Even before coronavirus, soaring fish prices and competition from big chains had wiped out more than half of Japan’s traditional sushi restaurants. With most owners at or near retirement, the pandemic is accelerating the demise of neighborhood sushi. Correspondent Lucy Craft looks at how fast-food sushi is remaking a dining tradition.
Tag Archives: Restaurants
Food & Dining: ‘The Best Sushi In New York City’
Insider’s Herrine Ro and Emily Christian visit three popular omakase restaurants in New York City to find the best one. They visit Sushi Katsuei, Sushi by M, and Sushi Lab.
Food & Culture: ‘Pekin Noodle Parlor – Oldest Chinese Restaurant In U.S.’
The oldest continuously-running Chinese restaurant in the United States, the Pekin Noodle Parlor, has been feeding customers in Butte, Montana, since 1911. Correspondent Luke Burbank visits the multi-generational family business and takes a step into culinary history.
Foods & Dining Video: ‘Smallhold Farms’ Grows Rare & Unique Mushrooms For New York City Eateries
Smallhold is a macrofarm in Brooklyn that has created artificial environments for growing rare and unique mushrooms for local restaurants and grocers. Their goal is to open people’s minds to using mushrooms in more cooking, while creating sustainable farms in multiple cities nationwide. https://www.smallhold.com/
Legendary Food: ‘Ben’s Chili Bowl – The Chili Half-Smoke’, Washington DC
Washington, DC, has a little bit of everything for history buffs and foodies, but it’s Ben’s Chili Bowl, which sits on the historic U Street once known as Black Broadway, where the two come together. Insider’s Lisa Paradise stopped by for a bite of the chili half-smoke: a half-pork, half-beef sausage smothered in homemade chili crafted from a generations-old secret family recipe that has remained popular for so many generations it was named the city’s signature dish.
Culinary Arts Video: ‘Salt-Baked Abalone & Wagyu Beef’ In Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Teppanyaki lunch of Fried Garlic Flakes, Salt-Baked Abalone, Japanese Wagyu & Fried Rice at Ukai-Tei in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Interviews: 65-Year Old American Chef Thomas Keller On His Latest Book, Covid & His Restaurants
The 65-year old American chef Thomas Keller discusses his latest book, “The French Laundry, Per Se”. The restaurateur also discusses how his company has fared during the coronavirus pandemic.
Thomas Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997.
Food & Dining: ‘Top 100 Independent Restaurants’
RB’s Top 100 Independents ranking is a measure of the highest-grossing independent restaurants. Only restaurant concepts with no more than five locations are considered “independents” for the purpose of this list (although it’s possible a restaurant that shares a name with a chain but is owned and operated separately would qualify, such as Smith & Wollensky in New York City). Rankings are based on gross 2018 food and beverage sales. Information was gathered through surveys. When data wasn’t provided, sales were estimated based on public information, similar concepts and other factors.
Tomorrow’s Restaurant: Multiple Drive-Thru Lanes & Seatless Dining (Video)
Burger King unveiled its new prototype last month, a prototype that it began working on shortly after the pandemic began. It features a much smaller dining room, or no dining room at all, along with two or three drive-thru lanes, walk-up windows and curbside lanes. Some of the options allow for the complete removal of indoor seating.
Burger King’s latest restaurant design assumes that customers will not go back to dine-in service.
It’s not as if the Miami-based burger chain’s latest prototype doesn’t feature indoor seats. But its restaurants are 60% smaller, meaning a much smaller dining room. And one version of it replaces the dining room altogether with patio seating.
But the design is heavy on takeout options, an acknowledgement that consumers have been shifting that way for some time and then went all-in on takeout during the pandemic. It features two or three drive-thru lanes, with digital menu boards and merchandising. A “living wall” provides a view into the kitchen interior featuring Burger King’s broiler. And there’s an external walkup window on the glass façade.
Food Industry Video: ‘How Restaurants Will Be Preparing For Winter (WSJ)
About 90% of the Duck Inn’s current revenue comes from customers enjoying socially distant table service in their outdoor seating area. Especially in places like Chicago where temperatures drop below freezing, it’s one of many restaurants grappling with how to prepare for and survive winter.
Photo: Nicolas Silva for The Wall Street Journal
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