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Eater
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Everything the Eater Staff Bought This Month (Including Tomato Chocolate)
Welcome back to our monthly round table of what the Eater team bought, loved, and can't stop texting about in the group chat during July. After convening with my coworkers, I think it's fair to say we've been busy figuring out which candles are the best for dinner parties, taste-testing seasonal summer flavors of our favorite desserts (tomato chocolate? check… Salt & Straw's tomato gelato, we're coming for you), and finding the best graphic T-shirts for the friend/saint who always asks for 'more bread for the table, please?' at Olive Garden. Last month, we loaded up on buckets of Maldon salt and the Platonic ideal of dirty martini olives and brought home a pre-seasoned tadka spoon. During July, I noticed that some of my best food-related purchases were for other people — (is it just me, or are there a whole bunch of birthdays in the summer?) — and while I'm a big fan of birthdays in general, I think the trifecta of Gemini, Cancer, and Leo season feels the most festive. What better way to celebrate a friend than over an ice cold margarita on a balmy bar patio with fireflies, or (literally) touching grass together at a park picnic? My coolest presents last month — chic bug-repellent shawls and a kit for assembling Portillo's legendary hot dogs at home — beget outdoor living, laughing, and loving. That's just the tip of the Dubai chocolate sundae, so let's unpack more of the best stuff the Eater staff bought in July, from strawberry-themed phone chains to pint-sized portable blenders. A dinner party candle with the right amount of stage presence I've been struggling with candles recently. Sure,I like my Earl Grey lavender one, and I gave the Trader Joe's grapefruit one an earnest try, but I've found that most candles in my collection compete awkwardly with the smells of cooking (most of my apartment is just one big room). I find it sensorily confusing to smell matcha while eating a bowl of pasta, for example. I'd gotten whiffs of Big Night's signature dinner party-inspired candle at its events, where it does what a candle should do: lend a pleasant waft every so often but not overwhelm, especially in the presence of food. Finally, I decided to go for it and get the Dinner Party candle. With notes of herbs, saffron, and a little wood, its green yet warm scent hangs in the air in a way that complements whatever I'm cooking or eating, but without the lemon Pledge vibe of some candles. —Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter at Eater Tomato chocolate… yes, tomato chocolate While I love chocolate and I love tomato season, I always thought that those affinities would have virtually zero crossover in a Venn diagram. Wrong! Compartés, one of my favorite innovative modern chocolate companies, just dropped its summer collection, and among the offerings is this bright red tomato-flavored chocolate bar. Before trying it, I thought it would be like one of those zany 'Salted Zucchini Bourbon Vanilla Brie'-type ice cream flavors that's interesting but ultimately not terribly appetizing, but I was wrong; it's great! It somehow manages to accurately capture the umami flavor of a ripe summer tomato and infuse it into a delicate, creamy white chocolate base. Sometimes I forget that tomatoes are a fruit and that they're versatile enough to venture outside of the savory spectrum. — Hilary Pollack, senior commerce editor This lightweight, ginormous stockpot Will I unabashedly praise Eater's cookware collaboration with Heritage Steel? Well, yes, because in the 20 years that Eater has existed, our food-obsessed team has spent a lot of time figuring out what works (and what doesn't) with stainless steel cookware. Every piece from the Eater x Heritage Steel line is made in the US out of 5-ply stainless steel that's durable but lightweight, which is the perfect combination for this 8-quart lidded stock pot; when I'm making a double batch of pasta in the summer, it's so helpful to not be heaving around a heavy, cast-iron pot. — Francky Knapp, commerce writer This coconut syrup is now my favorite way to sweeten anything I'm not sorry that I love sweets — truly, you can pry them from my cold, dead hands. But I do try to be conscious of what makes the cut for my daily sugary-stuff allotment; it must be delicious and worth any potential future dental work. I didn't know coconut syrup was a thing until recently, but I'm obsessed: It's rich and molasses-like, but with a more mild flavor than maple syrup (yes, it is a little bit coconutty), and it's now my go-to for topping yogurt, ice cream (shoutout to my Creami for helping me survive hot summer temps), pancakes, or even adding to coffee or tea. — HP This retro-inspired Scandinavian coffee maker To be honest, I have very low expectations when it comes to coffee makers. I grew up in a family that worshipped their espresso machine and milk frother, with my parents consuming at least three lattes each day and teaching me how to be a full barista by eight years old. Growing up with all that pomp and circumstance surrounding caffeine consumption, as an adult, I now just want a coffee maker that's simple to use, doesn't take up too much space, and looks cute in my kitchen. This Bodum coffee maker exceeds all those expectations; just press the power button twice on the simple LED screen to immediately brew a pot of coffee or program the machine to brew you a cup up to 24 hours later. Inside, a cute little showerhead evenly distributes water over an easy-to-clean metal filter, which brews delicious java and is way more sustainable than buying paper filters. Finally, the Mondrian-esque color blocking subtly decorates my kitchen and the minimalist machine takes up only a little bit of counter space. Gone are the days of spending 10 minutes finagling my retro espresso machine every morning while still only half awake. If you're also a coffee-drinker with simple tastes that just needs their caffeine fix as soon as possible every morning, this is a game changer. — Emily Venezky, editorial associate Portillo's world-famous hot dogs, straight to my mom's door You can take the woman (my mother) out of the Midwest, but you can't take away her desire for Portillo's legendary Chicago-style hot dogs. I ordered this hot dog kit from the restaurant for her birthday, and it shipped in just a few days, for free, and included everything you need to recreate the magic at home: 10 hot dogs, 10 poppy seed buns, yellow mustard (no ketchup, of course), green relish, celery salt, and a jar of sport peppers. — FK Ninja's super tiny and easy-to-use portable Blast blender I have a huge blender from That Big Blender Company Everyone Loves and I'm going to be honest with you: I kind of hate it. Ninety percent of the time that I need to use a blender, it's to make a single-serving smoothie or a modest amount of sauce, and I do not want to fumble with loading and cleaning a pitcher the size of a fish tank to make, like, one glass of Bluenana Breeze or whatever. This month, I got a Ninja Blast, and it's so tiny in the best way possible! You can literally drink your smoothie out of it without removing the cup from the motorized base because it's so light and small. It has just two buttons, comes in a million colors (I went with the metallic olive green), and is cordless and rechargeable, so you could easily take it with you on a weekend trip or to a party. This is the exact no-frills compact blender I need; zero wrangling, no huge parts. — HP Your everyday coffee doesn't have to be boring My husband loves space, and he loves orange cats. Accordingly, I was instantly intrigued when I saw this bag of beans from the Austin-based Sightseer Coffee Roasters, which features an orange cat as an astronaut on its label. I've been on the hunt for a good everyday coffee: something not too dark but not too bright either, easy to sip black, and ideally with some berry-ish notes. I tend to like Ethiopian beans and these hit all of my criteria. I've already restocked with two more bags, looking forward to starting my mornings with that goofy space cat. —BM Last Crumb's seriously decadent key lime pie cookie Last Crumb's cookies are internet-famous, for good reason: They're elaborate, unique, decadent, and, of course, doughy and delicious. I love a cookie with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth interior and Last Crumb really nails it with the fillings. (They made Keith Lee's eyes roll into the back of his head, if that means anything to you.) I was blessed to try the Summertime Collection this month, and lord, there are some absolute BANGERS in this (admittedly very pricey and luxurious) box of cookies. My absolute favorites are the Florida Man (basically a miniature key lime pie, complete with a fluffy meringue-like topping), the Tokyo Zest (a yuzu cheesecake cookie), and the Donkey Kong, a banana cream pie creation that is arguably Last Crumb's most famous and celebrated cookie — and, if you like banana like me, the best cookie you've ever had in your life. — HP Emma Bridgewater's floral English earthenware mugs You know that trope of ultimately, slowly, turning into some version of your mother? I welcome it wholeheartedly, especially if it means growing her collection of Emma Bridgewater's mugs. The English ceramics company is well-known for its earthenware pottery, which is often hand-painted with animals, flowers, and other cottagecore staples. I gifted this cornflower mug to my mother for her birthday, and aside from looking really cute it also feels good to hold; the candle is curved just so, and the slightly larger bottom gives it the appropriate amount of weight. — FK Everyone's thinking it (the shirt's just saying it) If you're the Table Mom of your group, this shirt is made for you. This off-white Pasta Dept. Tee takes care of the need to ask for more bread because it's not a matter of whether you'll ask for extra bread, but when. The puff ink design gives this shirt extra oomph rather than the (eventually) crackly iron-on designs of other shirts, and it arrives in the mail inside on-brand bread packaging. — Dianne de Guzman, regional editor I can't stop eating this spicy, garlicky Palestinian dip I know that Palestine is renowned for its high-quality olive oil, but I'm a newly obsessed shatta stan; this condiment from Canaan Palestine is a blend of hot chiles, garlic, olive oil, and Dead Sea salt that I put on eggs, fish, meat, and (my personal favorite) drizzled over labneh with some crusty bread. It's kind of doing the same thing for me that chile crisp did when I first discovered it (meaning: going on everything, all the time). — FK Ossa's hella sparkly strawberry phone chain I have a huge purse, and always have to put some sort of tactile accessory on my cell phone so that I can easily find it while rifling around in my cavernous, seemingly bottomless bag. This month, I decided I'd had enough of my Octobuddy (although it was, admittedly, very useful) and switched to this more luxe-feeling, crystal-emblazoned strawberry chain. In addition to being almost unreasonably sparkly (I get compliments on it from strangers literally every day), it has a really nice feel in your hand that gives it an ASMR element, too. — HP See you next month.
Los Angeles Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Restaurant gift cards make the perfect wedding present. Just ask this L.A. couple
The average wedding registry is filled with blenders, dishware and sets of fancy glasses and knives. Bride-to-be Liv Dansky didn't need any more kitchen equipment. As a seasoned recipe developer, food writer and kitchen gear reviewer, her collection of appliances rivaled the most well-stocked test kitchens in the country. When it came time to marry her longtime boyfriend, she knew they didn't want, or need, a traditional wedding registry. She and Jeffrey Rosenthal met at Washington University in St. Louis. He was from Manhattan Beach. She was from Denver. Their relationship blossomed as the two ate around their new city, trying as many restaurants as they could on a college kid's budget. 'Exploring restaurants and food are my love language,' says Dansky. 'I love trying new restaurants, and so does he.' With her heart set on a career in food, Dansky spent a year abroad at Le Cordon Bleu in London. Rosenthal continued his medical studies, and Dansky eventually landed a job in the test kitchen of Food & Wine and Southern Living magazines in Birmingham, Ala. She spent her days shopping for groceries, assisting with food styling on shoots and testing and developing recipes. When the two decided to marry and move to Los Angeles, they knew how they wanted to discover their new home together. 'Food has just been my entire life,' says Dansky. 'I decided that it would be fun to get gift cards to restaurants in Los Angeles because it's a really great way to get to know a city,' she says. Her Los Angeles bridal shower took place in a back room at Mercado La Paloma with food from Gilberto Cetina's Holbox on the tables. And the invitation included a special request for guests in the form of a poem: As you may know, Liv and Jeff love to eatExploring food in L.A. will be such a treat From Salt & Straw to Sugarfish Even In-N-Out is so delishSo instead of gifting them a new Crock-PotPerhaps a gift card to a restaurant that's hot!Although a registry is the typical dealI bet they would love to try your favorite meal. The guests delivered. Dansky and Rosenthal received dozens of gift cards to restaurants all over the city. There were classics like Dan Tana's and Musso & Frank, award-winning restaurants like République and Bavel. The selection ranged from Pink's Hot Dogs to the crisp, white-tablecloth-covered tables at Nancy Silverton's Osteria Mozza. 'It was so fun,' says Dansky. 'Jeff's aunt really took it to heart and she got us a ton of gift cards to places we probably would have never gone to like Dan Tana's and Philippe's.' Rosenthal's aunt arranged the gift cards in a binder with specific instructions for the newlyweds. They could use the the cards for a date night at least once a month. And for each meal, she included two blank note cards. 'How about writing about the food and your favorite dish,' she wrote. 'Possibly write about another restaurant that you want to try that has the same chef.' She told the couple to keep the note cards a secret and share the memories with each other the following year. Dansky and Rosenthal found themselves all over Los Angeles. They obsessed over Margarita Manzke's baguette at République, ordered with both butter and pan drippings. Though Rosenthal has spent a fair amount of time in the South, she couldn't get enough of the shrimp and grits at Keith Corbin's Alta Adams in West Adams and the cornbread at Hatchet Hall in Culver City. She's still dreaming about an orange meringue dessert from Funke in Beverly Hills and a plate of crispy rice with squid ink she ordered as a special at Crudo e Nudo in Santa Monica. They spent the day in Pasadena after a meal at Union, an excellent Italian restaurant in Old Pasadena. 'I had never been to Pasadena, so it was fun to get to explore new parts of the city,' Dansky says. 'I mostly just want to eat out, and we don't really do a lot of other things. I would have spent all this money eating at these restaurants, so it saved us quite a bit.' With restaurants and food vendors across the city still struggling to recover from the Hollywood strikes, January fires and the immigration raids and demonstrations, the gift cards were also a way to help Los Angeles restaurants. Gift certificates offer immediate revenue and often lead to repeat customers and diners spending more than the total value of the cards. Dansky says she and Rosenthal have already returned to some of the restaurants they discovered through the certificates multiple times. They're now budding regulars at Hatchet Hall. After a year and a half of eating their way through the city, they still have a few gift cards left. Lobster rolls at Brooke Williamson's Playa Provisions, French dips at Philippe the Original and sandwiches at Johnnie's Pastrami in Culver City will all be future date nights. 'I lived in a lot of cool places, but in L.A., anything you want is accessible,' Dansky says. 'On the weekends, we can spend the entire day running around, eating and exploring new neighborhoods. It's the best way to get to know a city.'
Eater
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
The Smash Burger Joint That Went Viral Is Expanding to Southwest Vegas
The smash burger spot from the team behind Sorry Not Sorry Creamery still draws nightly lines — eight months after opening. Now, With Love, Always will expand with a second location in southwest Las Vegas, set to open later this year at the Bend. Owners Drew Belcher, Damian Ocampo, and Kevin Whelan leaned into their social media savvy to launch the burger brand, leveraging a combined 1.4 million followers across their two popular accounts, @unlokt and @hookedlv. They studied what made smash burger joints succeed in other cities, then tailored that formula for Las Vegas and marketed it with precision. Their burgers are made for the camera and the crowd: fresh Black Angus patties get smashed on a hot griddle until a lacy crust forms, then stacked with melted American cheese, whisper-thin onions, and served on a soft potato roll. Even on weekdays, the line at their Centennial Hills location wraps around the strip mall. Alongside the burgers, the shop serves soft-serve custard dipped in nostalgic coatings like cherry and birthday cake. The southwest location at 8670 West Sunset Road, Suite H-110 promises more of the same — and likely, more lines. Battista's Hole in the Wall Is Closed for a Little While A self-proclaimed hole-in-the-wall tucked beside the Linq parking lot, Battista's Hole in the Wall is as much a Vegas institution as it is a kitschy novelty. Known for its fully prix-fixe menu and old-school charm, the restaurant closed on June 1 for renovations and will reopen on June 23. Its neighbor, the adjacent Stage Door Casino — famous for selling packaged liquor to Strip hotel guests 24 hour a day — will follow with its own renovation closure from June 23 to July 1. The restaurant is fully prix fixe with Italian classics like spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, and veal Marsala coursed with a starter of minestrone soup or salad, pours of house wine, sides of garlic bread and pasta, and a finale cappuccino. Battista's combines the red booth and heavy woods of other classic Vegas institutions, paired with a Buca di Beppo-style maximalism that calls for all manner of framed picture, glass bottle, wooden basket, garlic strand, and wagon wheel affixed to every wall, ceiling, and surface. It's not the best Italian food in Las Vegas. But between its 50-year tenure, popularity among the convention set, and the appeal of a multi-course meal that starts at $29.95, it's good to know this closure is only temporary. Salt & Straw Finally Hits the Las Vegas Strip Salt & Straw is headed to the Las Vegas Strip, with two new shops set to scoop up foot traffic. The cult-favorite ice cream brand — known for inventive flavors like honey balsamic black pepper, marshmallow-filled Pots of Gold & Rainbows, and a loaded Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough — will debut its first location this fall at the Flamingo with a street-facing entrance next to Gordon Ramsay Burger, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. A second outpost is planned for early 2026 at Paris Las Vegas, tucked into one of the Eiffel Tower's legs near Arc Bar. When Salt & Straw made its Las Vegas debut at UnCommons in June 2023, co-founder and head ice cream maker Tyler Malek joked about developing an all-you-can-eat prime rib flavor. That particular scoop hasn't hit the menu yet, but with two Strip locations on the horizon, inspiration may strike.
Time Out
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Salt + Straw is hosting its own National Ice Cream Week with free waffle cones and tasty giveaways
When it comes to sweet, frozen treats, the most wonderful time of the year is almost upon us—and no, we're not talking about Christmas in July. We're talking about National Ice Cream Day, which this year falls on Sunday, July 20. And to celebrate, Salt & Straw —the famed Portland, Oregon creamery that has locations on the Upper West Side and the West Village—isn't just doing one day of creamy desserts this year. Instead, it's hosting a whole festive week with a slew of special promotions, new menu items and, yes, free ice cream. From Monday, July 14 to Sunday, July 20, Salt & Straw will announce specials throughout the week in-store and online, including perks such as complimentary scoops for kids and free waffle cones daily (for those who enter their email and sign up for the Salt & Straw app). The parlor's National Ice Cream Week programming kicks off on Monday, July 14 with its new topping lineup, featuring a chocolate sauce made from Heirloom Peruvian organic cacao and organic cacao butter, Colombian sugar dark with molasses, and Himalayan pink salt. Other new garnishes include marionberry coulis, candied cocoa nibs, chocolate granola, and wild Italian Amarena cherries slow cooked in copper pots, guaranteed to add a sweet and tart kick to your ice cream sundae. Friday, July 18 sees the launch of the brand's new Strawberry Shortcake Waffle Cone. Guests can order their favorite ice cream in these limited-edition cones but if that's not enough, you can get an exclusive for Ice Cream Week Strawberry Waffle Cone Sundae featuring Salt & Straw's Strawberry Honey Balsamic ice cream, topped with whipped cream and cherries on the new Strawberry Shortcake Waffle Cone. And the week culminates on Sunday with prizes galore. Every order on National Ice Cream Day will come with a digital scratch-off card to earn a prize, ranging from free scoops of ice cream to a personal ice cream-making session with Salt & Straw chef- founder Tyler Malek. The ice cream chain is also launching a new loyalty program and offering early access to special menu items on the Salt & Straw website and app during the week. Keep up to date on all the deals and specials, and you'll even be able to skip the lines by placing your orders using the brand's Order Ahead feature on your mobile phone, computer or anywhere you use the Salt & Straw app.
Boston Globe
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Mike & Patty's opens in Lexington; Darling debuts in Cambridge
In Salem, N.H., artisanal ice cream parlor Salt & Straw opened its first New England location at Tuscan Village (400 Artisan Drive) on Wednesday, July 2. The Oregon-based shop scoops unusual flavors like goat cheese marionberry habanero and pear with blue cheese. Visit daily from 11 a.m. Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up And at Brighton's Charles River Speedway (525 Western Ave.), Will Isaza and Jen LaForge ( Birds of Paradise ) introduce Salsa Shack , a pop-up running through December, serving corn tortilla tacos and corn chowder. Advertisement Coming soon : In Central Square, the highly anticipated Darling opens on Friday, July 11, replacing the Orfano , Row 34 , Tiger Mama ) and Zimu Chen ( Eastern Standard , Mariel ), with Mark O'Leary ( O Ya and Shojo ) in the kitchen. Advertisement There's a 40-seat lounge and a 16-seat bar spinning hip-hop and punk. On the dim-sum-style menu: soy-braised duck feet, a 'filet o' fish' bao, and red-braised pork ribs. Visit Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. Boston Public Market (100 Hanover St.) introduces Melt in Your Mouth , an all-natural bakery run by Silpa Pande, featuring sweets free of preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. She started the business at the Walpole Farmers Market and recently won the BPM's Entrepreneurship Forum Incubator Competition, allowing for a rent-free stall starting this fall, lasting for a year. Kara Baskin can be reached at
