Will Your Beef Get More Expensive?

Welcome to Open Tab, a weekly roundup of the news, gossip, and stories that have stayed open in my tabs all week. Last week we covered the trouble at Ben & Jerry's.

I spent last weekend at a lake house with friends where we grilled burgers and I used a Green Egg for the first time to smoke ribs for six (!) hours. I also managed to get a sunburn after kayaking in the sun for a mere 30 minutes. Openeers, I recommend both experiences—in tandem if possible.

The restaurant community (in New York, at least) is abuzz after Andy Baraghani announced he’s opening his first restaurant called Ditto later this year. Baraghani, a former BA staffer, is partnering with Michael Silber, who, until now, has been mostly behind the scenes, though he’s had a hand in a slew of very hot new restaurants: Stars, Smithereens, Penny, you know the type.

Also of note: Noma is reopening in Copenhagen August 5, following the complicated run of its LA residency. René Redzepi will be stepping aside from day-to-day operations, which, instead, will be led by head of research and development Mette Brink Søberg and executive chef Pablo Soto.

Did you catch the trailer for the fifth and final season of The Bear that dropped this week? I wasn’t sure whether The Bear was still the hit it once was, but it racked up more than 10 million views in less than a week, so I guess I was wrong. Should I interview Ayo Edebiri about the ~3 months we worked at the same restaurant in the mid 2010s? Would you read that?

And finally, after Nancy Mace was roundly defeated in this week’s South Carolina’s gubernatorial primary, she is apparently self-soothing with baked beans. Consider looking inward instead, queen!

Also this week: The screwworms beefing with your beef, Prada goes Katz’s mode, why restaurants are considering World Cup service fees, and we’ve found you the best places to eat and drink in America’s World Cup cities.

Will your beef get more expensive?

Droughts have already thinned cow herds, and beef prices are up 13% year over year, and, unfortunately, I have more bad news: This week, the USDA announced three new cases of New World screwworms, a parasitic flesh-eating fly. Screwworms were thought to have been eradicated in the 1960s, but they’ve reappeared after DOGE-led cuts slashed the program meant to keep them at bay.

Could this realistically explode beef prices? It certainly has the potential to do just that, but containment efforts have already started, and, at the moment, just three calves are infected. “We prevented and eradicated this pest before,” Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, said during a briefing. “We can do it again.’

Prada x Pastrami

Last week Prada Mode, “an itinerant private club that offers its members a unique experience with a focus on contemporary culture,” (whatever TF that means) popped up at Katz’s Deli. In attendance were Cole Escola, Ella Emhoff, and Hunter Schaefer, among other famous and chic people. Notably not in attendance? Me. But it’s for the best—I had to reorganize my spice rack that night so I couldn’t go even if I was invited.

Fashion brands have been expanding into restaurants for a while, but Prada, specifically, has been going hard on restaurants and bars. The Prada Group owns famed Milanese sweet shop Marchesi 1824, and last month, the brand appointed Remy Savage, of London bar 🔶🟥🔵, its executive mixologist. Plus, rumors are swirling that Prada may soon open a New York City expansion of its Prada Caffè.

You might see World Cup service fees on your check

Some restaurants, reportedly, are considering adding service fees to checks to account for World Cup tourists who may not be familiar with US tipping customs. Servers would undoubtedly be grateful to not miss out on tips, but the move wouldn’t come without complications.

US customers, already experiencing tip fatigue, would also be subject to the service fee—which, let’s be honest, is an auto-gratuity. Plus, the funds that servers get from the service fees wouldn’t count as tips, and would be exempt from the “no tax on tips” laws.

We’ve found the best places to eat and drink in World Cup cities

Do you find that people to whom you are not even particularly close regularly text asking for restaurant and bar recommendations, or is that just something that happens when you start working at a food magazine? We’ve been hard at work curating guides to America’s World Cup cities to help you find some truly exceptional bites, gulps, nibbles, and sips—wherever you are.