This post originally appeared on November 9, 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.

It’s been a busier than usual week and there are a lot of links to get to, so I’m going to jump right into it. But I will note Pete Wells’ tweets speak to my thoughts on various big stories this week, from the Bay Area to Santa Monica to Chicago, the wine world to the food writing world: people are complex and flawed. I often lean on the hero/villain dichotomy as a way to frame the world, but it doesn’t play when 80% of people are a muddled mess in the middle.

On Eater

• Intel: A long-anticipated complex with a roof bar, restaurant, and speakeasy opens in Adams Morgan, D.C., next week; sommelier and rising star in the wine world Anthony Cailan was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women; Major Food Group is opening a restuarant in Boston; beloved New York bread shop Bien Cuit expands to Brooklyn this week; Chicago chef Jimmy Bannos Jr. was charged with misdemeanor battery; lovely LA sushi spot Kura is closing; Bay Area Filipino food truck Señor Sisig opened a brick-and-mortar location; Doug Psaltis, one of the most high-profile partners at Chicago’s largest restaurant group, Lettuce Entertain You, left the company after allegedly attacking a coworker; renowned Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas settled a $2.4 million lawsuit with employees; Christmas bars are already popping up in Detroit; D.C.’s beloved Maydan has a new chef; celebrated Southern chef John Currance will open a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia in 2021; and caviar bumps are truly becoming a thing in the Bay Area, unfortunately.
• Inside a much anticipated collaboration between two of our world’s biggest chefs: Jessica Koslow and Gabriela Cámara’s Onda.
• Watch: this gorgeous video of the work that goes into making custom ceramics for restaurants.
• The full autopsy on chef Daniel Patterson’s failed partnerships in the Bay Area.
• How bubble tea became far more than just a drink to young Asian Americans.
• I need to go eat this affogato in New York as soon as possible.
• Op-ed: Raising the minimum wage to $15 in Chicago will be too much for restaurants to bear.
• Reviews: the outstanding Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei cuisine at Llama San in New York City and next-level biryani at Biryani Darbar in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• Please check out this beyond-gorgeous gift guide of all the mugs and spreads ands straws and fruit-shaped jewelry you should be giving your loved ones this holiday season. Also check out the local gift guides in the Twin Cities, New York, San Francisco, and Detroit.
• Turns out 3D cookie decorating is a thing.
• What you should actually bring to a Thanksgiving dinner.
• The current state of staging in the upper echelons of fine dining.
• Major respect for this wild food truck instagram account out of Seattle.
• A photo diary of everything candidate Pete Buttigieg eats on the campaign trail.
• It’s wild, but we make travel itineraries now, based on the in-depth reporting in our travel packages. The latest: Melbourne.

A spread is all anyone wants, really.

This Week on the Podcast

We talk about our editors’ tricks for being expert diners, from an unconventional way to eat a pot pie to pre-gaming brunch and taking a breakfast road trip. Then we get into the biggest stories of the week.

Off Eater

• Curbed’s gift guide is extremely wonderful. And I, of course, love the local editions in New York, Detroit, Atlanta, LA, The Bay Area, and Chicago. [Curbed]
• It’s hard to think of roles that are more unervalued than farmer and mother. [Civil Eats]
• Love that there are so many Trader Joe fan accounts on Instagram. [Vox]
• Kurds in Nashville have fallen hard for the Titans (and tailgaiting). [NYT]
• My colleague Sonia brought this chocolate pie into the office this week and it was delicious (especially for breakfast). [Bon Appetit]