Side Dish, the Sorry, Steve Edition
Hello and welcome to Side Dish, our weekly round-up of industry news, hot goss and things you might have missed. Now, let’s get to it...
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Forget Franzia. Boxed wine is having a mo’ as sales hit $2.2B with brands like Ami Ami, Gratsi and Juliet leading the pack.
In this week’s things we didn’t know we needed: pizza vodka.
Solo dining is a new luxury status.
New names make up half of the NYT’s 50 Best Restaurants and the picks span 33 states.
Parade tackles the hard-hitting question on all our minds: is blue raspberry a real fruit?
The future tastes personal. Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs draw from roots, culture and hometowns.
Your guilty pleasure just got a rocky road twist. Meet Exploremores, the Girl Scouts’ newest sandwich star.
The New York Times heads to San Francisco to see if Atelier Crenn has still got it. TL;DR: there’s a little bit of cringe, some poetry and some beauty.
In Los Angeles, Bill Addison says Top Chef Mei Lin’s 88 Club doesn’t have the rizz he’s looking for.
The San Francisco Chronicle says Stephanie Izard’s new Silicon Valley restaurant is really busy but with too many inspirations, excelling at none. 🐐
WaPo’s Tom Sietsema tries not to be Debbie Downer as he re-reviews Founding Farmers.
Jacquemus, Julia Roberts and Veuve Clicquot. Say less.
7-Eleven wants to go konbini. CEO Stephen Dacus is betting big on egg salad sandwiches and milk bread.
Conveyor belts of crudités, EVOO caviar and a fondue fountain. Welcome to Graza’s GrazaVerse.
Green with envy: From Lady M cakes to Ottolenghi lamb, pistachios are the nut of the moment.
Hotter temps, sweeter cravings. Climate change could spike US sugar intake via cold sodas and ice cream.
US consumers now drop over $500B on wellness every year. Credit the $20 Erewhon smoothie.
Ready for “Locked Up Abroad: Boujee Edition?” US Travelers are turning to smuggling to get their fancy foreign goods fixes.
Travlers are poo pooing pools for “wild swimming.”
Who needs a snow globe when you can have a permanent reminder? Why travel tattoos are the newest travel souvenir.
Skift says marketers are sucking the soul from hotel brands.
Hot off TikTok’s ‘airport dad’ trend, Afar wonders if an ‘airport divorce’ is the best way for couples to actually enjoy their trip.
Mexico City is having “one of the most boring moments in the history of Mexican food” and you can probably guess the culprits.
Airbnb fall trend report: Gen Z goes long-haul, Vermont tops foliage lists and beach dupes win.
White-collar burnout is fueling a new career wave: travel agent.
Paris tops Gen Z’s fall list...Belly may be responsible. Think flea markets, cooking classes and Eiffel Tower picnics on a budget.
Zillow surfers, take note: the top 10 US states to live in are out, ranked by quality of life. #1 might surprise you.
Attention Southwest Rapid Rewards flyers: You get free Wi-Fi! And you get free Wi-Fi! And you get free Wi-Fi!
Padel courts are the new infinity pools. From Saint-Tropez to Sardinia, luxe resorts are betting big on the world’s fastest-growing sport.
Cash for flight delays? Not anymore.
Boo cruise: 7 cruise lines decking their ships for Halloween with costume contests, trick-or-treating and zombie cocktails.
Hotels are testing video desks and digital keys, but 70% of guests still want a smile with their stay.
Gen Z is skipping summer PTO for fall escapes: Paris, Porto, and peak foliage in Vermont top the list.
From Mayfair suites to Catalan slow living, Wallpaper’s best new hotels to book now.
AI is inflating your travel bill, from car rental “damage scans” to hotel vape detectors and airfare pricing algorithms. Here’s how to push back.
Wealthy tourists are pre-booking L.A. mega-mansions for the 2028 Olympics, paying millions years in advance.
Four words you don’t want to hear when picking up the birthday cake you ordered, “I did my best.” Sorry, Steve.
Phones, don’t need ‘em. Gen Alpha found a genius loophole that sees iPods and cassette tapes making a comeback.
We’ve got L’eggs.....but this time in red, pink and purple.
Move over Pawhuska and Waco, it’s time for Midway.
Solidifying the Sephora kids are all right, You Tuber Salish Matter’s new beauty brand Sincerely Yours drew 80,000 tweens to its launch. Say that with us, “80,000 tweens.”
Tennis goes full ‘Baller’ at Philly’s first ‘urban country club’ from Equinox Hotels vets and tennis legend Andre Agassi.
Taylor Frankie Paul is officially the next Bachelorette, a chaotic pivot that might save the franchise. 🌹 She dishes on Call Her Daddy.
Y2K teen brands are thriving again: Hollister, Pacsun and co. are winning through festivals and college campus activations.
Parisian chic is out. New England style is the cozy fall aesthetic fashion insiders swear by.
From faux fur to sheer slips, fall’s top trends are playful, moody and straight from the runways.
Why should parents have all the fun? Enter the platonic babymoon, a last hurrah for besties before baby.
Forget tequila shots. Gen Z’s pre-date ritual is a beta blocker. Propranolol scripts are up 28% since 2020.
Brides are spamming brands for bach swag. Small shops are fed up.
Gap and Old Navy are getting into beauty, with John Demsey and Maesa shaping the new lines.
The performative male home is here, stocked with Aesop soap and Togo sofas. Honestly, not mad at it.
The cookie-sized Levain mini tote might be the cutest thing we’ve seen all week.
Don’t worry, the rocking chairs and peg games aren’t going anywhere. Cracker Barrel faces more backlash after trying to roll out a modern farmhouse aesthetic.
Pantone dropped its NYFW Fashion Color Trend Report and Spring 2026 is giving ‘quirkiness and originality.’ Stay tuned to see what that means.
Sirencore lives on as Starbucks debuts a new look designed by Zac Posen at NYFW.
The Financial Times goes all in on cute cup sakes. Which ones make the cut....er cute?
TikTok’s fave filter trend went IRL: color analysis is shaping fall closets, one swatch card at a time.
This fall’s wildest detail? Nonfunctional buttons turning basics into conversation starters.
Fall 2025 fashion decoded. Think equestrian chic, gothic lace, furry extras and a little child’s play.
Away just went bold with new cherry red luggage. 🍒
Sit pretty worldwide from Verona villas to DR daybeds with 7 design hotels where seating takes the lead.
Extend shorts season (or just your wardrobe mileage) with the chicest styling trick: statement socks.
Barbour is in its collab era, teaming with Tuckernuck for chic barn jackets and FARM Rio for tropical prints.
IKEA x Gustaf Westman drops Oct. 1 with chunky mugs, spiral vases and that meatball platter.
Beauty to go. Sephora just hit Uber Eats, so your next lipstick can ride with your late-night fries.
Ralph Lauren just launched an AI bot to curate your closet like a Park Avenue pro.
Experts warn AI “therapists” can validate dangerous thoughts, fueling what’s being called “AI psychosis.”
Catwalk meets Substack. The Washington Post launches Post Runway with Rachel Tashjian at fashion week.
Meta just expanded incremental attribution, promising deeper insight into what really drives conversions.
Save time on pins. Buffer’s Pinterest scheduling guide shows 3 methods and 5 tips to scale.
Behavior beats buzzwords. This guide to behavioral data shows where users search and why they bounce.
Creator dollars are rising, but most are flowing into Spark Ads and affiliate, not straight to creators.
After 37 years of Just Do It, Nike flips the script with Why Do It?, aimed squarely at Gen Z cringe culture.
OpenAI is co-producing Critterz, an AI-made animated film eyeing a Cannes debut next year.
Pay transparency is reshaping the creator economy, fueling higher sponsorship rates across platforms.
Is NOT posting on social the new it-girl energy?
Speaking of it-girls not posting, chic fitness studios are rolling out “no filming” policies.
Good news: your cracked iPhone 7 is hot.
Step to the side, Substack. Food media are using low-fi notes app style IG carousel posts to share musings.
What travel nightmares are made of: people are doing lost luggage unboxing style hauls.
Allow myself to introduce…myself. IG now allows you to pin your own comment.
