy breakfast and lunch destination, and a hub for the Black community in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1983 by Harold E. Sparks, whose grandchildren continue to run the restaurant today.

Oyster House, Philadelphia

The Mink family has been running this Philadelphia institution for three generations, preserving Philadelphia’s 18th and 19th century food traditions with its specialty dishes like sherried snapper soup and fried oysters and chicken salad.

Johnny’s Cafe, Omaha, Nebraska

Even in a steakhouse city, this one stands out: Founded by Frank Kawa, it’s been open for 103 years and has stayed in the same family for three generations. Aside from the requisite ribeyes and martinis, it’s known for its Polish vinaigrette and complimentary appetizer of peppery cottage cheese spread.

Eng’s, Kingston, New York

Jimmi Eng and his son Paul founded their namesake Eng’s in 1927 as Kingston’s first Chinese restaurant. It’s been operated by Tom Sit and his wife Faye for over five decades, continuing to serve classics like egg rolls and pu pu platters.

Figaretti’s Italian Restaurant, Wheeling, West Virginia

Sicilian immigrant Anna Figaretti’s homemade spaghetti sauce became so well-known among northern West Virginia’s Italian coal-miner community that her family was prompted to open Figaretti’s in 1948. Today, the restaurant is known for its pastas, steaks, and homemade sausage.

Bob Taylor’s Ranch House, Las Vegas

Bob Taylor’s opened in 1955 as the Ranch House Supper Club, off the beaten path of the city, with Bob Taylor himself a legendary presence. Today, Bob Taylor’s remains a time capsule of an earlier era of Vegas and still serves the grilled steaks and seafood dishes that made it famous.

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

As long as she has someone to share it with her, a banana split will be “my first choice on a menu,” says North Carolina pastry chef Savannah Foltz. Her favorite comes from Tad’s Dairy Barn, a roadside trailer in West Virginia, where the banana split is straightforward: ice cream, fudge, pineapple sauce, whipped cream. 

As much as she loves the banana split, there are ways in which she thinks the format could be improved. “My big thing is that it doesn’t have [enough] texture,” Foltz says. “It feels flavorful, but flat.” That was something Foltz, executive pastry chef at the Charlotte, North Carolina restaurant Supperland, wanted to change with her version. Each year, she offers a sundae of the year; this year, it’s the banana split. The restaurant, which is housed in a former church, bills itself as a “Southern steakhouse meets church potluck”; the menu draws heavily on reworked classics, and Foltz wanted to add complexity.

Here’s how she builds her banana split: She toasts milk and sugar to build flavor in her ice cream base, chars the pineapple for her pineapple sauce on the wood-fired grill, and replaces the strawberry sauce with a strawberry-milk crumble with bits of freeze-dried strawberries, which “add [a] really crunchy, salty element that I always feel like a banana split is missing,” Foltz says. She infuses her whipped cream with banana, and the bananas themselves are brûléed. There is fudge, of course, drizzled tableside for a bit of action. “I think that we as chefs just can’t leave something alone,” she says.

The banana split is inarguably an American classic, synonymous with the pharmacies and soda fountains that dominated the United States from the early 1900s to the 1960s and ‘70s. It’s a compelling visual of bygone, idyllic Americana, but it’s also a dessert that seemed to have dwindled in real-life popularity in recent decades; like Jell-O, it’s perhaps been more exciting as an idea than as a gastronomic reality. But more recently, pastry chefs at places like Fedora in New York City, Middle Child Clubhouse in Philadelphia, Veil & Velvet in Los Angeles, and Siti in Austin have been putting banana splits back on menus at restaurants, playing on the easy appeal of nostalgia and whimsy. In doing so, they’re making the classic dessert even better. 

For Ricardo Menicucci, executive pastry chef of Veil & Velvet in the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, the banana split felt like a natural choice for the lounge’s 1950s glamour concept. He fills a large crystal cup with pieces of caramelized banana; adds scoops of house-made strawberry, dark chocolate, and vanilla ice cream; and tops it with a large wafer cookie, cookie dough streusel, and a showy tableside drizzle of creme anglaise. “I don’t think I need to reinvent the wheel, but I need to create something that is familiar, is decadent, and is fun for the guest,” he says. The $29 dessert is the most popular on the menu. 

And that’s not even the most extravagant recent take on the banana split: At Oak Park in Des Moines, Iowa, the $100 banana split features pistachio, banana saffron, and foie gras ice creams, along with gold foil and Armagnac caviar.

If the banana split has had a weak spot, it’s always been the namesake banana, which runs the risk of being stodgy, starchy, or downright bland. Bruleeing or flambéing the banana, as most of these restaurants now do, can be a pragmatic choice, allowing even out-of-season bananas to become caramelized and sweet. At Middle Child Clubhouse, the bananas are coated with turbinado sugar and then torched, which gives them not only flavor but also crunch. Along with peanuts and sprinkles, “it adds contrast,” explains owner Matt Cahn, as well as an “elevated” approach that’s still mostly in line with the banana splits he remembers from his childhood trips to the Jersey Shore.

For Laila Bazahm of Siti, who was raised in the Philippines and started cooking in Singapore, the banana split offers a way to play with layers of nostalgia. The bruléed bananas are meant to evoke the Filipino dessert turon, in which bananas are fried in a crispy, caramel-drizzled wrapper; coconut ice cream, pandan cream, and cherries compressed in a Singapore Sling mixture further ground the dessert in her background.

Scorfana, an Italian American kitchen residency that operates out of a Portland, Oregon jazz club, recently served a week-long banana split special that “bounced around the worlds” of Italian cooking and Americana, according to chef and owner Jonathan Wiley, with spumoni ice cream and the Italian liqueur Galliano in the pineapple topping. “Even though there were some twinges of Italian American things, it was just a big old dairy bar, soda shop, county fair dessert there,” he says, adding that he doesn’t see them often in restaurants in the area.

Especially when everyone’s had it with the “restaurant monologue,” there’s something appealing about a dessert that doesn’t need to be explained. Dessert can sometimes be a hard sell following an “already generous Italian meal,” he’s found; that’s even more the case when it’s something that he’s “hallucinated” after “walking [to] the market and buying kumquats,” he says. 

Instead, “those sort of desserts that feel a bit nostalgic are just really hospitable finales to a meal,” Wiley says. The banana split is “just so saccharine with memory and sincerity and sugar, it sells itself in a couple of spoonfuls.”

There’s arguably no more intense and fascinating restaurant city than Las Vegas. In terms of pure volume of sales, it has no equal, perhaps anywhere in the world. The city also knows how to put on a show, offering culinary spectacle at some of the nation’s greatest restaurants. This combination of money and glitz is ripe for awards-conferring organizations like Michelin. 

The last time the tire company awarded stars in the city, Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill and Nobu inside the now-closed Hard Rock Casino held stars. That was in 2009. Then the guide left Sin City and didn’t return for 17 years. Michelin’s new Southwest guide — to be released later this year — will correct that long, notable absence.

“The Michelin Guide launched in Las Vegas in 2008, in the wake of the global economic crisis,” a Michelin spokesperson said this week. “As a result, the Guide chose to remove the city from its list of destinations. This year, the time proved to be right to launch a regional edition for the Southwest, inclusive of Las Vegas.”

Michelin could change the dynamic on the Strip by reinforcing the biggest names in town like José Andrés and the late Joël Robuchon. It could also create competition among the mega resorts, as they compete for the most stars. You can imagine the pylons touting that “Caesars Palace has six Michelin-starred restaurants” or that “The Venetian has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in Vegas.”

It could also allow restaurants other than steakhouses to compete for the big, expense-account dinners that surround any major convention. (Nothing says “balling out” to clients better than dinner at a Michelin-starred omakase.) Whether they end up earning stars or not, placement in the guide could also lift off-Strip restaurants like Sparrow + Wolf — a reasonably priced, polished fine dining restaurant in Chinatown — cementing the greater city as a regional destination.

“[This] is a huge win for all of us here,” says chef Brian Howard, who owns Sparrow + Wolf. “I’m really excited for the city and to show that our culinary scene has matured over the years. When you peel the onion back, there’s some real serious cooking happening in this town.”

But Michelin’s return to Vegas isn’t just important for the city. It also marks the near-completion of the guide’s expansion across the U.S. and the total success of its pay-to-play model.

After leaving Vegas (and LA) in the late 2000s, Michelin started to expand again in 2017, adding a guide to D.C. alongside its bases in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Since then, it’s spread across the lower 48 states. Including guides to Canada and Mexico, North America is now about as well-covered as Michelin’s home base of Europe.

Michelin’s expansion has been driven by destination marketing organizations. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), essentially tourism boards and visitors bureaus, use public money from hotel and local taxes in an effort to spur economic development. It’s typically a good trade-off. Alongside other projects, these organizations pay to attract Michelin guides; for instance, in Florida, DMOs from Miami, Orlando, and Tampa pooled an estimated $1.5 million for guides between 2022 and 2024. In Texas, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin cobbled together $2.7 million for guides in 2024. Along with publicity for a city’s food scene, Michelin collaborates on award reveal ceremonies, food festivals, and other events that bring tourism revenue to a city and participating restaurants.

“[That] revenue contributes to financial or editorial investment, which is quite huge,” Gwendal Poullennec, formerly international director of the Michelin guide and now senior vice president of lifestyle at the company, told Bon Appétit in 2024. “In terms of full-time employees, paying the bills, salaries, travel expenses, and cars — my editorial expenses are bigger than some of the largest newspapers in the world.” 

The guide’s return to Vegas could be read as a huge validation of impressive restaurants, evidence of an aggressive expansion strategy by Michelin, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (the local DMO) increasingly relying on high-end culinary tourism to bring in visitors, or all of the above.

That pay-to-play model hasn’t turned off diners or restaurant owners. Michelin has won the global competition for fungible credibility, evidenced by the hundreds of shiny red placards hanging in restaurants (and the hundreds of thousands of page views garnered on Eater stories about Michelin over the years). In the same interview, Poullennec insisted the guide maintains its independence, not allowing deals with DMOs to influence its awards. 

Why has the Michelin guide become so successful in America? It’s given out lots of accolades. Michelin has mostly shed its myopic focus on a handful of cuisines (expensive, European or Japanese-inflected). Bib Gourmand awards (for affordable dining) and the guide’s “inclusion” system (previously called Plates) for non-starred restaurants (which still get placards) have expanded the type and number of restaurants that might qualify in some way. Even stars seem a bit more accessible, as places like Mexican seafood stand Holbox in Los Angeles; casual pasta-and-wine spot Boia De in Miami; and San Francisco’s relatively affordable State Bird Provisions nab them. 

“The Michelin Guide’s priority is to establish where there is culinary potential and where there is a demand in terms of traffic, tourism, and all that,” Poullennec said in the same interview. “So between the Destination Marketing Organization and the Michelin Guide, I think the road map is pretty much aligned.” The Michelin Guide adapted to America, and America adapted to the Michelin Guide. It’s a fairly happy marriage, for now.

That doesn’t mean the guide will end up in every corner of the country. This week, a spokesperson said the guide team looks for new areas to cover based on “destinations matching our demanding criteria.” Guide inspectors may not think every city or region that pays for a guide is worthy of tons of stars, while DMOs that represent areas outside of culinary centers like New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. may not be satisfied with a handful of winners. 

Markets for guides may also fluctuate over time. The Michelin organization tends to start in new areas by awarding a few noteworthy restaurants that people would expect to receive stars; then, every year or so, it makes a splashy recognition, like three stars for Somni and Providence in LA last year or stars for three barbecue spots in Texas in 2024. Multiyear contracts for guide coverage allow cities to secure some guaranteed publicity while allowing Michelin room to renegotiate for more investment periodically. 

The timing of Michelin’s Southwest guide is interesting. It arrives just as news reports everywhere declare the city’s dramatic drop in tourism — not unlike the fallout of the economic crisis in 2008 that originally pushed Michelin out of the city. It’s unclear what kind of deal Las Vegas’s well-financed tourism board may have negotiated now — neither Michelin nor the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority commented on that aspect.  

The guide may not dramatically transform Las Vegas’s economic fate and change the underlying issue of sky-high costs. However, it’s also becoming clear that the “downturn” may be more of a snap back to expected growth after rabid post-pandemic spending. Still, any momentum around one of Vegas’s true strengths — its dining scene — will count as a win for the city’s DMO. 

Though the bulk of Howard’s menu at Sparrow + Wolf is a la carte, he does offer a $142, five-course chef’s tasting menu that falls in line with what Michelin likes to recognize. But he’s not chasing the star. “The Michelin Guide doesn’t define us. We’re consistently busy, and I’m happy my seats are full every night,” says Howard. “The accolades are nice and an honor, but we’re not going to change our direction.” He still thinks Sparrow + Wolf will get a star.

Tablescaping helps set the tone for how we eat and live, which is why Eater partnered with Fortessa to curate a selection of its glassware, flatware, and dinnerware worthy of everything from your best breakfasts to your secret-recipe Bolognese. If you’re new to the brand, U.S.-based Fortessa has been a hospitality industry go-to since it debuted in the 1990s, now providing an impressive 80 percent of high-end hotels in North America with its beautiful plates, glasses, and bowls. When it merged with the heritage Black Forest-based crystal glassmakers at Zwiesel in 2022, the union only strengthened and diversified Fortessa’s savoir faire with an even more robust range of wine and spirit glassware, making it a tablescaping powerhouse on a global scale. When selecting items for the Eater x Fortessa edit, our team had the brand’s signature functionality and versatility top of mind. 

Our team’s passion for dining out means we’re always having conversations about the best glassware and tableware we’re seeing in both classic and buzzy new restaurants (and the sets we want to use at home). As such, in our collection you’ll find a translucent pale green glass Seraphina dishware set that begs for an heirloom tomato salad; ceramic dishware that will make your friends think you once built an envy-inducing Earthship in Taos; and the Parasol bone china set that should be used to serve Ina Garten a slice of coconut cake. 

Eater x Zwiesel Fortessa Foss Stoneware (12 Piece Dinnerware Set)

Where to Buy:

• $149.95 at Amazon

Eater x Zwiesel Fortessa Folly Crystal Glass, 6 Ounce Cocktail (Set of 6)

Where to Buy:

• $59.95 at Amazon

Eater x Zwiesel Fortessa Seraphina Glass (12 Piece Dinnerware Set)

Where to Buy:

• $119.95 $99.95 at Amazon

A plate, after all, is not just a plate; it’s a canvas for spicy spinach gomiti wedge salad, or perfect pancakes. And while we’re not immune to the occasional charms of decor microtrends, there’s something to be said about the aesthetic staying power of classic Burgundy wine glasses and a matching, party-worthy set of knives, forks, and spoons. In the Eater x Fortessa edit, expect volcanic finish stoneware dinner plates, thoughtfully designed wine glasses, and minimalist flatware that looks almost too good to store in a drawer. 

Don’t just think of it as setting the table. Think of it as building out the tableware version of a capsule wardrobe.  

Shop the entire Eater x Fortessa edit on Amazon. 

Lunar New Year is a busy time for Leland Eating and Drinking House in Prospect Heights, when the restaurant deals with about 1,500 covers a night. Chef and partner Delfin Jaranilla and head butcher Gary Little gave us a special look at this year’s holiday menu, including pork and shrimp shu mai, char sui pork, and dan dan noodles, and how they try to integrate sustainable practices into these dishes.

Jaranilla and Little start by breaking down half a Tamworth pig; each cut will be integrated into a different dish and even turned into stock for a Filipino soup that they eat for staff meal. For the char sui, pork shoulder is cured in five spice, salt, and pepper before being marinated in hoisin, garlic, and spices for one day. The next day, the shoulder is seared until it’s charred and caramelized on the outside, then it’s baked and covered in more sauce before being served.

Noodles are important menu items for Lunar New Year (they symbolize longevity), so dan dan noodles are made from scratch. The meat sauce is made with ground pork from the same Tamworth pig, which is cooked down with Sichuan pepper, chili oil, tamari, and cooking wine before adding aromatics and tahini. The fresh noodles are added to the sauce, and are plated with a poached egg and a pickled relish.

Finally, shu mai are made with pork and shrimp, which are seasoned, mixed with a mushroom medley, and finally mixed with tapioca starch to help bind the filling. The dumplings are shaped like a coin purse, a symbol of wealth and prosperity during the new year.

Jaranilla is proud of the produce and meats they source at Leland, joking “I can guarantee you that happy pigs taste better.”

Watch the latest episode of Experts to see Jaranilla’s process for making thoughtful Lunar New Year dishes at Leland Eating and Drinking House.

Is there a greater love language than food? You could buy my heart with Ina Garten’s coconut cake, some king crab legs, or a heaping tower of chocolate-covered honeycomb. But there are also plenty of food-related gifts — a farfalle-shaped candle! A rhinestone chocolate chip cookie necklace! — that would make a food- or drink-obsessed person really happy this Valentine’s Day.  

It’s easy to please a food-lover on such a famously indulgent holiday. (No one ever turned up their nose at caviar and Champagne), but we’d like to offer a few more alternatives for the person who has already done many a lobster dinner, and whose pantry shelves overflow with heart-shaped Le Creuset cookware. They’re the person who orders for the table (whether you agree or not), and they know how to make an elaborate layer cake. You can’t give them something expected, like an Instant Pot. It’s safe to assume they already own every mug ever made or sold at Anthropologie. And don’t even think about getting them a Dutch oven: They already have one in a signature color. These are the gifts they won’t see coming, but will adore — dare we say, savor. Many, if not all of the Valentine’s Day gifts below are also able to be shipped to your loving arms in a matter of days, and given that capitalism’s most cherubic holiday is just around the corner, the time to order really is now. 

Below, we’ve rounded up food-related Valentine’s gifts for everyone on your list, from your pasta-loving partner to cast-iron snobs, wannabe wine experts, and everyone in-between. (If this list still doesn’t cut it, get them a good old-fashioned gift certificate to Williams Sonoma, which will cover all the bases.)

For the bucatini enthusiasts

The Sfoglini Pasta Club (One-Year Subscription)

Love carbs? Invigorated with bottomless curiosity about obscure pasta shapes? A subscription to Sfoglini’s Pasta Club is a slam-dunk gift that includes four quarterly shipments full of fun surprises, but each one is guaranteed to feature six bronze-die cut, slow dried pastas (classics and specialty varieties) as well as six accompanying recipes. Saffron malloreddus in a killer ragu may well be in the future for your lucky recipient.

Where to Buy:

• $215 at Sfoglini

For the amaro nerd

Matchbook Daytrip Strawberry Amaro

Matchbook Drop Shop produces this unique amaro, made with leftover strawberries from the Mattituck Lions Strawberry Festival, them combines them with nettle, quassia, jasmine, rose, and nutmeg fruit for a bright, complex, and fruity aperitif. It makes an affordable but exciting gift for those who love a spritz or a bitter sipper before or after a meal.

Where to Buy:

• $35 at Matchbook Drop Shop

A little something for the person you just started seeing

Chocolate sardines are trop chic right now, and are the perfect small, slips-in-your-bag gift for cheekily impressing a food lover — tinned-fish and chocolate-craving folks alike.

Simon Coll Milk Chocolate Sardines

Where to Buy:

• $9.6 at Mountainside
• $9.97 at Amazon

Sardines en Chocolat au Lait

Where to Buy:

• $41.04 at Amazon

For the person who swears you can only get decent pizza in New York

Di Fara Pizza Classic Neapolitan Pizza (2 Pies)

Nothing says “I love you” like the best Neapolitan pie in the five boroughs.

Where to Buy:

• $89.95 at Goldbelly

For the situationship with a serious sweet tooth

Saigon Cinnamon Roll Phone Case

OK, but how fun is this hyperrealistic cinnamon roll phone case, which looks iced to perfection and swirling with brown sugar? The only downside is that every time you take a mirror selfie, you’re guaranteed to get a craving for Cinnabon.

Where to Buy:

• $40 at Etsy

For the person with whom you eat takeout four nights a week

PeachCAUS Korean premium spoon and chopsticks set

Listen, we all respect the Drawer O’ Leftover Takeout Chopsticks, and we honor the classic wooden variety for its reliable service. That being said, high-quality utensils really can make even a humble DoorDash meal feel more romantic. Grab two sets so that you can both scarf in style — or all four if you’re feeling fancy.

Where to Buy:

• $24 at Etsy

If their love of food is rivaled only by their love of the Criterion collection

A24 Films’ Scrounging: A Cookbook

Did the 12-scoop ice cream sundae in Home Alone rewire their brain? Do they squint at the screen with intense concentration during the breakfast spaghetti scene in Elf? This super-fun cookbook from A24 Films collects and catalogs all of those bizarre pantry recipes from modern movies — think The Breakfast Club’s Pixy Stix sandwich and Kramer vs. Kramer’s “divorced dad French toast” — plus features an introduction by Matty Matheson.

Where to Buy:

• $43.22 at Amazon

For the person who drinks four cups of coffee a day

Bestinnkits Smart Coffee Cup and Warmer

Next to fancy olive oil and local bakery gift cards, smart, self-warming coffee mugs can be such a fail-proof present for boyfriends, girlfriends, they-themfriends, in-laws, emotionally remote uncles, and anyone who drinks hot beverages. As writers who are always glued to their desks, we sure would appreciate the gift of consistently hot coffee without the need to make repeat trips to the microwave.

Where to Buy:

• $26.99 at Amazon

For the person who dreams of competing on The Great British Bake Off

Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence

Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person is for the baker who toggles between chocolate chip cookies and 18-tier croquembouche (if you know, you know). The photographs beam off the pages, so even a baking novice will want to show off this cookbook on the coffee table.

Where to Buy:

• $18.65 at Amazon
• $34.95 at Bookshop

For the person who can never decide what they want for dinner

STUNFASSOO Food Decider

Six o’clock rolls around, and you start discussing what you should have for dinner. Is it taco night? Or do salmon hand rolls sound better? What about Sichuan? Oh wait, but then there’s Italian… The next thing you know it’s 8:51 PM, you still haven’t made any progress, and you’re losing options by the second. Never again with this handy dice. It’s a cheeky way of helping an indecisive partner be a better dinner companion.

Where to Buy:

• $9.99 at Amazon

If you forgot to make a reservation, it’s three days before Valentine’s Day, everywhere is booked, and you’re panicking

Veselka Complete Ukrainian Dinner (4 People)

If you haven’t booked a restaurant for the big day, don’t sweat it. What your crush really wants is to be spoon-fed some of New York City’s best borscht on a (faux) bearskin rug at your place. Veselka has been a Ukrainian staple in the East Village 1954 (the new-ish location in Williamsburg is also delightful), and you can order a smorgasbord of pierogi, borscht, stroganoff, and more right to your door. 

Where to Buy:

• $149.95 at Goldbelly

Or, if you’re willing to pay a fortune to score the ultimate dinner reservation…

Noma LA Dinner Reservation

Get on the waitlist and pray that you’ll score the privilege of paying $1,500 per person for bragging rights that you ate at the West Coast iteration of the best restaurant in the world.

Where to Buy:

• $1500 at Noma

If they live to eat (fancy tropical fruit)

Rincon Tropics Seasonal Mixed Fruit Box (Medium)

This 4-5-pound box of seasonal fresh fruit is tailored to what’s in season — right now it might be passionfruit, blood oranges, Eureka lemons, limes, cherimoya, Meyer lemons, and mandarins. Your morning yogurt bowl or smoothie is about to get epic.

Where to Buy:

• $47 at Rincon Tropics

If they are happily in the cult of hardcore martini-lovers

Maison Balzac Black Bow Coupes (Set of 2)

You see the pure bliss on their face when they take the first sip of an ice-cold Belvedere ’tini. Here’s an idea: why not learn how to make your partner’s favorite cocktail, and serve it up in this set of these too-perfect, bow-embellished glass coupes from the comfort of your home? 

Where to Buy:

• $215 at Maison Balzac

So they can sear a ribeye in style

Smithey Cast-Iron Skillet

Gifting someone personalized, engraved cast iron feels like the cookware equivalent of getting matching tattoos. Perhaps it’s the hardiness and enduring nature of the gift in question — treat your cast iron well, and it can last for generations — but it would make for such a strong declaration of love. Smithey will engrave its cast-iron cookware with the name or message of your choice, and the No. 12 (12-inch) skillet is perfect for the occasion.

Where to Buy:

• $220 at Smithey

If they’re all in on the pistachio mania

DS & Durga Pistachio Eau de Parfum

It’s 2025 and pistachio’s reign in the current cool-flavor hierarchy remains strong. For the food-lover who wants to smell like a scrumptious artisanal pastry, DS & Durga’s cult-fave Pistachio perfume is just the ticket. While it is, naturally, very pistachio-forward, it’s a complex and nuanced gourmand fragrance with notes of cardamom, patchouli, almond, and vanilla — and yet feels grown-up, bearing no resemblance to a saccharine Bath & Body Works spray. A warning, though: Sniffing your wrist can be addictive when you’re wearing this scent.

Where to Buy:

• $80 at DS & Durga

Valentine’s Day chocolate that’s a little something different

Vosges Haut-Chocolat Chocolate Forest Mushroom

Definitely one of the groovier chocolate creations we’ve ever seen.

Where to Buy:

• $105 $95 at Vosges

For the baker with quirky-chic taste

Puppets and Puppets Cookie Claddagh Ring

Not a day goes by when I don’t think of Puppets and Puppets’ chocolate chip cookie-themed jewelry collection. If you’re someone who loves a baker, this eccentric yet chic take on a classic Claddagh ring is perfect. The gold-plated conversation piece features black rhinestone “chips.”

Where to Buy:

• $175 $123 at Puppets and Puppets

A trompe l’oeil that delights the senses

Gohar World Biscuit Tin Candles

Food-shaped candles have never looked cooler, and the Italian family-run company Gohar World, which operates out of Milan, has been leading the pack with its realistic and romantic creations, including this faux-tin of a dozen mini cookie candles.

Where to Buy:

• $90 at Selfridges

For the hot sauce addict

Momofuku Chili Crunch Sampler

Tell someone you think they’re hot stuff with some hot stuff — more specifically, this five-pack of Momofuku’s cult-fave chile crunch, which includes hot honey, black truffle-infused, extra-garlicky, and extra-hot versions of the now-classic condiment.

Where to Buy:

• $81 $57 at Momofuku

For the cute gardener

The Magnolia Company Meyer Lemon Gift Tree

This baby Meyer lemon tree may be small nowm but will grow into a mature tree up to 10 feet tall, blossoming in the spring and producing sweet Meyer lemons in its very first year. It includes growing instructions, and (hopefully) like your love, will yield its own gifts for years to come.

Where to Buy:

• $120.95 at Amazon

For the wine snob who loves to lounge

Kolo Willer Cord Faux Fur House Shoes

Are they so clearly wine-related? Maybe not to the naked eye. Look, if you want some novelty wine slippers that say “Wine Time,” they’re out there—knock yourselves out! These are just really good-looking, super-comfortable house shoes from Kolo, and they pair perfectly with a pét-nat enjoyed while loitering over the kitchen island or kicking back on the patio, watching the sunset. Comfy clothes are true romance, baby. (Bonus: They’re unisex.)

Where to Buy:

• $95 at Topdrawer

For the coffee lover who already has the fancy machine

Stumptown Hair Bender Coffee (5-Lb. Bag)

The gift of nice coffee is classic, but how about the gift of five pounds of coffee all at once? A pillow-sized 5-pounder of Stumptown’s crowd-pleasing Hair Bender costs $90, lasts about a month in a two-person coffee-loving household, and is most likely fresher than what you find at grocery stores.

Where to Buy:

• $105 at Stumptown

For the messy chef

Hedley & Bennett Minimalist Apron

Every home cook needs a reliable apron, and this minimalist version from Hedley & Bennett has everything you need: pockets and a lifetime guarantee. The aprons are made in America from 100-percent cotton and come in chic, muted shades of green, blue, black, and more.

Where to Buy:

• $76 at Hedley & Bennett

For the aesthete

Eat Nunchi 6” Jelly Cheesecake With Letters

You’ve probably spotted Lexie Park’s cakes all over Instagram. The jiggly pastel-hued confections are made with flavors like peach, lychee, and persimmon. They’re only available for local pickup in Los Angeles and tend to sell out fast — keep a close eye on her Instagram account.

Where to Buy:

• $120 at Eat Nunchi

For the teetotaler with fab taste

Ghia Le Spritz (16 Pack)

Described as a “nonalcoholic aperitif,” Ghia is definitely for grown-ups. The brand’s canned option, Le Spritz, is available in a slew of interesting flavors, including sumac & chili and lime with salt. The classic Ghia soda is a balanced and nuanced combination of flavors like elderflower, lemon balm extract, and riesling grape juice, and the ginger kicks things up with a hint of spicy zing.

Where to Buy:

• $80 at Ghia

The pizza oven that will make your summer cookouts extra-special

Ooni Karu 12 Pizza Oven

Ooni’s pizza ovens are wildly popular for so many reasons — mainly, how quickly they whip up tasty pizzas and flatbreads — but best of all, they’re easy to set up, so they’re ready in minutes to host a pizza party for two, 20, or however big your crew is. These sleek workhorses are multi-fuel so that you can get cooking quickly with wood, charcoal, or gas (and they kind of look like spaceships, too).

Where to Buy:

• $349 at Ooni

And while you’re at it, make everything else taste like pizza

Brightland Pizza Oil

It’s a best-seller for a reason: Brightland’s Pizza Oil is a zesty, herby condiment made with oregano, jalapeño, and green pepper for pizza-fying anything your heart desires.

Where to Buy:

• $28 at Brightland

For the tinned fish fan

The Original Tinned Fish Candle

The packaging makes this charming little candle look like an actual tin of fish, while the vanilla aroma makes it smell, well, a lot better than sardines. 

Where to Buy:

• $26 at Tinned Fish Candle

For the person who appreciates little luxuries

Sophie Lou Jacobsen Everything Nice Butter Dish

French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen is known for her head-turning cocktail glasses and home decor (her nickel-plated spiral coasters have been in my favorites tab for ages). Unsurprisingly, her take on a butter dish is fanciful yet functional. 

Where to Buy:

• $60 at Areaware

For the food-lover who looks up the menu before you dine out

TASCHEN Menu Design in Europe Book

This fun, visually pleasing book makes a great conversation piece but is also encyclopedic in terms of its depth. (It’s 448 pages!) This TASCHEN behemoth is where a love of food intersects with intriguing design and waves of nostalgia for restaurants where we may never get to eat now, but we can at least pretend we’re just trying to pick our entrée.

Where to Buy:

• $70 at TASCHEN

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

Running independent bars and restaurants takes a special kind of passion. This is the first in a three-part series, in partnership with Verizon Business, sharing how the people behind some of our favorite small businesses make it work. From February 9-22, join Verizon for Small Business Days to see how they’re sharing the love.

This week, we’ve covered how one restaurant couple overcame a tumultuous opening day and what it’s like to run a small business with your spouse—in your own home.

For the final installment of this series, we gathered expert tips for effective partnership (in life and business) from some of our favorite restaurants across the country. Read on for that advice.

You have to divvy up the work

“They say if two people in any partnership agree all the time then one person is not needed. Our advice would be to find strength in your differences.” —Tiffani Ortiz and Andy Doubrava, chefs at The Catbird Seat in Nashville

“[My husband] Ulysses is the one who creates the magic in the kitchen. I am the creative force behind our online presence and the guest experience that keeps people coming back. I don’t pretend to be an expert in cooking or menu decisions, and Ulysses doesn’t interfere with my vision for how we want Campo to be seen.” —Adriana Alvarez, co-founder of Campo é Carbón in La Puenta, California

Similarly: “[My husband] Michael and I have two kids and a lot competing for our attention both personally and professionally. We’ve found things work best when responsibilities are divided based on strengths. For example, Michael leads on design and creative vision for KNEAD’s restaurants, while I focus more on operations and execution. This structure and clarity helps avoid overlap and makes decision making efficient, while still allowing us to collaborate with each other at the end of the day.” —Jason Berry, co-founder of Knead Hospitality + Design in Washington, D.C.

“I think the more you can avoid looking over your partner‘s shoulder and trying to micromanage, the healthier your relationship will be.” —Sam Wood, co-owner of Adventure Time Bar in Denver

“Our biggest tip is to treat each other as equals. Sure, we each have our own strengths, but trusting each other makes everything flow smoother and happier than if one person starts bossing the other around.” —Dani Gaede and Rowan Jetté Knox, owners of Understory in Toronto

It sounds cliche, but communication really is key

“Some things may be hard to say or hard to hear, but a constant line of honest communication ensures everybody is on the same page and resentment doesn’t build. You can always work on things when you say them out loud, but keeping things to yourself, especially in a work environment, always manifests itself in unhealthy ways.” —Ham El-Waylly, executive chef at Strange Delight in New York City

“Humor can fix just about anything, so we use it to move past potential arguments. Also, we never talk about work in bed. Protecting our home as a safe space for life and not work is a good way to keep our core friendship and love alive.” —Sarah Welch, co-owner of Mink in Detroit

On the flip side: “One thing we’ve learned is that saying ‘Don’t talk about business during quality time’ isn’t always realistic. Our work is our life—it’s what we’re passionate about, what excites us, and a huge part of how we connect with each other. Trying to separate it completely can feel forced and, honestly, unnecessary. A tip we’d instead share is: Don’t treat each other like business partners; treat each other like partners who happen to run a business together. Use the deep knowledge you have of one another—the way your partner communicates, what stresses them out, how they receive feedback, what motivates them—to navigate business situations. When challenges come up, approach them with the same care, empathy, and respect you bring to your relationship. That perspective changes everything.” —Sofía Ostos and Fidel Caballero, owners of Corima and Vato

“Apologize when you were in the wrong. Disagreements and mistakes happen, but how you own up to them will define how you grow from them.” —Alex Jump, co-owner of The Peach Crease Club in Denver

“Don’t waste time or energy talking about [issues] that happen less than 3 percent of the time.” —Kasie Curiel, co-owner of Fonda Fina Hospitality in Denver

Finally, take some time away

“Book a staycation every month or two. Take yourselves out for a meal on your days off and treat yourself while also supporting the industry. We treat our ‘weekend’ like it is a vacation so that we can continue to get to know each other, even [after] 17 years [of being together].” —Claire Wadsworth and Nikki Hill, owners of La Copine in Flamingo Heights, California

“Before we started Nixta, I told [my husband and co-owner] Edgar that a nonnegotiable for me is a long vacation. I’m not talking about a long weekend; I’m talking about a month. So, every January, we go abroad somewhere and daydream for a while. Taking this time allows you to actually rest, think outside the four walls of your business, get reinspired, give the management team the opportunity to navigate their way without us ‘coming to the rescue,’ and to also show your team that there’s more to life than just work.”—Sara Mardanbigi, co-owner of Nixta Taqueria in Austin