So now we all know what Pete Wells looks like
Plus Portuguese food in Boston, the northernmost taco truck in the world, and all the articles about The Bear are in the Chicago section
The biggest food news of the last week was the announcement by Pete Wells that he is stepping down as restaurant critic for the New York Times. I urge you to read Wells’ goodbye letter. He talks about the joys and challenges of the job and the tough self-reflection that comes up. Tributes poured in from people lauding Wells for his humor, support of other writers, and overall menchiness. The Times has a great package of his more famous reviews, including the infamous 2012 review of Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and my favorites, his 2015 review of Senor Frogs and his 2021 review of Eleven Madison Park.
I saw on Instagram that while they hire a replacement, reviews will be split by Priya Krishna and Melissa Clark. Krishna is one of the most exciting voices in food. Melissa Clark is my enemy for arcane and petty reasons that I will not be explaining at this time, but she’s a rockstar and will do great.
Lesley Suter writes in Eater about her complicated feelings about garage chest freezers. I didn’t realize until about 4 years ago when my parents bought a second fridge for their vacation house that a garage fridge/freezer was an unattainable luxury in my mind. I was standing in a vacation house saying “Are you sure you can afford this?”.
Jordan Michelman reports on the state of nonalcoholic beers for TASTE. He writes about why there are so many more and why they all taste so good these days. He also recommends some of the best brands out there right now.
Have you no decency, sir. Have you no SHAME.
Daniel Gritzer comes up with three foolproof methods to cook perfect boiled corn on the cob. None of them involve boiling.
Ernie Smith at Tedium writes about the history of the steak knife. It’s a surprisingly long and interesting journey that took Western culture from sharp knives to dull knives and back.
Portland chef, James Beard winner, and Top Chef Masters star Naomi Pomeroy tragically died over the weekend at age 49. I wasn’t super familiar with chef Pomeroy, but the sheer volume of Instagram posts I saw made me realize what a big deal this was. Brooke Jackson-Glidden’s obituary in Portland Monthly is a lovely look at Pomeroy's life and career as one of the most influential chefs in Portland history.
The UK has approved the use of lab-grown meat for pets. This is great! I don’t think lab-grown meat will even replace a T-bone steak or a perfectly roasted chicken, but it’s perfect for these kinds of “meat-esque” uses.
On the newest Royal Caribbean cruise ship, you can have dinner in a virtual train ride. I have no words.
Boston
I will be the first to admit that if I’m not actively writing Snack Cart, my local food knowledge is decaying. So the first place I stopped when catching up with Boston was Boston Magazine’s 50 best list. I slogged through the brutal digital presentation to catch up with classics (Sarma still slaps) and learn about new places (the best coffee shop in the city is on Blue Hill Ave!!!).
A restaurant review… *rubs eyes* from the Boston Globe?!?! You love to see it, folks! Devra First reviews Amar, a new high-end Portuguese restaurant on the 17th floor of the Raffles hotel. I really enjoyed how she highlighted context: a petty complaint matters if a restaurant sets itself up as a place that should be above petty complaints. Also, like any Boston food enthusiast, I love a good digression on “why doesn’t Boston have more Portuguese food.” She awards Amar three stars out of five.
Writer Chang Liu on the website The Global Observer goes EXTREMELY in-depth on Boston’s Chinatown. The piece title is kind of weird, but it’s a comprehensive look at the visual language of restaurant signs in the area and how that’s been informed by traditions, translations, and immigration. I learned a lot reading this!
I, for one, didn’t know there are multiple, regional oyster shucking techniques. Shoutout to the Cape Cod Times, who interviews William 'Chopper' Young, one of the Cape’s most decorated competitive oyster shuckers. This is a fun read.
Chicago
I don’t watch The Bear (My generalized anxiety is high enough, thank you very much) but there’s been some great writing as the highs of season 2 led into a meh season 3. Jack Hamilton in Slate published a brutal pan of the show that has one of the best ledes I’ve ever read. Eater has a comprehensive map of iconic local spots featured in the show. These are worth visiting if you are a fan or not. Since much of Season 3 revolves around a review from the Chicago Tribune, read the column by actual Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Luisa Chu. She runs through what the series gets right and wrong about how she reviews restaurants. Mostly right! Chu, along with other members of the Tribune food team, also published a roundtable on class and social status in kitchens and how the Bear did depicting it. Less right!
Ok, there are still, like, REAL restaurants in Chicago. Chicago Magazine just published a new “top ten hottest restaurants” list, which seems to be a lot of new concepts or reinventions from established chefs.
The Tribune crew published three mini-reviews of exciting new spots all over the city. It’s fun to read new voices and now I really, really want some lamb.
Mike Sula at Chicago Reader reviews Bayan Ko Diner, a Filipino-Cuban restaurant recently opened in Ravenswood. Sula traces the journey of husband and wife team Lawrence Letrero and Raquel Quadreny, who previously combined their two cultures into a fancier prix-fix popup (with the same name). Sula expects great things as the menu expands but says that if they never do anything but breakfast, it’s still pretty great. This place was also in the Tribune triple review and on the Chicago Magazine hot list.
John Kessler at Chicago Magazine reviews Cariño, a new-ish tasting menu temple in Uptown. The restaurant plays on chef Norman Fenton’s experiences in Mexico. Kessler does a great job of reviewing a long testing menu here. Those can often be a slog to read (and, as Kessler says, to eat). But Kessler gives little glimpses into the highs and lows in a way that makes you want to try it yourself. He says the tasting menu is fine, but the 10-seat-per-night taco tasting menu is electric. He awards the tasting menu 3 out of 4 stars and the taco omakase 3.5 out of 4 (Two ratings is a cop out).
Rick Bayliss is one of the most important chefs in Chicago, no, in American history. In celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the groundbreaking Frontera Grill, Michael Gebert sits down with Rick and Deann Bayless and long-time chef Richard James to talk about the history of his empire.
New York
In a good reminder of what we will be missing, Pete Wells drops a great review of Spice Brothers. This new shawarma shop from Lior Lev Sercarz, a Daniel Boulud protege who, rather than open his own restaurant, spent years crafting and creating unique spice blends. He’s putting that knowledge to use with a simple menu that is literally bursting with flavor.
The City profiles James Jackson, a 77-year-old man who has been selling watermelons in Bed-Stuy for 40 years. A tiny jewel of a profile of the kind of person who makes New York worthwhile.
Best thing I read this week: Ella Quittner writes about avante garde restaurants. Underground spot Honey Badger and Greenpoint Ilis are pushing the boundaries of what dining out can be. Quittner writes that these kinds of places - and their dishes like snail ice cream - to truly bring us out of the Instagram era of food.
Anna Rahmanan in Brooklyn Magazine writes that we have hit “peak croissant”. She runs through the pastry creations you can find across the borough. I, for one, have never had a stunt croissant that is actually better than a really good plain one. So I audibly muttered, “hell yeah” when I saw this essay from Tejal Rao about how good the originals are. Cookie croissant? Get out of here.
Grub Street looks at the launch of the new city outdoor dining program, which is actually the death of outdoor dining. Like three good things came out of the pandemic and Mayor Adams is dedicated to destroying them.
Washington D.C.
A heated debate between Maryland and Delaware is about the nerdiest thing you could imagine. But then you find out it’s about the inventor of the drink Orange Crush. *chefs kiss*
Tom Sietsema reviews Taqueria Sabor Mixteco. He loves the Oaxacan specialties at this small Silver Springs storefront and is equally enthusiastic about the owners. I’ve never seen a critic explicitly say he was writing about a place to get more people to go there before, which is really all the review you need.
I haven’t read D.C. media for a while, though I know there have been a lot of trials and tribulations in the scene there (as everywhere). Washington City Paper is doing food coverage, but appears to have broken it into two tracks:
Crystal Jones is the “Carryout Critic” and reviews Bird’s Kitchen, where one family is trying to turn home cooking into a way to grow their community. It’s a simple take-out spot in SouthEast, but Jones says don’t sleep on the crab cake sandwich. She also describes a turkey burger that sounds pretty great.
Nevin Martell writes “Good Taste”, which seems more like the official reviews. At least, Martell’s writeup of Pascual - a modern, wood-fired Mexican restaurant in Capitol Hill - seems more like a full review. It does have a lot of bolded words, which I found kind of annoying.
Los Angeles
Less than a year after it opened, Bill Addison at the Los Angeles Times has named Baroo the best restaurant of the year (and hints at it being the best in the city). This isn’t exactly surprising, Baroo is a newer incarnation of a restaurant of the same name that had a brief but legendary run from 2016-2018. Addison marvels at how chef Kwang Uh took the personal, fermentation-forward cooking of Baroo 1.0 and leveled it up into a restaurant that feels absurdly self-assured out of the gate. This is a place to travel for.
Jenn Harris asks, “is cabbage having a moment?”.
An article on 13 cool drinks and ice cream treats you can access via the Metro is almost TOO MUCH my shit.
L.A. Taco interviews veteran Los Angeles reporter Jesse Katz about his new book "The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder and Redemption in Immigrant L.A." The book focuses on the Colombian gang that once ruled MacArthur Park, extracting “taxes” from the street vendors there. Really interesting story about a unique space.
L.A. Taco also published my favorite story of the week. They visit the northernmost taco truck in the world. If you want to stop by after a night out, head to Tio Moncho’s in Longyearbyen, the largest town on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. They even order their tortillas from Los Angeles!
Out of Context J. Gold of the Week
The first thing you should order, especially on a hot afternoon, is the cool, Syrian-style dip muhammara, an extraordinary brick-red paste made from red peppers and ground walnuts that packs a cumin wallop and is complex as wine. Link.