Meet the Industry’s Future Leaders

This post originally appeared on May 8, 2020 in Amanda Kludt’s newsletter “From the Editor,” a roundup of the most vital news and stories in the food world each week. Read the archives and subscribe now.

This week, we announced the 2021 class of the Eater New Guard, a group of future leaders that are making a positive change in the world of food. The people on the list — chefs, restaurateurs, activists, and farmers — are working towards building a better future, centered on serving their communities and supporting others.

Last spring when the pandemic hit and we paused our decade-long Young Guns program, it gave us a chance to think about how we would refresh the series in 2021 and what kind of leaders we want to highlight in a post-pandemic world. We decided to expand the mission to include up-and-comers who don’t necessarily work in restaurants but care deeply about food and their communities.

The resulting list is full of individuals as interesting as they are inspiring. I highly recommend you check out editor Hillary Dixler Canavan’s intro to the crew and dive into the full list.

— New York City will open at 100 percent capacity (with social distancing or partitions in place) on May 19, while Chicago eyes July. Meanwhile bars were just allowed to reopen in San Francisco.

— Eleven Madison Park will be mostly vegan when it reopens next month, joining a new wave of vegan restaurants in New York, including the pandemic openings of Guevara’s, Aunts et Uncles, Fat Choy, and Xilonen and the reopening of newly-vegan wine bar Ruffian.

— High-end Seattle restaurant Canlis announced its first female head chef in 70 years.

— The first big food festival is back in (where else?) Miami. How the SOBE Wine and Food Fest will change for this pandemic era.

— Michelin announced its stars for New York.

— Restaurateurs Greg and Subrina Collier of modern juke joint Leah & Louise have organized a Black Food & Wine Festival for October 22 through October 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

— Illinois joins New York and California in considering banning third-party apps from partnering with restaurants without their consent.

— One of Las Vegas’ most famous buffets will reopen on May 20 after a multi-million dollar overhaul.

— Miami’s Casa Tua will replace Daniel Boulud’s recently closed 20 year-old restaurant Cafe Boulud on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

A danish from Little Food Studio with purple and white flowers and sliced blueberries — A danish from Little Food Studio in D.C.

Openings: Dauphine’s, a highly anticipated New Orleans-inspired restaurant, and Little Food Studio, a bakery and takeout spot with some standout sausage rolls, in D.C.; Flatiron, a much-delayed new restaurant in Nashville; The Oasis, a 35,000-square-foot food hall with an indoor/outdoor cocktail lounge and stage for live performances, in Miami; Brasserie, a French, er, brasserie (that imo owes a lot to Keith McNally), in Boston; and Saint Bread, an exciting new bakery in Seattle.

— Looking back on ten years at n/naka and its influence on the Los Angeles dining scene.

— Pasadena’s dining scene is maybe the most exciting thing happening in LA-area food right now.

— How to navigate a pandemic-era Disney World right now.

— To bake: This delicious-looking PB&J-inspired crumb cake.

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