Restaurants Will Never Be the Same. We’ve Never Loved Them More
Every year, right about now, we drop the Hot 10, our rigorously researched list of America’s best new restaurants. This is not that list. Before we could even start scouting last spring, restaurant owners were forced to close their doors, and millions of employees were sent home to ride out the virus—or, in the case of essential workers, face the threat of infection on the job. But since those nerve-racking first months, the industry that is always reinventing itself—with flashy openings, inventive pop-ups, and dishes for us to obsess over and crave—continued to do just that. We heard about how Simileoluwa Adebajo, the chef-owner of Eko Kitchen in San Francisco, began to feed the food insecure—and decided to change her business model permanently. We got schooled in beef noodle soup by co-chefs and friends Eric Sze and Lucas Sin of New York City pop-up Shy*Boyz Club. We talked to restaurant workers across the country, from former bartenders providing for the undocumented to last year’s Hot 10 winners, about how they are fighting to save this industry in big and small ways. This year’s ode to restaurants is not a splashy list but an homage to the industry that never stops, pandemic be damned—an industry that we must support now more than ever.
Photo by Rey Lopez1/12When Life Gives Them Lemons, the Primes Have a Lime
Peter and Jeanine Prime, the brother-sister duo behind the D.C. restaurant Cane, are channeling the communal joy of the beloved Trinidadian hangouts known as limes. These days, it just looks a little different than they thought it would. Get their recipes for your own roti lime at home.
Photo by Mel Castro2/12“You Don't Need Walls and Tables to Be Hospitable. You Just Have to Treat People Like Your Guests.”
Othón Nolasco of No Us Without You is feeding the people who have fed diners for so long: undocumented restaurant workers. He explains how his longtime career in L.A. restaurants and bars has expanded his definition of hospitality.
Photo by Alex Lau3/12Last Year, They Were in the Hot 10. A Lot Has Changed Since Then.
We touched base with each of the winners from the 2019 Hot 10 to hear how they’ve been since the whole world changed. Here’s what they shared.
Photo by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou4/12These Doughnuts Don't Work at Restaurants. That’s Why Zoe Kanan Loves Them.
The New York City pastry chef wishes she could serve sfenj, but the spongy doughnuts, native to the Mahgreb region of northwest Africa, have to be eaten IMMEDIATELY. That's tough at a restaurant, but it works perfectly at home. Make all the sfenj you desire with Kanan’s recipe.
Photo by BEAU GAINES5/12Feeding the Most Vulnerable Is Now Part of Eko Kitchen’s Business Model
The pandemic gave chef-owner Simileoluwa Adebajo an opportunity to do what Nigerians have always done: feed those in need. Adebajo explains why she’s never going back to business as usual at her San Francisco restaurant.
Photo by Andria Lo, prop styling by Jillian Knox6/12There’s More to Salvadoran Food Than Pupusas. Popoca Is Proof of It.
After visiting family in El Salvador and traveling and cooking all over the country, chef-owner Anthony Salguero figured out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life: cook Salvadoran food at his Oakland pop-up and share it with whoever he can. Now, with his recipes, you can follow him to enlightenment (and gallo en chicha).
7/12“We Have Always Been Invigorated by Working in Restaurants. Cooking and Entertaining Are Our Ways of Enduring.”
Chef-owners Tom and Mariah Pisha-Duffly loved Oma’s Takeaway, their PDX restaurant’s rebrand in response to COVID-19, so much they gave the pop-up its own permanent brick-and-mortar location. The two talk about what it’s been like to open a restaurant in a pandemic and and what's keeping them going.
Photo by Laura Murray8/12Every Soup Tells a Story. And Shy*Boyz Club Has Some Stories.
The joint pop-up from chefs and friends Eric Sze and Lucas Sin explores the wild diversity of Chinese food. One prime example: beef noodle soup. Here the chefs compare their versions of the classic soup. Here the two break down their own versions of the classic soup.
Photo by Emma Louise Swanson9/12A Critic’s Last Week Before the Shutdown
Right before restaurants around the country had to shutter their dining rooms, editor at large Amiel Stanek was eating his way along California’s coast, in search of this year’s Hot 10. Here he reflects on that strange inflection point—enjoying restaurants to their fullest, never imagining what would change in a week—and the meals he had that continue to inspire.
Photo by Emma Fishman10/12Not even COVID Can Dilute the Vibrant Thai American Food at Talat Market
After watching his parents simplify Thai food for American palates, chef and co-owner Parnass Savang promised himself that his own restaurant in Atlanta would never compromise. Then the pandemic hit. Here’s how he responded—and the food he made to keep his dream afloat.
Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg11/12Restaurants Will Never Be the Same. Here's Why That's Good.
For months, digital restaurant editor Elyse Inamine has been reporting and editing dispatches from people working across the restaurant industry for BA’s Restaurant Diaries. Here she explains the hard truth that became apparent along the way: Restaurants are broken. But hospitality isn’t. Read on for the rest of her learnings.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images12/12Go Fund These Restaurants (and Other Ways to Support the Industry!)
Want to help but not sure where to start? Here are several ways to help the restaurants above (and many others!) get through these unprecedented times.
