Long Weekend Reading List
We’re bringing you three essential reads from the reality of restaurant mortality to the decline of plant-based dining, and a revival of a legendary food magazine.
Reader Poll Results
We posed the question below and have to say we were a bit surprised by the results. And further to that point, “Forget Resy and OpenTable: These Restaurants Are Bringing Back the Book” and Is it cringe to be extremely online now?
This weekend, we’re bringing you three essential reads covering the harsh realities of restaurant mortality, the surprising decline of plant-based dining, and the revival of a legendary food magazine.
That Restaurant You Love Will Close One Day. What to Do?
The New York Times
In a timely meditation on restaurant mortality, the Times explores what diners can do when their favorite spots inevitably shutter. It’s a universal truth we all face as restaurant lovers: nothing lasts forever, not even the places that feel like home. The piece offers practical advice and emotional guidance for how to cope with and even celebrate the restaurants we love before they’re gone.
How Veganism Got Cooked
Grub Street
The plant-based boom that felt unstoppable just years ago is reversing fast. Grub Street‘s deep dive spotlights NYC vegan closures like Modern Love Brooklyn—and a nationwide drop in options.
Vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz couldn’t name a single spot in her own neighborhood for a vegan dinner meetup. The 2019 “Year of the Vegan” hype now feels ancient, with plant-based meat sales down ~7.5% in 2025 (SPINS data) and products vanishing from shelves. The piece probes why this once transformative movement is shrinking.
Read the full article on Grub Street →
Gourmet Magazine Makes an Unlikely Comeback
In an unexpected twist, Gourmet magazine is being resurrected but not by Condé Nast. In a stunning oversight, the publishing giant failed to renew the trademark for the iconic publication when it lapsed in 2021. A group of enterprising 30-something journalists who discovered the trademark had expired, claimed it for themselves, and are now relaunching Gourmet as a worker-owned newsletter on Ghost.
The story, which broke in Emily Sundberg’s essential newsletter Feed Me, is the kind of food media plot twist that makes you laugh out loud. Five journalists—Sam Dean (formerly of The Los Angeles Times and Bon Appétit), Cale Weissman, and three others are behind the revival. Unlike the original Gourmet with its Condé Nast infrastructure, this new incarnation will be lean, mean, and worker-owned, with profits shared among contributors.
Former Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl gave her blessing: “If Condé Nast has allowed the trademark to lapse and they’ve managed to secure it, more power to them.” (Though she also reportedly cautioned: “You’re going to get sued.”)
Visit the new Gourmet Magazine →
A bonus video from AI artist Kelly Boesch
