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New York Times
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
Starting Over? These 6 Gifts Feel Like Home.
In this edition of The Gift, we're talking about the value of a gift that feels like home — especially during times of uncertainty. Plus, tapered candles to elevate any table. Recently, I chatted with LA-based cookbook author Molly Baz, who, for the past six months, has been rebuilding after losing her house to the Altadena fire. For Molly, the experience has been clarifying: When you're starting over, stuff that feels like you, even small things, can go far — grounding you in the moment, reassuring your senses, restoring a feeling of home. While speaking with her, I was brought back to my own time of rebuilding, when my marriage ended. I have a distinct memory of ferrying boxes of my old life over the threshold of my new apartment. Once I'd unpacked, it was at once startling and comforting to look around and see my old life surrounding me in this new one. As I rebuilt my routines, I was relieved to touch these objects and feel them in my hand. A mug that for years held my morning coffee. A tall glass, its curves catching the light, reminding me to drink water. A sunny Dutch oven, promising bounty. And my books, like bricks to build a new home. These things reassured me when my sense of self felt brittle and strange. There are some special heirlooms that follow you throughout life, even when life itself looks uncertain or unfamiliar. And I've found that gifting or re-gifting them — to loved ones or to yourself — can sometimes help provide a surprising sense of grounding during whatever sort of rebuilding life throws our way: These LA-designed, Japan-made mugs were crucial staples of Molly Baz's breakfast routine, and among the first things she restocked after the fires. They're the perfect size for lattes and cappuccinos, and are both modular and stackable. Says Molly: 'I remember getting those Hasami mugs and being like … my morning feels right again.' This buy-it-for-life watering can produces a steady flow that's perfect for reaching a plant's roots, and develops a lovely patina over time. As Wirecutter writer Jackie Reeve says, 'You can keep a Haws can for decades because it works so well and looks so good as it ages.' Head of newsletters Sofia Sokolove says that this eyecatching mesh fruit bowl, gifted to her after a breakup nearly a decade ago, has fit perfectly as a colorful centerpiece in each of her three kitchens since. She loves its versatile shape and size, and how a bright orange or banana looks peeking through the mesh. Another restock for Molly: This luxe candle, which had been in every room of the old house, filling the space — and now the rooms in her new home — with notes of cedar, birchwood, smoke, and musk. For anyone celebrating a new home or honoring an old one — newlyweds, downsizers, college grads, or first-apartment dwellers — our gifts experts recommend this custom house portrait. Just submit a high-res photo of the house, and choose the right medium: watercolors, oils, what have you. The result? An eminently charming, accurate, and instant heirloom piece of artwork. Brighten bookshelves or side tables with this petite Bartlett pear vase, complete with a leafy green accent. As we put it in our guide to the best housewarming gifts: 'Aesthetic loveliness aside, pears symbolize beneficent abundance, an ideal sentiment for friends christening a new home.' How lovely. Big, disruptive changes are doorways you're forced to walk through. A major move. Parenthood. Disaster. Loss. Illness. Divorce. We have no way of knowing what will unfold on the other side, or how to reconstruct ourselves into the same-but-different person we need to be. In such moments, things won't save us. But it would also be wrong to say they don't matter. A potted plant roots us in a moment of care and beauty. A platter urges us to invite friends over. A spatula reminds us of our competence. The things we gravitate toward might be clues to the life we want now. Maybe even the life we need. Why not follow them?
Fast Company
07-08-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Molly Baz helped turn this former McDonald's in Portland into a vegan fast food paradise
In an industrial pocket of North Portland, Oregon just a few minutes off I-5, there's an old McDonald's that was given a surprising second life. The familiar architecture is now home to Face Plant, a vegan burger joint that opened earlier this year and aims to 'become the best fast food worldwide,' according to founder Matt Plitch. It's a lofty goal—but it's driven by an even bigger one. 'Fast food is [a huge source] of meat consumption outside the home,' he says. 'And so the aim is to change the trajectory of global warming for 8 billion people.' Face Plant was nearly four years in the making—from developing a business plan and bringing in investors, to finding the right location, to developing an alt-meat blend that 'tastes better than a Big Mac.' On that last front, Plitch had some serious help: The food influencer and cookbook author Molly Baz did all of the restaurant's recipe development. And this labor seems to be paying off: In the first few months, Plitch says they've served 'tens and tens of thousands of customers,' far exceeding expectations, with the average ticket running 50% higher than they anticipated and more than double that of McDonald's. Plant-based products are part of a growing industry, one that was valued at $8.1 billion in 2024, more than double that of 2017. Still, there have been strong headwinds —both Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have seen sales decline as they struggle to identify a broader customer base beyond just vegans and vegetarians. But Plitch says his target customer actually isn't vegan at all. 'We built this to serve people who love fast food and eat a ton of meat,' he says. 'And while we'll be so grateful for vegans and vegetarians who are interested and want to support us, the entire model is around stealing the McDonald's customer.' For starters, that means not broadcasting Face Plant's sustainability bona fides. The color scheme is a bright red (no greens or browns in sight); the logo is an outline of two hands holding a burger; the font is chunky and casual—it all feels inviting and familiar, not like it's trying to coerce people into changing their eating habits to save the planet. Which, Plitch says, is exactly the point. This is a particularly resonant goal, especially given where Face Plant is located. At the base of a peninsula called Swan Island, the area is home to a number of warehouses, port workers, UPS and FedEx facilities, a Coast Guard station, and the Daimler Truck North America headquarters. 'It's a little bit of a different flavor than your typical Portland neighborhood,' he says. (It's also part of the Portland Harbor Superfund site, which brings an added poignance to Plitch's environmental hopes for his restaurant.) What's on tap Face Plant's menu is intentionally small and includes a burger (with four different variations, depending on how loaded you want it), nuggets, french fries, and milkshakes. 'We want to do a few things exceptionally well,' Plitch says, adding that they are adding a plant-based chicken sandwich to the menu this fall. The buns are from the same bakery as In-N-Out Burger, while the base of the burger is Impossible meat. Still, it took three years to get the taste where he wanted it to be. And that's where Baz came in. When Plitch was growing up, Baz's now-husband, Ben Willett, was one of his closest friends, so after he came up with the idea for Face Plant, she was his first—and only—culinary call. He says in addition to Baz being 'one of the best recipe developers in the world,' it was also significant that she was an omnivore. 'It was so important to us that Molly came into the test kitchen every day and asked herself, 'Is this as good as the Double-Double Animal Style I had at In-N-Out yesterday?'' 'Molly's superpower is craveability. She makes things that stay with you after you've had them,' he says. On this front, he had some serious help: Food influencer and cookbook author Baz did all the recipe development for Face Plant, turning Impossible's standard mix into 'something entirely unique through new food science,' he says. Her team also developed the vegan milkshakes, which are made using pea protein. Plitch says while coffee, chocolate, and strawberry took 'a matter of days,' vanilla took a year to develop. 'You can't mask the coconut, oat, or soy.' Plitch says Baz continues to be involved in Face Plant, not just with developing new items like the forthcoming plant-based chicken sandwich but in strategic planning as they look at expanding the business. Baz, who's also a shareholder in the company, isn't the only high-profile partner. Face Plant raised about $4 million in venture funding, including from former Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario's ReGen Ventures. (AgFunder, Bread & Butter Ventures, and Ceas are also backers.) Why fast food? Vegan restaurants have been gaining popularity—and clout—in recent years, perhaps most notably when Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park transitioned to a plant-based menu in 2021. Still, fast-food forays into meat alternatives haven't been a resounding success. McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King all introduced plant-based burgers over the last five years, but only Burger King's Impossible Whopper is still around in any meaningful way—and even then, customers online have complained that they're not widely available. But Plitch isn't turned off by these trends. 'I really, truly feel like food service and fast food is the greatest platform for hospitality in the world.' Before Face Plant, he launched a carbon-neutral food brand, but he couldn't shake the distance between what he was creating and the consumer. 'You don't own the relationship with the customer; you don't get to control your price. You're sort of effectively in the voice of Whole Foods or Fred Meyer,' he says. 'One of the things I really yearned for was being front and center in terms of the relationship with the customer.' That relationship is a priority for Face Plant. With more than 45 employees, Plitch says they spend about eight times more hours training them than the competition does. At $17 an hour, the pay is also higher than many fast food joints (Portland's minimum wage is $16.30). A key part of orientation is watching the Mr. Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor together. 'It's the greatest two-hour summary of everything we have to do as a company,' he says. 'The burgers, the shake, the fries, these are our little Trojan horses covered in special sauce to do our real job, which is what I think he was setting out to do, of showing people they deserve love.' And, in a marked difference to the vast majority of his fast food competitors, Plitch is pushing back against automated technology instead of embracing it. '[Their] belief, as far as I can tell, is that if we minimize that connection, we can reduce labor to increase profit. Our whole job is to do the exact opposite of that,' he says. 'We are not a tech company. We are a human company. And that's the entire bet we're making.' A hungry audience In the months that Face Plant has been opened, Plitch says their expectations have been 'blown away.' In the first month alone, sales were five times what he expected; they're planning to continue expanding their nighttime hours, eventually staying open until 2 a.m., and to add delivery and catering soon. And customers seem impressed so far: The vegan joint has over 600 reviews on Google, the vast majority of them five stars. 'You've got truckers ordering next to University of Portland kids and everything in between,' Plitch says. On this front, the location is a big help: It's a major funnel for people heading to or from the interstate highway and is in a bit of a restaurant wasteland, which likely makes it an even more attractive option for people who work nearby. The price is a factor as well, which was Plitch's aim from the start. He says their goal was just to be around a dollar more than a comparable McDonald's menu item. 'We spent three years to make sure the cost could be competitive with the big nationals,' he says. 'Our most expensive meal is $13.49.' He also stresses the importance of taste and freshness compared to their competitors. The fries are made with a bit of white vinegar; the cold brew shakes have instant coffee crystals. Face Plant employees slice the onions, lettuce, and tomatoes every day in house; they also make between 1,000 and 1,500 patties every day—hand-mixing the Impossible meat with their own proprietary blend of spices. And as a meat eater myself (who'd love to be eating less meat), I was right there with them when I tried Face Plant's burger (I went with the 'fancy'). The bun was fluffy, the patty had a smashburger quality to it, and the sauce had just enough tang. But interestingly, what struck me the most were the veggies: The iceberg was perfectly crisp, the onions were thinly sliced, and the pickles immediately sent me back to the 39-cent McDonald's cheeseburger of my childhood. I was eating a fast food burger, and it was good. While Plitch doesn't plan to dramatically grow the menu, he has big plans to expand Face Plant's presence. He hopes to open a second location in the next year and a half (likely also in Portland or elsewhere in Oregon or Washington), but he has global ambitions far beyond that. 'Our aim is to become the most loved fast food worldwide and take down McDonald's,' he says. 'It's going to be insanely hard but that's the hope.' The early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Los Angeles Times
26-07-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
When cooks lose their dream kitchens
Their custom-built homes, each with kitchens tailored for their specific cooking needs, burned in the Eaton Fire. But through the loss, cookbook author Molly Baz and novelist/food writer Michelle Huneven have found renewed appreciation for friends and family.
Time Magazine
26-06-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025: Bobbie
When American parents began ordering infant formula from Europe, where regulations against additives like corn syrup are more strict than in the U.S., a new American company called Bobbie met the demand. The 'European-style' formula has been marketed with slogans like, 'I like it shaken, not stirred' and created viral moments like buying a giant ad in Times Square featuring cookbook author Molly Baz breastfeeding with a can of Bobbie in her hand. Good deeds also helped boost the company's profile: They have provided formula for families impacted by the California wildfires and moms who have had mastectomies. Within 18 months of launching in 2021, Bobbie surpassed $100 million in revenue. Co-founder and CEO Laura Modi, mother of four, recently raised eyebrows with many of her customers when she joined a group that will consult with controversial HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on updating nutrition guidelines for formula. But Modi, who emphasizes the importance of bringing a mother's perspective to the male-dominated group consulting with Kennedy, has long asserted that nutritional standards are a non-partisan issue and wants to impose restrictions on ingredients like sucrose in U.S.-made formulas to make sure the first food that many babies feed on, regardless of cost, are healthful. 'I feel like we've become experts in navigating politics, politicians, the lobbying world,' she told TIME earlier this year on Bobbie's political advocacy work more generally. 'We have an opportunity to really question the status quo to give needed support to parents.'
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
Molly Baz launches new miso mayonnaise right in time for tomato sandwich season
Molly Baz is back with a zippy new flavor launch from her hit specialty mayonnaise line that could be the perfect summer sandwich condiment: Miso Mayo. The two-time New York Times bestselling cookbook author, known for her flavor-packed recipes and quirky culinary lingo -- like " Cae Sal" for "Caesar salad" -- launched the new umami-forward white miso Ayoh flavor on Wednesday. "It's the latest and the greatest, my new obsession," she said in a video on Instagram, discussing the "years in the making" "magical flavor" she saved specifically for summer. The salty and sweet condiment is made with a blend of white miso, toasted sesame seeds, and a touch of brown sugar, which Baz said is "acidic and a little roasty, toasty." "It can be a marinade, it can be a dressing," she said -- or her personal favorite, the saucy base for a summer tomato sandwich. Ayoh is available online, as well as hitting shelves nationwide in July at Whole Foods Market, following Baz's recent $4.5 million deal that helped secure the LA-based entrepreneur a spot in the popular grocery chain. Check out Baz's recipe below for an taste of the hit summer condiment. Miso Mayo Tomato Sando Ingredients 2 slices of bread, classic white or a crusty sourdough 1 juicy summer tomato (heirloom if you're feelin' fancy) A fat squirt of Ayoh Miso Mayo Flaky salt (don't be shy) Black pepper (lots) Optional zhuzh-ups: fresh basil, sesame seeds, a drizzle of olive oil, a swipe of butter if you're extra Directions Butter up the bread and toast it up. Give that bread a nice golden tan. Just toast 1 side only. The toasted side becomes the inner part of the sando. Slice your toms. Thick slabs of tomato only. None of that paper-thin nonsense. Lay them out, super generously season with salt & pepper, and give 'em a minute to drip their little hearts out. Sauce it up. Take your Ayoh Miso Mayo and slather it on both slices. Top. Bottom. Maybe even the sides. Miso's got toasted sesame + brown sug', and that nutty-savory-sweet combo deserves full coverage. Assemble the sando. Layer on your tomatoes. Crack over some more black pep. Shower with flaky salt. Maybe a leaf of basil if you're feeling herby. Maybe a little olive oil glisten if you wanna go full glossy. Smush it gently to let the juices mingle. Then bite. Smile. Sauce your chin. Repeat.
