This week skewed very Italian (not on purpose)

Happy Thursday!

I hope everyone is enjoying and getting some value out of these emails.  I'd love to hear from you if there are more you'd like to see (or less!). Feedback is the most precious commodity; I'm grateful for any you'd like to share.  And on that note, I'm always thirsty for feedback on what more you'd like to see from meez.  Simply reply to this email.

This week, we're featuring John Adler, an incredible chef with a pedigree that doesn't really get much better.  Per Se, Blue Hill Stone Barns, Franny's, then running culinary at Blue Apron, now through Wonder.  

Plus some notes on dishes that don't make it on the menu, even when they are delicious (and they should have made it).  And Eli Feldman shares his thoughts on new revenue streams for restaurants in the hot take.

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Recipe:

Parm Broth

The impetus for creating this recipe was an effort to use up all of the rinds from the Valserena solo di bruno parmigiano we were buying at the the restaurants.  And I wanted to put something warm in people's hands when they walked through the door.

The restaurant was focused on buying the best possible version of every ingredient we used.  In this case, we were using Parmigiano Reggiano from Valserena Solo di Bruna, the oldest Parmigiano Reggiano producer in Parma, and the broth practically made itself.

The problem was keeping enough rinds on hand. We kept racing to Whole Foods to buy more, which defeated the whole point.

It never made financial or operational sense, so we killed it. Hindsight being 20/20, in retrospect, we should have 100% just kept it on the menu, limited quantity, even as a loss leader.  

If you make it, use the best parm you can find.

👉 Check out the recipe here

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The meez Podcast 🎙️

From Per Se to Blue Apron and the Wonder acquisition: John Adler is back for a quick fire and a quick catch up.

John Adler went from 3 michelin star restaurants to negotiating contracts for three million pounds of chicken at Blue Apron & Wonder. That transition alone is worth the conversation.

We got into the operational reality of cooking at that scale, what the Wonder acquisition actually meant, and where robotic kitchens are headed. Plus, the best dish he ever ate, why truffle oil should be banned, and his very specific, science-backed method for the perfect grilled cheese.

What we cover:

• Wonder, sous vide, and robotic woks
• The math behind cooking
• The best dish John ever ate: Il Grotto di Corignan
• The most underrated chef: Juan Cuevas
• Why truffle oil should be banned
• The most wasted ingredients in the kitchen
• The melting container of perigourdine sauce disaster at Per Se
• John's exact method for the perfect grilled cheese

👉 Listen now here

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Chef Feedback 🔥

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‍The greatest dish John Adler ever ate at a restaurant

He may be a little biased given his time at Per Se, so he chose 2 dishes.

One is from Per Se. The other is from a restaurant in Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, Italy called il Grotto di Corignan 20min down the road from Quintarelli Giuseppe vineyard (home to some of the greatest Amarone).

👉 Check out John's picks here

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Hot Take🤔🌶️:

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Should DoorDash Use Restaurants as Lockers?

Shybird’s Eli Feldman floated an interesting idea : DoorDash already knows the top 50 SKUs people order in every neighborhood. Couldn't those items sitting in a locker inside restaurants, ready to go the second someone adds them to their cart?

Potentially hyper-localized, as the top 50 may be vastly different geographically, and very likely, DoorDash has this data.Restaurants are on every corner, very often with underutilized real estate and/or downtime.Rev share or off-setting door dash fees in exchange for more efficient DoorDash trips.

👉 Watch the clip and chime in with your thoughts here

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💬 Want to Be a Guest on The meez Podcast?

If you’re building at scale or wrestling with hard zero-to-one problems worth talking about, I’d love to hear from you.

Apply to be a guest or nominate someone we should talk to.

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