Jason and Emily wish you a merry Christmas.

(upbeat music) - Hey guys, welcome to Expense account. We're at WSA's always and today I'm joined by my boss, aka Emily Sunberg. So happy to finally have you. - I'm so happy to finally be here. - On the couch. For those of you who are watching, you can probably talk. We're gonna be talking Christmas. This is the Christmas special, guys. - Shout out to Kami for putting this beautiful sat together. - And for buying these hats, if those can't see, Emily has a normal Santa hat. And I have a very long Santa hat for some reason. - It's kind of like this sleepy like hawkshoe. - It's giving hawkshoe. I need a little candle lantern. - Yeah, I need to be carrying it. Later I will have that. So how's your week been going, Emily? - Christmas party season, the worst time of the year. The best time, the best of times in the worst of times. - I was talking to Joe Wyzen thought this morning and we were trying to figure out like, are there more parties than ever this year? Or am I invited to more than ever? But I think that there are more. And there's a few reasons. One, there's like more, everybody is running their own little business. Like feed me is a media party. Somebody starts a new brand. They throw a party for their sub-stack. Like somebody starts a new thing. They start a party for their new startup. So I think that there's just like more businesses. - It's interesting. I was thinking that this week, but I was also thinking that I used to go to like, my friends used to have Christmas parties, but now there are too many like, work holiday parties basically. I haven't really even been to any like, homey Christmas parties this year. - It all kind of feels like work. - Yeah, I know. How many have you been to? - I had the feed me party on. - You had two in one week, which is psychotic. - Yes. One was for friends and supporters of the show and team. And then one was for the readers. And it was kind of funny being in the room with all of our readers last night because these past Christmas parties that I've been to all week, like there were people who I saw three, four nights in a row because it's just the same group in different costumes in different rooms, slightly variegated. But then last night it was 150 people I'd never met before, who I just talked to online all the time. And there was no real through line between them besides the fact that they read, feed me and link and bio who we hosted the party with. - People were messaging me being like, can you get me off of the wait list for this party? And I was like, I wasn't invited, so I can't help you. - Well, everybody was invited who read the letter. If you are in the meantime. - I didn't RCP in time. - Yeah, it was fun. It was at Funny Bar. They have like that downstairs conversation pit and it was open bar in front tries, which-- - That's fun. That's perfect. - Yeah, it was good. - Do you dress festive to these parties? - I've been trying to put together looks. I think in past years I did like panic, last minute ordering outfits. And this year I've been more like just putting together outfits that I have in my closet and it's been a lot more fun because when you order stuff online, last minute for a holiday party, it often looks bad or doesn't fit. - I mean, now moving forward, you have your new hat. Did you be wearing to every holiday party? - I actually, I love Christmas hats. And like the, I don't know if you ever like in high school, I remember feeling really like kind of sexy wearing like the headband with the candy cans on it. I don't know that one. - Yeah. - It's funny. Why should Christmas be sexy really? - Oh my God, it shouldn't be necessarily, but it's kind of like I remember also Victoria's secret would have like the mini hot Santa lingerie and it felt like something I wanted, but there was nowhere to wear it when I was 15, but I coveted it. - I mean, I think all the time about what's it and love actually where they have like the holiday party and it's like the sexy photos, but it's like they're all like disgusting. - Yeah, yeah. - Last night was my friend, my good friend Brad Cron, she had an opening at Artispace, very nice, but I got these, I got gifted these Supreme pajamas, they're the new holiday Supreme pajamas. And I thought it would be a good idea to wear them 'cause it was like, oh, I get to like wear them out to this holiday time event. And then the like after party was like a dinner at this nicest apartment I've ever been to in New York. Like the most beautiful apartment on Park Avenue. And I was wearing pajama pants with Santa Claus' fucking on them. For those who can't see, it's like Santa like-- - Well, they're skeletons, so they can't really be having sex. - Yeah, but I was bringing these at the nicest apartment that I've ever been to in my life. And I was like, uh-- - Wait, so you were gifted these at the party? - No, no, I got, I picked them up before the party. - You bought them at Supreme? - I wanted to wear them for today, so I picked them up yesterday. They came up yesterday, but then I came to the office and I was like, oh, I might as well put them on. And then they were fun for the opening and then I got to that. I knew that was gonna be fancy, but everyone was wearing suits. - Yeah. - I was wearing skeletons and Santa's having common suits or sex, pajama pants at the-- - They're great. - Yeah, they're very fun. I love pajamas. - And I bet a lot of people at the dinner didn't even comment on them. They were just like, that's who he is. - Is that the, that's a very nice compliment. No, no, I do. - No, I'm just saying sometimes you're in that situation. You're like, do I comment? Do I not? - It's funny, the comments that I got was Brad, the person who's, we were celebrating last night, he was like, interesting wearing pajama pants, 'cause I remember you shitting on me for wearing pajama pants in the past. - Were you a pajama pants to school, kid? - No, that was, I was, were you? - No. - Well, middle school, high school, it was-- - Yeah. - Were you hugged? - I was, I was wear, well, first it was like, the uggs weren't in the budget, so I was wearing emus. - Oh yeah. - And then, you know, got a pair of uggs. - Nice, do you wear uggs now? - I wear ugg slippers around the house. - I keep, every year, I put it out into the world that I want my girlfriend, no wife, to buy me a pair of uggs. I want the little ones, this really short. - The baby, the ultra short. - The ultra short. - They're really short. They kind of get stuck on your ankle bone. - I don't, I don't know. - I mean, the-- - I want them and I put it out into the world every year. Last year, I did a gift guide for boyfriends in Caitlin Phillips gift guide. - Yeah. - And I was like, every boyfriend wants a pair of uggs and I was like, she's gonna get them for me this year and she was like, she didn't get them for me. I don't think she ever will. - I'll got them for you. - She don't have to. (laughs) - Okay, so how many holiday parties did you go to this week? Do you think that there's more this year or do you think that we're just getting invited to more as we move the media ladder? - I mean, and yeah, I guess I'm not used to my first year in media, this is my first year as a public persona. I guess I definitely was invited to more than normal but normally I would be invited and not really feel any pressure unless it was at someone's house. - I was surprised in the office the other day that you said that you don't love going to parties. - Yeah, I mean, I am like, I've been known to go to parties but that's not what it feels like. Now, I want to go to two parties. I want to go to one and a half parties a week. I want to do big, but I don't really want to have to go to four. I don't want to go to three nights. I can't do three nights in a row. - I also did three parties in a row on Tuesday or Wednesday. I had joe-wise and thaws odd lots party and mine orchard. - Oh, that looks really awesome. - As much food as like a bot mitzvah. It was like full, what? - That's a lot. - A lot of food. - Yeah, I've never been to a bot mitzvah. - You will? - Yeah. And I was there and then I had a dinner afterwards at the new Breuer for Sotheby's. But for some reason while I was at the odd bot's party, I was like, oh, I bet the Sotheby's thing is like this much food and it's just gonna be like a party and they're just saying it's dinner. And then eventually I was like, I said to my husband, I was like, all right, I think we should go to the Breuer and we're in the car on the way and my friend texted me where are you, we're all sitting for dinner. And I was panicking because I was like, okay, maybe it's like 15 people and it's very evident that I'm not there. And I start panicking in the car and I didn't wanna show my husband that we were about to walk into a party and maybe have to make a horrible entrance. And then we walked in and it was like a 150 person dinner. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So there was a plaque, there was a name card with your name and you weren't sitting there. - Right. - And we got there and the first course hadn't even been served and it was fine. And then we went to a third party at the Raouls 50. - Oh yeah, I saw, I was like, you're insane. For going three in one night is insane. - Yeah. It was a little bit of-- - How'd you finish the food? - What do you mean? - Like eating. Did you eat it all three? - No, no, no, I didn't eat it the first one. I ate it at the dinner, it was delicious. And then at Raouls, I think it just had a drink. - Nice. - The food's not the issue, it's definitely the drinks. - Yeah, yeah. - How many, how do you pace yourself? - Well, I did like a 10 day experiment like two weeks ago where I wasn't really drinking and I felt so great on my high horse and then had my party Sunday for the feed me three year party and it's sort of been a downward slope since then. - You started a Christmas? - What? - You started feeding a Christmas? - I started feed me in November but that was just when I could have the party. That year, last year the party was late November the two year party. - Nice. - Yeah. - I was very hungover on Sunday but I felt, it was the kind of-- - On Sunday or Monday. - It's your party, at the feed me party. I was hungover, but it was one of those hangovers where I felt like, great. It's a very rare, like I can never really figure out when they come, I can't figure out the science of it but it was one of those ones where I should have been, like-- I was like feeling like charming. I could chat like I was feeling loose. Just really relaxed. No I don't come so rarely it used to be that I was like an awesome writer when I was hungover like that But now I can never figure out the real science behind when it comes I don't I've been trying my best But I can't but yeah, it's nice Went to hamburger America afterward, which is nice looking over. Yeah, that's great. Yeah This episode of expense account is brought to you by Silver Oak the quiet flex that's been part of the business lunch ritual for decades now Here's the thing people talk about power moves But the real pros know the move is simple you order a silver oak and everybody at the table immediately understands the vibe It's the bottle that makes everyone at the table sit up a little straighter when I want to make a first impression I don't need the wine list. I just say silver oak and we're good So whatever you're celebrating big deal small win or just a great meal Raise a glass of silver oak the official wine of expense account. Here's Do you want to talk about what we're about to do today? Oh, yeah, there's a lot going on today Buckle up. This is going to be a very fun If you can if you have the moment. Yeah, beautiful faces I put out a call to ask for people especially local restaurants and local businesses to send us some stuff Just because I don't know. I'm a baby and I love I love presents I love Christmas and I love presents love opening presents and oh more people than I could have imagined Came through so we have a lot of we have a lot of cakes to try We have lots of desserts to try we have presents to open and then we also put out a call to our readers to Call the feed me hotline and leave voicemails asking us some end of the year question so We will be having several segments to this episode today and hopefully it's fun. It's gonna be a fun one I don't know. I mean, I'm nervous that you don't cam or both. It should be good. Yeah, we'll navigate it Should we try? Yeah, if you're not watching we have a few Plates on our table in front of us with different pastries that Jason selected from around the city But I guess I'm kind of curious like did you just randomly get pastries? Or are they holiday Pastries or what's going on right now? Well, I the like the big one that I have is Tom Cruise's coconut cake His Christmas coconut cake every year Tom Cruise does a thing word to every person that he's ever touched in Hollywood He sends out this bond cake to everybody and it's like his it's Tom Cruise's cake and I I've always wanted to try it and that apparently It's on gold belly so I ordered one of those so when you ordered it on gold belly didn't mention the Tom Cruise Yeah, it's just the Tom Cruise cake. Oh wow. Yeah, I wonder if he had to I don't even know if he knows a gold belly is This whole bakery must be making their whole year based on this one time. I saw Jason from how long gone so I gifted him one today Do you send Christmas cards? No, do you do that? I'm gonna send Christmas cards this year Not a picture of you and your husband. No. I'm gonna make them I Paint oh cool. Yeah. Yeah of what what do you paint all the kinds of things? But I'm gonna paint cards I think this weekend and send them all out on Monday. Oh, you gotta ask for my dress. I well. I think I have it from your invoices. Oh, but I have a new dress And then what about these other things? So we have some other pastries that I've wrote down notes on all of them because we just received them today We have this that I'm excited to try this. It's a baklava cinnamon roll from Shuka. It's like a Mediterranean restaurant and you're always like is that the one in Chelsea? I think so they sent a it's a baklava cinnamon roll Okay Sunsick and then we have a bunch of stuff that is from it's called Amanda's good morning cafe Amanda has taken over Strange delight. Is it in Fort Green or in yeah, it's great restaurant and Amanda has taken over the daytime service So they do like sandwiches and pastries in the morning. That's so fun. Yeah, she sent a bunch of stuff which is cookies and cakes I'm very excited. They have like the poboi, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, they do and move a lot of I haven't been there yet. Yeah, it's fun So should we start with? Should we let's just turn one over? Oh, I've been excited to try this. This is the banana Buster pudding pie From Amanda's good morning cafe. So I'm sure we do this. This is always like a funny thing Did you hear about the banana? Oh wait, this is This is delicious careful with the mic. I I don't know. I love banana pudding I love been artificial banana flavor. I mean it's the go to artificial flavor This isn't I this is I presume it's real banana, but it tastes like now. This is our it's probably both I think it's leaning into feeling like it's the soft Chemical-y like laughing taffy. Yeah, that's my favorite and the banana runt. Yeah, you know, but then it also has like a really nice saltiness And now there's a lot of like yeah, the salt's awesome the texture It's like I don't want to be like melts in your mouth. It's also but did you hear about the banana? Did you read the newsletter today? No? Banana Republic. Oh, I saw that. That looks sick. I saw the photos were posting. I didn't know why I'm I why do I want to go here? I love that it's called the banana. Yeah, uh, I guess the it looks like a really cool restaurant like I was saying it's beautiful. It's not how cool it looks honestly. Their liquor license is pending. Yeah, I'm sure they'll get it What party did you go to there? I didn't go. I saw a Friend of the letter tip me off that that was happening and that's what it was And then he sent me some city stuff showing that they filed for liquor license a few months ago And it's just taking a bit, but it's fully set up to be a restaurant. I think I said I never want to be like Oh, let's go to dinner at the banana of course. Oh, no, I do you do the banana. Yes I don't know. I guess I don't know. Oh, I that's it's funny that that's what's tripping you up as opposed to let's go to dinner and banana republic The store it's in the store. It's in the store. It's a speak easy and it's literally through the have you been to that banana republic? It's gorgeous. I've not been to a banana. I don't know if I've been to a banana republic team I know that you're reading and possibly watching and listening and They oh they did message me today. They said you want to throw party here. Oh, let's do it. How do you do it? And I'll be there Well, I don't know if you want to go, which is someplace called the banana. No, it's growing on you now that you know that it should be called like The Republic. Oh, the Republic rocks. No, that is a midtown like isn't it? Where is it? A faunt kind of no, I would not want to go to the Republic. Yeah, I don't know the banana. Come on. Okay. Is it I guess that's fun? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I'm like, you know, it's funny Other places that are sort of in that vein would be like Polo bars the Rolf Lauren restaurant and there's the really weird bar in restaurant in the men's section of Burgdorf Goodman. Oh, yeah. Also, what's it called? What's the Barney's? Uh, what's the name of the restaurant? I'm old. I Don't know. I love the department store restaurant, but I guess this isn't quite a department store restaurant. Which one are you talking about? What's it called? The one that you can't read your mind, babe? The one that was at Barney's? No, it used to be a barn. Oh, Fred's Fred's, Fred's, Fred's, I don't know I could I heard something about Fred's apparently, you know, people were obsessed with their burger. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really crisp and crunchy on the outside, even if you got it rare. Mm-hmm. And he crusted both sides. He Fred the chef whoever the chef was at the time that I closed would crust both sides with kosher salt. Oh, yeah. And then fry it. And that was his trick. Yeah. I it stays in my head. It's like this role to me that he that somebody would do that seems like straight forward. Yeah, not to me should try another one. Yeah. This one is called I took notes on all these. This should be called zebra cake. This one's called the great divide from it's also from Amanda. Most of these are from Amanda's. This one is passion fruit cake, devil's food cake, and then passion fruit pudding. What do you think about people naming a cake like the great divide? I don't know. I like a creative name for I don't know if I want to like I wouldn't ever order it. I wouldn't be like, oh, I'm going to have the great divide. I'd be like, oh, I'm going to have the passion fruit of chocolate cake. Um, wait, there's a lot happening. Yeah, let's see. Let's see. For listeners, this is a five layer cake. It's yellow cake and chocolate cake layered on top of each other. So it looks sort of like zebra or just black and white stripes. And it's called the great divide. Chocolate vanilla coming together as one passion fruit and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. It doesn't happen every day. The acidity is so like the fruitiness and the acidity pair so nicely with like a earthy dark chocolate. It feels very Australian to me. I don't know. Whenever I think of passion fruit, I think of Australia. Just because I don't think I'd ever really had a My wife is Australian. I don't think I'd ever had a Fresh passion fruit until I went to Australia. It's delicious. Yeah, they're amazing. It's like and they're a little intimidating. Yeah, it's like so weird. But it's delicious. I love passion fruit. The great divide. The great divide delicious. Um, okay, Amanda is really. Yeah, she's killing it. Okay, next. Yeah, do it. Do it. Do it. Oh, this is just a cookie. This is the Just a cookie, but I mean, this is not the great device. - So this looks like a cookie with maybe some marshmallow swirl within. - I don't know. It says Bel Rona, chocolate chip cookie. - That's it? - Yeah. - Oh, it's a little bit harder than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. - Yeah, I mean, everyone expects. I like, I like, I think that's chocolate chip cookie shouldn't be too soft. - Oh, there's Amanda? - Yeah, Amanda also. It's so good. - It's really good. I need some milk. - Well, I think there's milk in one of the gift bags. - I'm like a baby about desserts where I buy milk. I drink milk. Do you drink milk? - No. I mean, I put milk in my coffee. - I know, but I am a person that when I eat desserts that I like to have a little glass of milk. - I make that for my husband. I make him like milk and cookie at night. - Do you think it's like, I've also heard of, it's like, feels like a very boyfriend thing. I wonder if men like, if men drink more milk than women. - I watched a movie last week with Julianne Moore called "Safe." - Oh, yeah. - Have you seen it? - Fincher, yeah. So long ago. - And she just keeps drinking glasses of milk throughout it. - I know it's a panic room. This is a different room. - Not a panic room. - Okay, I don't know. I've never seen it. - Panic room Julianne Moore? Oh, that's the one with the apartment. Where she's in a panic room. - In the apartment, in the New York City apartment. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And yeah, that was, that was a weird one. I watched that recently also and that both of them are on criterion right now. But anyways, she was drinking a lot of milk and it really stands out on screen when somebody drinks a glass of milk because you don't see people doing it every day. - I mean, last year we had the, what's it called? - Baby girl. - Baby girl. But I love, I just, I don't know, I need a little milk to wash down sweets. I don't, it's my sick thing. - It's not though. It's very normal. - Is it? I don't know. I, it's one of my- - You are father Christmas today. I, Santa, I love that part of Christmas putting out milk and cookies. I really do. - Do you? - I don't anymore, but when I was younger, I really loved doing that with my, with my parents. - Now, it is fun. Did you, did you, do you think kids believe in Santa? - I've been asking every parent that that comes to these quality parties. - What do they say? - It's mixed. Some of them are like, we don't lie to our kids. - Uh-huh. - We just say that they're feeding. - Why to them? - Some parents of, like, little kids who are Jewish have to, have to, like, kind of say, like, we, Santa doesn't come here. Like, he doesn't come to our house. - Oh. - No, and then some kids still believe, but I think that it's the hard thing for parents is when they find out from somebody else in school. And then, like, the innocence is just busted. - It makes me, I mean, the other day, I was like, now that kids have, like, search engines and Chechi PT and stuff, I was like, I don't know, I feel like someone should lobby Google that if you Google Santa, real, the answer should be yes. We all know he's not real, but the answer should be, Google and Chechi PT should be telling kids that, I mean, how sad is it that they'd be at Googling that? But I think that they should. - Yeah. I was talking to my cousin who has a two-year-old and I said, is this the hardest time of year for parents? Like, it just seems like it monetarily, and events, and parties, and gifts, and expectations. And she said that she was being fed a lot of content on Instagram that was like, mothers are responsible for the magic of Christmas. And she said, it's oddly a lot of pressure to me to, like, make memories with my son starting now. I'm, like, making cookies, but I'm working all day. And that seems like a lot of pressure. - The truth of it is that I remember getting, like, a Sega, but I don't remember. That's what I remember is the gifts. I don't necessarily remember the quality time. I remember, like, getting a Sega Genesis and, like, getting, like, a power ranger. - I remember a happiest moment of my life. - Oh, really? - Yeah. I'm a gift guy. That's my love language, according to. - I think my love language is, like, crafty things, because I very much remember, like, gingerbread house, thinking ornaments and cards, when my mom's an artist, so it was, like, that was sort of what the time was. - Yeah. - I think spent on. - That's fun. - Yeah, it was cute. - What else do we have? We have, oh, one last one. - All right, let's get in there. Oh, this is the, these are from Shuka. This is the Baclava. Just take a bite. - Okay, this is it. Getting everybody see. - That's it. Okay. So what's happening? - This is Baclava syndrome role. Or is it Halva? - Halva. - Hmm. I have experience. I think it's Halva. Just like Halva. Just nice. - What do you think about all of the year of the syndrome role conversations? - Hmm. You've seen them, right? - I have not, but that makes sense, like. - Like Paul Needham was on How Long Gone a few weeks ago. Paul Needham's the CEO of the infatuation. He was on How Long Gone talking about how this is the big year of the syndrome role. And New York Magazine did a big story about how all these bakeries in the city are focusing on syndrome roles. And I think the times did as well. It's not a one, it's not a one-man food. - Yeah. I mean, I would never eat a whole syndrome role. I've already come out on record saying that I think that eating a croissant is a little bit perverse, but eating a syndrome role is like psychopathic. - You know, it's crazy. Emily Wilson, friend of the letter Emily Wilson doesn't, I don't think she likes cream cheese frosting. She likes the powdered, she likes glaze. And I, my favorite part of the syndrome role is cream cheese frosting. - Yeah, you think that's essential to the syndrome role? - It's essential to my own syndrome roles. - Yeah, yeah. But it's funny because I just move. - I don't like glaze. - To the East Village. And my wife, Wendy, got a cup of coffee that she was looking for, like, she didn't know where to get coffee in the neighborhood. And the closest place was this place. It's called, like, Sunday morning. It's, she's like, oh, it's just a cinnamon roll restaurant. She's like, what is this? Like, like, like, like, like, like, near as coffee shop is a cinnamon roll restaurant? - Yeah, like, who's getting that on a Tuesday? - I know. Like, it's so, it's so funny that there's, like, what does that mean for a society that the year of a cinnamon roll? It's getting even more and more decadent. It's a croissant last year. And then this year is the cinnamon roll. Then what comes, what's even more decadent than a cinnamon roll next year? Like, it's just a full cake. - Do you remember cupcake? - Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a good time. - I thought it was. - I didn't like them, but I, like, just as a, as a thing, I don't know. - Yeah. - I remember coming to New York and getting the Magnolia Cupcake, like, first thing, first time that it came here. - Oh my god, same. The one in the West Village. - Yeah. - Yeah. - What was the name of that, like, big chain that, like, blew up and it was like a. - Sprinkles? - Yeah. They, like, they was like a, really. - This is tragedy. - Yeah, they were running machines. - Oh, yeah. - And then they got mini. I still fuck with baked by Melissa Lokey. - I like watching her on TikTok. She's entertaining. - She's on there? - Yeah. - Even the miniature cupcakes. - Yeah. - Well. - But she makes, like, salads and stuff. - Oh, yeah. - She's really entertaining. - Melissa. - Yeah. - Huh? - Yeah. - I think so. - Totally? - Yes. Okay. Yeah, Cam. He's nodding off camera. - Melissa. - Yeah, she makes, like, crazy chop salads and she. - That's cool. - Like, yeah, she actually did something insane on Halloween. She came home with her kids after trick or treating. They emptied out their bags. They sorted out all the chocolate candy. She took all the chocolate candy and chopped it up. And then they made baked cookies with it and that's their Halloween tradition. And I. - That's kind of fun. - It was kind of fun. It's like, let's get through all this candy. We're gonna make cookies with it and then, like, we're gonna move on instead of having, like, you know, like, Reese's in the house for you. - Just one little Reese's. You say Reese's? - Reese's. - Yeah. - I always said Reese's. - Why? - I don't know. Reese's. Reese's Pieces. That's why. - Because of Reese's Pieces. - Reese's Pieces. Yeah, well, that makes more sense. But Reese's Pieces. - Okay, so out of these four. - Yeah. Oh, which is your favorite? Is what you're asking? - Mm-hmm. - I like the banana. - Me too. - I mean. - It's so nice to have something banana in your life. - Yeah. And it's just, like, it feels light. It's like, I don't know. It feels, it's just also, like, very well balanced. - One last time you had a spoonful of cool wet? I can't remember. My wife has never had it. - You know. - Because I remember. - I don't think my husband had it. We're watching, oh, the sopranos. And there's, like, Jenny Sack is like. - Yeah, oh my god, that episode. - Yeah, when she's like. She's like, "Oh, like, honey, I'm just eating." - I mean, it's just cool. - It's a cantaloupe. - Yeah, it's a melon with some cool. And my wife was like, "What is that?" - That episode, it was too Nairobi, because then he finds her in the basement. - Yeah, when she's eating, it has all the candy and the blush. I know it breaks my heart. - I know. But, like, obviously, she's a liar. - Cool lip. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a summer food. - I want to try it. I might buy some. - You've never had it. - I have had it, but not in a decade. - Well, you know, the whole thing is that you can just, like, have it at room temperature. Like, nothing happens. - Yeah, I mean, it's just oil. - It's just oil. - It's not good for you. - No. - But I do, like, an emperor just sell it. - Right. - Is that something that you do? Is it a Midwestern thing? - I'm from Long Island, Tony. Do you know what I'm talking about? I don't know if everybody knows what it is. - I've only really seen it as like a bit. I don't think I've ever seen anybody enjoy it. It's like kind of something that people, do you remember like? - We'd have it like holidays, my family. Someone would always make an embrosia salad. - And it's, do you eat it as a dessert or with dinner? - With dinner. - So it's a sweet. - It's a sweet, but it's, we'd have dessert too, we'd have pie, but it'd be something that would be served with dinner for some reason. I don't know why. - Yeah, that's not the worst thing. I mean, like, my dad used to, when he would make like pork chops, he would also make us apple sauce. - Oh yeah, that's classic. - So you can, there are levels to this. - Yeah, sweet and savory, it's cool. I like that. - Yeah, have you ever heard of apple pie with a slice of cheese? - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - That, I'm curious about that. - You never had it? - No. - Like, you have it and it's like, oh, it's pretty good, but I can't imagine ever wanting it. Like every time I had a, like I look at a slice of apple pie, I'm never like, I need a slice of cheese on here, but when I'm in Vermont, I will do it. - Is it, is that where it's from? - Yeah, Vermont cheddar, Vermont apples. - Yeah, yeah. - Or like, me or Maine, it's just like a very new England, I think. - Got it. - Okay. Should we try the coconut cake? - Oh yeah, this is the big one. - Grant, can we start? This is actually, this is, so this is Tom Cruise's coconut cake. It's from this place called, what's it called? Dones Bakery? - Where is that? - Woodland Hills, California. - Have you looked up anything about this? - Actually, I have not done my two diligence. - I mean, I kind of want to look up when this started. - Yeah. - Let's see if we can just get a little chest below down. Tom Cruise is a fascinating person. - I mean, he rocks, I'm sorry. I mean, I know that the-- - He's the last of his kinds. - Scientologist stuff is not good, but he, like all the store, every actor is like, oh, he's like the nicest guy. - You know, it's okay. It's not as good as any of the other desserts we've had today. - Let me say, is it too cold? - I mean, it's also been shipped from California on dry ice. So it's like-- - But they don't need to do that. Like, they should just, like, gold belly baffles me. - I fuck with it. I often get my parents that gold belly gift for Christmas, just 'cause-- - Okay, wait. - The cake is not coconut. - What is it? - I mean, the cake is just normal. - It's a basic bun. - Yeah, yeah, the cake is normal cake. - That's not enough for me. - Yeah, I know. - And if you're gonna do coconut, you need it, it can't just be-- This isn't even toasted. So it's like not even full potential coconut. - But I like a classic bun. I wish it, I almost wish that, I don't know, maybe it'd be nice if you had a little tea or something, like a little tea with milk. - Oh, that's interesting. I need some, like, butt cake is hard on its own without like a beverage. It's always gonna be a little bit dry. - Yeah, coffee, we don't drink coffee, but for me-- - I don't think coffee. - Yeah, I mean, listen. I think that that cake, when he started doing it, it was a different cake. - And this is from gold belly. You can't ever be like, "Oh, like, you got a kagosal hotdog from gold belly." - Over time, the recipe has been compromised, and then you start getting into the gold belly of it all. - Yeah, yeah. - I don't think that he tried a bite of that one year and said I'm gonna send it to everyone. I think it was a different cake. - I think he is a man of taste. I don't know. - Yes, and his assistance. - Well, maybe this might be the only cake he's ever tried. That would be, that's the other possibility. It said he's like, had one cake that he liked one time. - Yeah. - And then he was like, "Oh, yeah." - I kind of imagine he ever eats cake. - Right, where if you had the great divide, you'd be like, "I'm gonna send everyone this." - Yeah, it's like guy who's only seen Boss Baby. - Yes, it's like this movie's giving Boss Baby Vives. - What do you think about cookie swaps? - I've been jealous that no one has invited me to one. - My sister just did run in her office, and it was like, ludge it. - Yeah, is this a new thing? I mean, this year, everything seems bigger than ever every year. Like I saw, maybe now that I'm just following more food people, but I feel like. - I'm sorry, is what a new thing? - Cookie swaps, are they getting bigger? - No, I think that they've always happened, and I actually think they're really fun, because the idea is like, you leave with a really fun box of things to try. - Yeah, I love a cookie. - But you have to put in effort, like the worst thing possible is if somebody comes with like chocolate dipped pretzels, and you're just like, hold up, like that was not the plan. - So some cookies aren't being taken? Like you are bringing, some person brings the worst thing, and then someone's like, they're left with the whole thing of chocolate. - Try and then you have to bring home the thing you mean. - Yeah, it's like, you're failure. - Yeah, I mean, that happens. - Yeah, I don't know, I've never been invited to one. I'm not a baker, I'm not in these baking circles really, and not yet, I don't want to be, I'm bad at baking. But I would like to go to one. One, I want to go to one. - It's really fun. - I'm putting it out there next year inviting me. - I think what we're looking for is more, and we did a party package earlier this year on Feed Me, and I think what we're looking for is more people that open their doors to their homes. And I think the problem is, you go to parties like this fancy dinner on the upper east side, or you go to one friend's house, and you're like, oh shit, I can't host a party if your house looks like that. - Yeah, I know. - At least that's how I feel. And you're losing, by having things in private dining rooms and restaurants, and all these things, you are losing the warmth of the cookie swap, and the warmth of a potluck, or the warmth of the season, 'cause everything is sort of outsourced to staff. - Yeah, yeah, and it's just like, it's not that different than going to a fashion party any other time of the year. Like to me, Christmas parties, a special thing. You're in someone's house. - There was a fireplace at the Feed Me party on Sunday. - Yeah, that was very nice. - That made me happy that there was a fireplace, 'cause I was like, this is bringing a little bit. - That was like the most Christmasy thing that I've been to this holiday season, I would say. - People brought the joy. - Yeah, but I like like a white elephant. I like like, that kind of part. - Me too, I like Christmas music playing. - So we should do like a four person Feed Me. - Yeah, it's honestly, you should. But did you guys see the group text? Like, we couldn't find a day where everyone was around. - I know, what the fuck, I don't know, it's hard. - Should we start these voicemails? - Yeah, let's play some of the voice notes. So Feed Me has an anonymous tip line that you can call or text, and we get a few tips a week for the letter through there, and we've met some sources through there, but there's also a voicemail feature where you can leave a voicemail and give feedback or give a story idea. And in this case, we used the line to ask for questions for Jason and I for the end of the year. And I think most of them are food related. I think most of them are restaurant or food related or hospitality industry related. So we're gonna go through some of them. I haven't rehearsed any answers of you. - No. - Okay, great. - I'm gonna be. - Let's hear them. And some people say their name in city, which is fun too, but for the rest, it's anonymous. - Hi, I'm a reader from San Diego. I work at a pizza shop and every year my co-workers and I go to New York to try the best pizza. I would love to know what both of you think the best places are. Where should we go? Thank you. So two weeks ago, I went on something called Scott's pizza tour. He's made a living out of bringing people on pizza tours and he does walking tours and then he also does bus tours. And I know it sounds like the most tourist thing ever. And when my husband said that we were gonna do this with his friends, I was like, okay, this is about to be the time squareification of pizza, but it was incredible. I think it was $90 each. You go on a school bus all over the city. We went to three different burrows. And we went to Kestay. We went to, I think Patsys, we went to, what's the one in Greenpoint? - Oh, Chrisys? - Holly G's. - Oh, Holly G's. But it was, I wish I did it for my bachelor at party and said I went to Vegas as one friend. But it was so fun. And we went to this range of establishments like places that have been open for a hundred years and then places that have been open for like a year. And this guy, Scott, he has a fan base. Like some people on the tour had gone on, had done this like 15 times because you always go to a different place. - That's crazy. - I know, some people were doing it alone. And then like this woman that just called, there were a few people who owned pizza restaurants. - Ah, that's cute. - There was like a guy from California and there was a guy from Israel and there was a guy from upstate. And they were all like doing research at these places, which is funny because in your head you're like, it's just dough, sauce and cheese. Like what is there to it? But they were like learning so much from the way that these ovens were made and whatever. But I really did enjoy this one place, Kestay, which is down here. It's, I think it was open in like the 70s. But something that was really fun was we were there during an Italian soccer game. Do you know the two Italian teams? - I mean, there's like Napoli, there's Intermola. - It was like the more fascist one. - Juventus, I don't know, I'm not a soccer guy. - Don't quote me on that, but it was sort of like Mussolini vibes. And they had this screening room set up sort of like the lab in high school, like where they're all like sitting at these rows of chairs eating their pizza, facing the screen. And it was just kind of like a cool scene. but I would go there again, it was really good. They had a great bar, it was huge. That was fun. And then I lived near a place in Park Slope called Luigi's, which is great. I would suggest going there. - For me, the most special pizza in New York, it's not like New York style in a way that maybe someone, it is very New York though, is I like Spamoni Gardens. - Love. - I love that, I mean, I love that style of the red sauce on top and the cheese underneath, that's so bad. - That's like if I had to like, like recommend one special pizza to somebody. I know that's probably not there. - What if they're coming in the winter? - They have the one now in Dumbo. - In Dumbo, it's open all year. I mean, it's not quite the thing to see, it's the same pizza. - I wonder what time of year you're coming. If you come in this summer, you should definitely make the trip, because that's what you want. - Yeah, it's really fun. - It's so fun. - And, I mean, Prince Street does it, but I don't like Prince Street. - Linda Street is great. - Yeah, Linda Street, but I guess you come, you were a pizza person, so you should wait in line and go to Linda Street. - Yeah, and it's not always great. I like to do the one two of Linda Street and then the movie theater across the street. It's like a nice one too. - I mean, I honestly, I don't know, I love Emmets. I mean, I'm-- - And it's rock. - Yeah, I mean, I've been like, evangelizing Tevern style pizza from Chicago. So I really, I don't know, that's one of my favorite pizzas to eat in New York. - Emmets, Linda Street, Spamoni Gardens, Kestay. That gives you a really wide range of types of places. - That's a good tour, honestly. - Yeah, be your own Scott. Be your own Scott's pizza tour. - Or just go and Scott's pizza tour. - It's really fun. You can also, I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, but we like brought beers on the bus. It was like a fun little-- - I think you can drink on a bus. - Yeah, you can drink on a bus. It was like a school bus. - That's so fun. - Which I also hadn't been on a school bus since I was in school, it was kind of fun. - Yeah, that's fun. - Yeah, it was cool. He talks through pizza history the whole time. It's kind of like history lesson. That's great. - How much pizza do you think he eats a week? Is he easy eating it with you? - Yeah. - That's sick. I mean, that's sick. - He's like a, he's like a spelt little dude. - I just mean, I don't mean unhealthy. It's just like, when did you get sick of pizza? I would be sick of pizza. - It was delicious. - One of the holiday parties I went to this week was my friend, Erica Sarlow. She is an event planner. Hit her up if you're doing a gala or if you have a big budget for your wedding, hit her up. But it was the fifth anniversary of her business and she had it at one or two, Franklin. And it was fun. And she ordered, she got Spamoni Gardens Lasagna's for the party. - Lasagna's the best party food. - It was great. But then I took home it. She was like, there's so much Lasagna. So she gave me a half trail of Lasagna. It weighs like 20 pounds. And now I have it in the fridge in my house. And I can't get myself to eat anymore of it. I had it once and then I was like, I had an office on you for the rest of the year. - It actually freezes well for next time. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. I plan on doing that. - All right, let's do the next one. - Hey guys, I'm a big fan. My question is based on the fact that I worked for really rapidly-spiraling specialty grocer and restaurant operations. And I'm really curious about other restaurants that have kind of gone through a similar corporate transition like the nobles in the carbons of the world. And curiously, think these restaurants will do this and what they gain in terms of customer experience, brand equity, quality, consistency, et cetera. Thanks. - I wonder where she works. - Yeah, no, I was trying to figure that out. - So nobu and carbon I had put into different categories. - In which way? - Like, carbon has this CPG extension of like sauces. And so like anybody can make the spicy panneal vodka or whatever it is, the spicy burgutoni from carbon at home. Like I think that that was a brilliant brand extension. And their restaurants still feel exclusive and hard to get into and the way that they've expanded into different cities. It's like you can still have, I went to the one in Vegas. It was pretty good. Nobu, I don't know if they've expanded in the same way. Like their brand is still quite cheap for me. - I mean, there was a time when Nobu was like the, - Yeah. - Like the celebrity restaurant. - Where do you think they went wrong? - I've never been to Nobu. I mean, I think that, - Have you been to the Nobu who tells? - No. When I think it's hard to scale like that too, it's also like, when you're scaling that, especially with sushi, like they got killed by the rise. The Omakase boom, like in New York City, where the VX, there's actually like, for the price. - Yeah. - There's like, there's like fancier and fancier Omakases. And like actual like, like chefs from Japan and like new types of fish and they were kind of like, just doing the same old Nobu, very '90s. They're so '90s. - The Nobu and Malabu is pretty sick. It's like, it's really special to eat sushi on the PCH and have like a $40 Margarita. It's like a kind of crazy experience. - What do you think is the best like, chain restaurant all of, like what she's trying to? - I think we have another question about that. - Oh, there's another one. - Like about the chain. - Oh yeah. - But I think Carbone has done a really good job. I guess like to answer your question to do it well, I would want to know if you're expanding restaurant locations or if you're getting into more of like the grocery business. Like, it's hard to answer without knowing that. - To me, I feel like something like Dintai Fung is something that makes more sense for scale as opposed. I guess Carbone has managed to do it, but I feel like for Luxury guidance a restaurant. - And Dishoom is coming, yeah. - Oh yeah, but I want them to feel special. You know, like I want the rest of the-- - But I think it's like, Ken, like Hillstone, you go into a Hillstone. - Hillstone is like a good, that's like a different high point and different kind of luxury than something like that. - You think it's lower? - Yeah, it's more like a Dintai Fung level, I think. - Not quite, like maybe a little above Dintai Fung, but I think that for like, like mid level is good, but for high level, I feel like-- - Okay, let's assume that this woman works at a mid level restaurant that she's expanding. - Yeah. - Oh, also corner stores opening in Vegas. - Oh, that makes sense. I mean, I guess these are just not the types of restaurants that are even really, and that attracted to go. - I think service is incredibly important. I think the exclusivity angle actually is important, not like members club exclusivity, but like it's hard to get a reservation at any Hillstone establishment. And I think that that makes it all the more special when you get to get in there and then have this fabulous level of service. I think that when we're talking about like CPG expansion, like doing a lot of research on like, what your customer actually wants. Like I think research goes into a lot of these decisions and assessing the market and what's actually doing. Well, it's kind of funny how many jarred sauce is brand. It's a jarred sauce brand. - I mean, for so long there weren't any. It's kind of crazy. - There's rouse. - Yeah, there's just rouse. It's like the above prego. - Right, and now Al's and Roman has one. - Yeah, I want to try it. I haven't had it yet. - It's delicious. Yeah, it's great, and I think it's made in New York. - Nice. - Yeah. If you send us more information about, I mean, I want to know what your business is and where you work, and then I think that we can probably give you more tailored advice because my advice for like my neighborhood diner expanding would be different than like Keen saying, like we're going to open five more locations. - Keen's couldn't do it. - You'd hope, you'd hope not. - Yeah, but I wouldn't. - But if you wake up next year and they say, "Hey, now we have all this outside money," 'cause like the leader bought them and we're opening big news. - Yeah, it could be the corner stores. - Yeah, that is the Tillman vertita. Yeah, it could do it. - Yeah, that's probably. - That's on the. - Got him on the show. - Yeah. - The next one? - Hey, this is Tillman from DC. My question is, what if anything have we gained from abandoning the appetizer, name plate format in favor of snack, mediums, house made, cup of tele, half-bolo chicken to sports chairs, supposedly format of dining? - I saw something incredible happen this summer. I went to a group dinner, six of us, seven of us, and one person at the table was Graydon Carter and the person who had us all for dinner said, "Should we just order a bunch of stuff for the table?" And he said, "I don't do that." And he said, and it was, we were at Missy, and he was like, "I don't do that. "We're gonna all order Lillia, maybe." One of those. And I really respected that. - He wanted his own entry. - He wanted his own. So we all ordered our own, it was very civilized. - Yeah, I don't respect that. - Really? - No, 'cause I think that's half the fun of dining is like getting to share, getting to taste the same thing is the person that you're dining with. I mean, you don't have to share everything, but-- - Wait, we didn't all know each other. - I know, but that's how you get to know each other. I mean, we tried all these cakes just now. - We know each other. - I know, but that's, I don't know, you're still getting it sick. - I think that sometimes you want to share and sometimes you don't. - I always want to share. I'm-- - That's really beautiful. - Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think. - It feels really nice to get the whole thing of the thing that you want really badly. - Yeah, that's, I mean, sounds greedy to me. (laughs) - Really? - I remember dating this girl and every time we'd go out to you she'd be like, I'm not that hungry, I guess it's classically, and then get like something small and then she'd eat like half of my thing. - That's a different story. - Yeah, but I think that most-- - Especially like-- Is it a for sharing and there's meals that aren't for sharing? Yes. But I think that most meals can be made into a meal that you can share and should. Yeah, I like sharing apps and getting my own entre. See, I don't even, I don't want to eat a whole chicken, like quarter chicken. I'd rather get to have like a bite of chicken. I don't know, it's something, I guess. Yeah, do you know what dish drives me crazy to share, though, that half chicken at Frenchette? It's like a very difficult to cook. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? So again, you're getting into that territory. I guess this is where I can kind of see where you're coming from, is that-- You know exactly what I mean, right? If you're eating dinner with friends, you can share. But if you're at like a, at like, I hate when there's, where was I recently? I've been to a few like group dinner, like PR dinner, like a fashion dinner or something where it's like shared plates and then like, it's like, oh, the thing I want, like a gala or something, it's like, oh, the pasta's over. I'm like, oh, the way over there. I just surrender at those. I don't assume that I'm going to have a satisfying meal. But I know it's exactly what you're talking about. But I guess to get back to this question, this person is saying, what have we lost? Oh, yeah, OK. You think that we've only gained. I think we've only gained. I think that, yeah, I think that food should move more towards sharing. I want to share-- I don't know. It doesn't need to be small plates. I think we can share medium-sized and big plates. I need honesty from the restaurant staff when they're saying, I suggest you order eight things for two people. Here's also what we can do is the restaurant can make it easier to share. Like, cut off the chicken at Frenchette. Cut it up for me. Oh my gosh, where was I recently? Where they split the salad for my husband and I? And it was so kind. It was like, that felt really nice. I got the soup the other day at Frenchette, which is-- I'm like, I never get the soup because it's like, how do you share the soup? And I got the soup and they put it into a little bowl. Do you remember when we went there earlier this year? Oh, we did that. Yeah, it was so nice. That was so nice of them. That was a great meal. And if we got to share all these things, I don't need to eat off the same plate as people. You can kind of share French on YouTube because you're eating and-- Yeah, yeah, but that was very nice. And I feel like that's something I never order because I can't share it. And then they split it up. I don't think we need to start getting into a world where we're sharing soups. Yeah, yeah. No, we don't need to share soups. That's something we don't need to share. I understand your question. I think the main thing that we're losing is probably like, I just-- I hope everybody's ordering what they really want when they're at a restaurant, you know? And I think when you start getting into sharing, someone might be saying, all right, I'm not going to get the thing that I want. Listen to that life. Listen to the lesson that you should-- the valuable lesson that you can't always-- you have to share. You have to compromise. I want to know what this person thinks. Yeah. Next. A.J. Lee and Emily. This is Claire. Thank you, Claire. Calling to ask, what is the quiet luxury equivalent of the New York dining scene? Love y'all, mean it. Bye. Love you. I think the quiet luxury of the New York dining scene are restaurants like Bridges. I was going to-- I was thinking Bridges. But Bridges is kind of like opulent, like they're not quiet. Yeah, but the downtown of it all-- And the adjacency to sort of the art and literature world and the way that they have so many kind of brand events makes it seem accessible to the masses. Yeah. But it's a very complicated menu. It's just like maybe like Borgo or something. Yeah. Kind of like classic, like little bit, like little tweaks on classic things, like elegant little tweaks. It's still like in this framework that is very-- Yeah, it's not Odeon. I would say beyond like for the people. No, no, no. And it's not Balthazar. It's no, no, no, no, no. And it's not like what's the new Flynn restaurant? Oh, cove. That's not quiet. No, no, it's not quiet. No, that place is very expensive. Or like the build out could be-- this is kind of-- it could be like I like commerce in. Yeah. I mean, it's really-- I guess it's like it's-- I mean, I-- Puritan and quiet luxury. Last time I was in there, there were girls at the bar like with Berkins. Like-- Oh. Yeah. Yeah. But it also doesn't really quite look sure if a restaurant doesn't really need me. But it's very like everyone in there is quite manicured. Yeah. But it looks like taverny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like it's low key. You can kind of always get a spot. And that new wine bar stars from the Penny people-- Oh, it opens today. Yeah. I think Penny, like those places where it's like sometimes people assume that tiny means casual. Yeah. Or-- No, the level of service there's like kind of like intense. Yeah. Yeah. So I would say like some of these smaller, I hate to use the phrase jewel box rooms, but that's kind of what they are. That look like maybe people are wearing like baggy pants and like nice jackets from like Stone Island or something. But it's still like a complicated menu. And like even the-- I emailed the Penny and Claude team this morning to find out about the speakers. Inside of stars and like their custom speakers. So that's kind of what I would think to be like the quad luxury restaurants. Nice. Yes. New York Times mini star reviews, fan or no fan. This is something I've been wanting to talk about. Can you tell me what that is? The other day they did something that was very controversial. Or it wasn't controversial, but people have been talking about it. And not as much as I would think actually. But they have these new reviewers. They have two new reviewers riding suddenly in Mahira. And they're riding smaller reviews. So they have the guy and they have Tajal riding the long reviews. And they have people riding smaller reviews about New York restaurants. But they did their debut of the smaller reviews. And they did four at the same time in the same column. So there was just like bang, bang, bang, four, four. So they're calling the mini stars? They're like miniature mini reviews. They're star now because before they used to do like mini write-ups on restaurants, but no stars. Now they do stars, but it's like two paragraphs, and then you get a star, which is kind of like controversial. It's quickening the process. Yeah, but it's also like four at the same time. It's like, it's kind of like Gooner behavior. It's like, I wish, I don't know. It makes sense, I guess. I think that makes sense for the time. They want more. Yeah, they want more, but it's like digestible. But I don't know. It makes the stars seem like-- I wish there was a different scale or something. It makes the stars-- now that they're especially there are four people giving out stars, it's like, what does one star mean anymore? It means nothing. I guess it just means good. We like this restaurant. Yeah, I think that they probably had to do that to like adopt to their reader appetites, though. Yeah, I mean, I guess they must have-- They've shifted so many things over there. I wish that I had more of an idea of what a star meant. I think it just means that they like it. Which is like, they did three-- they did four restaurants, and three of them got one star, and they're like three very different restaurants. It's like Bartolo and Los Burritos Juarez, both got one star, and maybe they both deserve one star. And maybe that's what the scale is. It's like-- It's also hard when there's so many voices picking the places and giving the star because you don't have one compass. It's like all of these people have the ability to put places on the map, which is great. Like this place, you know, they want more content. That's why they're doubling down on their New York team. But if you care about that system of rating, you do sort of-- you lose touch, especially in this like creator driven world. Like when you say you like a restaurant, I know I understand based on past things that you like to have in likes, like where that lands in the constellation of your tastes. But here's something interesting. I wonder if it will become like each reviewer's stars. Well, it'll be like a LaGaya one star restaurant versus like-- That requires so much education in these people's personalities. Yeah, I know. That's like, I think they're trying to sell us their personalities a little bit. OK, next. OK, so my AMA question for Emily and J. Lee is it's 4 a.m. or maybe it's like 3, 350. You get home to your apartment after the latest craziest night. And you know, there's only a few things that they'll want to deliver at that hour. I want to know what you're picking. I have my picks, but I know there's not a lot to choose from. Or what you're potentially eating out of your fridge at that hour. I mean, I did this last night, and I kind of regretted it a little bit. I got Popeyes, and it doesn't make me feel good. I'm too old to be doing that. But I really wanted it, and it did hit. It was so nice to eat it drunk, but wasn't. I probably shouldn't have done that. And that's the thing that's always open-made by my house. There's that. There's delis. There's like, you can get a sandwich or you can get Popeyes basically, or Taco Bell. I think a lot of people would answer Taco Bell, but I don't love Taco Bell, honestly. On the way home last night, around 130, my husband and I lived close to a Mr. Kiwi. So we just got some ramen. And then he also got a bag of seaweed. And we made ramen, and then he put more seaweed in. And then he microwaved, poached an egg, and put that on top, and it was very satisfying. I mean, that's usually my late night thing as a ramen. I haven't done that ever. And yeah, ramen, or a few nights ago, or a few weeks ago, I had a bender, and I came home and I made pasta, and that was good too. I would probably stick to that as opposed to ordering because you always risk that you fall asleep before the delivery comes or I was getting on the cab on the way. Yeah. I know. It's never as good as you think it's going to be. I would do things you can doctor yourself like pasta or ramen. Ramen is the best. Yeah. J. Lee. Emily. Spencer Count. What's good? This is R. B. My question for the Q&A tomorrow Friday is, "York has some pre-ridiculous lines. You can walk past, for example, to match a place or an industry and the line's snaking around the block. Question is, what's the line you're willing to stand in for a restaurant bar anywhere?" I waited at Vato last week and it was totally worth it in Park Slope, which is a new-- I did that last week too. Worth it? Yeah. I mean, it depends on how long the line is. It's cold. It's really embarrassing. Yeah. That's the worst thing that could happen is somebody takes a photo of you in the line line. It's so embarrassing. Tiediner is my answer for some place that I'd wait in line for and that I have. I love Tiediner. But so I waited in line for Mommy Pace, their chicken finger restaurant, on their first day. And the worst thing happened to me where I waited in line three hours by accident and then Eater was filming a video and I didn't know and I was standing behind them while they're filming this video. So you can see me in the back like just so hungry and anxious and really just wanting to sit down. So I went to the background of this Eater video just looking like the biggest loser ever. It was when I was like a really humiliating moment for me. I'm going to stick with Vato. I don't think I would wait in the line anywhere else. It's-- there's so many other places to go. Hello. Um, this is Sasha Muchnik. I-- I have been talking about the Smith. I know you guys talked about the Smith Burger. Is there a chance that it's going to have some sort of moment, or people going to ironically or otherwise kind of start falling back on the Smith? Is it going to become maybe not like a hillstone? But I don't know. People started going to Ruby's again. I've seen people do it because it's just be next. Sasha, friend of the pod. The Ruby's thing I can't get into right now. I fuck with Ruby's. I love the Columbus Circle, the Smith. When are you in Columbus Circle? Two or three times a year. Yeah. Lincoln Center for the Ballet. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. And there's a movie theater there. There's a movie theater there occasionally. I'll have like there. Like if you go to the film festival, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the Smith is an awesome restaurant. I've never gone there with a friend. It's so solid. I haven't been. I mean, for me, it's just, there's so many like associations, just like NYU core, like just like, because I am my first introduction to the Smith. I wonder if it was the first, the Smith, the one on second avenue. Yeah. To me, that's the first one that I ever saw. It seems so luxurious. I mean, eating, eating mac and cheese out of a little skill, it was like the coolest thing that I'd ever done in 2010. Yeah. Maybe it's still as cool. I haven't done it a long time. I think I took a meeting there with Audrey Gellman a few years ago and I was like, oh, like, okay. This is where we're taking a breakfast meeting and it was, that was something. And then I went there with a friend who works like in finance in Midtown. He suggested we go there for dinner and I got a great cocktail. It was like cool. And then I went there a lot, this year after wedding dress shopping, my mom was in town and we went there for brunch and it was really solid. Sasha, if you want to lead charge on this, I think that would be great. I was going to say, Sasha, now go to the Smith. Yeah. We can, we'll talk about it. I think that's a good idea. Sasha, we'll do it. Let's do it. Sorry. That's the first time I've ever left something on your hotline. That's a wild outgoing message. Like, I was curious, especially given your semi-anonymous status, if you all could comment on two things, one is, I'm going to leave another voice on because you said, breathe. Comment on the fact that these major publications feel like they're doing this like big, you know, crazy thing by unmasking their critics. We saw the LA Times critic unmask. I think it was today, at least I thought today, the Washington, the new Washington Post critic who just came in unmasked and then the New York Times with those two women who kind of looked alike, so it's kind of weird but anyway, A, I haven't seen the globe, the Boston Globe do that or other major publications. So A, what are your thoughts on it and B, do you think they're doing it because they're trying to, I don't know, be cool or just be relevant in an increasingly saturated environment? I'm very clearly not anonymous anymore and I never really was in that way. I mean, I say was mostly just that I didn't really post picture myself but I'm kind of jealous that I didn't get to have my big unmasking moment. Everyone gets, everyone's having this like, oh, we're taking off the mask like she's talking up Bill Addison, the like amazing writer for the LA Times, he came out, he's hot, he looks great. I was like, what? That's what you look like? Yeah. So I get to him doing that. It's like, everyone would think no one would have guessed there. I guess maybe people who know him, I don't know him. But it's funny, I've everyone clearly just wants to do it because everyone needs to post on social media. Yeah. That's like, they're being forced to do it. It's way easier to fall in love with a restaurant columnist today, when people are spending all their time on video. Every writer needs to be their own personal brand. Right. And every publication needs to have their roster of brands or- Also word travel faster now so people are kind of speculating who somebody is online. So I mean, it's a shame. Like I think that restaurant criticism is like one category where anonymity actually makes sense. I think a lot of these other places just like randomly doing anonymous things like they don't always make sense. And there's a boom of restaurant criticism happening right now because of platforms like Substack and podcasts and whatever. And I think in order for these publications, like keep their talented writers and continue investing in them, they need to grow their audiences and to do that. You need to like be a personality that somebody can fall in love with. Yeah. And it makes sense. But also I think that the writers would probably choose to- I can't speak to each person's motivations but I think they'd probably choose to be anonymous. It's pretty sick to write behind a mask and say whatever you want. You don't have to go into a restaurant and have people like bug you and stuff. My second one, it's kind of related. I don't really see many major food critics quote of color and more specifically black food critics. Which is, I guess, expected given how the industry is globally as a whole, but also just kind of weird to me. And black people can cook. And I'm going to say this as a black woman, like black people can throw down. So what are your thoughts on that? I mean, I'm always happy to have any opportunities to remind people that I'm black and Chinese. But I mean, I'm definitely not an expert and Emily can probably speak to this a little bit better, but media in general has a diversity problem and it's something that I would like to address whatever way that I can. I mean, there's Tammy at New York magazine. There aren't many and it's like, it's a loss for everybody for readers and there needs to be more diverse voices in food because- In media in general. Yeah, in media in general. In media especially in New York media is so white. Yeah, it's kind of crazy because New York is not that way. And if you looked at the- No, the restaurant industry is on that way. Yeah, I know. So it's like pretty ridiculous. And how do you feel like- It's a hiring issue. Yeah. And people need to- It's a recruitment issue and a hiring issue. There's so many incredibly talented people. I read a lot of restaurant criticism or restaurant writing on sub-stack and there's so many talented people. It's definitely recruiting a hire issue. It's a vision issue too. Like, have some- One hundred percent. Like a little- Like the same restaurants show up on your Instagram feed over and over and over and over and over. Yeah. And then when one person posts the other one, then you see that one over and over and over. If you continue to hire people with the same points of view and the same curated taste as- As you and other people at your publications- It's an echo chamber. It's an echo chamber and it's really boring and the reader and the consumer is smarter than ever and they're getting bored which is why they're looking for new voices, whether it's at feed me or POC or people that they're falling in love with on sub-stack who don't need to go to publications anymore because they're running their own newsrooms and they're working with their own publications that they're pitching to freelance and they don't need to go in house anymore. So then it's like, they kind of shoot themselves by not investing those kinds of people in the first place. But I just think in general, like, media needs to be looking at younger voices. I think young people are, I mean, I work with young people all the time, whether it's like Kami on our team who's young or like the photographers that I hire. or contributors that I have or like making sure that I'm constantly investing in like college students and giving out like free subscription to them. Like you can't run a newsroom the way that you did 20 years ago and think that you're still going to be around in a few years or that you're not gonna have to have a ton of layoffs. Like I just think that we can do this on a different episode, but it's, yeah, it's a combination of what you said media and just people having a lack of vision. The expense account podcast is built in partnership with Substack. I've been spending a lot more time on the Substack app. It's become my favorite escape to scroll productively and it's also where I've built my business. Substack is where I read Lincoln Bio by Rachel Carton to learn what brands are actually doing right on social media and where writers like Jalille Johnson are reinventing real-time fashion reporting. A few weeks ago I went live with Derek Thompson and it felt like thousands of us were hanging out and talking about the state of parties. Everything for Feed Me lives there too. My daily newsletter chaps about New York City, live videos with pop stars like Audrey Hobart and of course there's always debates in the comments section. In fact, while I'm here reading this ad to all of you, my readers are talking to each other about where guys on Wall Street have been taking their lunch meetings. Go to Substack.com/Emily to get a free month of Feed Me in the Substack app. So in this part of the episode, we are having Kami, our wonderful editor, help us out with some gifting moments, some restaurants and readers have sent us some gifts and we're just gonna talk through them. It's a perk of the job when we figured that we'd share with you. - And it's Christmas. - And it's Christmas and we love all these businesses. - Yeah. Okay. - James, 'cause this is, this is you. - This is, this is, I'm very excited about this. - My mom dirt. - This is from Asha Jeans, he sent us a big bag full of stuff. - So Jeans is a club, club restaurant. - With the farm upstate. - I had my wedding there. We had the best wedding ever. - It's a fabulous place. I've had a Feed Me party there early on. It's, they call themselves Gay Hills Stone. - Yeah. - Or somebody calls them that. - I heard that before. - We heard that. - It was this, which is the cutest thing I've ever seen. This class is Zool, like, I didn't know they made this size. I love this. This is adorable. And then, this is crazy. This is a little. - If you're, if you're listening and not watching, Jason pulls out a mini bottle of Posa Zool and now he's pulling out a tiny hat. (laughing) - It's a tiny hat. I don't know if it goes on here. Oh, it's a bottle opener. So there's a tiny, hot bottle opener. - It kind of fits the bottle. It looks great. - Yeah. - It's hot. Speaking of hats, we got some hats from jeans. - Thank you, jeans. We love the hats. - Yep, I will wear this on the next episode. I love these. Bonbons, yum. Some chocolate bonbons from Swedish candy code. What else do we got? Oh, okay. This is where we get paid to. We have these giant cookies. Jesus, they're famous for their giant cookies. - If you came to the Feed Me party at TJ Burns last year, you know about these cookies because we served them. - Oh my god, you're mill. - Wow. - It's a normal milk. - Looks like normal milk. - Remember cereal milk? - Oh, yeah. I wonder how that's going. (laughing) - And then this is from our friends at Fly By Jing, 12 Days of Flavors. And today, it's Friday, and it's the first day of Christmas technically, but by the time this will come out, it'll probably be later. This is cute. - I wanna see this. I'm excited about this. I love the advent calendar. - I'm gonna open day one. So it's an advent calendar, but it's not a full advent. Is that would be 25 days? - Is it, I thought it's 12 days of Christmas. - 12 days of Christmas, advent calendar is the whole month of December. - Okay, I've never been given one before. - Are you Catholic? Are you anything? - No, as to my wife is Catholic. - I'm Catholic. - Maybe I'll get confirmed. I need to pick my saint name. - For I was raised Catholic. Okay, so what we have, it's a mini jar of chili crisp. This is adorable. This is really cute. This is a fun gift. - Open the second one. Open second day of Christmas. 'Cause I wanna know what else they're gonna do besides-- - I kinda wanna jump to the end. - Yeah. - This is another jar of chili crisp. - I'm gonna jump to the end. - I can't just be Christmas every day. - Oh my gosh. - Oh, noodles. - Noodles. This is perfect for the woman who called asking for drunk food. - Yeah, that's a little spicy instant noodles. - This looks delicious. We are going to divide. - Oh, we ruined it for people, but by the time this comes out, it'll be Christmas. - Okay, you'll get at least one jar of spicy chili crisp. - If you're buying the fly by Jing advent calendar, you knew you were gonna get some chili crisp. - Yeah. Okay, let's see what else we got sent. - Let's see. (sighs) - Wait, why don't we just-- - Okay. - Okay, great. So, we got one from Una. - Una pizza. - Una pizza, and apparently that's like one of the best. These both look delicious. We are not, okay, we got one from St. Ambrose, St. Ambrose, St. Ambrose. - Yeah, I have this one at home right now, and my wife has eaten 75% of it in like two days. - That's true. - It's delicious. I bet you could make delicious French toast with it. - Ooh, I mean, she's been toasting it every day. It's got big chunks of dried oranges, and I don't usually like that kind of thing, but they're delicious. - What's that one, what flavor? - This one's lemon and dark chocolate and sea salt. This one's great. - Una pizza is so good for the pizza person. Una's really delicious. I would suggest you go there a few more. - Oh, is that a place you'd wait in line for? - No. (laughs) - I've never been. 'Cause I don't want to wait in line. - I'm not waiting for this gift list. I'm not waiting on a line there. I have the plug. I love both of these. Panatone, panatone. - Oh, it's so good. - Panatone. See, it used to seem so adult to me because of the liquor soaked fruits and stuff, but now I find it so delicious. - I think you should be eating panatone all year round 'cause it's a good breakfast. - I'm gonna talk about the red box. So, at the feed me through your party on Sunday, Will Welch gave me this little box. We love GQ shout out Will Welch. And it's from a little candy store in Rome. And I thought it was chocolate, but I believe it's chestnuts. - That's a beautiful, beautiful box, well. - Have you ever had one of these? - No, wow, what? - It's a beautiful little-- - This is classy. - But have you ever had anything like this in your life? - I'm not sure. - Oh, it's candy chestnut. - Yeah. - But it's not that sweet. - It tastes Chinese to me, that's what I said every food, but I feel like, oh, it's like a-- - It tastes Chinese. - Yeah. (laughing) - Well, our water chestnuts, chestnuts. - Let's call it awesome. - Do you know what I mean? - Yeah, yeah, that just occurred to me, that might be. But that's good, oh, it's nice. It's long, it's like flavor. - It's delicious. It would be good with like a little pepper, t-bone. - Or even-- - Or some cheese, almost. I'm kidding. - Now we're getting away from China. - Okay, and then San Ambrose. San Ambrose. - You want one? - I never know if it's San Ambrayas or San Ambrose. - San Ambrose. - Oh my gosh, this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. - Let's see, let's see, let's see. - It's a Christmas cake. - Oh, no! - Well, let me say-- - Oh, well, this is adorable. - Wait, oh, you can open the doors. - This is-- - Joy to the worlds. - Wow, look at this. (laughing) - Can you see, is this on camera? - Wow. - Can I see that one? - What is yours? - Oh my gosh. - This one's like a little fluffy guy. - They're really talented. I don't know if you can see, but there's a little Christmas scene. This is what happens when you go inside a snow globe. This is a really, this is a Christmas miracle. And I can't believe there's so much wonder in a piece of chocolate. - You put it in there? What do you do with that chocolate? Maybe you presented with the chocolate? - You, it's actually-- - This is a beautiful box. - Utilitarian, it's saving the edges of the yule from the side of the box. - Like, this is amazing thing to bring into a holiday party. - The great packaging, San Ambrose. San Ambrayus, whatever you are. Why aren't you saying how you said it? - San Ambrose. - Are you sure? - No, I'm not sure. - I tried to, it's like, I still am like learning how to say lapan cotidian. Say lapan cotidian. - lapan cotidian. - Yeah, I'm bad at these things. - What are these from? Do we know? - Open it. - Do you know? - I have an idea. - Wait, I love this a little taped sprig. - This is very thoughtful, I'm wrapping. - This is a fine ribbon. - It's very nice, just to wear it. It actually goes, can we show where it is like a little headband? - Yes, you can tie it around your ribbon. - Remember the one with the ribbon on it? - Oh yeah, you pull it off and your head falls off. - Oh my gosh. - What does it say on the card? - It's a flying turtle. - It's from, yeah, Momaya. - Oh my gosh. - Momoya. - I'm gonna cry, there are so many beautiful things in this city, just waiting for you to open up. - Wow. - This is as light as a feather. - Wow, these are like little things you put red bean in, I think, or something. - And this is really beautiful. - I can't believe that we are doing a job where this gets to be our job because of all of our readers and listeners. It's just really wonderful. This is a beautiful piece, I wanna wear this. - This is like a ribbon round my neck. It's a charm. - Yesterday, this box came in. - I'm getting very emotional. - Back from Happy Tuna, which is a sushi restaurant. And-- - Where? - Let's look up, I don't know where it is. But it's from Happy Tuna. - This is like Emmy. It's so huge. - Look at him. But they, it's got delivered in a Happy Tuna bag and then I was like, oh no, did they send Tuna? I mean, did they send sushi? - I don't know if they could have cried. - That's a really beautiful box. - This is really lovely. - Oh, this is like one of the coolest gingerbreads I've ever seen in my life. - All of these little ribbons and delights, it's just, some things can be so special. - This is so cool. - Oh my God. I don't know if it's 'cause I'm hungover or what, but it's like a pressed flower in a madeline. - Wow. - I've never seen anything like this. - You're kind of above the young on these guys, wow. - I think I'd like to try a cookie. - Yeah, which one are you trying? One of those. - Pecan miso, caramel. - Oh, yum. - Even the little tape. - It's really thoughtful. Let me see this card. - This kind of goes back to what we were saying at the beginning of this show where things are, everything's so big and splashy on a table, like a big Instagramy cake with blue buttercream. And that has a time and a place, but the holidays season should be sacred. - Mamoya. - And enjoyed. - Mamoya really killed it. Yeah, gingerbread cookie, gin my crunch chocolate, strawberry chocolate madeline, yuzu madeline, almond, manoka, florentine, pecan miso caramel cookies, matcha chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies, fruit pound cake, and coconut granola, wow, this is a sip box. It's very nice gift. - This brought me to tears. - We'll put these back in the box before they don't get a-- - Oh my God. By the way, all this going to get eaten. - Yeah, of course. - Give the-- - What's the big box? Or the green one? - You open the box. - Is this from our neighbor, printoms? - Yeah, this is from printoms. I'm excited to see what's in here. - Our office is downtown. If you're not, oh, if you are listening to this, I hope that you got an understanding of what I was walking through on that last box. - They're beautiful. - Okay, printoms, oh my goodness. - Oh, what? - Wait, this is crazy. - Some Queenamons. - printoms, what is this called? - Queenamon. - Queenamon. - Queenamon. One time I bought this Queenamon from Chicago is like the first time I ever had a Queenamon is from Celador in Chicago, shout out Celador. And I brought it home for Esther 'cause she loves a Queenamon. And I came home late from Chicago and I had it on the table. And then the next day it was gone. And to this day we don't, I think she ate the Queenamon in the middle of the night and she thinks the cat ate it, but she's never done anything like that. And the cat's never done anything like that. Your cat doesn't eat ice. - No, she's never done anything like that. It's a mystery in our relationship. - This is beautiful. I didn't even know printoms had it. I guess they did launch breakfast recently. - That's a beautiful box of pastries. - Thank you so much, printoms. - This is happy holidays, exo-chette-sophia-slimeian, J.F. restaurants. - Ooh, wait, can somebody do a quick look at what J.F. restaurants is? - No one has their phone somewhere. - Ooh, wow, another box of beautiful treats. We got candy cane hot chocolate. Oh, these are those things where you like put it in a-- - Yeah, you stir it in a lot. - I love these things. - You can even just stir it in your warm milk. - It's so nice. And then look at this beautiful-- - It's a bubble. - What's it called? What's the thing that people, the people that girls have of like this shape? You know what I'm talking about? Cryptophobia? - Oh yeah, men have it too. - I've never met a man who has it. - It's a bubble bar. - Yeah, I love a bubble bar, pro bar. - So it's a, it's a good name for a bar. - Yeah. And this one is a brown butter sneaker, dude, I love sneaker. - I think that we should, this is really J.F. restaurants. - Yeah, what is-- - Terrace, iris. - Thank you. - Thank you guys. This is so-- - Beautiful. - Wow. - This is such a lovely, these are really lovely things to bring to someone's house. - Yeah, I know. I have a good thing where there's so many parties this coming. - I know, this goes well with that. Should we open one? - Oh, wait, I have one right here. This is funny. This is something that I never knew. This says post-coffee mouth rinse. - Who's it from? - It's from Tannen. That's the name of this company. - Tannen. - Did you know that? Do you drink coffee? - Yeah, you drink coffee. - Do you drink a lot of coffee? - No. - This is for me. I didn't know this was a problem 'cause I don't drink coffee, but post-coffee mouth rinse. Tannen. - Going forward, we should have people who want to sponsor us and this is a lot of free press here. - Yeah. This is fun. - Coffee rinse. And then we have the-- Oh, let's open the big box on the bottom. - Who's that from? - I don't know. - You don't know? - Pull it out, Cammy. Cammy, you pull it out. - I know what it is. - I don't know what it is. - Oh. - As elves do. - Yeah. - Oh my gosh. Oh my. Okay. - Oh my, I like that. - Oh my dear. Slow and low. So these are little hand cocktails. - I'm going to have one of these as soon as we finish. - A CPG category that I like. - I love these little hand cocktails. - These are adorable. - These are old-fashioned. - This classic cherry maple and coffee. Nice. Slow and low old-fashioned, yum. - Okay, this is cool. - I'm going to drink one. - I always wonder, where does one buy this or is it just for it to be sent? - Costco, maybe. - Maybe. - Love. - They don't sell alcoholic cocktails. - Thank you for these tiny little cocktails. - Yeah, fun. And then we have just the reberdas. We've got some of a few other things, like a bunch of-- - We love reberdas. We've got a bunch of Tates Cookie, Chopin Vodka, some Unreal, bunch of Unreal candies, low sugar candies. - Oh, that's a beautiful book. - I know, I'm so excited for this result. - I love reberdas. - I love reberdas. Reberdas is not good enough credit. - That's another place to go on the pizza drawer. - Yeah, reberdas rocks. What's in there? - Ooh, spicy pizza oil. - Yum. - Delicious. - We love any kind of spicy oil here. Oh my God. Look at all these-- - Ooh. - I gotta do like one of this, a money spread. This is crazy. - What's that? - Just chocolates from beyond good chocolates. Wow, so many dark chocolates. We love dark chocolate. - Thank you. - Well, how do I do the money spread? Like, like, guys, thank you so much. - Ooh, these two? Yeah, this is amazing. Who would have thought that it could so much stop? - We got this pizza box from Ziggy's Roman Cafe. It says Feed Me. - This is crazy. A dessert pizza is crazy. It looks good, though. - Do we dance in Utah? - Or is it ganache? Nutella, yum. - What's the white? - Is it? - Mm, it's like custard. - Oh, but it's not so sweet. - This is delicious. - Yum. It's like ricotta, yum. - Yeah, I guess. Ooh, this is kind of a fun. I just heard pizza is always, you never know where to go in. - I know it's like sus of them, but every time I've had one, I've been like, this is so delicious. - This is pretty good, yeah. - Yum. - Yum. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, actually I forgot one thing. - What? - I have something for you guys. Ryan, I have a Christmas gift for Ryan, the producer. Come here, Ryan. I didn't wrap it. I don't really wrap gifts, but this is for you. - Oh, Ryan. I think he needs this. - Now you guys can meet the man who makes it all happen. - And then I have this for Emily. - What is it? - It's just a little something. - Oh my gosh. So we have another person in the feed me, universe named Esther, who works at a beautiful women's wear brand called gauntlet chain. Thank you. Thank you, Esther and Jason. - This is so cool. - Yeah, if you look something it's like actually you wear stuff like that all the time. - I do, I do. I wear it in our ads, wear it all the time. - Nice. - Happy holidays. - That's Christmas ever. - We love you. We want to utilize the hotline more for episodes. I think it's actually a really fun way to kind of hear what you're thinking about. And if any New York City restaurant ever want to send juice and anything, get in touch with him and give your office address. - Yeah. Oh. Merry Christmas, happy holidays.