A Restaurant I’ll Go to for Its Name Alone

This post originally appeared on May 19, 2018, 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.

Opening of the week: Super Mega Bien

Photo by Ryan Dearth/Eater Denver

Who’s behind it?: Chef Dana Rodriguez, her partner in her other restaurant Tony Maciag, and their longtime employee Tabatha Knop.

What is it?: A pan-Latin dim sum place, which I guess means little snacks like gorditas and tostadas on carts, plus bigger meals you can order from the menu.

Where is it?: Denver, CO.

When did it open?: Tuesday, May 15.

Why should I care?: I kind of love the name, which the chef took from a friend who would answer the question of “How are you doing?” with “Super mega ultra fucking bien.” Also, I find it kind of fascinating that the whole “new take” on dim sum carts is still happening. And, well, I don’t spend enough time thinking about what’s going on in Denver, and maybe you don’t either (but that’s what Eater Denver is for).

On Eater

• Intel: Jen Agg’s Toronto restaurant The Black Hoof will close this summer; Buffalo’s Anchor Bar, famous for buffalo chicken wings, is opening up shop in NYC; beloved Portland restaurant Smallwares is reopening; all sit-down restaurants in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando now serve alcohol, god bless; the D.C. St. Anselm will be three times the size of the Brooklyn original; former NoMad chef James Kent is opening a mega restaurant and bar complex across five floors of an NYC high rise; Andrew Zimmern is opening a… Chinese restaurant and tiki bar in a Minneapolis mall; a New York chef accused of blackmailing a former employee with a sex tape wants to open another restaurant in New York; you can now purchase and wear a LaCroix bathing suit; Molly Yeh is getting a Food Network show; an iconic old butcher in LA is closing up shop; Portland is somehow just now getting its first pinball bar; chef Daniel Patterson is turning one of his Alta locations into Beshara, an Indian restaurant from chef Heena Patel; a beloved Houston Tex-Mex classic closed; Lance Bass (yes, that one) is apparently opening a West Hollywood restaurant; and this Sunday on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper is tackling the sexual misconduct allegations against Ken Friedman and Mario Batali.
• A co-founder of the historically sexist World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards is teaming up with the man behind Gelinaz!, a shapeshifting culinary event that one year included just one female chef and a parade of topless women, to bring the world a new awards ceremony that no one asked for that celebrates restaurants across the price and genre spectrum. On the bright side, since it’s 2018, the judging panel is gender neutral and the awards will support sustainability. (I know, I should give them a chance.)
• Watch our new video series, which is like Dirty Jobs but food, and Katie Pickens instead of Mike Rowe. Queue this one up: Medieval Times — how do they do it?
• Reviews: Soogil in NYC; Nyum Bai in SF; and not a review, but the vodka pie at the new Joe & Pat’s in Manhattan is really good.

Photo by Alex Staniloff

On the Upsell

Last week, Dan trailed one of my personal heroes (and co-workers), food critic Robert Sietsema, for a day of traipsing and eating around Queens. We learned about Robert’s background, how he broke into food media, and strategies for doing his job. Listen here/wherever you get your podcasts, or read some choice excerpts on the site.

Off Eater

• Is bad suburban fast-food architecture just brutalism on a massive scale? [@Bouthicca/Twitter]
• Strip-T’s, a suburban Boston mainstay that transformed into a hipster-cool culinary destination when the owner’s son took over in 2011, is closing, and Devra Ferst examines the 1,000 small cuts that led to its demise. [Boston Globe]
• Can ”food-oriented development” make communities more equitable? [Curbed]
• How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are breaking with centuries of tradition with their cool-ass wedding cake. [New Yorker]
• For the media nerds: Vox Media’s strategy versus The Outline’s strategyfor surviving the current media tumult. [THR; Recode]

Subscribe now to get Amanda Kludt’s newsletter directly in your inbox each week.