episode 47: orange juice, Poppi, and Shirley Temples

the beverages episode! the death of American OJ, another Poppi controversy, and the Shirley Temple King!

beware of Butterworth’s ❌

during my routine scrolling a few months ago, I saw a video for a new bistro-style restaurant in Capitol Hill called Butterworth’s. it seemed cute, so I added it to my (ever-growing) list of DC spots to try. but THEN…I stumbled upon an article revealing that the bistro is actually a new hangout for the Trumpies - yikes! the post interviewed the owner, chef Bart Hutchins, who wanted to build a place for “the weirdos and freaks” of the city, an anti-Le Diplomate, if you will (I won’t!). quickly, the restaurant became a “right-wing clubhouse” as a host of conservatives have been spotted here (Grimes! Kash Patel! many more!) and the restaurant even hosted an after-party for Trump’s inauguration. not a shock that the clientele shifted this way, seeing as one of the investors is Raheem Kassam, the former editor-in-chief of Brietbart news. if you’re interested in more of the backstory (there’s a lot, ugh) read more here.

Poppi vending machine debacle 🥤

Poppi has involved herself in yet another marketing controversy. in anticipation of the company’s advertisement during the Super Bowl last weekend, the soda brand sent 32 full-sized vending machines of Poppi to influencers. this did nottttt go over well with folks on the internet - who called it wasteful, and were peeved that all this free product went to rich people who can already afford it. Olipop, a competitor in the prebiotic soda world, saw a boost in sales and even made social media comments piling onto the criticism. while the public thought these vending machines were gifts, they were actually loaners that got sent to both influencers and normal folks - like a popular Tulane college bar. regardless, seems to be a botched move!

pastry chef shortage 🥮

in previous episodes of this newsletter, we’ve talked about the trend of simplified desserts on restaurant menus (think: mousse, panna cotta). we’ve moved away from creative pastry and towards the simple because many restaurants no longer have a pastry chef on staff. Nevin Martell for Washington City Paper noted the same trend about the DC restaurant scene. many restaurants here got rid of pastry chefs in the late 2000s recession, or during the 2020s pandemic, and never rehired for those spots. so, desserts became more straightforward, things that normal chefs or line cooks could make, and pastry chefs ended up doing other ventures, or leaving the restaurant industry altogether. see how this has played out amongst DC chefs here.

TikTok turning into Yelp? 📝

for those of you still on TikTok, there is a new feature that lets users review and rate restaurants directly on the app. they use a 5-star scale, similar to Yelp or Google Reviews - it even integrates with Apple Maps. its likely a way to increase visibility in a low-effort way, as tapping a star rating is far less work than making individual video reviews. interesting!

the Shirley Temple king 🍹

prior to this piece, I don’t know that I’ve ever thought twice about a Shirley Temple at a restaurant, but Leo Kelly, the 11-year-old food critic has definitely got me thinking! the self-proclaimed Shirley Temple King, Leo makes reviews of the Shirley Temples he tries at restaurants with his parents. he’s been making videos for six years, and rates on a 10-point scale, deducting points for missteps, like garnishing with fewer than three cherries, or using lemon-lime soda instead of ginger ale. Leo has a surprisingly mature take on his influence, “The reason for being a critic is to better whatever you are reviewing, To better cinema, to better Shirley Temples, to better anything.” read the profile here!

“pick me” pickles?! 🥒

the natural reaction to being called a “pick me” is certainly not positive. a “pick me” is slang (typically referring to women 🙄) for a person who seeks to gain approval by acting different or better than others - think “not like other girls.” so, when a friend sent me this article called, “The salty, briny, lemony, garlicky rise of ‘pick me’ foods” I thought no!! don’t come for me!

I think the author argues well that pantry staple foods (like pickles, tinned fish, olives) became the avocados of Gen Z, hyped up with cute marketing to make brands selling the product carry a desirable status. I don’t necessarily agree that these foods became “pick me” aka people are eating and buying these foods solely for attention, but I do think the perceived benefit of participating in a trend or lifestyle is definitely applicable here. its an interesting read on the cadence of food trends and our participation with them.

Bon Appetit v. Wishbone Kitchen 🍴

the food influencer Meredith Hayden, otherwise known by her handle Wishbone Kitchen, made a video detailing that food magazine Bon Appetit ripped off her content. Hayden became popular for her videos on TikTok on her life as a private chef in the Hamptons, and now has grown her following and her content streams, which includes a YouTube series on entertaining called “Dinner with Friends.” cue Bon Appetit, which just put out a series also called… “Dinner with Friends,” in which a test kitchen editor gives dinner party recipes and tips. Hayden’s video details that not only is the name of the series the same, the color scheme for BA’s series is the same as Hayden’s and the copy on Insta uses the name of her substack, “The Group Chat.”

Wishbone Kitchen fans are upset, and have taken to BA posts flooding comments with questions about why this happened. BA did defend their decisions in a pinned comment on the post, stating that “Dinner with Friends” is a common phrase, and that they “believe that there is room for multiple ways to engage with it.” it raises an interesting conversation over influencer content, rights, and challenges in the face of media conglomerates.

last days of American OJ 🍊

I didn’t know we had yet another food to worry about, but I guess we’re adding oranges to the list. orange juice used to be a cheap and nutritious breakfast staple, but the market is not looking good anymore. brands like Tropicana have shrunk bottles, prices are up, and any potential tariffs will make this situation much worse. juice sold in America uses a blend of domestic and international fruit, but regardless, producers across the globe are growing less fruit than they used to. one of the main causes is a disease called citrus greening, which causes fruit to go rancid and orange trees to perish — and the disease has no cure. importing from countries where this disease has not hit could work, but will be costly. read more in The Atlantic, here.

Aditi’s Restaurant Week Progress Report: Part 2 📝

and the much awaited second half of my restaurant week marathon progress report! during the weekend of Feb 1, I went to two more fine-dining-ish spots, and had a great time! I would definitely recommend either of these for the next restaurant week.

• Mita, Shaw, 4 courses $65 (plus drinks and add-ons): such an interesting and cool meal! its Latin American and vegan, and the restaurant week dinner menu featured some parts of their regular menus (they do a tasting experience, and both a 4 and 6 course prix fixe) and new things but was overall really adventurous and inventive! my favorite was the arepa and dips course — the sour cream made of hearts of palm was awesome.

• Tail Up Goat, Adams Morgan, 4 courses $65 (plus drinks and dessert): i’ve been here once before, and i’m happy to say that TUG maintained its quality and feel both for their more expensive normal menu, and for their restaurant week service. really loved my drink and the roasted cabbage here.

restaurant review: Kampar 🍜

mourning the loss of the Malaysian spot Makan in DC, we went to another Malaysian restaurant called Kampar last weekend in Philadelphia. I had suchhhh a fantastic martini, and the Maggi noodles here were incredible. pics below and post here (because Substack decided to stop doing Insta previews for me).

food at Kampar! maggi noodles, cocktails, chicken!

f*cked up food 🤢

two of you sent this to me so I had to and you know what….

dc happenings ✏️

openings

• Cafe Fiorello opening soon downtown

• new Dolcezza coming to H St

• Buffalo & Bergen opened in Cleveland Park

• Afghan Cuisine opening in old Post Pub space

• new sushi spot Shinwa Izakaya opened in City Ridge

• Bullfrog Bagels opened in Union Station

• Tikka Indian opened in Van Ness

• NY-based food hall chain Wonder announced three DC locations: U St, Cleveland Park, West End

• Poplar opened in Brightwood Park

• Dupont Coffee Collective opened (1$ donuts!)

• Taco Bell U St now open!

closings

• (BIG SAD!) Makan, Thirsty Crow closed in Columbia Heights

• Auntea Boba on North Capitol closed

• Palette 22 closing in Union Market

• Poke Patrol closed downtown

other news

• Cinder BBQ maybe being evicted?

• Souvlaki in Dupont bought out by Big Greek Deli from MD

• owner of Greek Deli retiring

home cooking: sickness and V Day ❣️

trusting the process on the clarified cocktail! plus enzoni w/grapes and strawberry chocolate

recovering from my restaurant week marathon - i’m cooking at home! which also means, I somehow gave myself…food poisoning? I really don’t know what I got it from, but my suspicion is an orange gone bad (turns out, shriveled skin means…throw it away. learn something new!) anyways, it was BRAT diet for a bit for me. when I was better, I couldn’t stop thinking about smoothies after I had one at my friend’s house and now have stocked up on some PB+berry smoothie ingredients.

for some Valentine’s Day treats - I embarked on a journey of a clarified/fat-washed cocktail from none other than Drinks by Evie. this was a strawberry milk negroni, which involved the negroni mix sitting with strawberry milk for a few hours, then patiently straining out the milk, leaving you with a smooth negroni. I learned my lesson on “trust the process” with this one, and the end product was really lovely. I also made a version of this enzoni, and made some strawberry chocolate bark for another party too.

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thanks everyone! have a good week.