There are a few corndog restaurant chains that chefs and serious food people laud more than others. Is Outback Steakhouse actually the best of all of them?

There is no such thing as cooking selflessly.

A “corn dog restaurant” is a restaurant that can never be anything other than what it is. Over the past few years, major food outlets have reviewed various “corn dogs,” i.e. successful restaurants that have no reason to change: the French Laundry, Spago, Din Tai Fung, Carbone, Alinea, Chez Panisse. Is this valid?

Food lover, VHS collector, and Android user Jake Hook runs Diner Theory, which highlights long-standing restaurants in America and all over the world. He was kind enough to chat with us about his ethos, hype culture, and the worst bagel take of all time.

Congrats to all of this year’s official James Beard award nominees! There must have been some kind of mistake because we weren’t nominated, but we know things can slip through the cracks sometimes, we’re sure Mr. Beard has a lot on his plate… 

I looked at the New York Times Cooking constantly when I was learning how to cook. I’ve since stopped. Why? Is it because it has gotten bad?

Doing some deep internal reflection, I’m probably jealous that people actually work there as a real job tbh. They work with cool people, some of whom have contributed to the zine (cough cough), one who made an excellent dinner for me one time and is very nice. Also, I will never admit this to anyone but Melissa Clark taught me how to cook a sweet potato.

I’m trying to get better at the humility required to quietly admit “just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s bad, it may just not be for you.” 

But then I see them put out a recipe for avocado toast with sardines on it and I lose my shit.