Why Eater Covered A Day Without Immigrants

This post originally appeared in EIC Amanda Kludt’s From the Editor newsletter, a weekly recap of the most important intel in food and dining each week. Subscribe now.

This Thursday, restaurants across the country — some voluntarily, some not so voluntarily — shut down for #DayWithoutImmigrants, a protest to show the world just how vital our immigrant communities are and how much they contribute to our society. Eater’s coverage cascaded from DC to Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Austin, Atlanta, Seattle, Philly, Portland, Detroit, Houston, and the Twin Cities. And here’s a national take. It’s a relatively small but encouraging thing to see.

Less encouraging is the AP’s recent report that the Trump administration is considering mobilizing 100,000 National Guard troops in pursuit of unauthorized immigrants. And the news that residential and workplace immigration raids are on the rise. And that the administration is considering rewriting the Muslim travel ban to restrict legal immigration to the United States. The food/hospitality industry and immigration (both legal and otherwise) are intrinsically linked. We wouldn’t be able to eat in the restaurants we do, cook the food we cook, enjoy the multicultural dining experiences we do, or pay the prices we pay for all of the above without them. My colleague Helen Rosner has a piece that lays out out the how and the why in more detail over here.

But hey, it’s not all bad. At least the the anti-labor, alleged spouse abuser, misogynistic fast-food CEO Andy Puzder had to withdraw as a candidate for labor secretary because he was so toxic.

Robert J. Lerma/EATX

Opening of the Week: Barrr

Who’s behind it? The makers of the coveted Yeti, a high-end Texan cooler that's become somewhat of a status symbol.

What is it? A pretty straightforward bar with plans for events, music, and dinners, connected to Yeti’s new flagship store.

Where is it? Right by the South Congress bridge in Austin, TX.

When will it open? Next Thursday.

Why should I care? Maybe you like cool things? I don’t know. Also, per Eater Austin: “Inside the store proper includes one of Aaron Franklin’s personal smokers, free beef charts on Franklin’s butcher paper, a portrait of Snow BBQ pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz, and a Harry Potter-inspired wall of portraits (yes, they move every so often) including Franklin and Jesse Griffiths.”

Patrick Chin

On Eater

• Intel: Paul Qui is probably opening a restaurant in Houston and is definitely being sued for unpaid bills; awesome Tribeca bar Nancy Whiskey Pub turned 50, and my favorite neighborhood bar The Drink is closing; Miami, the city with seemingly more big-name imports than homegrown destinations, has a shiny new Geoffrey Zakarian spot named Point Royal and a branch of Employees Only; both Petit Crenn in San Francisco and Katoi in Detroit suffered fires this week; and a whole bunch of restaurants, chefs, and food world stars made the James Beard Awards semi-finalist list.
• I don’t care if you live in Vegas or are even going there in the next year: Everyone wants a list of cool Vegas dives.
• If you haven’t seen a beef tallow candle yet, you haven’t been getting out much. Latest spotting: Denver.
• How LA restaurants optimized for eternally-perfect weather deal with the rain.
• No big deal, this is just a restaurant in Detroit that livestreamed the breaking down of an entire alpaca.
• The famous tech guy, patent troll, dinosaur aficionado, scientist, chef, and creator of Modernist Cuisine Nathan Myhrvold stopped by the Eater Upsell studios to delight and terrify Greg and Helen.
• Here’s how restaurants and their workers can prepare for potential immigration raids.
• Joël Robuchon’s Montreal restaurant received $11 million in government funds.

Off Eater

• Those crazy kids over at New York Times Cooking put together a massive package — recipes, histories, instructional videos — on the Essentials of French Cooking (omelets, soufflés, quiches, etc.). I’ll confess it’s a little overwhelming to me, but the cook in my house (my husband Pablo) can’t get enough of it. Looking forward to the big print spread tomorrow. [NYT Cooking]
• TIL someone reveres Daniel Humm even more than Will Guidara. (Spoiler: It’s Jeff Gordinier.) [Esquire] (Side note: I very much wish I could unread this quote:)

via Esquire

• Meanwhile THIS piece on Dominique Crenn is a joy to read, and not just because it has 3,000 fewer words and includes some head-smackingly idiotic quotes from San Francisco’s much-maligned critic Michael Bauer. A++ Moskin. [NYT]
• It’s always sad when a place like Take Root — a small and beloved tasting menu spot run by a couple — closes, but it’s especially sad to hear of the homophobia the owners encountered over the years and how that affected their decision. [Grub Street]
• I understand this journalist and restaurateur’s issues with food media and diners thinking/demanding immigrant cuisines be “cheap.” But I’m not sure using the word “affordable” instead of “cheap” for inexpensive restaurants in media coverage (her suggestion) really fixes or changes much. Perhaps I’m just defensive. That said, we do have a responsibility to not pigeonhole all immigrant cuisines into the “cheap” category, and vice versa. [NPR]
• What it’s like to spend a day inside Milk Street, Chris Kimball’s follow-up to America’s Test Kitchen. [Boston Globe]
• Video: Marcus Samuelsson, “There would be no American food without immigrants” [Re/code]
• Pretty Hungarian cookies (that tell a story!) over on Saveur [Saveur]
• If we buy more frozen food, we’ll have less food waste. [WaPo]
• I remember thinking Good Eggs, a startup that aims to be like a Fresh Direct but for local, sustainable ingredients, would shut down fairly shortly after they significantly downsized back in August ‘15. But they’re still kicking! And giving equity to everyone on their team. Good for them. [Medium]