episode 22: eatin' tinned fish, poppin' Lactaid, and drinkin' sleepy girl mocktails
things are fishy at Fishwife, people are poppin' Lactaids, and drinking cherry juice mocktails. lets discuss!
time to debate: Washingtonian’s Very Best Top 100 🏆
second to Spotify Wrapped release day is the release of the Washingtonian's top 100 very best restaurants list, in my book. the magazine been publishing this list since the 1980s (this article had a cool retrospective on how the list has changed since then). examining the 2024 edition - I have been to 33/100 of this years’ restaurants in my DC eating career - not bad! of the top 10: I’ve only been to Gemini and L’Ardente. Gemini’s ice cream is some of the best in the city, but I haven’t tried their food. I think L’Ardente is consistently really good and very fun, but looking at the rest of the list, I would have bumped some up (like Daru, Makan, Maydan) instead. I also think some spots should notttt have made it on the list (El Presidente, Nina May, sorry not sorry!). there’s also some restaurants I think are missing (Any Day Now, Tonari). I made a TikTok video here with my full thoughts, check it out! and perhaps I shall make more content featuring my face in the future as long as y’all are nice to me!
parting thoughts: I always like TheDcFoodPundit’s content and his message in one of his review videos was spot on - you can disagree with rankings and still understand why some spots made the list. food is subjective! we all have opinions!
and yes, the James Beard Foundation released their semifinalist nominations - which includes many D.C. restaurants and chefs. but sorry, I only have so much space in this newsletter!!! I have to talk about Lactaid and tinned fish!
the yassification of Lactaid 💅🏽
have you heard that hot girls have tummy issues?? the rise of IBS discourse has brought with it, Lactaid talk! Bettina Malinkal writes for Eater in a piece about Lactaid becoming a star in the “post-hot-girls-have-IBS” world, even though its been around forever. the pill is a lactase enzyme tablet, and has always been a useful and popular tool for many, particularly for certain people prone to IBS. the piece highlights its presence and availability in many Jewish delis, in ice cream shops, and more. a new company called Milky has even elevated the Lactaid aesthetic, by making a birth control-style blister package of the pills for you to keep in your wallet when you’re on the go. go forth and eat dairy safely!
tinned fish drama 🐠
if you’ve been in the “Hot Girls Eat Tinned Fish” side of the internet, you would recognize the rise of Fishwife, a tinned fish brand with cute and quirky packaging. its founders, Caroline Goldfarb and Rebecca Millstein were featured in NYT and Conde Nast Traveler and the fame ushered the company into a Shark Tank appearance last month. however, it was only Rebecca who represented the company - why was Goldfarb missing? turns out they were (tinned?) beefing. Fishwife sued Goldfarb on the claim that she refused to turn over access to the company’s website, email, and social media as a tool to get a bigger stake in the company. she initially agreed to a 8.75% share but was then demanding 35% - and despite having done no work on the company since May 2021, she has been posting until last week about Fishwife. the lawsuit was dropped with prejudice, suggesting a quiet out-of-court settlement. this was reported by a journalist Casey Lewis (who has a great newsletter) and Business Insider. fishy indeed!
sweethearts situationships 💗
it’s a sign of the times! the classic Valentine’s Day Sweethearts are coming in hot with new packaging and a new look. on this version of the candy, classic messages that say sweet things like “Be Mine” and “you’re sweet” are misprinted, blurry, and odd - just like your situationship! if you’re lucky enough to not know, a situationship is something less than a committed relationship and more than friendship, and usually very messy. by reusing their misprinted candy, not only is it fitting, but its sustainable too!
double-dipping etiquette 🦠
one of the first rules you learn while snacking with others is to never double-dip. you get your mouth germs on a chip, and then go back into the communal dip and mix up your saliva in the salsa? yuckkkk!!! I was curious when BA had this article, asking if double-dipping really does spread germs, or if it’s just rude. they talked to an etiquette expert who confirmed that yes, it was rude, and they talked to a food scientist who confirmed yes, it does spread germs! “There were between 100- and 1,000-times the number of bacteria transferred to the dip when a chip was bitten before dipping compared with when the chip was dipped without biting first.” the article discusses the scientific experiment that came to this conclusion in more detail. while the amount of bacteria transferred to the dip does depend on the viscosity and pH of the dip, regardless, there was bacteria transferred!! of course, you could be fine if you’re not harboring harmful bacteria, but if we’ve learned anything from the past few years, let’s not take that chance on others, girlies.
a very suspicious rice pudding 🍚
recently the internet has resurfaced decades-old suspicion over a rice pudding restaurant called Rice to Riches, in NYC. how has a rice pudding shop, sustained rents of up to $100k a month for 20 years? could the answer be fraud? the owner was arrested in 2005 for running a $21 million gambling ring. furthermore, his called additional allegations of money laundering a fictitious byproduct of Sopranos hype. despite the controversy, the business was netting $15-18k in sales every week. while the unlikely success of the business continues to be the subject of debate on Reddit, perhaps the hate fuels them, combined with everyone’s secret love of rice pudding.
sleepy girl mocktail 🍒
is she going to put you to sleep, or is she a placebo? a tiktok trend called the “sleepy girl mocktail” has resurfaced bigger than ever. some creators on the app (lifestyle content, not doctors of course) touted the benefits of tart cherry juice for its natural melatonin content as a pre-bed ritual to help with sleep quality. in the mocktail is tart cherry juice, magnesium powder, and a little seltzer or prebiotic soda (like Poppi, another internet fav) to dilute the tartness. but - does it actually help you sleep? probably not. while yes, cherries contain melatonin naturally, it’s a very small amount - only a fraction of what people use to sleep. magnesium powder is not found to directly impact sleep either. however, this doesn’t mean you should stop drinking this if you feel it helps you, the doctor in the article states, “If you start taking anything and you start believing that it allows you to go to sleep — that belief is really powerful.” sleep on, sleepy girls!
goodbye drizly 🚗
drizly is dead! the alcohol delivery service that was popularized in the deep pandemic era is shutting down. owned by Uber, Drizly provided a tech service that allowed local liquor stores to provide their own deliveries, instead of going through Uber drivers. turns out, there were major security flaws within Drizly’s tech, which was discovered in Uber’s acquisition filings too. guess we gotta go back to the wine shop IRL!
gourmet Doritos liquor??🍸
food mashups have gone….gourmet?! a former chef at Noma in Copenhagen, arguably one of the most famous restaurants in the world, created a liquor based on the flavor of Nacho Cheese Doritos. aiming to “democratize the process” he wanted to distill new flavors into drinks and went for Doritos - which PepsiCo, the owner of Doritos, ended up loving. its a liquor targeted at Gen Z who is loving weird and fun food collaborations - and turns out, the product actually tastes like nacho cheese. for $65 you New York and California people can try it for yourselves - after Dry January, of course!
restaurant junk fees 🗑️
you may have seen that Knead Hospitality Group, which owns restaurants like Mi Vida and Succotash, has been sued over “junk fees” recently. of course, we have talked about the ongoing service fee saga many times, but the crux is that fees have risen, it is continually unclear where those fees get distributed, and it has made restaurant receipts very confusing. Aparna over at District Delicious did a good video recently explaining the Knead Hospitality case, breaking down types of fees, where those fees go, and how it intersects with labor rights of workers. check it out here!
menu trends 📈
Priya Krishna back with another banger! her team at NYT did a very cool visual analysis of 121 restaurant menus to see what menu items and design choices were trending. they separated these trends into three categories: the food, the aesthetics, and the anatomy of the menu. the results were very interesting! the actual menu items trending include (my fav) the Caesar salad, caviar, nostalgic desserts (think bread pudding), and more. for aesthetics, they’ve found the physical size of menus have become smaller, there’s more bright colors, and font sizes are smaller. for the menu structure trends, a funny one is calling “appetizers, entrees, desserts” as “smalls and bigs” and they’re so right! there’s more trends they discovered which you can read in the article, and overall, this was a really fun visual project.
restaurant review: Any Day Now (again)
yes I know I’ve talked about the scallion pancake breakfast sandwich before, but now I simply MUST talk about the dinner service at Any Day Now! we went for the restaurant week deal and it was fantastic. I loved my cocktail (blue cheese and garlic infused gin!), the griddled bread and dips were soooo good, and the papaya Caesar was so creative. the chocolate tart was incredible too, a stellar end to the meal. take a look at more below!
f*cked up food
gourmet sushi!
d.c. happenings
Your Only Friend reopens as a sandwich shop + bar
new wine store Urban Grape opened in Shaw
Mari Vanna closing on Connecticut
Petworth steak spot 1865 evicted for 2 years of unpaid rent
Van Leeuwen coming to Union Station
Ashok Bajaj opening a restaurant in the Soapstone Market space
54 Noodles Bar coming to Great Wall Szechuan House location
Cielo Rojo and Muio Tieu open in Takoma Park
temporary closure at Three Fifty Bakery as they move locations
Sticky Fingers new location opening in Takoma
Soupy Dumplings and Boba signage up on 14th
Pastis DC, another Stephen Starr spot opened
Taco Bamba returning to Chinatown this fall
JINYA Ramen coming to Georgetown
Prego Again is open again in Dupont
home cooking: swamp soup
professional chef and influencer Meredith Hayden, aka Wishbone Kitchen, created this recipe for what she calls “swamp soup” or the “new sick girl soup.” I was not sick but was looking for something to make in a big batch for lunches last week so I tried this out. I reduced the amount of jalapeno a bit, and if you’re onion and garlic sensitive I would recommend reducing those too. but overall, I enjoyed this soup, it felt bright and hearty, but also brothy and soothing on the sinuses. a good January option!
that’s all, thanks for reading!
This weeks article had me at lactaid pills ( just bought a new pack this week)
IlLiked the video on DC restaurants. Not that it is useful to me since I do not live there. Next time when I visit DC, I use the info.