This post originally appeared on October 5, 2019, in Amanda Kludt’s newsletter “From the Editor,” a roundup of the most vital news and stories in the food world each week. Read the archives and subscribe now.

October is drinks month here at Eater, which means our writers and editors across the country are filing stories on everything from Starbucks’s new obsession with cold foam to the trendy low-ABV drink you should know, from the rise in nonalcoholic bars to the tools you need to create bar-quality batch cocktails.

This week, I learned about the history and evolution of the martini (which was once sweet and amber), that my co-worker Jaya loves Harvey Wallbangers, and that water bottles are status symbols for high schoolers. I did not know these things and now I do, and I feel better prepared for small talk at the wedding reception I’m going to tonight.

You too can be prepared for work-function small talk, cocktail-party banter, and bartender and barista pleasantries if you just read the Eater Drinks section all month.

On Eater

• Intel: Kevin Tien’s hotly anticipated and much larger follow-up to Himitsu, Emilie’s, opens next week in D.C.; Chicago restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff is suing Restoration Hardware for $710,000 in severance and back pay after they fired him; pitmaster Aaron Franklin and chef Tyson Cole will expand their Austin restaurant Loro to Dallas; the restuarant group behind Philly’s Suraya and Pizzeria Beddia opened 140-seat Mexican restaurant Condesa on Tuesday; Lowell Cafe, America’s first-ever licensed cannabis restaurant, is now open in LA; Michelin announced its stars for D.C.; a very Eastern European-looking Dear Inga opened in San Francisco; the New York City Council is looking into the high commission fees charged by delivery services; Time Out is trying to push through a number of community and city objections in order to open another food hall right near an established food market in London; Portland, Oregon, thieves used a drone to burglarize two food carts; and this is what a hard seltzer taproom looks like.
• Nine celebrity chef restaurant super flops.
• Square’s rate change is going to be tough on small businesses like coffee shops.
• To watch: a beautiful piece on the artistry of kitchen knives.
• New Yorkers, come to our sherry and tapas dinner in the Eater Test Kitchen!
• Like the Avengers, but grizzled Italian dudes making pizza in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood.
• Self-care tips from sweaty, flour-caked line cooks.
• A big welcome to our new Eater SF editor, Luke Tsai, and our new features editor, Rebecca Marx. Want to join the team? We’re hiring a reporter and many, many TV roles (scroll to the bottom).

Patricia Chang

This week on the podcast

This week on Eater’s Digest, Daniel interviews restaurateur Simon Kim about how his time working with whales in Vegas informed the hospitality style at his Korean steakhouse, Cote. Plus, we discuss the biggest food stories of the week.

Off Eater

• What defines the cocktail zietgeist now. [Punch]
• If you are a woman who has worked in food (or maybe any industry), I bet you can relate to this essay about the myriad subtle and not-so-subtle ways men harrass women in restaurants. [Food52]
• Many publishing houses pay cookbook authors little to no advances. [NYT]
• On my weekend agenda: trying out this new chocolate chip cookie recipe from my fave baker, Genevieve Ko. [LAT]
• Some great neutral decor ideas inspired by a Curbed house call. [Curbed]