Happy Thursday, everyone,

I'm sure most of you have seen the New York Times piece on Noma and René Redzepi by now. I've been in a number of text threads and DMs about this over the last couple of days.  

I started to write down my thoughts, but rather than squeezing them in here or in a blog post, we will talk about them on the podcast next week to make sure to cover as much perspective as possible.

Having experienced kitchens like that, I do think the behavior referenced in the article was unfortunately endemic to kitchen culture for a very long time in many kitchens, especially at the highest level.  

But not every kitchen operated that way. This week, I shared a clip from my conversation with Chef John Adler about spilling an entire deli container of truffle Perigourdine sauce right before service at Per Se. You'll hear chef Benno's response (Per Se's CDC at the time) in the clip. It's a great example of how calm energy and clear communication can often have a much more powerful effect than anger and fear.

On the lighter side: the podcast episode on "Sommefication" from last week spawned a lot of conversations. We're double clicking on that one this week with a clip shared below on why knowledge is a commodity and relationships matter more than ever today.

Plus, Chef Daniel Siegelman came on the podcast for a Quickfire that turned into some viral moments, sharing the full episode here today as well.

And, yes, this newsletter is about restaurants, food, tech, and entrepreneurship... But since I'm writing it, I get to shout out my daughter Pearl, who had her 5th birthday this past weekend.  To even the playing field a bit, I'm sharing an insanely delicious s'more cake recipe I've been working on for the past 6 months that she asked me to make for the party.

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The meez Podcast 🎙️

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From Steven Starr to El Camino: An Operator’s Quickfire with Dan Siegelman

Daniel Siegelman came up through Steven Starr's group and Michael Mina's kitchens before spending time in Napa Valley under Michael Chiarello at Bottega.

Now he's overseeing El Camino, a 12-year-old Mexican concept with four locations in South Florida and two more on the way.  We bonded over some shared stories of losing a notebook of recipes, then jumped into one of the best quick fires we've had to date!

What we cover:

• Miami's restaurant crisis: 100-150 closures, rents up 40-60%
• Why Salsa Macha deserves way more love
• Daniel's stolen notebook, losing 5-6 years of recipes overnight
• Working for Steven Starr vs. Michael Mina
• Using the fat from braises
• Why "heard" should be banned from the kitchen
• The club baby seal prank at Bottega
• French Laundry's suckling pig
• Texas toast grilled cheese

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👉 Listen now here

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Chef Notes 📔

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What happens when you spill a pound of truffle Perigourdine sauce right before service

Chef John Adler, formerly of Per Se, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and Franny’s, shared a story every cook can relate to—one of those unforgettable kitchen #$%^ups that we remember forever.  

If you are not familiar with Perigourdine sauce, it takes 3 days to make and a massive amount of chopped fresh black truffles.  

John shares this story from his time at Per Se, and why chef Jonathan Benno simply said, "That's probably the worst thing you could have done right now."

👉 Chime in on the conversation here

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Hot Take🤔🌶️

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What we mean by 'Sommefication'

Eli brought this up on the podcast last week, and we have had a lot of questions about it.  

I believe knowledge is becoming a commodity, and Eli made a great point: " Our expertise in and of itself doesn't really matter that much anymore. It's how other people experience it."

If the learning curve has been almost completely flattened, it's far more important to improve upon what we are able to do with the knowledge we have access to, and how to engage others to get excited about it.

This puts restaurants and chefs at the forefront of what can drive the most value in today's economy.

👉 Chime in with your thoughts on Insta or Linkedin

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Recipe:

Pearl's birthday s'more cake

My daughter Pearl's 5th birthday was this past Sunday.  

For the past 6 months, she has been asking for a s'mores cake.  So clearly, had to make several test versions to make sure I did not disappoint.

I always find that the meringue never works well standalone, layered into the cake, because it is too light and the cake falls apart.  

Plus, graham cracker crust is fine but I prefer something crunchier since everything is so soft and gooey.  And my kids thankfully don't love overly sweet desserts, so I usually cut things with sour cream or labneh.

So this version is:

• Chocolate Sour Cream Cake (w/ some good coffee, but don't tell mom)
• Sour Cream Chocolate Ganache
• Graham Cracker Streusel
• Meringue 'Fluff' Buttercream
• Toasted Marshmallows

Not gonna lie, this cake was pretty friggin ridiculous.  

Recipe 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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