Welcome to Deep Dish, a weekly roundup of food and entertainment news. Last week we discussed the latest cities to garner Michelin stars.
Wine has always been inherent to Michelin’s charge—after all, its top-rated restaurants boast extensive curated wine lists and first-class sommeliers to promote them. This week, it announced a new category of awards devoted to wine in and of itself, focusing its attention to wine producers. Where restaurants receive “stars” and hotels receive “keys,” vineyards and wine estates will be awarded “grapes,” in familiar increments of one, two, or three.
Also this week, George McNally, son of legendary restaurateur, memoirist and Instagram raconteur Keith McNally, will open his first restaurant. We’ve also got news on a dine-and-dash influencer at Riker's, a settlement to a thorny recipe copyright case, and more.
Like Father Like Son, George McNally Will Open His First Restaurant
George McNally, the son of restaurateur and memoirist Keith McNally, is opening his first restaurant, reported Emily Sundberg on her Substack Feed Me. The as-of-yet unnamed restaurant will be in Tribeca at 277 Church Street a stone’s throw from father Keith McNally’s very first restaurant, The Odeon. The concept will be “French, but maybe out of indecisiveness veering towards a more coastal and Mediterranean side,” George told Sundberg.
The younger McNally, who grew up working in restaurants and for the past four years has been a bartender at Balthazar, says he hopes to open in May. He will build the restaurant with architect-designer Ian McPheely, who has been building restaurants with his father on projects from Pastis, to Minetta Tavern, Morandi and more, for over 30 years. While George didn’t get into the weeds on details he said: “I think anyone who was familiar with Lucky Strike or Pravda might have a nice moment when they see it for the first time.”
His father, while proud of him, says he has not been directly involved in the project. “Although I admire George immensely for building his own place, I've made no contribution–either financially or building or operation-wise–whatsoever,” Keith told us in an email. “George and I are extremely close and the fact he hasn't asked me for help makes me admire him even more.” —Andrea Strong, contributing editor
Michelin Expands Into Wine
Michelin has expanded exponentially in the past few years, touching down in a new city seemingly every week. This week, it charted an expansion into yet another territory…or terroir, rather. A new awards category will bestow one, two, or three grapes rather than stars onto wine estates and vineyards, judged upon five criteria including “identity” and “consistency,” according to a press release. They’ll inaugurate the awards in 2026, beginning with Burgundy and Bordeaux. —Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor
The Strange Case of the Dine-and-Dashing Food Influencer
There’s a swindler in our midst. A recent report recounts how one influencer, Pei-Yun Chung, skipped from expensive Williamsburg restaurant to expensive Williamsburg restaurant ordering a slew of dishes, taking a bunch of influencer-style pictures of them, and then simply leaving—or occasionally offering a credit card or two that would inevitably get declined. Reportedly after receiving the check, she would offer to post photos to her Instagram in exchange for her meal. Since late October, Chung has been arrested and charged seven times, accused of misdemeanor theft of services. She is now being held in Riker's Island jail with a $4,500 cash bail. —Sam Stone, staff writer
The Sabzi Case is Closed (Finally)
A few weeks ago we wrote about the then-active copyright suit that was brought against British cookbook author Yasmin Khan over the title of her cookbook, Sabzi. She was being sued by the owner of a chain of Cornish delis of the same name. The case garnered a lot of public attention as onlookers debated the fairness of copyrighting the word—a commonly used term for vegetable dishes in Urdu and Farsi. After weeks of public pressure, the case has finally been dropped. Khan wrote in the Guardian about her experience. “Food is something we share, not something we own,” she wrote, “and it should stay in the hands of all those who keep it alive.” —S.S.