Hey there,
I love quitting. Whatever contemporary, shame-based stigma that exists against quitting has never made sense to me. I’ll quit a book 15 pages in if I’m not feeling it. I’ll quit a city when it no longer feels like home. And, in a wave of restlessness like the one that hit me in July, I’ll quit a job. (Have you ever experienced the rush of relief when your Slack access gets revoked? It’s modern magic).
I loved my time running growth for Every, where I learned more in nine months than I did in any other stretch of my career. I’ll be able to talk about the new thing soon. I’m excited. But I think most of you are here for food and restaurant stuff rather than my professional circus, and historically this has been the time for an annual check-in on Bangers & Jams. So, here it goes as we pass the three-year mark:
My favorite things I’ve written from the past year, listed below, generally overlap with what’s been the most popular stuff around here: Personal essays about cooking, hosting and dining out, insidery restaurant stuff, and compilations featuring friends whose opinions I trust. I’ll be leaning more into that. Plus we’re due for another collab with my friend Olivia Weiss, consistently the most-read things I publish.
One of my favorite restaurateurs told me recently that a thing he likes about this blog is that I’ll write about things people who love food and restaurants talk about with each other, but don’t find covered in larger outlets. I don’t really enjoy compliments. Yet I found that to be very sweet and a good encapsulation of what I’m going for when this thing is at its best.
This is an interesting platform on which to discuss AI. I’m fascinated by what’s coming for dining culture, recommendations and the reservation game. We’re in the very earliest stages of it transforming where you eat and how you eat. A few folks from the major labs with good dining taste (they do exist) are subscribers, as are restaurateurs who are thinking about how to use tools like Codex to drive sales. I also know a few who, in an effort to preserve what’s special about the dining experience, see this as a good time to retreat from technology entirely. We’ll get into this more in the next few months.
We’re due for a big City Guides update in the next month or so. I’m in Norway for the next two weeks, and that’ll go into the collection. Then I’m in New York for all of September and October, bouncing between New York Film Festival screenings and late-night dinners. It’s my favorite time to be in the city, and when I typically find the best stuff to write about it.
If there’s anything you want to see more or less of, reply and let me know. My inbox is much quieter these days. I’m also bringing back last year’s Happy Hour discount sale for one week, dropping the annual price of Bangers & Jams by 80%. If you’re a free subscriber, you can redeem it here:
If you’re a paid subscriber and you’re having any trouble navigating how to take advantage on your current plan, hit me up. I’m happy to handle it in Stripe.
Thanks for being here. I’ll sign off with the best country music playlist you’ll find for enjoying the end of summer:
