Hello from Los Angeles, where it’s my favorite time of year to be cooking nonstop. The winter produce here is fabulous. Plenty of prime seafood. On Friday night I had 11 people crammed around the kitchen table for braised short ribs, confit salmon bellies with lemon aioli, a riff on the Four Horsemen celery salad, chili crisp beans, wine, bourbon and a bunch of apps. For dessert, I ordered six pints of Salt & Straw.

Here’s a big Bangers & Jams roundup of what else I’ve been loving lately.

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The New Year doesn’t really start until you’ve gotten through this first back-to-work week after the holiday. I loaded up November and December with end-of-year pieces, so it’s been a while since I’ve weighed in on some new restaurants and dining trends — well covered by friends over the past few weeks.

Here’s what’s been on my mind before and after meals in Paris, London, LA, New York and Austin over the past two months.

LA dining, kind of back

, one of Los Angeles’ very best wine pros, was a part of the Baby Bistro opening in the spring, Anajak Thai’s re-opening in the summer and Little Fish Melrose Hill’s debut in the fall. Kae captured this bubbling moment happening in LA dining well here:

There’s been a lot of press dedicated to the exhausting game of Whack-a-Mole dealt to the city’s restaurants over the last five years, and rightfully so … What I haven’t seen discussed as much yet, however, are the ways that restaurants make consistency a part of their DNA. Even what is in many ways a tasting menu restaurant can be a neighborhood spot, it turns out, and Baby Bistro is proof. It’s hard to be a regular at what Max Shapiro dubbed the “Japanese fusion clubstraunt” and it feels like the people behind our most exciting new openings have watched and responded to the crises of the last few years with restaurants that make it easier for our guests to come every week, or at least often.

The last major LA dining boom felt big — Bavel, Majordomo, every Evan Funke space. We went cavernous, family style, embracing a pre-pandemic phase of seeming abundance. While New York restaurants were cramped, constrained and confused, LA was bursting with possibility. The abundance gap has flipped since then. New York dining came roaring back, powered mostly by expense accounts and clubs roped off on Resy. In the wake of stacked tragedies, LA just can’t compete in that game anymore.

But after 18 months of head shaking and sighs, we might be out on the other side. I look at Baby Bistro, Little Fish, Wilde’s, Hermon’s, Stir Crazy, Etra and I see what Kae sees — smaller spaces with greater ambitions to get regulars on their terms more than anything else. The menus are compact, the personality is vivid, but the touches are undeniably human. These are all restaurants designed to be twice as good if you go twice as much.

Intentional or not, these places feel particularly inspired to me by Quarter Sheets, the Echo Park pizza spot that started as a pandemic pop-up before taking over a brick-and-mortar in 2022. Quarter Sheets is open from 5-9, six days a week. The to-go operation is limited. The physical menu doesn’t even take up a whole sheet of paper. It’s a place where crazed newcomer demand is always teetering on the edge of making visiting unbearable. The traffic-starved West Siders in line here are often the worst of Los Angeles. But it’s also a place that refuses to let that demand break its continued resilience as a neighborhood gem, beckoning regulars to return.

If the next wave of great LA restaurants are children of the Quarter Sheets tree, I’m here for it. Maybe that makes the city less of a global dining destination. That’s fine. It might make it a better place to live.

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Paris, pretty good!

I’m not going to do a dedicated Paris post, because I can’t think of a better guide than what has up over at The Angel. Trust it with your life. Instead, here’s a short and sweet top five:

1. New Year’s Eve, notably the best night of the year, at Le Doyenné, an easy one-hour train ride south of the city. The tasting menu came with maybe my favorite wine pairing ever, and the breakfast experience the next morning is as good as everyone says.

2. Bistrot des Tournelles, pure magic in the form of a lightly modernized French bistro.

3. Bento box lunches at Mokochaya.

4. A surprisingly stunning meal up in the 18th at L’Arpaon, a tiny place with a nine-item, banger menu that would feel at home in this current LA dining scene.

5. Arayes and falafel from NOUR Comptoir.

An appreciation for the fancy stuff being actually very good and worth it

One more Paris highlight: A long, leisurely lunch at Le Grand Café, a gorgeous room sitting inside the Grand Palais. Steak tartare, crab claws, endive salads, soufflé, $25 cocktails and a well-dressed clientele throwing them back — that kind of thing. In 2026, when I’m not cooking at home or hitting my regular spots, I want to be blowing my money at places like this.

A meal at Le Grand Café or The Grill is best experienced like a trip to Vegas. You book knowing you’re going to spend a stupid amount of money, you set it aside as an investment in life being short and fancy stuff sometimes being extremely worth it, and then you go, get drunk and have a blast. These kinds of rooms have often been filled by restaurateurs who didn’t need the food or service to shine in order to run the business. The rich would show up and spend. But there’s something very real about the return on value when everything is fucking humming. (Meanwhile, I just can’t with this Tommy Bahama power lunch thing.)

Yes, it can be very expensive to dine out. I hear that refrain all the time. You can avoid feeling ripped off with intentionality. Return to the same spots that always deliver, and mix in a few baller excursions of the grand variety where you don’t consider the price tag. Give up the hype-chasing middle. That’s where you find disappointment.

What’s up with great restaurant pens?

Is this no longer a thing? I can’t think of one new restaurant that has opened in the past two years that came out of the gate with a fucking amazing pen, the best possible piece of merch. Am I missing any good ones? Please let me know.

Sure, in the age of tablets and tap-to-pay, this is an additional expense in a small-margin industry. I get it. And, okay, people like me will indeed steal a pen (but never two) when they look as good as the ones at Clark’s or King. But you know what isn’t cool? Doing the tasting menu at Cove and having a big Square reader come crashing down on the Grainwood Studio cherry and ash wood tables. I’m not demanding good pens, but I’m on the hunt.

I miss real restaurant cookbooks

In 2024, zero true restaurant cookbooks made The New York Times’ best of the year list. In 2025, there was only one, from the lovely team at King.

There are impressive restaurant chefs on these lists, including Calvin Eng from Bonnie’s in Brooklyn and Nok Suntaranon from Kalaya in Philly, but both are billed as more home-cooking-oriented, personal-storytelling-first books. The restaurants themselves don’t even appear with a reference on the cover.

I trust that these are the books these chefs wanted to make, and don’t begrudge that. Both books are very good. It also makes sense that these kinds of books sell better right now — personality-driven, accessible, under 30 minutes, weaving in more family stories rather than restaurant trials. But, damn, I miss a great restaurant cookbook. The King book absolutely rips — from real recipes I will steal to beautiful writing on what makes great salads from and .

I learned how to cook from books like these, and the great ones — like The Four Horsemen in 2024 — become household staples. Like with pens, even if these labors of love make little financial or emotional sense, I hope some crazy, ambitious chefs keep them coming. Here’s my quick wishlist:

• Penny

• Semma

• Baroo

• Torrisi

• Dame

• Birdie’s

• Compilation books from the restaurant groups behind Cervo’s, Hart’s, The Fly & Eel Bar, as well as Frenchette, Le Rock, Le Veau d’Or & Wild Cherry

• Bell’s

• HAGS

I can’t with these couples

The era of ordering 10 small plates may be dead, and that’s fine. I love a tiny menu with real portions. But, I’m sorry, if you’re a couple and you’re sitting in my vicinity at dinner, I’m going to judge your order. And I’m shocked by the number of couples I see out there ordering two of the same heavy entrée. Are you kidding?

A date next to me at L’Arpaon closed their meal out by housing individual bowls of a rather heavy, creamy and voluminous paccheri. I will never forget the time I saw a couple brunching at Chez Ma Tante with two separate orders of the pancakes, plus a breakfast sandwich, bacon and potatoes. I think this trend is only getting worse. Learn how to order or stick to Uber Eats.

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A few times a year, Bangers & Jams switches from a food blog to a movie blog. That’s certainly the case during Oscar season.

I love the Oscars. There’s not nearly as much to vigorously debate around dinner tables in Los Angeles compared to New York, but at least we have the spectacle of cinema combined with the vanity of awards.

I maintain that 2025 was a very good year at the movies. I can go 15 deep with films I loved, adding in another 15 I at least admired. The awards race this year features a heavy favorite (One Battle After Another), a few fun villains (Hamnet, Wicked: For Good, Frankenstein) and some very real debates. Like last year, I’ve compiled my list of what I think should be nominated for the major categories ahead of the official Jan. 22 announcement. The choices are ranked in order of how upset I’ll be if they don’t make the cut. I’ve also included my pick for winners as well as one seeming lock that I don’t think belongs.

This is much more of a leaning toward “best” rather than “favorite” — a requirement for the sake of awards recognition. January is a perfect time to hole up at home and catch up on movies. If you’re behind, use this as a guide for where to start.

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Best Picture

1. Winner: Marty Supreme

2. One Battle After Another

3. The Secret Agent

4. Sentimental Value

5. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

6. It Was Just An Accident

7. Train Dreams

8. Sinners

9. The Testament Of Ann Lee

10. No Other Choice

Doesn’t belong: Frankenstein

Wicked: For Good and Avatar are probably also getting in, but Frankenstein is the real shit-stirrer here — a pandering kids movie that happens to be filled with gratuitous gun violence. There was better dialogue in Regretting You.

Best Director

1. Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another

2. Mary Bronstein | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

3. Josh Safdie | Marty Supreme

4. Ryan Coogler | Sinners

5. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

Doesn’t belong: Chloé Zhao | Hamnet

The toughest list of five to make. But, yeah, give PTA his trophy.

Wesley Morris equated Hamnet to watching an acting class — not a masterclass in acting, but literally a training session with people learning how to act. No criticism has been more apt. In a movie that plays like it was designed to make parents cry and win awards, the faults fall primarily on the director.

Best Actress

1. Winner: Rose Byrne | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

2. Amanda Seyfried | The Testament Of Ann Lee

3. Renate Reinsve | Sentimental Value

4. Emma Stone | Bugonia

5. Jessie Buckley | Hamnet

Doesn’t belong: Cynthia Erivo | Wicked

An absolutely stacked category that Buckley has wrapped up. That’s fine. Her performance in the final 25 minutes is legitimately great. But if Byrne and Seyfried don’t get nominated, no snubs will make me more annoyed.

Best Actor

1. Winner: Timothée Chalamet | Marty Supreme

2. Wagner Moura | The Secret Agent

3. Michael B. Jordan | Sinners

4. Ethan Hawke | Blue Moon

5. Leonardo DiCaprio | One Battle After Another

Doesn’t belong: Joel Edgerton | Train Dreams

The growing consensus around this projected top five is also the right top five, incredibly. Edgerton is a perfectly played piece in Bentley’s beautiful film. The Train Dreams momentum is so encouraging to see, but I hope it doesn’t knock out Hawke’s special turn as Lorenz Hart.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Winner: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Sentimental Value

2. Teyana Taylor | One Battle After Another

3. Odessa A’zion | Marty Supreme

4. Mariam Afshari | It Was Just An Accident

5. Wunmi Mosaku | Sinners

Doesn’t belong: Amy Madigan | Weapons

Lilleaas slow burns for 90 minutes before shattering your heart in concurrent scenes. She’s the real muse for Trier in this film, the simmering heart of his broken family portrayal.

Weapons is a good movie. Zach Cregger is a great director. But I’ve yet to see or hear a convincing argument that Madigan’s performance was anything beyond replacement level.

Best Supporting Actor

1. Winner: Stellan Skarsgård | Sentimental Value

2. Sean Penn | One Battle After Another

3. Alexander Skarsgård | Pillion

4. Benicio del Toro | One Battle After Another

5. William H. Macy | Train Dreams

Doesn’t belong: Paul Mescal | Hamnet

I will ignore the pure category fraud for what is undeniably a lead performance from Stellan Skarsgård.

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Winner: Ira Sachs | Peter Hujar’s Day

2. Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another

3. Harry Lighton | Pillion

4. Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar | Train Dreams

5. Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi & Jahyee Lee | No Other Choice

Doesn’t belong: Will Tracy | Bugonia

Few movies sparked more ideas or conversations for me than Sachs’ faithful adaptation of a real recorded conversation between the photographer Peter Hujar and the writer Linda Rosenkrantz. You watch the filmed version and are rattled by everything that’s not there — phones, concrete plans, social-media-induced artistic anxiety.

Best Original Screenplay

1. Winner: Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt | Sentimental Value

2. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

3. Mary Bronstein | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

4. Robert Kaplow | Blue Moon

5. Ari Aster | Eddington

Doesn’t belong: Noah Baumbach & Emily Mortimer | Jay Kelly

Whatever is going on with Noah’s writing since he became happily married is really bumming me out.

Best International Feature

1. Winner: The Secret Agent

2. It Was Just An Accident

3. Sentimental Value

4. No Other Choice

5. Sirāt

The other major contender here is The Voice of Hind Rajab, a powerful story that tears you apart over and over again. It might break through for its strong mission, ambition and message. I just don’t think it really works as a movie.

Best Casting

1. Winner: Nadia Acimi, Luis Bertolo & Erika Boulic | Sirāt

2. Jennifer Venditti | Marty Supreme

3. Gabriel Domingues | The Secret Agent

4. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

5. Cassandra Kulukundis | One Battle After Another

The non-actor ravers are the best part of Sirāt, the only truly shocking movie I saw in 2025.

Best Cinematography

1. Winner: Adolpho Veloso | Train Dreams

2. Christopher Blauvelt | The Mastermind

3. Michael Bauman | One Battle After Another

4. Autumn Durald Arkapaw | Sinners

5. Kim Woo-hyung | No Other Choice

Of all the movies on this list, Train Dreams is the one I’d implore you to try to see on a big screen. The 35mm print took my breath away. The cinematography is the true star and why it deserves this win.

Best Original Score

1. Winner: Daniel Lopatin | Marty Supreme

2. Jonny Greenwood | One Battle After Another

3. Kangding Ray | Sirāt

4. Ludwig Göransson | Sinners

5. Bryce Dessner | Train Dreams

The most heavyweight two-person race in the field comes down to Lopatin vs. Greenwood. It’s close, but Lopatin deserves it.

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Hello from Paris. Last night, I popped into Folderol for rosé and a bowl with scoops of both olive oil and pistachio ice cream before dinner. Multiple neighbors commented at the bar on how nice it is to be an adult and pull such a move. Whatever TikTok craze temporarily torched this place seems to have passed.

Across the curved pass heading into the Folderol kitchen, there were three pieces of simple white paper labeled “Ice cream ideas” — lists with names like coffee & donuts, whiskey with lemon rind, avocado and plenty of liner notes throughout. You had to strain your neck a bit to spot it on the way back from the bathroom, but I enjoyed this little peek into the creative process at work.

That continued next door at Le Rigamarole, where Sam Schwarz and Alexis Bijaoui were closing out a month of pop-up dinners. They’re planning to open up their own spot in Paris next year, early or late summer, and this was a bit of a test run. Sam is from Baltimore and spent time at Fradei in Brooklyn, but has mostly worked in Paris at spots like Soces and Septime.

I love these kinds of meals, watching two young chefs play with ideas right in that moment where their creative energy is the highest. They’re the best versions of a restaurant pop-up, a way to see the first hints of brilliant inspiration and the path to something that just might be magic.

After opening with a salsify tempura that ate like a (very good) fancy onion ring, Sam dropped off a stunning crudo dish.

I’ve eaten a lot of first crudos. That new restaurant staple, where the chefs are convinced they’ve sourced or dry-aged fish in a way that’s unlike anything else. The dishes aren’t necessarily bad, but like a prestige TV show that opens with a dramatic flash forward, experienced audiences are trained to take a deep, here-we-go-again breath when it arrives. I’ve had three clunkers this quarter. Sam and Alexis delivered a rare exception.

Local bass gets seasoned 25 minutes before serving, and then it’s scattered in between a few pieces of radicchio and tossed in a light, subtle bergamot dressing. I would gladly go back for more of that fish tonight, but the real attraction was crossing over that threshold with a couple chefs where you just think — give me more of your food. I’m in. I’ve got season tickets now. Disconnected from reservation chaos and end-of-year lists or travel itineraries and trend debates, these kinds of discoveries are invigorating.

I’m in Europe for New Year’s Eve, the best holiday of the year. I’ll go deeper on Paris and London food stuff in the next couple weeks. For now, I’m rounding up some of my favorite posts from Year 2 of Bangers & Jams. Thanks so much for reading. Here’s to more great dining and debates in 2026.

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I left my job at Substack last week. You can read about why I’m now over at here, here, and here.

I love Substack, and I loved the work. A little more than two years in the weeds with a great team, helping turn a tool to send text via email into a cultural destination. I devoured ’s essay this week on stardom, a perfect use of the platform.

More than anything, I’m grateful for the deep list of talented people I got to work with, many of whom became real friends: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and a bunch more people who genuinely change how culture is shaped today. One reason I dipped to run growth at Every is that watching these writers do their thing inspired me to go build stuff.

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On to business: This weekly food blog shouldn’t change much. Next week I’ll do a deep dive on Thanksgiving cooking — menu planning, prep lists, lessons, mistakes. The following week, a bunch of friends will join me in giving their takes on the year in LA and New York dining. And then we’ve got the big, annual Bangers Only rankings. (I will probably go live less).

Frankly, I like camping out in this little corner of food media too much to give it up. There remains a real dearth of smart, informed, tasteful, honest and entertaining coverage of restaurants, as well as the money, status, personalities and shenanigans that surround this world. Some of the folks I mentioned above do it incredibly well. and Helen Rosner are always essentially reading (and listening). Same for Chris Crowley, Tejal Rao and . How Long Gone is often the best food podcast around. I’m intrigued by what Max Tcheyan is building next. There’s good shit out there, even if the best shit mostly remains in text messages.

We’re past two years of Bangers & Jams. Thank you for subscribing, whether you’re free or paid. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’re the best, seriously. I’m going to keep making this thing as valuable as possible.

If you want to stay at the cutting edge of what’s happening in AI and supercharge whatever kind of work you’re doing with a suite of productivity apps, head over to Every. If you just want hot takes on the best and worst places to eat in New York and LA, stay right here.

Love y’all.

I enjoyed the pilot enough to crack my standard aversion to new scripted television. But I left it convinced that if this show really wants to use driving culture to portray how inconsequentially cumbersome and preternaturally self-indulgent Silver Lake’s surrounding area can get, then there’s only one spot to location scout:

This is where Stadium Way meets Academy Road in Echo Park, sandwiching Dodger Stadium and Elysian Park. If you venture these streets with any frequency, you know exactly where this is headed. Few things disturb LA’s chill like bringing up the absurdity of navigating this space during both peak and random hours.

The trouble hits if you’re trying to go south bound on Stadium Way and turn right onto Academy Road into Echo Park. This is my morning commute to get a drink at Canyon Coffee. It’s technically a local-traffic-only area. Often, cars will pile up 50 deep in the far right lane of Stadium Way waiting to make the turn:

They saunter along slowly, nudging their way toward what may or may not be a yield to the cars coming from an adjacent stop sign, before hitting a short decline and another four-way intersection right here:

Traffic headaches are part of everyday Los Angeles life. A DJ quickly became the most viral celebrity in town earlier this year for torching the city planning on IG. You pick a neighborhood in this city by accepting what five-mile radius is worth never having to leave. But this little hellscape is about as wild as it gets, and here’s where it becomes nuts.

This intersection below where the arrows all meet is only a three-way stop. A southbound car on Stadium Way should theoretically be able to right turn down the ramp — maybe yielding to a westbound car on Academy that just hit a stop sign, the only reason for any slowdown — and continue on unabated.

Plus, there are no other traffic backups in sight. If you’re coming in from any other direction, you can pass through unencumbered by bullshit.

Of course, that’s not how it works. About half of the westbound cars treat the intersection as a four-way stop, and the others do a cautious, jerky jaunt, all of which leads to that southbound Stadium Way crush. A rare aggressive driver coming from one of the other three directions will refuse to concede the right of way, knowing that if they book it into the intersection everyone else will just wait.

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I don’t have much patience for lines or inefficiency. There’s no world in which I would sit behind 50 cars groundhogging one mile per hour. So I’ve embraced a hack that started as a whisper and has spiraled out of control in its adoption. Since so few cars are coming westbound on Academy and the right two lanes remain wide open on Stadium, you can bypass the traffic, hit a left at this stop sign, drive just far enough up Academy to avoid suspicion, hook a questionable U-turn, and then cut the line by waiting out a single beat back at that very same stop sign.

Last Thursday, I went to make this now-instinctual maneuver and trailed 15 other cars doing the same thing. A parade of cheats illegally U-turning their way into saving 10-20 minutes. Later that night, I met a fellow Echo Park resident at a party and quickly dove into intersection chat. She said my shenanigans warranted bad karma. But then she added, “Why don’t you just keep going and turn right? That’s what I do.”

If she were trying to get to Canyon, she’d skip the U-Turn and take Boylston to Scott:

Better for karma, sure, but to me it’s a half-measure.

I love Los Angeles so much. I don’t want anyone to try to “fix” this intersection, especially not the city, though I do need people to drive when they have the right of way. That would be a good start.

If I show up next week and there’s a traffic cop waving folks down, I’ll turn around and try to become a Quat guy. The incongruity of a single lane being backed up while every other one flows steadily is head-scratching, but that’s LA. New York has higher highs and way more real obstacles to reaching them. LA is easy. And when it doesn’t work, when the selfish, kind of broken and lazy side comes out, you can either hack your way out of it or sit there and let it happen to you. Either one is fine.

Last thing: If you missed my Substack Live on Wednesday with talking rom-coms and his new movie 31 Candles, you can catch a replay here:

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These monthly-ish Bangers & Jams roundups are usually reserved behind the paywall, but this one’s coming later than normal, so I’m opening it up to everyone. You can find a loose definition of the categories here. I also contributed a little trick-or-treat themed recommendation for my friends over at . Check it out.

After a slow August, I’ve done a bunch of eating at exciting, confusing, and interesting restaurants across LA, New York, and Maine over the past month. The standouts make up most of the recs here, plus some movie and culture stuff. Let’s get into it.

Bangers

• Stir Crazy, better than ever. I had kind of forgotten about this wine-bar-with-food since my last visit in July, where I had a decent enough meal on a quiet night. I went back on Thursday before the Kallmeyer & party, and the experience is as dialed and exciting as it’s ever been. The corn and ricotta gnudi, the leek toast, the passion fruit scallop crudo, the stuffed Anaheim pepper with fish mousseline — all bangers. Owner Mackenzie Hoffman can talk about wine better than almost anyone, and chef Caroline Leff is on a heater in the kitchen right now.

• The Grill, a worthwhile bi-annual occasion. Every touch is pristine, the dishes are done beautifully, the crowd is hot. You feel invincible when you’re in a booth here. It’s the opposite of the experience I had at Chateau Royale the night before. Both places are openly gouging you for money. At least The Grill earns it. I’m struck by Helen Rosner and Matthew Schneier’s mostly positive reviews of the upstairs Chateau Royale dining room. The food was all fine—a little heavy, rich, and over-seasoned, yet passable—but to do this kind of indulgent, expensive French thing well, the room has to hum. Instead, it just felt kind of embarrassing. The sweet staff carries a yearning vibe like a charming, attractive person has never been in before. It’s luxury-by-numbers devoid of personality.

• Wild Cherry, one of my favorite New York openings this year. The food is great. The perfectly simple alfredo, buttery frog legs, a Caesar in a big wooden bowl that you just use your hands to scoop the dressing out of. Restaurants should not be this good during opening week. It’s why operators Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson are to me the most impressive restauranteurs in the country. These guys make excellent, sceney, fun destinations for adults. Visit one of their openings early, and you’ll notice star staff from Frenchette or Le Veau d’Or circling the room, ensuring it feels like month 13 rather than month one.

• Peak Maine. I updated my Portland city guide last week for paid subscribers. It remains stunning that in a single day here you can accessibly hit: One of the 25 best restaurants in America (Eventide), the country’s greatest diner (Palace) and a top-10 bakery (Tandem) with pit stops at an impeccable oyster bar (The Shop from ), wine store (Maine & Loire) and cocktail spot (Hunt & Alpine). That’s about as good as it gets.

• A dumb night with The Dare. At The Fonda on Friday night, a friend I was dancing with looked at me while Harrison Patrick Smith was ripping “All Night” and said, “Oh, you really like The Dare.” I guess I do. LA is always more my slow, quiet city compared to New York, but it’s good to get an excessively stupid night in once a month or so out here. Go catch this tour.

• Some movie recs. I’ve been on a delightful binge coming out of the New York Film Festival. There are still a few major contenders I need to see, including The Testament of Ann Lee tonight, It Was Just An Accident next week and Hamnet at some point (I guess). But here’s my top 10 rankings for the year so far. These are all worth going see in a theater:

1. Marty Supreme

2. One Battle After Another

3. Sentimental Value

4. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

5. The Secret Agent

6. No Other Choice

7. Pillion

8. Sinners

9. Is This Thing On?

10. Eddington

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Jams

• Étra, Borgo and Torishin. Three restaurants settled into excellent states of maturity. Étra has these dragon tongue beans with lemon and guanciale right now that are so fucking good. Not enough people are ordering them. Borgo always nails the risotto and salads, especially this rave-worthy panzanella with sunchokes and Gran Mugello cheese. , and I followed up a Film at Lincoln Center screening by throwing back Torishin skewers for a couple hours. There are few better ways to spend a New York evening. I’m appreciating the quiet, simple, fad-ignoring confidence with which all three of these places are operating.

• Half of Café Tondo. Inside, it’s a lovely and fun transformation of the old Oriel space with a good vermouth spritz. But then there’s the outside. I don’t understand this thing where people are willingly sitting on stools in a parking lot in Chinatown rocking Dodgers gear listening to a radio broadcast of the World Series. Do we need the Time Again cosplay?

• Among Friends by Hal Ebbott. I’m finally back in a reading groove thanks to this new novel, the perfect thing to break you out of a funk. The inner monologues of fleeting, sympathetic disdain for your closest friends are executed quite well.

• Erin and ’ truly gorgeous shirts at E.M. Reitz. I grabbed this chambray button down from their recent menswear launch during their pop up at ’s new store in Beverley Hills. The kind of thing I want to wear every day.

  

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Hello from the last day of a much-needed two-week vacation. I’ve been Slack and (work) email free for 15 days. Highly recommend.

The last big update to the Bangers & Jams City Guides was in May, so we’re due for an overhaul. A reminder on how these work:

For years, before my friends would go on trips, I’d send them a Google Doc link. Here’s where to eat, here’s what to avoid, here’s how to spend a perfect afternoon, that kind of thing. I’ve moved those Google Docs here for Bangers & Jams subscribers. Each city guide leans food centric, but expands into shopping and culture and things to do.

The top fives bangers and jams for each city are listed first, in order, for everyone. Paid subscribers can click through to get the full list of recommendations.

I’m coming off an extended stretch at home in Los Angeles, a few recent trips to New York and a week hiding out in Maine. Those guides have the newest recs and they’re linked below.

One last thing, for now. We’re getting into my favorite time of year, when there’s at least one good/interesting movie released every week through Christmas. Thank god. A spectacular dinner is my most enjoyable experience in the world. Having a compelling film to argue about is the best way to enhance a meal.

I’m already appreciating this movie year more than 2024. The trio of Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and One Battle After Another keeps rotating order at the top of my favorites list. The New York Film Festival premiere of Marty Supreme is the most fun I’ve ever had at the movies. Sentimental Value is the only thing to make me cry this year. I’ll do a deeper dive in a few weeks after catching a few more big contenders. But get to the movies! Don’t watch trailers or read reviews before you go. Make a late dinner reservation and get there in an Uber Black. Order dessert and drinks. Tell your friends why they’re wrong.

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Run down and uninspired, I relocated from Echo Park over to a suite at Sunset Tower for a few days this week. Mornings at Silver Springs. Lunches of shrimp cocktail and fries by the pool. Polishing off ’s wonderful pregnancy zine Privacy and Tony Tulathimutte’s short stories in Rejection while tanning as much as possible. A couple of the city’s best dinners that I’ll recap below.

This was a more regular move for me in New York, where I spent two years dehydrated and pierced by proximity to the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ. The Chelsea and The Wythe were bi-annual beacons. It never crossed my mind to try it in LA, an infinitely easy place to live. That didn’t make the excursion any less special.

Like I mentioned to last week, the late-summer restaurant rut that seemed to be going around is starting to dissipate. Here are all of my recent favs, from food to film to music since the last big roundup in July. Enjoy.

Bangers

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Brooks’ manager manual

Passionate vs. good service

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And I was stoked to join and on their pod Canal Street Dreams. We got into a bunch of stuff around kitchen vs. corporate culture, New York vs. LA and the future of Substack. Watch it on Substack or listen on Spotify.1

Canal Street Dreams

Austin Tedesco on Canal Street Dreams

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9 months ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Eddie Huang

My first time cooking in a professional kitchen

The sterile crowd at Ha’s

Direct feedback in the kitchen

My short and sweet Substack pitch

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I’ve written before about the fry platter, the only real dish I got on the menu during my time as a line cook. It was an absurd, if-you-know-you-know move. About once a week when we’d get a PX or PPX call in the kitchen — code for a VIP or a very VIP diner — we’d halt standard service, drop two orders of fries and then construct a dipfest using every sauce in house. Black garlic ranch, chicken gravy, nori mayo, chili oil, brown butter béarnaise — eventually we’d find a way to get 12 ramekins of goodies on there.

It was a delightful surprise, and an objectively horrible way to start a long dinner. It’s tough to go through the three courses of fried snacks, crudos, salads and entrees you already ordered after you kicked things off with the richest carbs and fats in-house. Once the initial delight and IG flicks dissipated, the PX customers would politely apologize to their waiters, saying they simply couldn’t finish their steaks and they’d need to skip dessert.

I did have one other PX trick, though. The menu featured a relatively simple shrimp cocktail, served with four pieces in a small bowl filled to the top with ice, a dipper of michelada cocktail sauce and a lime wedge. If someone special was in the dining room, I’d scoop the ice as high as it could go in that tiny bowl, creating a towering Cinerama Dome to feature one or two perfect pieces of shrimp. The servers hated it. A quarter of the time, a shrimp would wobble off its precarious position and hit the floor before reaching the diners. But it was fun and it made people feel taken care of with the smallest sense of luxury, without cratering the rest of their meal.

Getting hooked up at a restaurant is a good feeling. Whether you’re a regular, a friend or an investor, having that back-and-forth with the staff and seeing a few surprises hit the table enhances the experience. There are even apps out there now to help facilitate this level of status for the uninitiated, like and . But what’s the right hook up? What actually delights PX customers, and what’s more pure indulgence for the front- and back-of-house team?

I’ve been chatting about this back and forth with , an excellent restaurateur behind the must-read . He’s got plenty of experience on the giving and receiving end of PX dining. We’re gonna dive into all of this in a Substack Live conversation on Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 4:30pm ET / 1:30pm PT. I’ll post the recording for anyone who can’t make it.

Tune-in: Wednesday at 4:30pm ET

Drop your questions or hot takes in the comments if you’ve got em.

I have a tendency to run myself into the ground in New York. My inability to say no catches up with me. Plans compound on top of each other. I say I’m not going to drink and then I get sucked into trying three cocktails at Bar Kabawa on a Tuesday. That’s how I ended up at The River this week with friends telling me that I should have just canceled plans. We were pregaming a late dinner at Lei. I was dragging, hard.

The beginning of the meal did little to help me rally. Our table was occupied upon arrival, so we crowded around the bar and checked the wine list. Lei has only 24 seats. You sense that intimacy when you walk in. It’s mostly dates, and in mid-July not very attractive ones. (If you’re hot and you live here, you’re probably out of town avoiding … whatever the hell is going on with this humidity). It felt like we were in the way, and I considered sneaking to the bathroom to look at early flights back to Los Angeles.

We ordered a good chunk of the 13-dish menu, and a couple minutes later a Chinese omelette hit the table. A 9:15pm omelette is a tough way to start a meal. It was cooked well, light and mixed with radish, though not all that memorable. I needed to wake up a bit before I could appreciate fancy eggs. But then the restaurant magic started to hit.

• A pickle plate arrived next, starring celery with Sichuan peppercorn. One of the better bites I’ve had all year.

• More small plates started to fill up our compact corner table. Perfectly cooked cockles in a broth with loofah gourd and Thai basil. Fried goat cheese with Chinese five spice and Lady Edison ham with Asian pear — the first salty and indulgent, the second beautifully plated and balanced.

• We transitioned from the bottle of white burgundy at the bar to a chilled red with more texture recommended by our server to go with the lamb noodles.

By this point we were about 90 minutes into the meal and I was ready to stay for another 90. Few things invigorate me like a new, packed restaurant with a distinct point of view operating at a high level. Lei has been open for about six weeks and it’s humming with confidence, energy and style.

Substack, the subscription media app I work for that also powers this blog, raised $100 million in Series C funding this week. We’ll use it to make the platform a better home for all kinds of creators and their subscribers. It’s a thrilling and wild time to be working here. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. But if I had my own fictional interjection of passionate-project funds — and it wasn’t enough to buy the Knicks, my actual dream job — I’d use it to open a restaurant. And the restaurant would probably look a lot more like Lei than what’s going in the The Woolworth Building or what gets attached to boutique hotels.

I like a wide range of restaurants. Remote-ish destinations like Bell’s. Exclusive-ish clubs with amazing food like Torrisi. Timeless classics like Chez Panisse. But if I were running my own spot with someone else’s money — the only circumstances under which it’s worth even considering such an impossible task — I’d keep things small and accessible. I’d prioritize quality of life and quality of experience. It would probably be a bad business, with a small chance of only losing a small amount of money. Any other approach would probably be miserable.

Some more specifics:

• Location: The only places I can see myself living long-term are LA, New York, Maine and the Santa Barbara/Central Coast area. I’m not crazy enough to try to open a business in New York. The state of LA restaurants at the moment is … dispiriting. So Portland or SB is the likely home.

• Space: Twenty-ish seats feels right. Likely not great for business, but good for touching every table, facilitating regulars and not going insane. I like the way Penny is set up to be mostly a bar, while still making you feel connected to the space and appreciative of the food. Mostly a bar with a couple banquette/booth situations would be ideal. And yes to a PDR.

• Hours: Quarter Sheets has this down, operating Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 9pm and then Sunday from 1pm to 6pm. Closed on Mondays. It’s a very “this is what works for us” kind of schedule.

• Staff: Oof, the hardest part. Finding and retaining strong employees in the restaurant game is tough. That’s one reason for a small operation. You can work with a small staff as well. With a simple enough menu, I like the idea of operating with a mix of generalists who are all invested in the place, popping in and out of different roles. More companies should be headed in that direction. Applying this to a restaurant is perhaps my dumbest idea. But, again … this wouldn’t be my money on the line.

• Reservations system: No phone. Bar remains open for walk-ins. Booths/banquettes available via Resy.

• Food and drink: Like Lei, never more than 15 dishes. Fifteen actually sounds kind of absurd here. More like eight to 10. No liquor. Don’t want to deal with a liquor license. That probably puts this in the “wine bar with food” camp, and that’s fine. Six snacks and apps. An entree or two with a side. One dessert. Lightly Southern inspired in ingredients, though no Southern cosplay anywhere else. One in, one out on dishes as the seasons change. Never going for anything more ambitious than B+ food and an A+ time.

That whole approach probably maxes out at a budget of a few million dollars, giving ample room to be particularly indulgent on decor and product. The other $90+ million? Plenty of runway, since it doesn’t look like this place will be profitable … ever. And a significant research budget on travel and dining out, of course.

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I had a great time chatting with on the This is TASTE podcast. You can listen to us get into my journey from ESPN to line cooking to my role at Substack, as well as some restaurant and food media takes.

Matt and I spoke this spring before my first meal at Le Veau d'Or, a restaurant I kept trying to hit in 2024 but finally tried in 2025. Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson accomplish everything you’d want to see in an opening — a distinct point of view, an incredible vibe, warm service, and, of course, some fucking unforgettable plates of food. As I reflected on the best new dishes of the year so far, I kept going back to my evenings at Le Veau d'Or.

Here’s my top 25 rankings since January. We’ll do a top 100 again in December that includes everything from the year. For this one, I’m sticking to either brand new dishes or dishes I tried for the first time. Desserts are — of course — included.

Go check ‘em out.

Top 25 restaurant dishes | 2025

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Halfway into the hottie, I started wishing that I could top the bagel with Kato’s brown butter uni and Tennessee ham. I’ve heard people recommend a hundred different collabs and combinations for Courage. Like most restaurant collabs, the theory sounds better than what actually ends up on the plate.

A true 50/50 collab is tough, often feeling like a bad Top Chef quickfire. Two cooks handle separate components then drop them onto the same plate without a shared vision or sense of balance. A guest chef plugging into the host’s standard menu can be fun, though that fun is usually delivered through the room’s vibe rather than elevated cooking. I like a collab best when the host gives the template of a famous in-house dish — like the simple Courage Bagel or the potato in Wildair’s pomme darphin — to someone else and let’s them do their own twist.

Here are eight across New York and LA I’d love to see happen.

Kato x Courage: Brown butter uni and ham on a sea salt sesame bagel

The Jersey butter is good, but … wouldn’t this be better?

Quarter Sheets x Bavel: Grilled oyster mushroom pizza

I like a lot about Quarter Sheets, but my favorite (savory) dish is whatever pie they’re making with fresh, local vegetables. The Bavel mushrooms, seasoned with a bit of sumac, would make a wonderful pairing. Add a little cheese along with the lovage and avocado purée and you’ve got a knockout.

Little Fish & Penny: Confit oyster po’boy

Fry up these bad boys and get them on a sandwich.

Baroo x Petit Trois: Vegetable omelette

Baroo’s vegetarian tasting menu is one of the most special things in the city. The Petit Trois omelette is perfect. I like the potential here. Perhaps hearts of palm as the filling?

Yang Chow x Sunset Tower: Fire the menu

I just want to eat Yang Chow at Sunset Tower, tbh. Let them do a takeover.

Luv2Eat Thai x Torrisi: Moo-ping zeppole

This is true stoner delight. Just stuff the Torrisi zeppole with Luv2Eat’s moo-ping and add some thai chilies to the mostarda to round everything out.

Superiority Burger x Maru: Cream top ice cream sundae

LA is way past peak cream top, but I want to see what the SB crew would do with Maru’s ideal version as the base of a dessert special.

El Ruso x Mission Chinese Food: Thrice cooked bacon tacos

I’m imagining my favorite MCF dish turned into a taco on El Ruso’s flour tortilla’s and I’m convinced it works.

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Camber

🍽 Friend of Camber: Austin Tedesco

Welcome to Camber—your cheat code to knowing what’s cool in LA before your friends do. Subscribe for free and become that person who always has the best plans…

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a year ago · 1 like · Mady Maio

I’ll do a full Bangers & Jams deep dive next week, but for now, here’s a ranking of my 50 favorite dishes from April, starting with …

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Marlow’s last service is Sunday. The closure didn’t knock me out. Andrew Tarlow and his team made the chalkboard menu restaurant that doubles as all-day cafe & market thing pervasive. It’s now all over Nashville and Austin and Portland, ME. Oftentimes when that happens, the original becomes less essential.

But Marlow’s closure got me thinking about the new wave New York dining institutions that will actually last. The ones that I hope I’m still dining at in 50 years. Places I can’t imagine ever losing their edge, getting lost to time, or deciding they had a good run and walking away.

It’s a tricky line to walk. You have to iterate just enough to stay relevant, hold onto key staff, manage expansion demands without getting overextended, and settle into a day-to-day dining experience that feels timeless.

Here’s my list of 10 restaurants that I think fit the bill. The ones that have opened in New York since 2015 that should and will make it for good. Because no list like this is complete without a fun little argument, I’ll be debating the final results with my friend of on Substack Live on Monday at 3pm ET. Tune in here.

Substack Live: Monday at 3PM ET

Lilia | Williamsburg

Missy Robbins’ buzzy pasta palace has endured due to everything beyond the pasta. I know plenty of friends who roll their eyes at this place. Haters, I guess. I’ve only ever had a great time. The Italian Job gelato and whatever vegetables are on the menu always hit. At night, it turns into one of the most romantic rooms in the city. And it knows exactly what it’s trying to be.

(Also, if you spend $150 per person to eat outside in the parking lot here you’re a sucker. And there are lots of suckers).

Frenchette | Tribeca

playing with food

a big-pan pancake

i don’t go to brunch often, but when i do, i order pancakes for the table, and my favorite pancakes are at frenchette…

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a year ago · 106 likes · 15 comments · paris starn

The real reason for this piece. Last weekend I sat in the dining room at Frenchette during brunch and realized I’ve popped in at least once during every visit to town in the past year. The bartenders are some of the best in the city, and many have been around for years. The pancake is worth dealing with a brunch crowd. The salads are never not great. And this is still one of the few places in the city that hand-cuts their own fries.

Mission Chinese Food | Chinatown

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It’s unlikely that Danny Bowien’s seemingly-always-temporary MCF reincarnation is still around in five years, much less 50. But I really hope there’s something sustainable here. Like at Estela — ineligible given its 2013 opening date — the new Mission Chinese has embraced a collection of staple dishes better than most other bites in the city. The seasonal additions around must-orders like the kung pao pastrami and mapo tofu rarely reach the same heights, but they’re good enough to sustain a long-term balance.

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The Grill | Midtown

This spot was gonna go to The Grill, Torrisi or Gage & Tollner. The Grill wins out, mostly because of the room and the vibe.

Four Horsemen | Williamsburg

The only place on this list regularly switching up most of its menu. I hope Nick Curtola never stops grinding at this absolute gem.

Superiority Burger | East Village

told me last week that SB has no competition for the best desserts in the city. She’s right. Maybe it will continue to evolve. Maybe it’ll go back to operating from a small counter. But I hope it doesn’t ever disappear again.

Via Carota | West Village

I really only eat here around 11am or 3pm, when it’s easy to slide into the bar and order some of the daily specials. It’s easy to spot a restaurant in another city trying desperately to be Via Carota. There’s a spot I like in Boston that even ripped off the coasters. But there’s only one, and I think they could do this thing forever.

Chez Ma Tante | Greenpoint

The perfect neighborhood restaurant. I don’t really want to know what happens to Greenpoint if there’s no Chez Ma Tante around.

Semma | West Village

Unapologetic Foods needed one spot on the list. While Dhamaka still has my favorite food from this restaurant group, it operates out of a vibeless ghost town of a food hall. I’m skeptical that has staying power, so I’m going with Semma, the upscale heavy-hitter of this bunch.

Penny | East Village

The newest addition, and thus the riskiest. But there’s nothing trendy or fleeting about what’s happening above Claud. Penny is the best seafood bar in America. It should maintain that title for a long time.

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Hello from a hotel pool in Austin at the tail end of SXSW. I’m not nearly as tan as I’d like to be and I’m hoping to change that this weekend. Locals have been unenthused by my jokes that every time I visit my hometown it gets 10% worse.

I caught Luck Reunion festival out at Willie Nelson’s ranch last night. Before Waxahatachee’s closing set, she joined her partner, , on stage for a couple songs in a 150-person capacity saloon. No one is writing songs as well as Katie right now. It was a breathtaking hour that shook me from a weird OOO stupor. I found it nearly impossible to transition from always-on to totally disconnected at home in LA. Next time, I’m putting myself on a plane and overloading myself with an exhausting amount of things to do.

It’s been about six weeks since the last big bangers and jams roundup, so we’re due. This one is a little spicy, as I’ve been dining out a bunch and … not everything has been great! Also, I had fun chatting with Matt Rodbard on This Is TASTE. I only regularly listen to three podcasts: TASTE, The Big Picture and How Long Gone. I’m looking forward to making a return to TASTE at some point to get into my line cook days and talk more shit.

Bangers

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I like to order for the table. More specifically, I hate when someone else tries to order for the table. I’m a known control freak, and I specifically enjoy this kind of meal construction game.

There are restaurants where it makes sense for everyone to get one app and one entree for themselves. I don’t frequent those restaurants often. I’m usually at a spot to try a bunch of stuff and share plates with friends. That’s part of the experience. And I’ve become fairly adept at curating that experience.

I’ve hesitated writing this post for a while because I think that showing up with a preordained order is a mistake. So is texting friends a long list of things they must try. It ruins the romance and magic of the dinner, the flirty back and forth with the waiter, the suspense. It’s IG Reels inspired box-checking in a way I can’t get behind. You don’t want to start off a date with your eyes darting between the menu and the Infatuation app.

But there are places where I’ve locked in a can’t-miss collection of dishes. I’ve listed 15 of them below, spanning New York, LA and Austin. Ordering is an art. Consider this a guide. And if you’re gonna give it a try, there are some rules you should know first.

How to order for the table

• The No. 1 rule is do not order for the table if you’re bad at it. The most unattractive thing you can do at a restaurant is treat the service staff poorly. The second most unattractive thing you can do is bungle the order for everyone else. Have you ever seen a dude stumble over his words while requesting one soup and four entrees? Nightmare.

• Ask everyone at the table, “Is there anything you want to make sure we get?” Order it unless you hate them.

• Ask the waiter if they have one rec. Just one. If they list more than two, ignore everything they said. If they recite the full menu, don’t return.

• I’ve had multiple friends point out that they’re thankful I always order a salad. Who are these people not ordering a salad at a big dinner?

• Entrees are almost always meh, but sometimes, I concede, you have to order them.

• Let the restaurant handle when things arrive. Don’t suggest any coursing unless asked.

• Get every dessert, or at least as many as you can handle. Ask your dining companions if they want coffee or amaro.

• Do not order a dish just because you saw a waiter walk past your table with it and it looked pretty. Fight the urge to give into to tablemates who say, “Can we get that?” with big eyes. It’s a consistent letdown.

• Do not order steak unless you know ahead of time that you’re eating with people who all like their steak cooked to the same temp. Haggling over meat doneness at the table is the quickest way to sink a dinner into oblivion.

15 perfect restaurant orders

Alright, onto the lists. I’ve ignored considerations for table size. I think this is what you should order, and I’ve had these exact meals at least twice at each location (often more). Bring as many people as you think should consume this amount of food. Use your judgment.

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There are almost no bad seats at Bridges. Walk into this French spot off Bowery and you are greeted by a cherry wood bar, chrome lights and two booths with black leather cushions. I’ve had wonderful meals in this front area as a walk-in. But the real magic happens beyond the glass-block partitions.

The 50-seat dining room is mostly made up of sectioned banquettes. There are sometimes free standing tables in the middle of the space. If seated there, I’d have to assume someone in my party was a notoriously horrid tipper. An otherwise great meal can be ruined by poor company and poor service, but seating is an underrated variable. Stick me at your restaurant’s worst table and I’ll probably leave with a worse impression of the food. Give me the big ass booth and I’m more likely to walk away elated. It’s irrational, and it’s real.

A couple weeks ago, I settled into a cozy corner of one of Bridges’ rounded banquettes. I maintain that the food here is stellar. But the room certainly helps. It’s a scene that facilitates seeing and being seen. When you have friends on one end of the restaurant or there’s a celebrity in another, you notice right away. An extra foot of buffer allows for intimacy at your table, and the open floor plan fosters intimacy among other diners. You see people swinging by the kitchen to say hi to chef Sam Lawrence or pop in and out of the PDR. And then you see them saunter back to their lovely, lounge-worthy seats ready to drink wine and crush vin jaune gelato for hours.

It’s a rare approach for a new restaurant. Penny is one long counter. Eel Bar has some booths and banquettes, but they’re compact and don’t encompass the full space. Bernee, the new spot from the All Time crew in Altadena temporarily closed following the LA fires, has one glamorous nook in the back. It looks out at a dining room otherwise occupied by bar stools, counters and regular tables. If you’ve ever snagged one of the church pew booths at Sam’s Place in Highland Park, let me know who you paid off.

There’s an economic reality here. Maximizing impossible margins is essential at restaurants. Luxurious booths and banquettes eat away at precious opportunities to better profit off each turn. Diners also have indicated they won’t always reward the investment. Bar Contra works because you can pop in for drinks and dessert after a dinner date then pop out an hour later. You can also linger in their booths if you want. That flexibility is what a lot of New Yorkers are looking for. It’s a fine line to walk — providing the right comforts and managing a palatable per check average.

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If you try to book Torrisi on Resy today, you’ll mostly come up empty. There are a few dining room four-tops at 11pm on a Monday or Wednesday. If you wait and look day-of, you can probably snag a 5pm in the bar area. Head over to Dorsia and the disparity becomes more clear. For a $250 per person minimum spend, a spot at the bar is yours. Bump that up to $300 per person and they’ll move you to a real table.

What you see online doesn’t begin to capture the fortress of gatekeeping going on inside of this (delicious, incredible, must-visit) restaurant. The seating hierarchy is obvious because Torrisi makes it obvious to you.

• There’s a standing bar right next to the kitchen. You can sweet talk your way into drinks and dessert here and have one of the best nightcaps in the city. I’ve also seen dudes stuck here with deeply annoyed dates who got dressed up for Torrisi and can’t help but show glaring disdain for being relegated to the plebeian counter. (I don’t think they got lucky).

• There’s the actual bar, which is solid.

• Next to the bar and near the door there are about five two-tops. This is where Torrisi wants to seat you if they don’t know you. The food hits just as much, but the experience does not.

• Walk past the standing bar and there’s a single banquette with a few tables. These are good for lunch.

• Keep going and now you’re in the dining room, where you could grab a six-top for an $1,800 minimum spend. Fun. What won’t be clarified on Dorsia when you book is if you’re getting a free standing table or a booth.

And lemme tell you, you want a booth. I’ve dined via every type of seating option here. I’ve sat in a booth once — four people at 11:15pm enjoying a late dinner after a party. We booked the table 30 minutes before arriving. It felt special. The food tasted better. I ordered more cocktails than normal, plus every dessert on the menu. Some restaurants bypass banquettes and booths because it’s the only way they’ll make money. Others just withhold, seeing the value in gatekeeping. Not every place can pull this off. It would be annoying if more spots started to Mario World their dining rooms. But then, sometimes, you get shuffled behind the velvet ropes and it’s worth it.

I believe that you don’t ask for the best tables at restaurants, you earn them. Tip well, get to know the staff, show up regularly, call ahead for friends and send them a bottle of wine. These are easy ways in if this kind of thing matters to you. Getting the best table everywhere is overrated. Getting the best table at a couple spots you love is actually pretty cool.

My favorite table in New York is in Rockefeller Center. I don’t request it ahead of time, but by luck or favorable Resy status, I usually end up there. The host at Le Rock moves through the dining room to the very back corner of the restaurant, where two banquettes converge into a corner. Both diners can see out into the rest of the crowd, sensing the energy, but feeling like the only two people around. It’s a great table at 5pm and a perfect table at 9pm when the lights start to dim. I’ve pregamed the ballet here, toasted to birthdays, caught up with old friends, and accidentally celebrated an anniversary with .

A restaurant can just be about the food. A meal can also be about the scene or the company or the wine or the conversation. A memorable dinner can happen at the bar or a table by the door or hunched over a counter. But there’s a special kind of restaurant-only spell that occurs in these spacious booths and banquettes. They happen at Gage & Tollner and Dame, Frenchette and Horses. And for me they happen most often at Le Rock. I remember the razor clams and the scallops. The hand cut fries and the bison au poivre. The profiteroles and the sirocco. The jokes and the stories. And I remember enjoying it all from the best seat in the house.

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