Welcome to Open Tab, a weekly roundup of the news, gossip, and stories that have stayed open in my tabs all week. Last week we covered a change in the Michelin star system
Hello, Tabbers (this is a nickname I’m using on a trial basis, let me know how you like it). First and foremost, I’m going to shamelessly bandwagon-jump and say let’s go Knicks, bing bong, etc. Last week I stopped by the newly opened Cafe Bar J.F., where I had a supremely crunchy and refreshing celery salad, and decided that vermouth and soda will be my personal drink of the summer. (I have had one at every restaurant dinner since.)
Another oddly specific rec: cherry-cola-flavored Celsius, which I first heard about in Matt Rodbard’s Grub Street Diet (and subsequently also heard about from a bunch of other random sources). Matt is the editor in chief of Taste, and also hosts the podcast This is Taste—that’s how I know he has good taste.
This week I published the latest installment of my new(ish) column, Interested Parties, chronicling my odd and overwhelming night at the Explorer’s Club Annual Dinner, which, I was told, was the “most interesting dinner party in the world.” I don't want to give much away (it’s unpaywalled—tell your friends!), but I will say this: Iguana was served.
After an incredible quarter-century run, Tom Colicchio’s flagship restaurant, Craft, is closing at the end of the month, the chef announced on Instagram.
Finally: Are you in the market for a $13,000 table? ILIS, the restaurant from Noma cofounder Mads Refslund is having a moving sale and everything must go!
Also this week: The ideological fight for Ben & Jerry’s continues, three wonderful things to know about the baklava guy, and an NYC bakery everyone’s going to be talking about opens this summer. Lastly, you should get to know this year’s James Beard Award nominees ahead of the big night next weekend.
Ben v. Ben & Jerry’s
It’s been awhile since Ben Cohen, who cofounded the ice cream brand in 1978, has been actively involved in the company. Instead, he's been leading the effort dubbed Free Ben & Jerry’s, in which he’s attempting to put together an offer—one that will likely need to be greater than $1 billion—from investors to buy the company back from Unilever, its parent company. Cohen claims Unilever has effectively strangled all of the socially conscious efforts on which the brand was built, using shady corporate tactics to dismiss the ice cream company’s oversight board among other issues.
Now, Cohen is spending his days on calls with investors (and also apparently speaking to reporters—Ben, if you’re free give me a shout) to put together a deal to buy his company back. Is the deal likely? In her piece in the Intelligencer, writer Carrie Batton describes Ben & Jerry’s as a “crown jewel” of its parent company, so it’s a long shot. But then again, so was the idea of two hippies starting a premium ice cream company.
Roy Donk you will always be famous (to me)
If you see a man giving out free baklava outside of Madison Square Garden as the Knicks play in the finals, you should know that he goes by the name Roy Donk, and no, his baklava does not contain drugs. These two things I learned from Pete Wells’s lovely profile-ette, and honestly they are, like, the two least interesting things about this guy. Other things about Mr. Donk you should know:
1. His name is not Roy Donk (the name is a reference to a joke in the comedy show I Think You Should Leave).
2. He started selling baklava at Phish concerts—and why he often specifies that they don’t contain drugs. At Phish concerts, you have to clarify, it seems.
3. He drives a van that he calls the baklavan.
4. There is extensive merch.
A new bakery bombshell has entered the villa
A bit of snooping has revealed there appears to be a new bakery coming to Williamsburg, and it’ll be led by a baking legend: Chad Robertson, one of the founders of San Francisco bakery giant Tartine. It’s hard to overstate Tartine’s influence on baking in America, and this latest project (set to open this summer) will undoubtedly make an impact.
More than a bakery, the unnamed project will also serve coffee, wine, and beer and host cooking classes and community events. If Robertson’s record is anything to go by, you’ll want to start lining up now to snag a pastry.
Can you smell that? It’s James Beard Awards season!
The best time of the year! The ceremony, which will be held in Chicago as always, is just a week away. Thankfully, that means you have a day or two to familiarize yourself with the nominees. Keep an eye out for some familiar Bon Appétit Best New Restaurant faces—see you there!