Tipping is more common than ever these days—you likely see an option to tip at coffee shops, takeout counters, and in all sorts of delivery apps—but is it required? And if so, how much should you leave? It can be confusing to navigate tipping across di…
Tipping is more common than ever these days—you likely see an option to tip at coffee shops, takeout counters, and in all sorts of delivery apps—but is it required? And if so, how much should you leave? It can be confusing to navigate tipping across different industries, so we’ve gathered insights from a variety of experts to pin down tipping best practices in today’s day and age.
The following is a comprehensive guide to tipping in 2023, including everyone from servers to tattoo artists. (Spoiler alert: When in doubt, 20 percent is a safe bet.)
In a quaint, restored house in the New Orleans Uptown neighborhood, the scent of spices like clove, paprika, cayenne, and garlic wafts through the windows. Those walking by can, at once, catch a scent of briny, freshly caught blue crab and the piquant …
In a quaint, restored house in the New Orleans Uptown neighborhood, the scent of spices like clove, paprika, cayenne, and garlic wafts through the windows. Those walking by can, at once, catch a scent of briny, freshly caught blue crab and the piquant smell of scotch bonnet. The confluence of flavors isn’t accidental. It’s the creation of Serigne Mbaye, a young, Senegalese chef bringing his culinary vision to life.
For Mbaye, fusing flavors to create a West African-Creole fusion cuisine is a craft and an opportunity for Black chefs like him to explore the creative lanes they’ve long been kept from venturing. The child of Senegalese immigrants—including Khady Kante, a highly revered Senegalese chef in her own right (she operated Touba Taif, one of NYC’s only Senegalese restaurants, from 1989 to 1991, and ran a restaurant in her home country of Senegal)—Mbaye remembers preparing one pot dishes with his mom. Dishes like domoda—which Mbaye described as a gumbo—or maybe jollof with chicken, fish, or shrimp, and sometimes, a beef stew with peanut butter. The one-pot characteristic of the food in Mbaye’s upbringing would parallel with what he found in an area influenced by enslaved Africans who came from his homeland. Here, Mbaye said, was an opportunity to tell a new story.
Miznon is hard to write about, because once inside, it’s hard to describe what’s going on. To figure out the menu, or the structure, can take some doing. It’s better just to go in with blind faith and have the experience, without trying to control or understand it. That said, I’m not a picky eater but I do like structure. So since I’m not a…
Miznon is hard to write about, because once inside, it’s hard to describe what’s going on. To figure out the menu, or the structure, can take some doing. It’s better just to go in with blind faith and have the experience, without trying to control or understand it.
That said, I’m not a picky eater but I do like structure. So since I’m not a regular at Miznon, on my first visit I had to unravel what’s on the menu since it’s a jumble of words and phrases. In other words, don’t expect a precise list with menu titles in this post. But if you go, the counter people are helpful, if hurried. And the experience is part of the fun. (If you’ve been to Tel Aviv, where Miznon originated, you know that some of the best places to eat are more free-wheeling than restaurants elsewhere.)
The Paris dining scene continues to change and evolve. The pandemic changed where we ate, and how we ate…at least for a while. Restaurants are all open again, and packed. But the pause provided a chance to breathe new life into the city. The government offered support, but still, the closings affected restaurants, cafés, and bars hard, which were still reeling from setbacks that included…
The Paris dining scene continues to change and evolve. The pandemic changed where we ate, and how we ate…at least for a while. Restaurants are all open again, and packed. But the pause provided a chance to breathe new life into the city. The government offered support, but still, the closings affected restaurants, cafés, and bars hard, which were still reeling from setbacks that included lengthy strikes, unruly protests, attacks, and now, Covid.
As the city comes back to life, there are little gems that sparkle here and there. And Capitale is one of them.
The owner is Margot Lecarpentier, who may be familiar to some of you as I profiled her, and her bar, Combat, in Drinking French. It’s one of my favorite places to have a drink in Paris, perched on a hill in the multicultural Belleville neighborhood, where I do a lot of my food shopping. When writing the book, I asked Margot about the expansive bar she designed for making cocktails on, she said she wanted it to feel like a dining room table, and added, “Because I am from Normandy…and I like to eat!”
Since I was a little kid, my family has always celebrated the Kentucky Derby with—what else—Kentucky Fried Chicken. We’d crowd around the television, sit down on a picnic blanket on the floor, and devour a bucket of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, maca…
Since I was a little kid, my family has always celebrated the Kentucky Derby with—what else—Kentucky Fried Chicken. We’d crowd around the television, sit down on a picnic blanket on the floor, and devour a bucket of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, flaky buttermilk biscuits, and our own version of a “mint julep” (which I realize now was just a mint chocolate chip milkshake). Eventually, we turned to a vegan diet, ditched the KFC, and then, years later, ditched the veganism. If only KFC had come out with plant-based chicken…
But now they have! The fast-food chain just announced that its more than 4,000 locations across the country will now offer vegan fried chicken. In an exclusive collaboration between KFC and Beyond Meat, the plant-based option will be available for a limited time beginning on Monday, January 10. Fans of the fast-food chain can buy KFC’s Beyond Fried Chicken in six- or 12-piece orders, with dipping sauces included, of course. Prices start at $6.99, excluding tax.
Chipotle Mexican Grill has kicked off the new year in a delicious way—customers can now add plant-based chorizo to their bean burritos, rice bowls topped with shredded romaine lettuce and guacamole (yes, we know it costs extra), and salads. entirely fr…
Chipotle Mexican Grill has kicked off the new year in a delicious way—customers can now add plant-based chorizo to their bean burritos, rice bowls topped with shredded romaine lettuce and guacamole (yes, we know it costs extra), and salads. entirely from plant-based protein, chipotle peppers, ripe tomato paste, crushed garlic, Spanish smoked paprika, and extra virgin olive oil. Oh, and it’s made entirely without artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, grains, gluten, or soy.
In addition to the plant-based chorizo, Chipotle has also launched three new lifestyle bowls that each adheres to a Whole30, vegetarian, or vegan diet. All of the bowls are topped with Chipotle’s new plant-based meat and are available to order through the Chipotle app or through the brand’s website.
Hello, Emily here. When David asked me to share how my family will celebrate during the festive season this year I was impressed he was so organized in advance… before realizing that there’s less than 5 weeks until Christmas Day! So without further ado here are all the fun things we’ll be enjoying over the next few weeks (you can find my 2019 and 2020…
Hello, Emily here. When David asked me to share how my family will celebrate during the festive season this year I was impressed he was so organized in advance… before realizing that there’s less than 5 weeks until Christmas Day! So without further ado here are all the fun things we’ll be enjoying over the next few weeks (you can find my 2019 and 2020 versions here).
Wherever you are in the world, I wish you a happy holiday season and hope that you have the chance to connect with family and friends, whether in person or from afar.
How my family is celebrating Christmas in Paris this year
As Christmas decorations appear all over town, and I take the last of the pumpkins off our mantlepiece, I’m finally making a start on holiday preparations. I’d put off planning this year as we strongly considered spending Christmas in Australia (where I’m from) but as travel is still restricted in my home state we’ll have to wait a little longer to see Santa in shorts again. So we’re getting cozy, hoping for snow and I’ve decided this is the year I’ll finally learn some French Christmas carols. Joyeux Noël!
The other day, for some reason, the subject about the “decline of French cuisine” which had been much-discussed and debated about subject a decade ago, came up. At the time, books were written about it, a Time magazine cover featured a sad mime bemoaning the end of French culture, newspapers wrote articles bemoaning faltering bistros and wondering ‘‘Who could save French cuisine?’, and French television…
The other day, for some reason, the subject about the “decline of French cuisine” which had been much-discussed and debated about subject a decade ago, came up. At the time, books were written about it, a Time magazine cover featured a sad mime bemoaning the end of French culture, newspapers wrote articles bemoaning faltering bistros and wondering ‘‘Who could save French cuisine?’, and French television reporters rifled through the garbage of esteemed bistros and restaurants to show empty packages of pre-prepared and frozen foods that likely had been served to customers. The future of French cuisine was a subject of international interest.
People asked me to chime in on it, too. It was a rather loaded subject because there were a lot of issues surrounding any “decline,” but it was also hard to define – “What is French cuisine?” Yes, it’s Duck confit, Hachis Parmentier, œufs mayonnaise, éclairs, and Paris-Brest, but the new generation of cooks began recasting the focus of food in France, putting the quality and diversity of the ingredients first, and supporting local producers while taking cues from the various regions and cultures in France (which has always been the foundation of French cooking), rather than sticking to a codified script.
So I was excited when Chanceux opened in my neighborhood recently. I’d met Thomas Lehoux a few years ago, and featured him in Drinking French because he decided to improve the reputation of French coffee (another hotly-contested issue) and opened Belleville Brûlerie, a small-scale coffee roasting company that he founded in Paris with his business partners.
For some people, working in a restaurant means the chance to put their hard-earned culinary degree to use. For me, it meant lots and lots of crying. After I graduated from a fancy liberal arts college and failed to get a salaried office job with a busi…
For some people, working in a restaurant means the chance to put their hard-earned culinary degree to use. For me, it meant lots and lots of crying. After I graduated from a fancy liberal arts college and failed to get a salaried office job with a business casual dress code and summer Fridays, I decided to take a different path in order to get my dream job working as a food writer. I met with the chef at a French restaurant in suburban Connecticut and said I loved the Barefoot Contessa and cooking and wanted a job. He looked me up and down and didn’t think I had what it took to work in a restaurant but felt I deserved a chance (I only know this because months later, I asked him point-blank “why in the world did you ever hire someone like me?”).
On my first day as a stage (aka an unpaid cooking intern), I arrived 15 minutes early, sat in the maroon and cream French bistro chairs on the sidewalk patio in front of the restaurant for 25 minutes, waiting for someone to walk by and open the front door, because I didn’t realize there was a back entrance. It took lots of wandering and several embarrassing stares from dog walkers and young mothers walking their babies in overpriced strollers for me to discover the “employee entrance.” After I found my way in, I was promptly yelled at by the sous chef for not tying my apron properly, not bringing my own set of knives (why would I spend money on knives? Shouldn’t they be provided?), and not putting a wet towel under my cutting board to prevent it from slipping and sliding on the metal table (this is a genius trick and one that everyone should try).
We live in Salt Lake City, Utah and often get asked for restaurant recommendations. Today, we are sharing the BEST restaurants in SLC. These are our personal favorite restaurants in the city, all of the best spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dess…
We live in Salt Lake City, Utah and often get asked for restaurant recommendations. Today, we are sharing the BEST restaurants in SLC. These are our personal favorite restaurants in the city, all of the best spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert! These restaurants are our tried and true places to go when we…
