• Wonder, the latest baby from Jet.com billionaire / ex-Walmart CEO Marc Lore, raised a $650 million Series D, valuing the food tech startup at $9 billion as they prepare to go public in 2027. I’d like to interview some Wonder fans to understand their psychology. What Wonder is doing is genuinely interesting and genuinely distressing from a soul standpoint. You either know Wonder as the corporate storefront driving local businesses out of your neighborhood, or from their subway ads advertising that He can get tacos and She can get salad delivered in the SAME order and together they can both rot in their Murray Hill apartment together. They brand their storefronts as food halls, which is really a euphemism for ghost kitchens at street level.

  

  • Wonder is also seeking to acquire small restaurants with devoted local followings, per Axios - essentially acting as a tech-ified PE rollup. Its first acquisition of this kind was Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on East 2nd street, which it paid $6 million for. Its second was Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, which has 8 locations across NYC.

  • This weblike marketplace of online ordering / ghost kitchen fulfillment / delivery is anchored by the infrastructure resulting from Wonder’s acquisition of Grubhub / Seamless from Just Eat Takeaway in 2024.

  • This story would not be complete without Gen AI. Wonder plans to launch an AI tool, Wonder Create, to let people create new “restaurants” - menu items with custom branding and packaging - that can operate via Wonder and be offered on their marketplace. Creators will get a cut of profits, encouraging them to market their creations.

  • Next year, it plans to offer drone delivery in Texas.

    

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• Speaking of State of the Union, Lisi Harrison is releasing State of the Reunion, an adult novel reviving The Clique series. Of course, this is some of the best news I’ve heard all summer.

• Speaking of drones, Doordash is now a certified air carrier and is preparing to offer drone delivery, adding “a new dimension to local delivery”.

• Blank Street raised a Series B: funds will be focused on West Coast expansion for their mission to become a “broader daily luxury brand” (ok).

• There’s a very summer camp, nostalgic, Stranger Things-esque semiotics system going around that’s different from infantilization (merely a corporate-driven branding phenomenon) that is called summerween. Summerween is not literally celebrating Halloween in summer but rather a celebration of the spooky elements of a rainy, firefly-lit camp summer - think those Goosebumps books about Camp Nightmare and Camp Cold Lake.

  

  

  • Companies like Mars have been cashing in on the summerween aesthetic as it extends the Halloween season from a small 4-week period in October to a retail season that takes over nearly half the year, starting in June.

  • However, it’s been difficult for anyone beyond candy companies to cash in - summerween is nearly insulated from marketability and commercialization due to its emphasis on free/low-cost, nostalgic activity - campfires, roller skating, watching horror movies, swimming in a lake, grilling.

  • Other recent trends like youthful interest in jam, frozen yogurt, and even fashion systems like Crayola Casual feel connected to the broader summerween universe.

  

• Climate change is making GDP tank. Climate change is threatening the $4.B securitized parmigiano-reggiano economy in Italy. Wheels of parmigiano-reggiano have long been used as loan collateral in Italy, and the quality of this collateral heavily relies on keeping the cheese at the right temperature so it can age properly. The extreme heat that’s plagued the Med every summer is threatening not only the “cheese banks” but vineyards, olive groves, and Italy’s wider economy: because it’s so hot, cows are lying down, eating less, and therefore producing less milk; costs to keep cheese banks cool are rising exponentially; in vineyards, high temperatures are pushing sugar into grapes faster than flavor can develop which is problematic for varietals like Nebbiolo; Puglia and Calabria, Italy’s largest olive-oil producing regions, have seen output fall by more than half in a single season. For more on heat and lost GDP, I’d give Wharton economist Jisung Park’s Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World a read.

• I think the be-all, end-all of the “taste” conversation in tech should be that startups should have creative directors. I specifically think you can track the evolution of this through naming. In the 2000s, startups were named descriptively: Salesforce, Dropbox, Facebook. The 2010s moved onto invented or singular words like Uber, Stripe, Notion, Figma. 2020s AI is most definitely moving away from names that sound like brands or worlds rather than software products: Anthropic, Sardine, Mistral, Cohere, Granola, Clay, Windsurf. The name is charming and tells you basically nothing about the product: essentially saying “we picked a word we like and we will make it mean us”, an example Apple and Nike set. The next step for them to create the worlds they want to create is to hire a creative director (which is fully a real job!)

• Peptides clean up nice. Protocole has created a branded, concierge wrapper around once-underground peptide therapy. The “modern peptide platform” provides “physician guided access, personalized protocols, and regulated pharmacy fulfillment” and just raised a $6MM seed round led by Rare Capital. The company was founded by Cindy Yan, who worked in product at health/wellness startups, and Delphine Le Grand, who first worked in fintech and then moved on to advising health + wellness startups.

  • Protocole’s raise suggests that peptides are being ushered out of the underground via VC dollars. It follows the typical wellness adoption cycle: first there’s a sketchy thing people in chat rooms on the internet are doing, then comes some medical legitimacy and wider interest, and the eventually someone brands it. There is a lot of opportunity in productizing trust. It’s much easier to order bottled NAD+ from a beautiful website than it is to order from Chinese gray market suppliers and directly mix the powders in water yourself.

  • Protocole is part of a broader wave of companies building infrastructure around wellness practices that exist in unstructured markets: see also Tailor Made Compounding, wthn, Wisp; GLP-1s, supplements, hormone testing.

Today’s Assemblage is a good old fashioned newsletter…

• From my seat, the reaction to AI wearables from most of the population is generally “who asked for this”. This is because the AI wearables competition is really a race to define a new consumer behavior, akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

  • AI wearables are shaping up to be a competition between Meta, Apple, and Open AI, with a roster of startups beneath them.

  • Meta has the clearest market signal so far, with its infamous Ray Ban x Meta AI smart glasses. The glasses are already culturally recognizable if a bit memeable. Meta is all-in on glasses being the next interface. However, I’m not convinced wider demand is there - these were a funny gimmick in 2023/2024, but according to Reuters, smart glasses sales tripled in 2025, albeit from a small base. Meta has something other players mostly do not: people are already wearing the thing. This matters because unlike apps, wearables have to clear a higher bar beyond just shipping and scaling utility: do people want to wear this, does it look normal, does it create social friction, does it make the wearer feel or seem powerful, embarrassing, creepy, stylish, smart, or insane? At least Meta has proven it can clear that bar.

    • Worth noting that Meta also acquired AI pendant company Limitless in December 2025.

  • Apple, however, is the most intuitive winner: it has already proven it can clear bars when it comes to non-AI wearables, as it already owns the wrist (Apple Watch) and ears (AirPods). Rather than inventing or forcing a new behavior, Apple can just iterate on what it has already built - it is reportedly in the final phase of development of AirPods with built-in cameras, thus moving AirPods into the “AI Wearables” category as the cameras are meant to act as Siri’s eyes… the behavior Apple is encouraging here is for users to point their AirPods at something and ask a question, like if you want to know more about a weird plant you see on a hike or a weird sculpture at the New Museum. So, Apple has trust, and is undisputedly the leader design-wise, but its weakness is that Siri/Apple Intelligence has lagged perception-wise, and Apple’s own research seems to acknowledge the deeper issue. In The Illusion of Thinking, Apple researchers found that today’s advanced reasoning models can look capable at moderate complexity but break down when problems get harder, suggesting that the real bottleneck may not be whether Apple can make AI wearable, but whether it can make AI reliable enough to wear.

  • Open AI obviously has the models, the consumer habit through ChatGPT, the Jony Ive design partnership, and persistent rumors of a consumer hardware device (most recently about a smart home device that will start your dishwasher for you, order groceries, etc.) The Jony Ive partnership has not yet produced a product, but it has produced a hardware thesis: Open AI seems to believe ChatGPT should not remain trapped inside a laptop or phone app. The rumored device, whatever it is, will be like an ambient AI object that is designed to make AI feel more like a presence in the room than a tool you open.

    • OpenAI doesn’t need to win the wearable category outright. The Jony Ive partnership suggests it wants to define the post-app AI interface, but if Meta’s glasses, Apple’s AirPods, or some other device becomes the dominant hardware layer and uses OpenAI’s models, OpenAI still “wins'“.

  • Behind these 3, there’s a startup layer comprised of Sandbar, Friend, Omi, Plaud, etc: they can’t beat Open AI/Meta/Apple on distribution, capital, or ecosystem, but they are arguably better positioned to identify that new consumer behavior that makes the category work, by virtue of singular focus on finding that behavior.

    • Each startup is testing a different behavior:

      • Sandbar’s ring, Stream, suggests the winning behavior might be private thought capture: whispering something to the ring before you lose it.

      • Friend (lol) suggests the behavior might be emotional companionship.

      • Omi points toward life assistance.

  • Whatever wearable wins is going to be the one that directly integrates into peoples’ lives in a clean and nearly undetectable way, with an element of “how did I live without this until now”. Two things on that:

    • The uncomfortable thing is that the most useful AI wearable will likely also be the creepiest. A good wearable wants context. Context means microphones, cameras, location, biometrics, messages, and access to personal relationships. The more the device knows, the more useful it becomes.

    • All of this is really solipsistic. Tracking sleep quality with wearables like Oura and WHOOP is one thing, but tracking every stray thought you have and recording all your conversations is another. Talking about how we’re championing ‘individualism’ too much is a whole other essay….

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There’s a burgeoning trend that’s widely ignored, I suspect because it’s not directly monetizable and inherently shouldn’t be scaled beyond what makes sense for that specific tech. The future of the social internet and the monetary winner of consumer social don’t have to be the same thing, and the future of the social internet also can’t be “people go meet each other IRL”. People aren’t leaving the internet and will continue to socialize online…

The future of the social internet isn’t “irl connection economy” apps designed to reintroduce you to the concept of Dinner, and it isn’t bigger platforms or better, more personalized algorithms. It’s smaller, “personal software” built for defined micro-communities.

1.Not Community

The term “community” has become a hollowed out shell of itself. It’s succumbed to death by a thousand stupid posts - a thousand social media content marketing calendar notifications. Brands and large social media platforms have co-opted “community” to the point that it’s more a euphemism for “group of target consumers”. Brands will continue to double down on their “community” play in an effort to reach consumers amidst a branding + marketing landscape increasingly saturated by AI, in an effort to differentiate themselves from other (similar) brands. For these reasons, I want to avoid the term “online communities” entirely.

Personal Software is not “community” in this sense. A defining feature of Personal Software is that there is absolutely nothing being advertised - no algorithms, no covert product placement. Personal Software constitutes a return to the early internet: a sense of discovery of ideas, not things to buy, and of people, not “communities” rallied around a brand.

2.Solitude is lucrative for businesses and addictive for 2026 consumers
It is naive to think that we’ll all tire of screens and scrolling and fully return to interacting with each other in real life. We’re not going to return to the lifestyle of feasts and dances and rich, deep community that our ancestors enjoyed - as a country, our brain’s reward centers are too far gone into the dopamine-hit void.

In a guest post on Derek Thompson’s newsletter, Alex Mayyasi points out that capitalism rewards anti-social businesses: delivery apps, short-form video apps, fast-casual restaurants where you order at a kiosk, get a number, and leave because there aren’t enough cold hard stools to hunch over and eat your meal on. These are the businesses that generate returns for investors via either going public or getting acquired. He writes that “free, social activities compete with cheap, engaging, and high-quality entertainment…and even cheaper doomscrolling”: the profit motives of Netflix, Doordash, and Meta shape our choice to stay in and consume (in all senses of the word) rather than go outside.

Loneliness is efficient for both businesses and self-interested individuals, and I believe 2026 consumers enjoy being lonely (at home, comfortable, catered to by apps), realistically. However, actual loneliness is not sustainable - in that sense, I believe people will continue to interact with each other behind screens, but seek something beyond Instagram/Tiktok. Instead of returning offline, people will rebuild connection online in a different form.

3.Shift from Platforms to Places

Big social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and increasingly TikTok have become enshittified:

People are tired of everything being an ad and they are tired of the Algorithm. Research from Verge found that “sixty percent of respondents view the state of social media negatively, expressing it feels like a place of never-ending product placements and makes them feel like a number in a giant algorithmic machine.” While social media still clings onto its original purpose, to connect people, most believe it has fueled societal divisions by creating algorithm-driven echo chambers.

This leaves a dearth of places on the internet that support genuine, meaningful connection. Verge’s research indicated that “platforms that can facilitate this ‘connection shift’ will redefine the next phase of the digital community”; surveyed individuals’ desire for “smaller, more intimate communities” online serves as a harbinger that smaller, purpose-driven communities are the future. As I laid out in NPCs and Analogs (embedded below), there will be a divide in the consumer landscape clean down the middle between nearly 100% human-made, more analog, and therefore luxury offerings, and bargain, AI-driven, tech-enabled offerings. The middle ground between the two will be nearly nonexistent as time goes on, and consumers will shift between the bifurcation in offerings depending on the consumable category. This phenomenon will extend beyond CPG, hospitality, fashion, media, etc. into online spaces themselves. Where you choose to spend time online will indicate something about you - whether you doomscroll TikTok slop or create hyperspecific memes on a platform for dedicated fans of contemporary literature (for example). Platforms free from AI or algorithms will be considered more elevated.

4.Personal Systems

What are these platforms, or ‘personal software’, exactly? We can trace their lineage and then go through a few examples.

What Arena cofounder Charles Broskoski terms “personal businesses” can be considered predecessors to personal software. He uses the difference between the Shop Around the Corner and Fox Books in the 1998 rom-com You’ve Got Mail as an example of personal vs impersonal business: a family-owned shop focused on children’s books with a small but enthusiastic customer base, and a Barnes and Noble stand-in that throws the word “bargain” around a lot, serves cappuccinos (margin boost!), and theoretically is scalable with a large TAM (total addressable market). The crux of the descriptor ‘personal’ in both personal software and personal business comes from Meg Ryan’s character’s response to Tom Hanks’ character running the Shop Around the Corner out of business:

Tom Hanks: “It’s not business, it’s personal.”

Meg Ryan: “I’m so sick of everyone saying that. That just means it wasn’t personal to you, but it was personal to me. It was personal to a lot of people. What’s so wrong with being personal anyway? Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”

In other words, businesses are on a spectrum: vehicles for profit vs. vehicles for care. This was obvious in the 1990s, when the movie was made and takes place, and even more jarring today: a personal way of doing things vs. an insincere, money grab way.

The world of luxury also offers good examples: say, Cristaseya vs. Gucci - Cristaseya a husband and wife owned, quality-championing brand with a single, by appointment only Paris atelier, Gucci a Kering-owned global behemoth selling marketing first and product second (highly recommend Dana Thomas’s Deluxe for more on this). And because it’s of the moment… Muratori in Emily in Paris is a good example of ‘personal business’.

Aspects of Personal Businesses:

1. Run by people “truly into what they are doing, and invested enough to offer products, services, and/or experiences that are both high-quality and idiosyncratic.”1

2. PROPERLY SCALED. Personal Businesses are not interested in and not compatible with exponential growth. They scale only enough to fill up their “niche”.

3. Not solely for profit.

4. Not necessarily trying to compete with the behemoths: Fox Books, Barnes and Noble, Kering, LVMH.

Personal Software is Personal Business but taken online, with utility (i.e. not just a blog or something to be consumed passively).

There aren’t too many personal businesses online yet, and the ones that exist are by nature difficult to find - there’s not much paid advertising or SEO they’re involved in. Part of this comes from a disdain for software - people definitely don’t need more screens or software in their lives, but if we’re going to spend times on screens anyway, it would be ideal if some of that screen time was spent on platforms that aren’t solely profit motivated. Another part comes from the popular understanding that ‘software’ is something that is VC backed, probably B2B, and meant to scale and profit. Yes, the majority of software is like that, but if software is ‘eating the world’ (so sorry to quote a16z), it should “…represent a diversity of people and potential outcomes.”

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I was scared to publish despite having many ideas bottlenecked and backlogged in the ‘Drafts’ section, because my subscriber count has grown despite me not publishing. I, ever the Pavlovian dog, could only assume that people were encouraging and rewarding me to not write (or think). But let’s do away with simplistic Occam’s razor thinking and go with the second assumption: that because the vast majority of you are here from Why does everything look infantilized?, you want more! So, in 2026, expect continued research, analysis, essays, and news round ups centered on consumer culture, tech, brand, hospitality, and the errant travel or NYC guide.

I’m experimenting with a new newsletter format where I ideate how I would fix or enhance a brand / product / company. This is fun for me because it lets me think like a product / designer / investor all at once. To inaugurate, let’s play with Partiful.

Many people I know refuse to download the Partiful app despite its growing adoption in our social circles. They keep it at arm’s length in ‘default browser’ prison. To some, downloading it signals “buy in” to an app that’s homogenizing social interaction into a neat little package. The mechanics that drive engagement (in a word, overstimulation: dense visuals, constant updates, reactions, emojis, attendance counts, and text ‘blasts’, with the word “blast” literally used in each text) create annoyance at best or fatigue and anxiety at worst, particularly for users who value intimacy, relaxed plans, or old-fashioned etiquette (i.e. RSVP in the true sense, none of this “Maybe” bullshit).

For example, “Maryah sent a text blast” does not necessarily fit my message, sent to eight friends coming over for dinner: “Do not bring any big scary Merlots. White or orange only, or if you must, a chillable red can sneak by.”

You may say, then don’t make a Partiful. Make a group text. And I did. But the point of this exercise is to help Partiful grow by making it more appealing to a wider user base and better suited to the full range of social events people actually host.

Partiful collapses social nuance into binary signals (yes/no/maybe, public attendance, attendance counts), and turns every interaction on its platform into a micro-social performance. Essentially, it doesn’t optimize for the varied spectrum of human personality, and the varied sorts of plans they might host, beyond the MySpace-like “themes” you can add to your party page that don’t vary much. I’ve found that basically all Partiful pages retain the same ambiance Partiful does as a brand: a bit corny, a bit juvenile. Their branding evokes the same feeling as: You’re 23, you’re walking into someone’s apartment party in the East Village, you see a bunch of shoes stacked up near the door, it’s too hot, the music is Khruangbin is alternating with fred again, and all there is to drink is warm White Claws.

It’s obvious why Partiful works anyway and people begrudgingly participate. It removes the hardest part of building and maintaining a social life, especially for isolated Gen Z: coordination. Beyond that, initiation is seamless, and most importantly, faceless: users can send the invitation without actually texting someone personally and initiating a one-on-one interaction. It’s easy to outsource one’s own personality to Partiful’s bubbly, dynamic vibe. The viral loop the app creates - sending a text and requesting an RSVP - is how it uses social pressure productively. Parts of it are nice: it reminds people of upcoming events and lets hosts communicate updates via text ‘blasts’ (change the name). Together, these features make Partiful a nice tool to bring people together in an age of forgetfulness. They’re good, and therefore the parts of Partiful creating human friction are not essential to its actual product offering, and fixing them won’t disrupt satisfied users.

PLS FIX: I’d add features to accommodate for varied personalities and events. I’d introduce event categories that will force the app to calibrate to the event’s energy level: dinner vs. large apartment party, for example. Within that a) notification pacing can automatically adapt to scale, b) users can opt for an extremely simple, pared back party site, or even no party site at all, and c) users can opt to completely shut off the RSVP list: no numbers, no “Someone” RSVP’d, as the current option to make attendees anonymous or hide attendance count basically puts a spotlight on its absence. I’d also add an RSVP by date feature to better calibrate to traditionally held senses of RSVP, as the “Maybe” feature is stressful and strange to some.

These changes would lead to longer term retention of the product as people age out of hosting large joint 22nd birthdays at Solas and into hosting dinner parties and cocktail hours. They’d broaden who feels comfortable using the app without compromising the experience and satisfaction of existing users.

Partiful feels kind of like Starface: you don’t necessarily want to be 30 walking around with a yellow star on your face, or sending out Partifuls for a seated dinner party.

This week, I solely exist to let you know about Newfoundland, Canada - North America’s most underrated destination. This max 318-mile wide island somehow packs vignettes of all 7 continents into its smorgasbord of landscapes, a hint at its massive geological importance.

We’ll settle one thing first - Newfoundland’s location, which is often confused with that of Labrador, the part of mainland Canada it is inexplicably married to in a state of holy provincehood. The island is the easternmost land mass in North America, the first to witness the sun rise every day. If California’s endless view of the Pacific blurring into the horizon bestows a sense of possibility and unexplored frontier onto its residents and visitors, so to does Newfoundland’s position as the First to see the sun, the one to draw the proverbial curtains for the East Coast of North America and usher in a new day.

Putting things into context is like building a really cool fort, one with many different types of sheets and string lights being held up by lots of different kinds of furniture that your mom told you NOT TO MOVE. If you want to continue to build your Newfoundland-context fort, I recommend watching Season 11, Episode 3: Newfoundland of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, and Season 2, Episode 8: Sweet Vitriol of Severance, which was filmed in Bonavista, NL.

Newfoundland Itinerary:

Area 1: St. Johns

Accommodation: check in June 23, check out June 25

• Day 1, June 23: ½ day Arrive at St John’s airport, St John’s

• Day 2, June 24: St John’s

• Day 3, June 25: drive to Gros Morne, see things on the way (about 7 hours)

Area 2: Gros Morne

Accommodation: check in June 25, check out June 29

• Day 3, June 25: arrive late Gros Morne

• Day 4, June 26: Gros Morne

• Day 5, June 27: Gros Morne

• Day 6, June 28: Gros Morne

• Day 7, June 29: drive back to St John’s

Area 3: St. John’s

Accommodation: check in June 29, check out June 30

• Day 7, June 29: arrive St Johns

• Day 8, June 30: ½ day and fly home

We began our trip with a day and a half in St. John’s, the close-knit, grungy capital city situated on St. John’s harbor, one of the oldest and most important natural harbors in North America. Natural harbors may sound boring to the uninitiated, but they are breathtaking in real life - the largest one I have seen is the Port of Mahon, Menorca. Don’t sleep on natural harbors.

I highly recommend this adorable and cozy airbnb, whose speckled wood floors I will think about forever. The entire city is tiny and walkable, but very hilly - if you are replicating our Newfoundland itinerary in any way, I’d recommend renting a car. After checking into our airbnb we went for dinner at Portage, one of Canada’s 100 Best restaurants, a convivial place giving Newfoundland’s flora and fauna the elevated sharing-plates treatment. We dined on scallop crudo prepared in a Peruvian but also Southeast Asian style leche del tigre, succulent white asparagus, beef tartare with capers and anchovies wrapped in nori, fantastic ribeye with caramelized vegetables, and melt-in-your-mouth cod swimming with GIANT mussels in a savory pesto soup. I had the pleasure of trying my first Canadian wine - a Gamay from Nova Scotia. Service was fantastic.

We began the next day with a large pre-hike meal at The Grounds Cafe, a “farm to fork” cafe located in what is now my favorite style of hybrid business (i.e. bookstore-cafe, cafe-coworking space, shop/wine bar (a la Quarters), shoppy-shop/cafe (a la Popup Grocer), pizza hut/taco bell): A GARDEN STORE - CAFE RESTAURANT. We enjoyed giant, nourishing grain bowls, plates of eggs, pastries, and coffee before wandering around the greenhouses looking at tomato plants and flowering peonies asking to be taken home.

From there we drove to the Silver Mine Head Path, part of the long-distance East Coast Trail, and a great trail for an easy, ~2 hour long out-and-back hike. A very foggy, Twilight-core experience commenced:

Little did we know this was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the dramatic, sublime beauty that Newfoundland would have to offer. On our drive back to the airbnb we stopped at this majestically spooky black sand beach, called Middle Cove Beach, where our compulsive need to collect beach rocks began and would continue throughout the trip:

Before heading out for dinner, we did some browsing at Alexis Templeton Studio, a little store by ceramicist Alexis Templeton selling her own serveware and that of other Canadian potters. I left with a little espresso mug with a goose on it from Bronwyn Arundel.

Night 2 dinner was at Rabble, an eclectic place with very flavorful offerings - shrimp toast, which is often one of the best things on any menu, FRIED COD TONGUES (!!!!!), lobster tomato soup, cioppino, and fried halibut collar. The evening ended with stouts and a beautiful pavlova at Bannerman Brewing Co.

The next morning, we were to begin the long drive to Gros Morne National Park, stopping to see other towns and landscapes along the way. We decided on Bonavista, the site of the aforementioned Severance episode and apparently home to a particularly busy puffin mating site. We arrived in Bona Vista after ~3 hours of driving and had lunch at the quaint and cheerful oceanfront Bicycle Picnics Cafe + Bistro, which was transformed into a decrepit frozen coffee shop in Severance.

Post-lunch we drove to the puffin viewing site in Elliston, which consisted of plateaued, grassy cliffs expanding wide into the ocean, a blue-green dream world that reminded me of the Teletubbies utopia.

Onwards to Gros Morne. We arrived late, giant mountains shaded in oppressive darkness closing in as we drove further into the park. Highly recommend our airbnb, a clean + modern + comfortable cabin. I appreciated the availability of affordable, modern lodging options within the park, something that feels challenging in some US national parks, where your options are often prohibitively expensive and comfortable OR affordable and almost unlivable.

The next morning, after coffee and pastries at The Old Store Cafe (where we went every morning for strong lattes and the muffin of the day) we drove to the base of the Western Brook Fjord for a boat tour into the fjord. This involved a 30 minute stroll up to the mouth of Western Brook along an ethereal prairie dotted with Venus-flytrap like flowers with the giant fjord looming in the distance, all of it lending a feeling of prehistory.

90% of the attendees on the boat tour were delightfully happy retirees. The guide was fantastic, and the tour ended in a manic live rendition of the Irish Descendant’s “Rattlin Bog”, which everyone you’ve ever loved AND hated should be subject to hearing many times over.

Post fjord we spent some time in the Gros Morne National Park Visitor Center which is a lovely structure with a great gift shop, informative guides, and a helpful graphic laying out the different hikes + towns within the park. The day led us to the Tablelands hike, Gros Morne’s American-Southwest vignette - a rust-colored landscape filled with unusual plants, with panoramic views of Winter House Brook Canyon looming. Geology here marks a time when the continents of Africa and North America collided, pushing these rocks, originally beneath the ocean, to their present position on land.

We had dinner at Buoy & Arrow which highlighted local Newfoundland cuisine including some Native American recipes (they are Mi’kmaw owned and operated). Delicious lobster roll; the succulent, fresh lobster you’ll have in Gros Morne will be among the best of your life (makes sense for a place littered with lobster traps). Same thing with mussels - all GIANT. We were curious about moose and split the moose burger; I don’t recommend moose as a protein, too dry and gamey. I do recommend the lemon partridgeberry cake for dessert.

We had a beautiful appointment at 10 AM the next day: kayaking in Bonne Bay, a saltwater fjord filled with tuna, jellyfish, the occasional dolphin, and the rare whale. A deep-fried lunch of cod burgers and calamari at the Merchant Warehouse followed.

We followed lunch with my favorite hike of the trip, and Newfoundland’s Big Sur vignette: the Green Gardens Trail, which “begins on the open serpentine barrens of the Tablelands and descends through boreal forest to a fertile volcanic sea coast” - a journey through geologic time and the IRL version of that biomes map:

There is nothing better to do on Earth better than lie in the yellow-wildflower speckled meadows of Green Gardens, staring out into the blue sea.

We had a lobster dinner at the Twin-Peaks esque Fisherman’s Landing.

The next day was blocked off for the difficult Gros Morne Mountain Trail, the path to the park’s highest point (2644 ft). It begins with a long stretch through the forest, leading to signage right before the looong rock scramble warning the faint of heart to turn back:

The scramble, which will make you NEVER WANT TO SEE A ROCK AGAIN, gave way to a barren but beautiful Alpine-like environment on the flat summit with sweeping views of the Long Ridge Mountains and a gorge:

And the descent, which was thankfully assisted by stairs, revealed some gorgeous scenes as well:

We refueled from the grueling yet incredibly rewarding hike with dinner at the Gros Morne Inn, by far the best meal we had in the Park. The slow roasted lamb and seafood gragada were standouts. We ended the evening on their balcony overlooking the mountains, drinking tea and wrapped in blankets.

The next day we began the drive to St. Johns with a plan to stop in either Twillingate to see whales and icebergs or Dildo, a quaint hamlet with nothing funny about it. We landed on Dildo after my friend’s calls to local businesses in Twillingate inquiring about the abundance of whales turned up nil.

The Dildo universe involved a fantastic coffee shop, Dildo Coffee House, and a church-sponsored artisans market with a delicious selection of handmade silver jewelry. The dead, ripped up cod fish visible underwater at the harbor lended some doom to the otherwise cheerful atmosphere:

Upon returning to St. John’s, we promptly made our way to Christian’s Pub , home to the ancient order of the Screechers and the site of Anthony Bourdain’s own “screech-in” ceremony, the successful completion of which makes one an honorary Newfoundlander. The ceremony involves the imbibing and consumption of a shot of screech (a locally made rum), a slice of Newfoundland “steak” (fried bologna cooked in rum and sprinkled with cinnamon), and kissing a frozen, deceased Newfoundland cod. The ceremony at Christian’s Pub was warm, theatric, and memorable, particularly when the owner and proprietor Skipper Lukey toasted to Anthony Bourdain, who transformed Lukey’s life and business by featuring his pub on Parts Unknown.

Dinner at LIV followed the screech-in ceremony. LIV is a Pan-Asian fusion restaurant, the type of which only exists outside of major cities and takes an unpretentious and slightly off-kilter approach to Asian food. That is to say, a pan-Asian place in a small city feels like a warm hug.

We ended this night with gelato from Parlour Gelato + Coffee, which offered flavors like lavender latte, coconut creme brulee, blueberry etc.

For our last day, we began with delicious breakfast sandwiches and pourover coffees at Bannerman Brewing Co. Then, we hiked to the top of Signal Hill (site of the first transatlantic wireless transmission) to view St. John’s from above. Once the clouds cleared we made our way to Cape Spear Lighthouse and National Historic Site, the most easterly point in North America, overlooking the wild Atlantic ocean. At the base of the lighthouse is the lightkeeper’s residence, used from the 1830s to the 1950s:

Airport Tim Hortons for lunch ended our Newfoundland trip. I cannot recommend this island enough. It is rich with geologic history and offers a dizzying abundance of contrasting and disparate landscapes. It has the welcoming, nothing’s-serious essence of Margaritaville (complimentary), but instead of tropical and Floridian, it is imbued with flannel, pine trees, cod, some despondency, and the same heavy drinking. Sartre-silly nihilism mixed with island chill.

It’s become apparent through data collected by AI companies that younger and older generations are using AI chatbots in different ways. Gen Z and millennials tend to use it like a life advisor / therapist / personal advisor / friend, while older generations treat it as a Google replacement. However, there’s a commonality in the way LLMs are being used as a brand discovery tool / product informant across generations. Which vacuum should I get? What hotel chain works better for this trip? Where should I get each thing on this packing list for my Dolomites hike?

The current crop of adtech startups that are exiting mainly via acquisition are characteristic of adtech 1.0: ad-placement in connected TV (i.e. streaming services), to boil it down simply. The next wave of adtech startups will be synonymous with AI search: there will be ads embedded into your AI chats.

Google Search’s enshittification, or the pattern in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time as vendors’ only goal becomes maximizing shareholder value, is widely accepted at this point: by design, searchers have to spend more time on Google before they find what they are looking for. This way, they can be shown more ads. There’s a mistaken view that using AI for search is and will continue to be free of this kind of meddling and pay-for-play; that the LLMs solely crowdsource online reviews to recommend you products.

This next wave of adtech-AI startups are betting that consumers will discover brands via AI chats, not through interactions with the brand itself. In this new fragmented landscape, brands will find it difficult to “control the narrative” around their perception and story. The solution these companies offer is:

MONITOR: analytics and insights into how LLMs are presenting your brand

—>

SOLUTION: influence AI outcomes through targeted ad campaigns

Evertune AI and Bluefish AI are two early-stage companies I’m watching in this space. Evertune offers generative engine optimization (GEO) as a means of influencing how your brand is presented in LLMs, in addition to monitoring tools that track AI’s share of voice and sentiment of your brand, and analyze which attributes of a product or service AI models think are most important to consumers. It also recommends specific messaging and keywords to close the gap with competitors. Bluefish offers similar monitoring and insight tools, as well as a means to syndicate and “send” brand-verified data to AI and deploy targeted ad campaigns into AI chats. Brandrank.ai, Profound, and Brandlight all have similar offerings. I am amused at how Bluefish, Brandlight, Brandrank.ai, and Profound all basically have the same graphic on their website, with the moving type deleting and retyping the names of different AI chatbots:

Nexad takes it all a step further and “dynamically tailors ads to fit the context of ongoing AI conversations or content” (pitch deck here). Their business has two main arms: one that matches ads with the right audiences, and another that creates the ads themselves.

Anne Levy did a great theoretical overview of this “Post-Interface Economy” on Arena. Essentially, the classic customer journey is dead: LLMs and product algorithms prepare purchase decisions, and the moment of purchase decision can temporally precede any brand encounter. The linear narrative of “brand” is being replaced by a fragmented, asynchronous web of touchpoints with various stakeholders and opinion-makers, both human and artificial intelligence.

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New York has been psyoped by the TikTok-fueled, specious intrigue of inhospitable, affordable (read: accessible) omakase restaurants, better referred to as “faux-makase restaurants”.

Open Google Maps while you’re in the East Village or check Resy for open reservations on a given night (a fool’s errand) and you will be inundated by a gaggle of little omakase spots, all “no frills spots serving up incredible fish”, per an unassuming Google review written by a tourist from a mid-tier city such as Chicago. An observant person would conclude we are in an omakase bubble, and an exhausted “New Yorkish” (sorry) person would claim they have omakase fatigue. I welcome the Frenchification (Le Veau d’Or, Chez Fifi, Zimmi’s, Le Chene, etc) of the dining scene here but am puzzled and frazzled by the omakase epidemic.

The relationship between the rapid multiplication and demand for these sub-$100 per person omakase “experiences” (term used loosely) does not make sense to me. They do not work for special occasions: these restaurants feature a pronounced lack of hospitality that is impossible to ignore once you notice it. You are tossed fish like a seal at SeaWorld then shown the door 10 minutes before the hour, gulping down the rest of your sake as the next round of diners waiting outside watch. They also don’t work for a casual sushi dinner - a meal with sake still ends up being ~$100+ a person after tip. Yet they are open seven days a week, for lunch and dinner. What is going on?

The best, most timeless business model in New York City is the humble smoke shop - they are cheap to open (minimal investment), work well in small, low-rent spaces, and inventory is more or less accessible. Fauxmakase restaurants are the smoke shop of restaurants, the business model du jour for entrepreneurs seeking to dip only a timid toe into the hospitality world. A full kitchen, and the CapEx spend implied, is not needed - no gas line, no ventilation, no hoods, no ovens. True wait staff is superfluous as well. The success of early entrants like Shinn East proved the economics: you charge a relatively high bill per customer with a very small number of seats, and shuffle them in and out of the restaurant at strict, agreed upon times.

How did these mid-fish-peddling restaurants manage to trick everyone into thinking they’re getting omakase for less? A good life lesson to know is you usually can’t get the real version of anything “for less”. “Omakase” used to mean something:

My main gripe with faux-makase restaurants is their perfunctory approach to hospitality. Seatings appear to be an hour long, but in practice result in rushed sub-one hour dining experiences where patrons are literally asked to get up after less than an hour - if your seating is at 6 PM, you need to be up and out before 7 PM as that is when the next seating is. My last meal at Thirteen Water ended exactly 41 minutes after I sat down. This conveyor-belt approach to seatings takes the 90-minute time limit commonplace in NYC dining to its logical extreme, resulting in an oxymoronic experience that touts artistry, premium ingredients, and luxury while operating with the same level of hospitality as a CAVA Midtown slop assembly line. To add insult to injury, the spaces don’t look minimalist or wabi-sabi as they may claim, but like a simulacrum of the “AirSpace” coffee shops and AirBnBs, with their low-budget comfort, accessibility, and tech-inspired design manifesting in hanging lightbulbs and reclaimed wood.

The exponential popularity of this business model indicates that many (not all) are more or less money grabs designed to target the less discerning diner. In the East Village particularly, there are often multiple fauxmakases on the same few blocks, creating a restaurant war scene reminiscent of the lit-up Indian restaurant competition on the corner of 1st Ave and E 6th.

There are so many Tsukiji market importers serving the NYC market that claiming fish from there is pretty frictionless. Often fauxmakase feels like they are just feeding you a sushi platter one piece at a time vs. serving it on a wooden board - a feeling underscored by the fact that the pieces taste more or less the same thanks to a blowtorch, wasabi, or roasted garlic and lemon. Another tell? The menus rarely really change, unlike true omakase. Instead, you are shown a few “special” pieces at the end of the meal, quick upcharge add-ons. Grift? Possibly.

My sushi philosophy has become:

1. If I have a craving and am in a sushi mood, I stick to handroll bars like Kazu Nori, Domodomo, or Nami Nori, or tried and true “basic” spots like Sugarfish, Kotobuki, or Momoya.

2. If I want Omakase, I shell out $200+ pp for the omakase experience.

The city needs more places that do nigiri sets! Tomo21 in Greenwich Village has decent ones, but the gold standard is Jinbei in Irvine, CA.

At the time of writing, I am appreciating being a West Village girl. I am on the pier, lying in the grass, relying on 28% iPhone battery hotspot to connect to Substack. See photo above.

I relished in the fluffy, salacious Cut article about the Girlies in this neighborhood, over coffee at 7:30 AM one weekday morning. After that, I didn’t think about it. I’m not going to link it because there is not a single word more that needs to be said about that article. There is too much manufactured discourse around this article, which is a caustic, buzzy journal entry with little substance, engineered to go viral. It describes a subculture where one is defined by and proud of being basic, a normie. It reports on the shocking fact that people who live in a certain neighborhood enjoy doing similar things. I am looking forward to the next think piece about Bushwick girls who enjoy a beer shot combo at Birdy’s and a round of pool at Carmelo’s.

This hit piece against the Girlies fails to contextualize the West Village, a neighborhood rich with history and and marked culturally by Beat poets, the LGBTQ community, and artists like Walker Evans (23 Bethune), Edward Hopper (3 Washington Square North), Milton Avery (294 W 11th), and Roy Lichtenstein (745 Washington) . It reads like a eulogy, an altogether write-off in the face of Set Active workout outfits, Rhythm Zero lattes, and Dante negronis. The Girlies are nothing to be afraid of. There is still very much authenticity and life in this neighborhood if you know where to look, or if you talk to the old stalwarts of this neighborhood that have lived here forever.

I wanted to write my own WV love letter:

Authentic West Village Guide

Snack Taverna; 63 Bedford St.

Family-run, under the radar cozy Greek restaurant. It is the epitome of a neighborhood gem. Perfect for any situation - breakfast, lunch, or dinner, seven days a week.

St. Luke in the Fields Garden; 485 Hudson St.

Secret, peaceful garden plentiful in flora, with benches for sitting and talking to friends in low, measured tones.

Left Bank Books; 41 Perry St.

Used, vintage, and rare bookseller and buyer in an intimate little space. Erik + Jess’s sourcing is impeccable; take a glance through their Instagram below for some selects. This is a bookstore that feels more like a tiny museum. I recently picked up a book of Anais Nin short stories for $10 and enjoyed it on a beach. The store name is a reference to Paris’s bohemian Left Bank, likening its culture to the artistic and cultural heritage of NYC’s West Village.

C.O. Bigelow; 414 6th Ave.

Historic pharmacy and beauty destination established in 1838, and most recently gained notoriety when the internet found out Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy bought her famous headbands here. In any case, Bigelow has the best selection of skincare, haircare, and body care, carrying both indie and mainstay brands in a decidedly non-overwhelming environment (looking at every Sephora in the city….). Bigelow is the perfect blend of new and old, peddling old-timey antacids and potions alongside niche cool brands: a perfect haul could include a seashell hair clip, a medicinal-looking mustard rub, Liis Rose Struck perfume, Dedcool detergent…

Lifethyme; 410 6th Ave.

Lifethyme is my favorite grocery and has that awesome health-food store smell (IYKYK). A perfect place to get natural and organic groceries, but the real selling point is their hot bar and prepared foods selection. Everything is delicious and extremely clean; I love their miso and lentil soups, homemade sprouted hummus and pesto, chicken aioli wrap, and various quinoa / chickpea salads. The most magical thing at Lifethyme is their vegan raw dessert fridge - it contains wonders such as a raw berry cheesecake, chocolate lava cake, raw “Oreos”, and pound cakes galore.

Zimmi’s; 72 Bedford St.

Zimmi’s is a neighborhood newcomer that identified a blank space in the NYC restaurant market: there is a dearth of HOMESTYLE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE COOKING. Have a seat on the ostrich leather banquette and you will be served artichoke soup with foie gras, lamb and artichoke stew, and tagliatelle with chicken ragout and sage atop a gingham tablecloth.

The Commerce Inn; 50 Commerce St.

I have had arguments about whether the atmosphere and menu at Rita Sodi and Jody Williams’ (I Sodi, Via Carota, Buvette, and Bar Pisellino) least-known baby, The Commerce Inn, is BRITISH, SHAKER, or QUAKER. According to the website it is “early American” which can kind of be interpreted as all of the above.

Nonetheless, Sodi and Williams are adept at creating worlds within restaurants. Attention to detail, be it millwork, waiter uniforms, or bathroom sinks is of the utmost importance here, as is the ingredient quality that shines through everything you eat or drink here. I like breakfast or lunch here and go for the Farmer’s Breakfast or turkey club if it’s on the menu; they also have the best and most ~elevated~ bloody mary in the city.

Casa Magazines; 22 8th Ave.

Beloved corner store and the magazine destination (2500+ titles) of New York. Casa has been owned and operated by Mohammed Ahmed since it first opened on 12th and 8th Avenue in 1994; earlier this year he retired and sold Casa to Iconic Magazines, another local-run magazine bodega in Nolita. See below for the incredible Daniel Arnold photo story on the men who run Casa.

The Otheroom; 143 Perry St.

“The heart and soul of the West Village”; a hideaway-feeling, intimate and dark bar with a wine and beer focus. It is apt to think of it as the living room of the neighborhood, great for pre or post-dinner drinks.

Bonsignour Cafe; 35 Jane St.

Bonsignour is a West Village resident’s mainstay for fresh, simple sandwiches, soups, and deli counter classics. The owners are from France and Spain, so know they don’t compromise on ingredient quality. My favorite sandwich in all of NYC hails from Bonsignour: Turkey and Avocado with Herb Mayo on Baguette. Their chicken tenders are delicious as well- the breading contains sesame seeds.

IFC Center; 323 6th Ave.

Independent theater est. 2005 and host of DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival. Supposedly, the popcorn is organic. I recently saw Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse remake starring Chloe Sevigny at IFC (recommend highly but read the book first), and want to see Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, about the criminally unknown architect-designer Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier’s apparent villain arc.

Cafe Cluny; 284 W. 12th St.

French-American bistro from Lynn Wagenknecht, owner and operator of perfect restaurants The Odeon and Cafe Luxembourg. Cafe Cluny is also perfect, in a more relaxed way. I like it for an early Sunday dinner or Saturday lunch; it is warm and unfussy while also feeling like a little special occasion. My order: yellowfin tuna burger and a glass of the chablis.

Tartine; 253 W. 11th St.

Tartine is mentioned in basically every single one of my guides. So all you need to know: it is on the quaintest, quietest corner in NY, and it is BYOB.

Sea Grape Wine Shop; 512 Hudson St.

Gem of a wine store with incredibly quirky staff. Go in and see for yourself - the signs around the store promoting different wines are clever and endlessly amusing.

LB (Little Branch); 20 7th Ave S.

Please don’t let the copy “Cozy and Vibey Atmosphere” on their website steer you away… LB is IT. It is a subterranean speakeasy behind an unmarked metal door, with live music and bartender’s-choice cocktails (describe what you want to the server and the bartender will craft a fitting drink).

Smalls Jazz Club; 183 W 10th St.

Best tiny, no-frills jazz club in NYC and such a finely oiled machine this place is, in the basement of a landmark building. Smalls features larger ensembles so it is an apt choice if you don’t wish to engage in conversation with whoever you’re with :) I most recently saw the Noah Haidu Quartet. Be sure to get tickets ahead of time, and show up ~15 mins before your scheduled show to get good seats.

Dare I say… THE WEST VILLAGE IS COOL!

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I went to the Not a Normal Market vintage market in the old Barneys building last weekend, and I have to say I wasn’t impressed… I think it is targeted at people who don’t know how to shop TheRealReal or eBay. If you went, what did you think?

I also learned that, after being used and abused for multiple popups such as the Spirit Halloween one, the old Barneys building is going to be turned into luxury condos by architect and developer Raymond Chan, who is responsible for a number of banal glass new builds in Flushing, LES, and Long Island City. Quite an anticlimactic, purgatory-like ending for such a storied building. I will forever relish summer 2016 days spent browsing Barneys and having lunch at CAFETERIA after.

• What if you could curate a memory box of your favorite things on the internet, then share that trove with others? Most new social media-adjacent apps and sites feel tired and uninspired, but I’m intrigued by forthcoming silk.cx’s value prop: a platform for Worldbuilding, where disparate forms of media can be dynamically arranged next to each other and used to “connect” with other users via a community forum rather than a comments section. It seems to be a home for you to basically display your favorite things from around the web and connect with those who share your interests: “Self expression via taste in media”. Some of my favorite web treasures include this online interactive tour of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, the online Library of Babel, and the Highvalley Books website.

• We’ve all had intrusive thoughts that there’s no way Bathhouse can be clean… this reddit thread of people saying they got UTIs at Bathhouse blew up and there is one mention of RINGWORM. Former employees coming forward via Tiktok and reddit divulged information about:

  • 3 types of mold in the main bathing area (WB location)

  • The walls in the massage rooms are not cleaned and are also moldy

  • Air filters aren’t changed, and they all have mold

  • Creatures: Roaches, water bugs

  • Towels are not cleaned as often as they should

  • People breathing in lots of mold during the Gulfoss essential oil ceremony

If you’ve been to Bathhouse there’s no way the question of… “how do they keep this all sanitary?”…. hasn’t crossed your mind. It feels like a wet nightclub to me, with people packed like sardines hanging out in the hot tub because reservations aren’t staggered to manage capacity. I’ve always felt there is a fundamental disconnect between the marketing and the actual experience of Bathhouse: the marketing says, “come relax, detox, and maybe meet someone new”, and the experience says, “wet F train at rush hour on a Friday”. I’m thinking energy output of Bitcoin mining, which heats the hot tubs, is probably not enough to sanitize the pools.

• You can’t have a food delivery order on layaway and still be a serious person. Klarna and Doordash have forged an insane partnership that will allow Doordash customers to choose to pay for their delivery orders in interest-free installments or at a “later” date to align with their paycheck. BNPL is just a fancy rebrand for DEBT!!!

  The economic commentator Kyla Scanlon said in a video that the deal was another example of the “gambling economy.”

  “We have memecoins, sports betting — we love a good vice in the United States, and we can do it completely frictionless,” she said. “We don’t even have to put on pants. Just app it to you and worry about everything else later.” She added that “there are real winners and losers” in business models that monetize not just convenience but “impulsivity.”

Obviously, people putting food on credit is a bad indicator for society and the economy, but tech companies giving people the option to put delivery orders, which are already grossly inflated with superfluous fees, on credit feels predatory. Two things I live by: 1) Living a frictionless life is very bad for you and 2) If you must order food, get in your car or go outside and pick up the damn order.

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I tried Zimmi’s in the West Village this weekend and was taken with their French countryside cuisine and ostrich-leather banquette. I also made this recipe for earl grey cake with dark chocolate chunks and orange zest… this will be permanently added to the spring baking rotation.

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• There was a 76.7% increase in capital invested in emerging spaces in 2024 compared to 2023, totaling $97.5B. “Emerging spaces” are not time-tested verticals, but niche spaces on the rise that may represent promising investments. Here’s the full list from Pitchbook, but examples include 3D printed buildings, AI in foodtech, art trading platforms, anti-aging, cooling tech, income share agreements, insect-based foods, natural disaster preparedness and response, psychedelics, reforestation, renewable ocean energy, Sleeptech, and waste-to-energy. I think this underscores the idea that we’re in plateauing of the tech that currently exists - it’s basically innovated as much as it could have, and now both capital and talent are figuring out how to develop tech in more nascent areas such as these emerging spaces.

• Anonymous reddit tip that Artsy, the online art marketplace, is going under… according to the poster who claims they heard it from a current employee, the company has never been profitable and will run out of money by the end of the year. Operating at a loss isn’t a big deal in itself, but that coupled with limited runway + no liquidity events on the horizon is not good. Maybe Wendi can open her pocketbook and throw some money at it.

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• Amazon’s Go stores feel like an alien trying to act like a human. Amazon’s brick-and-mortar experiment, with its “Just Walk Out” technology as the differentiator, has fallen short of expectations: Amazon has reduced its Go portfolio by half since 2023 (Go stores were launched in 2018). “I don’t think they really understand retail. Running warehouses and shipping stuff efficiently is not the same as greeting a customer and saying, ‘May I help you?’” says the president of a retail advisory firm. Amazon is now pivoting to focus on licensing its "Just Walk Out" tech to other retailers. I think that people don’t want to eat a turkey sandwich with an Amazon label on it, and they’d rather go to their local corner store or bodega for last-minute home goods. The Just Walk Out technology would be a godsend at places like CVS… aka license it out to places where people really don’t want to spend any time, to businesses that don’t even pretend to care about customer experience. I remember my first and only experience at a Go store in Seattle in 2018 being very anticlimactic, I think I got an iced tea. Brick and mortar doesn’t need “concepts” - it needs hospitality.

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The morning hours are ethereal: at 7:30 AM, you walk barefoot from your hotel to the beach, stepping onto cooling, soft white sand and looking out into the blue-green horizon, stretching out endlessly like a Rothko painting laid horizontal. Wade into the warm and shockingly shallow ocean, and look admire the tiny tropical fish zipping around in their watery home. The beach is silent, save for the white ibis wading into the water next to you and the herons swirling above.

If you’re reading this, I implore you to hold Isla Holbox’s existence close to your chest (a nicer way to say, please gatekeep). So far, the island has been mostly sheltered from Tulum’s rapid development and Playa del Carmen and Cancun’s touristy chaos, but word is getting out.

The island is car-free and maybe the most relaxed place in the world. Towards the end, I wasn’t ever wearing shoes. Being there tempts you to throw your phone into the ocean; I did the next best thing and left it in a drawer in our hotel room all day. Much of Isla Holbox’s specialness comes from its feel of ephemerality: it feels like a place like this shouldn’t exist in 2025, and the threat of both climate change and corporate greed loom. The island cannot physically handle the sorts of large developments that are commonplace elsewhere on the Yucatan, and it feels like one bad storm could wipe the place out. I’ve never felt so blissfully disconnected with everything that doesn’t matter and connected with everything that does.

Holbox Guide:

Getting there:

• TLDR: Cancun airport —> travel by land to Chiquila port —> Ferry from Chiquila port to Isla Holbox

• Arduous, but worth it. Fly into Cancun airport, and from there you can travel by land or plane to Chiquila port, from which you’ll take the ferry to the island. Here’s how to get to Chiquila port, from most to least expensive:

  • If you have the funds, you can take a jet from Cancun airport to Holbox. The flight is ~30 minutes and you have to hire the entire plane vs. buy a seat on a commercial flight.

  • Hire a private car: most hotels on Holbox can arrange airport pickup for you. Est. time 2.5 hours.

  • Book seats on a shared shuttle (this is what we did and what I recommend). There were maybe 10 people in the van total, and the experience was pleasant and air conditioned. Est. time 2.5 hours.

  • Take the ADO bus from Cancun airport to the city of Cancun, then transfer to the ADO bus to Chiquila port. Est. time 4 hours.

  • Once you make it to Chiquila port, there’s ferries every 30 minutes and you can buy tickets at the port - no need to pre-book. The ferry takes 25-30 minutes to get to the island.

• I would not recommend renting a car - you can’t take it to Holbox anyway.

• Once you make it to the island you can catch a “cab” (aka a yellow golf cart) to your hotel.

Where to stay:

Punta Caliza (where we stayed)

One of the most beautiful, familial hotel experiences I’ve had. Punta Caliza (“limestone point” is a whitewashed, twelve-room boutique hotel tucked away from the busier hotel area and is a 5 minute walk to the beach. Its architectural language is muted, natural and geometric at the same time. As opposed to the sprawling outwardness of most beach hotels, Punta Caliza faces inward, onto a beautiful pool that runs through the hotel, allowing guests to swim to their rooms after a mezcalita.

The hotel is owned and run by a family from Tabasco; the father always wanted to own a home on Holbox. The daughter studied architecture and asked her professors to submit plans for the hotel: the result was twelve A-frame cabins done entirely in Mexican red cedar wood, at once rustic and airy.

The included breakfast is the culinary highlight - each morning, the chef offers a Mexican specialty like frijoles, chilaquiles, or avocado toast with local vegetables, plus fresh squeezed aguafrescas. By day 2, the staff know your breakfast likes and dislikes, and your coffee order. What Punta Caliza really offers is the feeling of being an insider - we mentioned we wanted to get massages and kayak, and the concierge hooked us up with “the best girls for that” and the “best guy for that”… seamless, hands free for us.

Note that they don’t allow kids.

Ser Casasandra

If Punta Caliza is for young, cosmopolitan couples, Ser Casasandra is for young, cosmopolitan families or chic childless older couples. Conceived by artist and writer Sandra Perez, it is a colorful, boho design-forward 20-room beachfront hotel with a great beach club.

Nomade

If Holbox isn’t enough of an escape for you, go to Nomade. We stayed at the one in Tulum and Nomade hotels are fantastic at ensconcing you in absolute bliss. Nomade Holbox is tucked away on the far western side of the island, only reachable by golf cart vs. the long beach road that connects the other hotels on the island. The food and programming are great; what Nomade really offers you is a chance to completely forget where you are and what year it is.

Casa Las Tortugas

Casa Las Tortugas is a family-run beach hotel that is less design-y and more classic luxury than the aforementioned hotels, and is a good option if you want to stay closer to the heart of Holbox + the busier part of the beach. This hotel has what I think is the best beach club on the island - luxe day beds, great food, bonfires at night.

What to do:

• Take a kayak tour through the mangroves. Much of Holbox is comprised of Yum Balam Nature Reserve, a protected area comprised of lagoons, mangroves and dunes that are home to thousands of threatened species. We explored this balmy raw nature via a sunrise kayak tour through the mangroves, where we saw ibises, egrets, stingrays, puffer fish, and crocodiles (no flamingoes because it was January). The experience of being out there as the sun rose was sublime. I believe I linked to the Turquesa Azul tour - if you can get Dali as your tour guide do it. He is a true environmentalist and possesses an amazing wealth of knowledge about Holbox’s ecology and its efforts to be more sustainable.

• See the bioluminescence. We unfortunately came at the wrong time of year for this, but June through August is prime time for seeing this natural oceanic light show of glowing plankton.

• Swim with whale sharks. Yum Balam is sanctuary for the highest concentration of whale sharks on the planet (May-Sept).

• Walk along the sandbar to Punta Mosquito. The most special part of Holbox is the sandbar, which, at low tide, means many little islands are created amidst extremely shallow water. Starting in the morning, people begin the ~1-3 mile (depending where you start) walk along the sandbar out to Punta Mosquito, the opening to Yum Balam nature reserve and the most wild, untouched part of the beach stretch. Camp out for a few hours, but make sure to walk back before the tide gets too high.

  

• Massages, spa treatments. The spas at Casa Las Tortugas, Ser Casasandra, and Hotel Las Nubes are said to be very nice. Punta Caliza set us up with masseuses in their open-air tower.

  

• Beach clubs. You really can do Holbox by beach-club hopping every day if that’s your thing: standouts were Mojito (Ser Casasandra’s beach club), Mandarina (Casa Las Tortugas), and NANA. I also really liked the Punta Caliza beach club - it’s simpler than the aforementioned but has incredible food and is on a quieter part of the beach.

Where to eat:

Santos Fuegos

I want to start by saying that Santos Fuegos was the best meal on the island, and top 10 of my life! If you’ve been to Hartwood in Tulum, the concept is similar: the freshest island ingredients roasted or grilled over a giant open flame, outside. The restaurant is in the woods of the far western side of the island, and completely open air. The food is what I’d call jungle-Caribbean: Jicama salad with basil, citrus, and pumpkin seeds, Roasted carrots with a brown butter glaze, Sea bass crudo with chili oil and avocado, a roast whole chicken with zesty herbs, skirt steak with chimichurri, and my dream dessert: raw chocolate ganache with passionfruit puree. All washed down with Mexican white wine.

Two things to note: 1. This is maybe the only restaurant on the island where you need a reservation and 2. You’ll need to get there by golf cart taxi.

Ser Esencia

Hotel Ser Casasandra’s restaurant, and IMO the most elevated restaurant on the island food-wise. Like Places des Fetes’ bohemian cousin. Excellent service, and Yucatan dishes made luxury: ribeye glazed with orange and paint palettes of cauliflower puree, pork belly cubes with pineapple squares situated in basil sauce, caesar salad with black ash, and homemade guava cheesecake with guava ice cream.

La Barracuda

Locals spot recommended by Dali, our kayaking guide. As the name suggests, all simple seafood dishes, mostly pan fried or battered. The standout is the COCONUT SHRIMP: plump shrimp battered to hell with fresh coconut shreds and served with a coconut cream dipping sauce. The perfect afternoon snack.

LUUMA

This restaurant, part of Casa Las Tortugas, is very Tulum, with excellent cocktails, a fun atmosphere, and staffed by EIHGs. They serve tapas that are bursting with flavor - lamb kofta, pistachio coconut shrimp, stewed beef cheek with plantains. The mains are less exciting. I’d make a meal here entirely out of cocktails and appetizers.

La Popular (Nomade Temple)

Nomade could get away with having mid food, but its food is excellent. Retreat to Nomade’s restaurant, La Popular, for a long and lazy dinner away from the rest of the island under a thatched roof that feels religious. Our meal consisted of cocktails, Mexican red wine, prawns, a fresh tomato salad with tahini, and an outstanding ribeye.

Punta Caliza

While breakfast is the star, Punta Caliza does have a dinner menu consisting of warming classics, like sopa de limon (chicken soup with tortilla strips) and the catch of the day with coconut rice. Come here for a quiet, very personal and laid-back dinner on the patio.

outfit postscript:

In today’s Assemblage: Hinge’s dark secret, everybody really hates Soho House, the adorable new essential worker who raised a lot of money, an interactive upstate hotel, + more.

• Soho House is a prime example of a company that never should have gone public. The international private members’ club logged only its second ever quarterly profit as a public company: a net income of a whopping $175k, or slightly more than 84 cents per Soho House member.

  • Feuding billionaires and shareholders Dan Loeb and Ron Burkle are in a tug-of-war over Soho House’s future: Loeb, one of Wall Street’s fiercest activist investors, is pushing for new leadership and a high takeover bid, while Burkle, SH’s top shareholder, is supporting a $1.7B take-private buyout offer that would require him to roll over his company’s stakes. The company has been reportedly considering the take-private bid since December.

  • Like I said in NPCs and Analogs - scaled luxury is an oxymoron! You literally can’t scale exclusivity. Public companies face constant investor and market pressure to grow, while private members’ clubs need to remain exclusive. In other words, Soho House cannot both focus on growth AND remain exclusive - these are dueling and incompatible metrics. No matter what they do, either their investors or their members will be unhappy.

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The consumer market is bifurcating into analog/luxury offerings vs. AI-driven, bargain offerings, with little in-between.

In other words, there will be a divide in the consumer landscape clean down the middle between human-made, more analog, luxury, experience-driven offerings, and bargain, AI-driven, tech-enabled offerings. The middle ground between the two will be nearly nonexistent as time goes on.

For the sake of this article, I’m going to call the two categories Analog/Luxury and AI/NPC. This is not about luxury in the Gucci-Prada-Miu Miu sense, but luxury in the sense of quality, attention to detail, and uniqueness. Conversely, NPC offerings conjure the idea of sameness, cookie-cutter, and pedestrian offerings.

I predict that consumers will shift between the bifurcation in offerings depending on the consumable category. I’ve already seen this sort of behavior in myself and my peers. In other words, you're not strictly an Analog/Luxury consumer or strictly an NPC/AI one — you can go between the two depending on how much is in your checking account, the personality you adopt when you date someone new, or (most commonly) depending on consumable category. Categories include fashion, food, hospitality, media, entertainment, wellness, fitness, etc. For example, someone could be Analog/Luxury in Fashion but NPC/AI in Food. They shop at curated vintage boutiques and support emerging designers, but they get all their meals delivered from CookUnity. Their opposite would prefer to shop for clothes on Shein or Temu but go to the farmer’s market and local grocery and specialty stores for food.

Obviously, the above framework reduces people’s ever-complicated predilections, wants, and needs. The idea of a spectrum of Analog/Luxury and AI/NPC with little in-between, though, is undoubtedly imminent.

Let’s look at some predictions divided by consumable category. Sources are at the end.

ANALOG/LUXURY:

• Shift from consumer spending on physical goods —> experiences. This is a big one and people have been saying this for the past few years. Essentially, access to culture as a status symbol as opposed to owning goods / conspicuous consumption. Luxury goods have become too accessible, but niche, luxury experiences have not and retain some mystique.

• Traditional luxury brands directing spend into experiences for customers rather than producing and marketing more goods. For brands, this ameliorates both the bottom line and brand awareness as it allows more consumers to participate in the brand at a lower price point. For consumers, it allows them to participate in the brand in an experiential way that may feel more satisfying than buying an item.

  • Blurred lines between food, art, and luxury:

    • Prada is rumored to be taking over the Lure Fishbar space on Prince Street in Soho, after successful ventures into the hospitality space in London (Prada Caffe) and Milan (Bar Luce at Fondazione, Pasticceria Marchesi). To me this also makes sense amidst the fashion-world pontification that Miuccia is focusing her fashion-intellect on Miu Miu while allowing Raf to use his powers to turn Prada into true luxury for the masses (if it wasn’t already). Giorgio Armani opened a restaurant on Madison Ave in the same vein of his Paris cafe, opened in 1998 so clients could relax and eat after shopping. IYKYK- Armani is actually one of the first purveyors of American luxury. Finally, Alaia opened a bakery-cafe in London with baked goods from Violet Cakes (an odd collab if you know anything about either thing).

    • Art integrations that aren’t the tacky collabs of the 2010s (Murakami x LV for example) - for example, Ignacio Monreal’s collaboration with Gucci. Further, luxury brands being present at art fairs like Art Basel and design fairs like Design Miami and Salone.

      “Art Basel has long understood the power and allure of the lifestyle elements of the art world,” echoes Naomi Rea, Artnet News’s acting editor-in-chief. “Access to this world is aspirational and offering a piece of it at a more affordable price point expands the customer base significantly. Now, the casual visitors over the weekend (as opposed to the VIP days) can say they bought something at Art Basel and can signal their membership in the art tribe.”

    • Firms like AnanasAnanas and Laila Gohar have turned food into an art medium, and luxury brands are hiring them for dinners, parties, activations, and even Fashion Week shows. Food is art, art is luxury, luxury is food that is art.

      

      

    • All of the above imbue the luxury brand with cultural capital and allow it to grant cultural access to consumers who seek something beyond (or simply cannot access) a $3000 handbag - lunch at the brand restaurant or appreciating an artist’s work at a store. Further, presence in the high art and design worlds could prove key in improving the global luxury downturn by appealing to HNW clients as well as everyday folks who appreciate a lower cost of entry via pop-up shops.

    • Intersection of fashion and hospitality: There’s Armani Hotels, Palazzo Versace, the Vermelho Hotel (Louboutin), Karl Lagerfeld Macau, and the Venice Venice (Golden Goose)… plus more on the horizon.

    • Part of this is also that luxury has become too accessible - in fact, if everyone can access it, it’s not luxury. Brands are attempting to associate themselves with the next stratosphere of culture to retain a “luxury” identity.

• Design (furniture, lighting, decor) will continue to garner consumer interest as those who have or seek cultural capital look for new avenues of exclusivity, now that luxury isn’t really luxury anymore. Fashion and art are oversaturated and overly accessible, but real taste and exclusivity lies in the design world.

• Personal style as a response to quiet luxury and Tiktok outfit inspo. Going beyond vintage shopping, trying to find the most niche, one-of-one things.

• Incredible, experiential store experiences (driven by interior design, scent, curation, etc.) to drive customer acquisition and foster loyalty - look to all the sick new stores opening up in NYC - the Bar at Quarters, BOMI, Outline, Ven.Space…. immersive retail. More consumer investment into four-walls businesses, as people seek IRL experiences away from their screens and AI slop.

• Big personality in consumer goods and consumer brands. A move away from the overly engineered, Brooklyn-design firm created brand identity and a move towards authenticity.

NPC:

• Frequent TikTok shop purchases, the championing of cheap, novelty product pushed by the algorithm: TikTok Shop is already bigger than Shein, Sephora, and home shopping TV, and consumers who purchase on TikTok shop are buying “cheap, and often random” items (New Consumer). Spending on TikTok shop has grown 215% YoY. Further, almost all TikTok shop customers said they’d make another purchase: they’re satisfied with the cheap, random items.

• While luxury is “over” in the sense that a) We won’t see another growth market like China in our lifetime and b) It’s become accessible to the masses, thereby making it not “luxury”, (you can’t scale exclusivity) it’s here to stay in that the masses will still buy and the customer base will grow: despite the downturn, high-end outlet malls are going strong, offering discounts and a decidedly not-luxury experience.

• Not caring about sustainability. The ultimate triumphs of Shein and Temu and Cider, etc etc etc have shown us that the average consumer doesn’t value sustainability very highly.

• Unbranded, “we use the same factories as X”, “We cut out the middleman”, “everyday luxury” brands like Quince and Italic - I want to do a deep dive on these… they really give me the creeps! Quite literally NPC essentials.

I didn’t see too many wellness predictions that I could categorize neatly into NPC vs. analog, but I want to make two points (plus, I have a question):

1. I’ve seen a lot of discourse surrounding Gen Z’s dabbling in the sober-curious movement, pontificating on why Gen Z is staying in and drinking less, etc. I’ve also seen lots of reporting declaring that drugs are back and Gen Z is embracing clubiness and druginess in the post-COVID world. Can both be true at the same time? If both are true, all these predictions are saying a whole lot of nothing.

   

2. There were many predictions about how people will seek out wellness centers like luxury gyms, spas, and bathhouses as third places, and how this consumer demand will need to more dedicated social wellness spaces. I agree that this sector will grow, but it also feels like we’re headed towards a bubble, especially in NYC.

3. My question: We’re being pummeled with articles telling us not to drink in the wake of the surgeon general’s call for cancer labels on alcoholic beverages. Yes, drinking is not great for you, and we all know this. Do we think there is anything beyond selfless concern for our health behind this flood of articles? Some sort of industry agenda?

ANALOG:

• Premium companies and brands will become more analog/physical: they will lean into strategies like direct mail, pristine brick+mortar experiences, pop-ups and IRL collaborations, non-digital strategies such as print magazines

• Brands and agencies who want to be analog will champion original creative content as more and more advertising content becomes partly or wholly AI-generated.

NPC:

• Bargain and mass brands will excitedly adopt AI into their marketing and advertising strategy.

ANALOG:

• People will begin to reject MedSpa/Instagram face and look to enhance and embrace their natural features.

NPC:

• Fervor over GLP-1s, injectables, filler, etc. is not going away.

ANALOG:

• People will curate their media diets to consist of more niche, small forms such as paid newsletters, podcasts, and other forms of independent media. The level of obscurity of said media will almost become a status symbol.

• More of Gen Z, and Gen Alpha as they come of age, cutting the cord from large social media platforms, streaming services, and the like.

• Championing original, human-made content as a luxury.

NPC:

• Getting news by scrolling on TikTok or X (or mainstream media.)

• Tuning out the news, “I’m not political”, etc.

ANALOG:

• Those expensive experiences (mentioned in the consumer goods section) held in higher regard than expensive things. People will be more willing to travel to a destination for a star hotel, opt for the wine pairing, call a car, and shell out for better seats at the ballet/opera/concert/sporting event.

• Small hotels and inns:

  • Push factor being that people are tired of ridiculous airbnb fees, cleaning up OR ELSE, and staying in someone’s soulless, Wayfair-furnished investment property.

  • Pull factor is the immersive, beautiful universes and personalized experiences that small, upmarket hotels and inns offer. I stayed at Punta Caliza, a twelve-room boutique hotel, recently when I was on Isla Holbox, and the familial service there was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

• I’ve seen people saying that chef-driven, small plates, wine-bar adjacent upscale restaurants that take food seriously and seek to educate are OUT. There’s a few issues with that, namely that people who care about food and wine aren’t going to stop simply because it’s “out” and the crowds are flocking to The Corner Store and Torrisi. What will happen is that people who never really cared about the food or sourcing will stop pretending like they did, and instead go to the “clubstaurants” like The Corner Store or the Crane Club. (Places des Fetes, Bridges, and Estela are forever restaurants in my book).

NPC:

• “Saming” of New York neighborhoods via new businesses opening in luxury developments in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and soon, Gowanus - “Saming” meaning some neighborhoods will start to feel like you can find them in any other major American city.

• As mentioned above, clubby restaurants with one standout “Instagrammable” dish that’s probably campy as hell. Clubby in the sense of a members’ club, opulent vibe, not the actual club. Places that live and breathe hype.

• Certain “hospitality” businesses veering away from hospitality entirely: for example, the automated Wonder kitchens and Sweetgreens. Human interaction is inherent to hospitality.

SOURCES:

1. Dan Frommer, “Consumer Trends 2025”, The New Consumer and Coefficient Capital, https://newconsumer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Consumer-Trends-2025.pdf

2. The Stanza, “The Next Aman is….”

   https://www.thestanzamedia.com/p/the-next-aman-is/comments?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=post_viewer

3. Feed Me, “What will happen to your industry in 2025?”

4. The CQ, “2025 Optimism”

This is assuming that you didn’t build a bot to get an 8 PM reservation at 4 Charles or hire a sushi chef for a $1000 omakase dinner at someone’s apartment.

Everything below is vetted for both atmosphere and reservation ability. Importantly, none of these places are doing a Valentine’s pre fixe … does anybody like those?

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1. Falansai’s Mexican-Vietnamese fusion is a prime example of “the customer doesn’t know what they want because they don’t know what they can have”. What you can have at Falansai is perfect spicy tuna tartare with nori chips and avocado, BBQ confit duck necks, and fried rice with Vietnamese mortadella. Add in one of the vibiest dining rooms in NYC and a great wine list and you’ll have the best Valentine’s date.

   

2. Buy fresh pasta and housemade sauce from Raffetto’s (Greenwich Village) or Citarella, and have a date night in. Set the table, bring out the candlesticks, and choose a good wine. I particularly love the Citarella short rib ravioli.

3. Have a cozy evening at Tartine, which occupies a perfect quiet corner of the West Village. No reservations and BYOB. Their chicken paillard is delicious.

   

4. Ella Funt’s Paris mixed with downtown NY feel is so fun. They have French wine bar staples like mussels, tartare, and croquettes, but all done with an interesting twist. Great for a cocktail-forward dinner. Many spots left for the 14!

   

5. Epistrophy, a sweet and reliable Sicilian restaurant in Nolita, has great pasta and is homey and intimate. Also has plenty of spots open for the 14.

6. Snack Taverna is situated on a gorgeous West Village corner (a very good theme in this letter it seems) and serves homemade Greek specialties, including an unmissable veal meatball dish with plums. Intimate, small, quiet, and cozy. The warm chocolate cake is the perfect Valentine’s dessert.

7. I love Margot in Fort Greene for its fresh, plywood-forward interior, plethora of little candles everywhere, and changing seasonal menu that feels just fussy enough for a special occasion (i.e. a delicate crudo) without sacrificing the warmth and familiarity Valentine’s Day should have (with a main like skirt steak with preserved lemon). + Wine list, neighborhood vibes, 10/10, go get a reservation.

   

8. I’m shocked that Tamarind, one of the singular best Indian restaurants in Manhattan, still has openings for the 14. It can feel a bit businessy, but it also works well for a swankier date night. The food is obviously incredible, particularly the seafood appetizers.

9. Dr. Clark is NY’s only first Hokkaido-style restaurant, so while it is Japanese expect warming dishes like lamb barbecue with udon noodles. Dr. Clark is dark and a little sexy; it was designed by Green River Project, which does the Bode interiors and also designed The River bar next door.

   

10. Go to Le French Diner at 4:50 PM and put your name down, or better yet, celebrate on February 13 or 15 and go to Le French Diner then - they don’t take reservations and the wait list fills up incredibly fast due to the tiny space. This is a chef’s favorite restaurant - tiny, efficient, intimate, serving incredible French classics doused in butter and herbs. A 2 hr dinner at the bar here would be my preferred way to spend Valentine’s.

11. Bacaro - candlelit, Italian, romantic dungeon vibes in Dimes Square. It’s somehow never too busy compared to the restaurants surrounding it (Kiki’s, Cervo’s, Le Dive, etc.) and feels like the calm in the chaotic storm that is this part of the Lower East Side. Plenty of tables open for Feb 14.

12. Going somewhere called Diner might seem offensive to suggest to your partner for Valentine’s Day, but Diner is not a diner: it’s Andrew Tarlow’s original Williamsburg restaurant championing food so local and sustainable that the menu is handwritten on the tablecloths daily. I assure you the atmosphere is there - candles, small, dimly lit.

    

13. Chez Ma Tante is another perfect neighborhood French restaurant, something New York clearly has in spades. This one is in Greenpoint. I’ve only been for brunch, but I love how they make warm and cozy classics feel more elevated and special. It was also notable that they could make me love brunch, infamously the worst meal anywhere.

14. Have and Meyer (Williamsburg) and Terre (Park Slope) champion the Slow Food movement, natural and obscure Italian wines, and lighting many many many candles in their restaurants, making either of these two rustic and romantic Italian spots great for a Valentine’s date - many tables on Opentable at both right now.

15. June Wine Bar feels like a dark and sexy eclectic boutique inn upstate. It’s great if you both love wine (they have upwards of 20 orange wines alone) but I think calling it a wine bar detracts from the really delicious food they serve, particularly the burger and the white anchovy with grilled lemon.

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This post will be divided into three categories:

1. Vintage -

   1. clothes, shoes, accessories

   2. homewares (furniture and decor)

2. Contemporary (small businesses, independent designers)

   1. clothes, shoes, accessories

   2. homewares (furniture and decor)

3. Concept - multibrand retailers (home and clothing)

   1. clothes, shoes, accessories

   2. homewares (furniture and decor)

      ---

1. VINTAGE

a) Clothes, Shoes, Accessories

10 ft Single by Stella Dallas and Stella Dallas Living

WHAT: Stella Dallas Living features an incredible collection of romantic 1800s-1900s dresses, corsets, and linens, while 10 ft Single is a more thrifty version with racks upon racks of ~$30 finds. I love to get vintage lingerie dresses and leather jackets here.

WHERE: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

MY FAVORITE FIND: An angelic midi white silk lingerie dress that looks so good with cowboy boots.

Margoth Consignment Shop

WHAT: Hidden gem designer consignment shop on the UES - bags, shoes, jewelry, and accessories. Fabulously sweet and helpful owner.

WHERE: Upper East Side, Manhattan

MY FAVORITE FIND: 1990s Ferragamo mini bag that is very Gucci Jackie.

Sorbara’s

WHAT: Men’s and women’s vintage boutique with a focus on 20th century vintage from Kathleen Sorbara, founder of the beloved Chickee’s Vintage.

WHERE: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Unearth Vintage

WHAT: Funkier vintage store with great thrifty accessories and clothing finds.

WHERE: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

MY FAVORITE FIND: Oversized brown leather jacket with an eagle stitched on that probably belonged to a man who owned a lot of guns.

Ellen Shop

WHAT: Visionary little place on Ludlow run by the inimitable Ellen, who stocks her store with only the best of the best secondhand designer.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

MY FAVORITE FIND: Unbelievable 1960s Celine wool wrap skirt with buckles.

Desert Vintage

WHAT: Tuscon, AZ import with timeless and rare pieces, high price point.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

Lara Koleji

WHAT: Extremely well-curated, relaxing small shop with vintage Prada, JPG, Issey Miyake, Yohji, etc.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

Pilgrim New York

WHAT: Vintage designer finds with a lot from Japan and Europe.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

Seven Wonders Collective

WHAT: Highly curated multi-vendor women’s vintage clothing, shoes, and accessories, some designer and some not. Host a lot of pop-ups and closet sales (which is where you find the real steals).

WHERE: Multiple locations: Greenpoint, LES, Williamsburg. IMO Williamsburg is the best.

Leisure Center

WHAT: Small store in Dimes Square with Late 20th-century novelties like quirky t-shirts and Newport playing cards.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

Funny Pretty Nice (CLOSED)

WHAT: A happy store with very y2k-girlie clothing.

WHERE: Soho, Manhattan

MY FAVORITE FIND: Silver sparkly sequined 2000s tube top.

Heart & Lou’s

WHAT: Curated vintage designer store whose sensibilities fall between romantic and cool.

WHERE: LES, Manhattan

Kalimera

WHAT: Curated, contemporary mens + womens vintage.

WHERE: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Vaux Vintage

WHAT: Small, curated women’s vintage with a wide array of styles - 1950s, 90s, y2k, etc.

WHERE: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

MY FAVORITE FIND: Low-rise office-siren Escada gray plaid trousers.

Procell

WHAT: Men’s and women’s vintage store, 80s-90s focused, lots of t-shirts, very downtown/LES sort of stuff.

WHERE: Lower East Side, Manhattan

Benthos

WHAT: Through research-driven curation, Benthos offers vintage
fashion and bespoke collaborations spanning apparel,
lighting, and fragrance. Also obsessed with this store name… 𓆉𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓇼 𓆉

WHERE: Chinatown

Aberizk

WHAT: Rare archival luxury

WHERE: Nolita

INA

WHAT: Wonderland of designer consignment.

WHERE: Nolita. Men’s store on Mott and women’s store on Prince.

James Veloria

WHAT: Special fun designer vintage. Too fun to just scroll through the website.

WHERE: LES

AW Kaufman

WHAT: Family owned, decades old mecca to designer vintage nighties, nightgowns, lingerie. Bring patience and your eye

WHERE: LES

St. Luke’s Thrift Shop

WHAT: Church-run shop on beautiful Hudson Street. They had a lot of Japanese denim last I went.

WHERE: West Village

TOKIO 7

WHAT: Respected EV institution - consignment + pre-owned vintage - can find Rick, Yamamoto, Miyake, CDG, Prada.

WHERE: East Village

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London feels like a softened, sweeter version of New York. Recognizable archetypes, neighborhoods, transit system, and culture, but smaller, friendlier, and almost quaint (thanks to names like “Piccadilly Circus” that sound straight out of Candyland). I don’t think London is cool in the way New York or Paris is. It’s the Boston of Europe, and I mean that so affectionately. Here’s what I did and what I recommend:

We stayed at The Ned, which is my new favorite hotel and has completed the I-hate-airbnb revolution for me.

The Ned reminded me why people sometimes just don’t leave their hotel on vacation (we did, don’t worry, but I wanted an extra day where I could hole up and not leave). The last time I stayed in a very large nice hotel I was traveling with family, and I’ve grown to associate big luxury hotels with bratty children and pools with waterfalls and buffet breakfasts. The Ned is a big hotel wonderland for adults - it’s a lush, maximalist place that makes you feel like you’re more important than you are, which is what I want to a hotel to make me feel. Chris Black sums it up well, dubbing it a “universe unto itself”:

The Ned is the creation of Nick Jones, founder of the Soho House conglomerate. You can tell that this property is related, because the design and attention to every small detail give it away. But the differences are mercifully all positive, especially when it comes to clientele. Upon entry, due to the sheer size of the place, you feel like you are in Vegas. The Ned is fucking huge, and after sundown, there is a band playing in the lobby. Initially built between 1924 and 1939, the building housed the Midland Bank headquarters until around the millennium. In 2017 it officially reopened as a 252-room hotel and members’ club spanning eight floors above ground and three below. It has nine restaurants, 15 bars, two pools, a spa, a barbershop, a gym, and a Tapestry Room. And yet, somehow, the galleria-level mass scale doesn’t negatively affect the overall experience. As soon as you step off the elevator to go to your room, the live music is gone, and you are in a period-correct ’20s estate. Chandeliers everywhere you look.

The true luxury was in the details - the ~15 different body scrubs, gels, shampoos, and conditioners in the shower, the perfect chocolate/passionfruit/caramel religieuse waiting for us with two tiny dessert spoons after we returned home from dinner the first night, and the complimentary pool, hammam and sauna access we took advantage of on our last day.

After freshening up at the spa (graciously offered as we waited for our room to be ready) and checking in, we did some mandatory department store browsing at Harvey Nichols (where I found and purchased the holy grail Biologique Recherche Masque Vivant, difficult to find stateside!) Department stores in London and Paris are so much better than in New York - they’re stocked with the classics and enable discovery of cool new brands, are democratic and accessible while still feeling special and luxurious, and most importantly don’t feel sad and dated. Galeries Lafayette is my gold standard.

We took the tube to Hammersmith for lunch at The River Cafe, a chef’s favorite restaurant type of institution that trained notables such as April Bloomfield, Jamie Oliver, and Clare de Boer. It’s a white tablecloths place, but the Yves Klein blue carpet and bright pink wood-fire oven add welcome whimsy.

We began with the grilled squid, which was tender and slathered in a sweet-tangy roasted red pepper sauce and served alongside lemony greens. A good dish, but nothing to write home about.

Second was the roast lamb, whose herby goodness and rich umami conjured up Proustian memories of Christmases in the Cotswolds (I have never been to the Cotwsolds. That’s how good this lamb was - it created false memories.)

Dessert was my dream assemblage of sweets: a chocolate nemesis cake with chocolate sorbet and aperol sorbet. Rose Gray, the late chef at the River Cafe, conceived of the nemesis cake as a “sliceable truffle” vs an actual cake, genius. We were definitely the youngest people dining there; I saw two older gentlemen splitting a bottle of red wine over various red meats, a middle school graduation celebration, and what looked like a “meet the parents”. Being there coming off a redeye made it all the more fun and ridiculous. What the hell, sure.

After a cold, refreshing walk along the Thames we headed home to regroup before dinner. I wore an amazing vintage Burberry mini dress (via TheRealReal) over Aritzia trousers with Manolo Blahnik kitten heels I found at Housing Works:

Dinner was at Akub, an upscale Palestinian restaurant in a Notting Hill townhouse. Dim, cozy, but lively and fun. I was excited by the wine list, which featured wines grown in Ramallah and the Galilee Highlands. We were meated-out from lunch, so focused our meal on the many vegetable and legume based small plates, which were warming and clean, spiced but not spicy. Favorites included the beitinjan bil tahinia (eggplant roasted with tahini) and silek siyami (chard stuffed with rice and tomatoes).

After dinner we went to a pub in Notting Hill where the drinks cost what they should in New York ($8 for a glass of wine and $5 for beer, if only). The pub was also playing music people actually wanted to hear (80s throwbacks and 2000s hits) and wasn’t uncomfortably crowded. I’m sad for the state of both regular bars in New York and department stores.

Back at the Ned, we were greeted by a buzzy circa-1920s scene of live music and a hive of people dressed up in the lounge, swaying to the music and imbibing. After martinis and some listening, we explored the subterranean club and lounge in the Ned’s vault and decided to return the following night. This hotel really does everything right - creates an entire universe with a myriad of different sub-worlds within.

Day 2 began in Shoreditch, with a spontaneous visit to Hales Gallery, which was showing Martyn Cross’s Of Oil and Earth. These pieces, while ostensibly playful, to me featured themes of ecological disaster and nuclear holocaust. They felt like a telling of the day after the climate-change driven apocalypse, when the sun rises over a desolate, oozing wasteland. (I really liked the exhibition).

Jolene came highly recommended, disappointed me when my latte was only a hint caffeinated, but delighted me when I took a bite of the orange rosemary olive oil cake. I don’t know if it’s their focus on regenerative ingredients that makes the baked goods so delicious.

We perused a few stores like SeventyFive and UJNG (both very SSENSE / Assembly New York). Two Columbia Road is a sweet vintage home store with a midcentury focus. I loved Record 28 Books, which specializes in the unique/rare/out of print trifecta in regards to fashion, art, photography, and music books. I have to say I wasn’t as taken with Shoreditch as I thought I’d be - it definitely felt like the cool part of the city, but in that sense it was somewhat indistinguishable from what I see going on on the Lower East Side on the weekends, in both business and character.

We went to the adorable Rochelle Canteen for lunch. It is located in the converted old bike shed of a former primary school-turned- art center. It’s tucked away behind the gates of the school so felt like a midday getaway for lunch in a hip British grandmother’s garden. The food is straightforward, leaning modern British/European and reasonably priced. We ordered the celeriac soup to start, which was warming but green, sprightly and fresh. For main, I had the pork chop with mustard sauce, potatoes, and kale, simple in the best way. Dessert was a curious Concord grape sorbet with an amazing flavor but odd texture, but I empathize - it is difficult to make desserts out of grapes. There’s another, better thing to make with grapes, and it starts with w and rhymes with fine.

Hearing British English can be an unsettling experience. We overheard a conversation at lunch that was so uncanny, we felt like we were having a collective breakdown: Phrases that sounded like English but garbled were peppered with barely recognizable bits like “nary absolutely!” I think the uncanniness comes from not only thick accents (these people must’ve been Welsh or Scottish) but the way some words, whose meanings we know, are put together in unintelligible ways: when we went to the Tate Modern museum, there was a huge sign on the wall that said “Clove Hub”. I know what a clove is, and what a hub is, but what do they mean together here? There isn’t a spice vault full of cloves in the Tate, I’ll tell you.

After lunch we shopped at the vintage shops around Brick Lane. I observed that London’s fashion sensibilities feel a few years behind New York’s, at least for mainstream interests: Gen Z shoppers were hungrily descending on dozens of small y2k-aesthetic vintage stores selling corsets, low-rise jeans, and Hysteric Glamour. While I didn’t find much that afternoon, I did really like GOODHOOD and Quatrieme. For men, I saw lots of 2016-Williamsburg style fisherman-sweater and Chelsea boots type stores, as well as vintage Hypebeast stores.

The next stop was the Tate Modern. I particularly loved a gallery that highlighted South Asian and Arab-origin artists’ involvement in the Abstract Expressionist and post-Abstract movement.

For dinner we went to Trishna, a sister restaurant of Gymkhana (I couldn’t get a Gymkhana reservation and am glad I didn’t) - Trishna was outstanding. It’s not dark and sexy, but you can focus on the excellent FOOD and DRINK instead. And you can people watch!

To start we had the coconut-mint scallops and masala fried crab, both shockingly delicious but the masala crab unlike anything else I’ve ever had. The duck seekh kebabs followed - this was one of the best dishes of my life. The duck, just cooked enough to not be tartare, is shaped into a kebab and filled with a tomato emulsion, then topped with a glorious sweet pineapple chutney. A warming cashew and pepper chicken, simple daal, and naan followed. I had a pan leaf negroni and red wine.

After Trishna we went to Cafe Boheme, a British Le Dive if Le Dive didn’t have a stick up its ass. I envy the way other cities are able to have a vivacious, laid back, but still sexy and high-end bar scene without feeling too stuffy (like New York). The main event of the night was in the vault of the Ned, in the club/lounge members space where I saw some things I shouldn’t write here.

We spent our last day holed up in the spa, alternate sauna-ing and swimming. The lounge and locker room areas feel like rooms in a countryside English manor, one where the owners enjoy hunting pheasants and discussing the fall of monarchy. The bathing area feels almost Roman, in the manner of wealth and quiet grandeur, not Ceasar’s Palace.

Our final meal was at Ottolenghi Spitalfields - I’d be in a rut all the time without this man’s cookbooks. I had roasted cauliflower and eggplant and a flaky Middle Eastern phyllo dough pastry filled with sweet Chicken shawarma and nuts. I also made sure to take a date apple cake for the road (read: the plane).

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Two separate, but related, trends in the consumer economy have caught my eye and signal doom for the environment, the consumer’s experience, and trust between the consumer and the brand.

** DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that the mentioned or pictured brands are bad or sell bad product. I like some of them!

It is true that our lives have been simplified, for better or worse, by the “app-ification” of society. You use an app to call a car to the airport, to order dinner when you don’t feel like cooking, to hire a handyman to install your AC unit, to find someone to pet-sit, to do all your job functions (the Teams/Slack/Outlook trinity), to track your health, to organize your schedule, to track your spending, to check where your friends or kids are, to….. etc etc etc. Like the Industrial Revolution, this “app-ification” or onslaught of the mobile internet age freed people up to allow them to focus on more monumental work.

TREND 1: INFANTILE BRANDING

A clean, user-friendly, tech-y brand has emerged for almost every possible need. To order your medicines, use hims or hers. Need to go to the dentist? Head to tend, the VC-backed chain of dental practices. Renter’s insurance? Get lemonade! Want a sweet treat? crumbl lets you order right from the app! Even sweetgreen calls itself a tech company.

The technology itself isn’t bad, and I am a believer in its ability to elucidate processes and needs that were once unnecessarily confusing or expensive. The trend I want to parse is the homogenous brand look and language of these companies.

When D2C and consumer technology companies were starting out in the ~late 2010s, they wanted to communicate that they were tech-driven and “innovative”. It made sense to do this through branding, and apparently this puffy, lowercase, sans-serif logo with a decidedly non-threatening aura was the graphic design trend du jour for these companies. Everything was lowercase, copy was “cool” and nonchalant, and the websites and app interfaces spoke to you like you were 5.

This combination of a logo that is the typeface embodiment of a Teletubby or a Boohbah, “cool” copy, and dumbed-down interfaces and consumer communication being at the core of every tech-first consumer company’s visage for the past ~8 years is dumbing down the consumer. A company presenting itself like an inoffensive high school kid with a heavy AP schedule likely won’t present great service or product, and in return the consumer won’t ask much of it.

Annie Dabir of Dabbling summed up some of the effects of this well:

“After returning several Casper mattresses, spending months waiting for my Byte aligners to arrive, and my AWAY luggage being rejected at the gate, the designer in me began to associate this *look* with bad service. And it wasn’t just the branding, but the names too. Recently, a Tend office popped up in our neighborhood. If I ever dare to set foot in a dentists office again, I don’t want a name like Tend. I asked my husband what he wants in a dentist. He said he wants he wants an old farty name like Regional Dentistry Associates of Eastern Nashville. And they BETTER not have an app to book, we want a nice old southern lady to call us or we are NOT showing up!”

While consumers gain time and ease through this app-ification, they lose the intangibles of experience that these tech-driven companies whittle away: the anticipation of a good meal, a friendly rapport built up over years of confirming appointments with your doctor’s secretary, or a meet-cute while waiting in line at a Midtown lunch place.

This isn’t just about branding. It’s about a cold user experience, impersonal service, and a growing universe of empty brands driven by “tech” to service our every need and want.

TREND 2: YASSIFIED CPG (SPECIFICALLY, FOOD + BEVERAGE)

I hate to use the term yassified, especially because I am criticizing the infantilization of the consumer by companies, but it is too apt.

We all know that olive oil brand, that tinned fish brand, that cereal brand. Consumers saw them placed in the hands of influencers and pushed by the algorithm on Instagram. Then, people walked into the “homewares + provisions” store on their block in Cobble Hill and saw the product IRL, in its green squeeze bottle glory. These “Instagram brands” got their start at the curated retail stores Neil Shankar dubbed “shoppy shops”, places where you “can touch all the products you see on Instagram.” Now, you can find them at Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, and on Amazon.

The popularity of the original yassified CPG consumables like Graza and Fishwife has spawned countless comparable company launches, or, more earnestly, brand activations. They are brand activations because these businesses aren’t revolutionizing anything about the food or beverage they are selling, they are merely manufacturing a shiny new identity and brand universe around it, and bringing THAT to market, often to compete with other lookalikes.

They are betting on the consumer being susceptible to bright colors, flashy packaging, and glitzy marketing. Ideally, they’d mold consumers into possessing a childlike sensibility, grabbing for the candy at the checkout aisle. It’s working, and it’s fueling the creation of brands spun out of the ether, overproducing inferior versions of products that already exist with branding being the sole differentiator.

Manufacturing and scaling these brands has become a science. Identify a consumable in a sleepy category (it’s been done for tinned fish, olive oil, cereal, pickles, etc.), conjure up a fun name and brand universe (or hire Gander to do it for you), market it via what Emily Sundberg calls “smallwashing”, let the algorithm work for you, then let the money roll in. You can infuse your product with some ethos (woke? artisanal? familial? back to basics? better-for-you?) or just let the fonts and colors and IG reels do the talking.

“Successfully marketing a product so that it feels local everywhere is an art. I’ve started calling this crucial step in a product’s development “smallwashing,” i.e., when a brand positions itself as a small business and shows up on shelves as if it were small, even though it has probably been through at least one comfy fundraise and a hotshot General Catalyst VC sits on the board.”

Consumers covet, and they buy, and this encourages the creation of brands following a similar GTM recipe. However, we’re left with a landscape of consumables where nothing is authentic. Consumers think they’re buying into a small brand, one that’s run by fun people who want to revolutionize an overlooked product. More often than not, though, they’re buying into a hollow shell of too much VC money, flashy branding, and find the product is just not that good. Most importantly, it’s often at a higher price point than its regular, run-of-the-mill counterpart.

It is insulting that companies believe they can slap a cute label onto a jar of pickles and have consumers clamoring to shell out twice what they’d pay for a regular jar; but, they can, because people are buying.

Advertising and branding used to be smart. It was witty, cohesive, and most importantly, it respected the intelligence and shrewdness of the consumer it was marketing to.

Infantile brands and yassified products are dumbing down the market with dumb product, ultimately dumbing down the consumer. They appeal to base inclinations to communicate to the consumer that this product, service, or company is at once easy to use, friendly, and maybe even fun and silly. You get a fun and silly dentist and a fun and silly jar of pickles.

Ok, so how’d this happen?

These unprecedented market strategies are creating an infantilized adult consumer. “The role of marketing in the infantilization of the postmodern adult” (Jacopo Bernadini) outlines how over time, adulthood has shifted from an idea to an ideal (Arnett) that is difficult to achieve, moving the target for companies from the adult to the “kidult”, who:

“is easily suggestible, tends to want objects that have no utilitarian purpose, is driven by individualistic, irrational and almost exclusively playful desires, does not take into account the needs of others and does not present substantial diversification in tastes”.

This “kidult” takes “young” to be a lifestyle attitude, rendering it a conscious choice rather than a transitory state. As this state is promoted and sustained by the market and media, the “child” (not literally a child, but the childlike adult) becomes valuable as a consumer in the market and therefore a target for marketers. Bernadini argues that the market not only deviates towards catering to this “kidult” but has found its ideal customer in the kidult, who harbors the irrationally consumerist nature of the child combined with the economic resources and buying power of the adult.

The Trader Joe’s millennial craze is perhaps the most palpable, paradigm-setting example of the market targeting the kidult. Trader Joe’s transformed grocery shopping, a utilitarian and purpose-driven activity, into a quest that tickled consumers’ childlike curiosity via product discovery. Trader Joe’s doesn’t serve you well if you go in with a grocery list comprised of ingredients to make meals (chicken, spinach, salt, good olive oil, etc.) Even if you do go in with a list, most can’t help but walk away with items like “peanut butter brookies”, “Hold the cone! mini ice cream cones”, “cacio e pepe puffs”, or “Gone Bananas! Dark chocolate covered banana slices”. Busy adults could forego planning and preparing actual meals and eat exclusively frozen Trader Joe’s orange chicken or any other of the frozen Lunchables for liberals. TJ’s is a place where the individual branding of each item, often a childhood favorite just slightly touched up, prompts the sale, rather than necessity or quality.

The most obvious, and most dire, outcome of products selling on nothing but branding is the overproduction of lookalikes with differing brand identities. It’s easy to start yet another skincare brand after seeing the success of the Glossier simulacrums at Sephora, or to begin development of a made-to-eat oats company with even more playful marketing. There’s a low barrier to entry to spinning a CPG company out of thin air, thanks to companies like Pietra that handle sourcing, packaging, distribution, fulfillment, and creative.

That leads to both first-time and serial founders (using the word “founder” might be generous in many cases) pumping out consumer brands that are merely cash grabs. Who loses here? The consumer, and the environment. Sustainability is touted as a guiding principle for many “mission-driven” companies, but the irony is the most sustainable thing to do would be to not produce at all, unless the benefit to the consumer plausibly outweighs the environmental harm. Sure, a new indie CPG brand isn’t going to destroy the earth, but death by a thousand paper cuts…

What, then? I am a supporter of enterprise and realize cessation of business or production isn’t ideal. The relationship between founder and consumer needs to be fixed - that can happen via consumers being more discerning, and founders prioritizing the creation of the best products, ones that feel authentic and like they might have a story behind them.

The recipe for a differentiated product is to find white space in the market, solving a consumer need that isn’t met. Founders should strive for this, or further, to create entirely new categories:

“Companies that create new categories, or successfully redesign existing categories, are the ones that ultimately change the world. Along the way, they create exponentially more value for both shareholders and the entire market. Category designers are people and companies that move the world from the way it is, to the way they think it should be.” - Category Pirates

Founders need to engage with real people, not one-dimensional caricatures of our inner children. Founders should pursue smart customers, and smart customers want things that enrich their lives, signal status, and make them happy. To have longevity, those things need to feel authentic, like they’re coming from a real place, not a Williamsburg WeWork.

I love upstate in the summer, when the wildflowers bloom and I can cool down in a swimming hole, and in the fall, to see the leaves change and contemplate the ending year. I also feel strange about the influx of money and development into the region.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve been privy to the Catskills and Hudson Valley regions’ explosive growth over the past few years in the hospitality realm. NYC restauranteurs and hospitality groups are opening their own spots upstate, old farms and farmhouses are being bought, developed, and turned into, well, content farms for influencers, and hotels like The Maker (Hudson), Piaule (Catskill), Inness (Accord), Wildflower Farms (Gardiner), Troutbeck (Amenia), Scribner’s Lodge (Hunter), The Henson (Hensonville), Eastwind (Big Indian) and other developments in-progress like The Wing founder Audrey Gelman’s forthcoming hotel and The Oberon Group (of Rucola, June Wine Bar)’s “center for health, sustainability, and community” upstate. Bed-Stuy queer bar Singers even announced “Camp Singers” this summer, a 6-room lodge and homestead in Delaware County.

In another world I would do a longer form analysis on how and why the region is changing and the implications of such, but that’s unnecessary because this sort of development was inevitable. This is a massive region possessing natural beauty in spades 1.5-4 hours from NYC, and the close-knit towns and communities up there present the kind of authentic feeling people living in the city crave on fall weekends. Boston has the Berkshires and downeast Maine, DC has the Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah regions, LA has Ojai and Palm Springs, SF has Napa Valley and Marin County and Tahoe. The Hamptons alone wasn’t going to continue to cut it for NYC’s getaway weekend playground of choice. There are longstanding communities up here that are already feeling the negative effects of this tourism-gentrification, and I hope visitors continue to be aware of this.

That being said, I’m not going to tell you to spend $1500 a night at Wildflower Farms, and I’m not going to recommend your weekend ascribe to the shockingly expensive hotel + high end general store / market selling “provisions” + farm to table restaurant formula. I am going to show you things I actually love, as someone who has been coming up here for a few years.

• If you have questions about where to stay, talk to me! I’ve developed a pretty good way of assessing airbnbs and hotels in the region.

DUTCHESS COUNTY + COLUMBIA COUNTY

Dutchess and Columbia Counties lie on the Eastern side of the Hudson, which is more developed, less mountainous, and a bit easier to get to from the city. I’d recommend this side of the Hudson if you’re looking to spend time in local towns and shop, vs. the Western side of the Hudson (Catskills region) is better for hikers and those seeking a secluded mountain escape.

⭐ Beacon ⭐⭐ Beacon ⭐⭐ Beacon ⭐⭐ Beacon ⭐⭐ Beacon ⭐⭐

• Go to Ziatun for the best Palestinian food of your life. You can’t go wrong with a single thing on the menu; this place has mastered the art of making everything you try be the best version of that thing you’ve ever had.

• Don’t let the pristine, definition-of-Instagrammable interior of Matcha Thomas make you think their focus is aesthetics and their matcha will fall flat. Their matcha is top-notch and don’t think you’re too cool for the specialty drinks (I had a divine orange blossom matcha last time I went.)

• Dia, the contemporary arts foundation, shows its best self at the Dia Beacon. An incredible treat for contemporary art lovers like myself, it features Serra, Flavin, Judd, and other heavyweights of the twentieth century. If art isn’t your thing, you can have a panic attack inside the Richard Serra sculpture and then go get lunch.

• Beacon Farmer’s Market, Sundays from 10 AM - 2 PM featuring growers and producers from the Hudson Valley area

• Binnacle Books, one of my favorite used bookstores on this planet. You could spend hours digging through their inventory; I really like the art books section. They also have a pioneering partnership with the Prison Books Project, an organization providing free books to incarcerated persons by request. Kudos to the person who requested the I Ching.

• Hudson Valley Brewery, fun fact: this is the last place I was before the world shut down on March 13, 2020. I am not really a beer girl but I LOVE a good local IPA (pick me!!!) and the vibes here are so friendly and cozy, the perfect place to wrap up a day in Beacon.

Honorable, bereaved shoutout for Homespun Foods, which sadly closed this summer:(

⭐ Rhinebeck, Germantown, Red Hook, Tivoli, Pine Plains area ⭐

• The Amsterdam, Rhinebeck: I would say: “New American” in town with great wine, cocktails, and service. Good for a fancier dinner when you want MULTIPLE starters, a bottle of wine, AND cocktails to start. BUT, upon researching this, I have learned that like Homespun Foods, The Amsterdam is no longer in service (highlights the increasingly hyper-competitive landscape these local businesses are facing as institutional money pours into the region). It will be reimagined as a “Limited Weekend, Holiday, & Private Events” destination through 2024. If you’re planning a holiday party upstate, have it here.

• The Tavern at Beekman Arms, Rhinebeck: The Beekman Arms and Delamater Inn is one of the oldest operating inns in the country, and offers vibes that feel like Gilmore Girls meets the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The tavern is good for a cozy, classic lunch or dinner, but I don’t think the food is anything to write home about.

  

• Samuel’s Sweet Shop, Rhinebeck: Paul Rudd wanted to be Willy Wonka, so he opened this sweet shop. Great for a stop to get gifts for the children in your life (or treats for yourself for the ride home)

• Upstate Films, Rhinebeck

• Zephyr, Rhinebeck: Stunning women’s clothing, very Doen.

• Otto’s Market, Germantown: Around since 1927, Otto’s isn’t a shoppy shop. It does feature top-notch Hudson Valley produce and carries all the specialty CPG foods you’d want to see in a charming upstate grocery store, but it’s also a great spot to get a breakfast sandwich, a coffee, or lunch.

• Gaskin’s, Germantown: As I clicked the link to include Gaskin’s here, I feared it too would be closing… IT IS, please be sure to go before November 24th, their last day of service. The beating heart of Germantown, Gaskin’s menu changes with the day and what’s available, and what they do with what’s available is nothing short of magic.

• Stissing House, Pine Plains: Substack-favorite and King, Jupiter co-owner chef ’s redone colonial tavern, offering a cottagecore dream with lush desserts (the famous coconut cake) and simple, seasonal dishes bursting with flavor. Mark my words, I will celebrate some sort of life event here.

⭐ Hudson ⭐⭐ Hudson ⭐⭐ Hudson ⭐⭐ Hudson ⭐⭐ Hudson ⭐⭐

• Feast and Floret: Rustic Italian in a 19th century carriage house and blacksmith shop, decked out with dried flora and vintage candelabra. The food is satisfying and quite “good”, but the focus here is the environment.

• The Maker restaurant: The Maker is a hotel on Warren Street from the founders of cosmetics company fresh, and does an incredible job at creating an immersive, one-of-a-kind world, something every boutique hotel ought to do. The restaurant brings The Maker’s sumptuous, eclectic sensibilities to your tastebuds. By far the best meal I’ve had in Hudson; dishes feel similar to The Four Horsemen but even more elevated.

• Talbott and Arding: One of my favorite genres of local business is this specialty grocery store-cum prepared foods-cum lunch and coffee spot model, and Talbott and Arding is Hudson’s answer to that divine enterprise.

• Antique Warehouse: Just what it sounds like, 40k sq ft of antique furniture, vintage clothes and accessories, and other knickknacks. Come with your eyes peeled for some real gems:

• Culture Cream: for ice cream with flavors like EARL GREY LAVENDER KEFIR, MISO WITH HONEY ROASTED STRAWBERRIES, CHOCOLATE CARDAMOM CHOCOLATE CHIP.

• Mel the Bakery: It was sad when this outstanding bakery on the LES closed, but that move became understandable when we learned she, like others tiring of the city, had moved upstate!

• HUDSON SHOPPING:

  • Minna: elevated home decor with a Latin/Californian lean.

  • Finch: Great selection of vintage and modern furniture, and a multibrand section with names like Rains and DS+DURGA.

  • John Doe Records and Books: The name says it all. Can dig through for hours.

  • Olde Hudson Market and Cafe: Great place to get high quality groceries and incredible dry aged steaks for your grill night at the airbnb.

  • Nikki Chasin: Clothes for girls who identify with the phrase “Hudson by way of Cobble Hill.”

  • Neven and Neven Moderne: A mecca for midcentury modern furniture lovers.

  • Combray Gallery: 19th/20th century European antiques and fine art (I hope the name is a nod to Proust……)

  • Grapefruit Wines if you need to buy wine in Hudson.

  • White Whale Limited: “Antiques. Exotica. Silver. Americana.”

⭐ Catskills Region ⭐⭐ Catskills Region ⭐⭐ Catskills Region

• Miss Lucy’s Kitchen, Saugerties: Cleaned-up country kitsch, happy family-friendly place using local ingredients to serve seasonal classics like summer corn chowder and a BLT with green tomatoes. Check out the desserts on the chalkboard.

• Inquiring Minds Bookstore and Cafe, Saugerties

• Alleyway Ice Cream, Saugerties: Sour cream and blueberry scoop.

• Chambers Vintage, Saugerties

• Prospect at Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Hunter: A favorite for group dinners upstate. Scribner’s is the most approachable of the new guard of upstate hotels mentioned above, and its restaurant Prospect is decidedly cool but homey and familiar. Great upstate-y cocktails, and make sure to get the bison tomahawk steak if it’s on the menu.

• Elevated Wine and Spirits, Hunter: higher end wine store, right across from Scribner’s. Grab a bottle after dinner at Prospect to go home and enjoy with smores.

• Matilda at the Henson, Hensonville: Matilda is getting a lot of attention as they opened recently. The food is on par with what you’d expect at somewhere like Bar Bete, maybe needing refinement in some areas as they figure things out but all in all a great small plates place with excellent interiors.

• Phoenicia Diner, Phoenicia: Claims the best pancakes in the world, has the best pancakes in the world (I don’t like pancakes and I want their apple cider pancakes more than anything right now). This revitalized Catskills landmark diner modernizes diner comfort food via locally sourced ingredients: expect things like a ramp omelette or a breakfast sandwich with coffee-rubbed smoked ham.

• Hikes, Waterfalls, Swimming Holes:

  • Kaaterskill Falls: waterfall, with a short but steep hike to get there.

    

  • Diamond Notch Falls: swimming hole + waterfall, short and easy hike to get there.

• Peekamoose Blue Hole: big swimming hole, still a gem but no longer hidden

• Slide Mountain Trail: long, challenging hike with incredible payoff:

  

• Artist’s Rock: moderate-easy hike with views that make it seem like you should’ve had to work harder to get them

This guide felt incomplete without mentioning Storm King Art Center, which is not technically upstate but has the feel. Walk through rolling hills while convening with the contemporary art sculptures that dot the landscape, solemnly situated into the earth like lost gods.