Dear readers:

It’s Amanda, Eater’s editor in chief, here with my weekly roundup of everything—both on and off Eater—that piqued my interest in the food world.

Rave: Eater Awards

This is the busiest time of the year at Eater, with the holidays, plans for the upcoming year, and our annual Eater Awards, which went live on Wednesday. We’ve been awarding Eater-branded tomato cans to restaurants, chefs, authors, personalities, and various restaurant world heroes and villains across the entire country for the last seven years, and we always fête the winners at an Eater Awards event in New York. It’s a taste-around party with lots of booze, minimal speechmaking (we thank the winners and the sponsors), and plenty of good times.

What I especially loved about this year's event was the lineup of award-winning chefs doing the cooking: Missy Robbins (NY Chef of the Year), Aya Fukai (Pastry Chef of the Year), Kelly Fields and Lisa White (New Orleans Chefs of the Year), Lakana Trubiana (Austin Food Truck of the Year), Lisa Ludwinski (“Bill Addison’s Favorite Pie” award), Maya Lovelace (Portland Chef of the Year), and Misti Norris (Dallas Chef of the Year).

It’s no coincidence they’re all women. When my editors from around the country sent me the names of all of their winners, I noticed how many kickass females we had and figured we might as well invite them to cook first before reaching out to the hombres. My husband called me a sexist when I told him. He’s not completely wrong.

We didn’t announce it on the invite or at the party or tell the chefs. I don’t even think most guests noticed or cared. But I’m mentioning it to you now because when life so often feels overrun by men, I don’t see the harm in creating a subtle celebration of women.

Opening of the Week: Wagamama NYC

Who’s behind this thing? Wagamama is a UK-based Asian food chain “inspired by the flavors of Japan,” with over 150 locations, two of which are in Boston.

What is it? It’s a massive three-story space overlooking Madison Square Park. It serves a menu of dishes including ramens, curries, teppanyaki, fresh juices, and—for the first time ever—a brunch menu with roti wraps, okonomiyaki, and eggs benedict in bao buns.

Where is it? Flatiron, NYC.

When did it open? Last Wednesday.

Why is it such a big deal? First, sometimes when we don’t have a thing that other places have we want that thing, even if it’s not as good as the things we have already. Second, Wagamama adds to the narrative of wildly popular Japanese operations expanding to the States. Please see: Ichiran, Afuri, TsuruTonTan, Sushi Ginza Onodera, Kukai, and (though less recently) Ippudo and Ootoya, and (coming soon) Ikinari Steak.

How is the reception so far? Predictably, people lined up all week ahead of the opening. But by 1:30 on Wednesday, it was pretty easy to snag a table. I predict this place will not be a huge deal to the ramen and Japanese food snobs, but will still do bangin’ business. I asked my colleague Robert Sietsema for his first impressions, and he told me, “Really awful! I'm surprised the Japanese embassy doesn't lodge a formal protest. New York is being re-colonized.”

Eater Must Reads:

• First, please check out The 2016 Eater Gift Guide.
• I can take or leave the Michelin rankings, but I DO love a good surprise scoop. So when a tipster sent us a note this week that New York bookstore McNally Jackson had accidentally stocked the red guide to NYC three days ahead of schedule, we dispatched Ryan Sutton on a CitiBike to go get one. Other than the Spotted Pig losing its star (which we already knew), there were no huge surprises.
• I loved visiting Chef and the Farmer in North Carolina on a road trip last year, and I binge-watched the entire catalog of A Chef’s Life during my maternity leave, so I was thrilled to fill in for Greg Morabito this week as co-host of the Eater Upsell podcast when chef Vivian Howard was a guest. Please listen and consider buying her book Deep Run Roots.
• I was a big fan of what Alex and Kevin Pemoulie were doing at Thirty Acres out in Jersey City, so I felt nothing but excitement when I read about their new sandwich shop in Seattle.
• Philly’s Adam Erace interviewed the undocumented immigrant owner of South Philly Barbacoa and her husband about how they’re feeling post-election.
• Speaking of Philly, Pat’s is putting white truffles on cheesesteaks.
• Michelin-starred SF restaurant Mister Jiu’s is bucking the prix fixe-only trend by making a swap in the other direction. When chef/owner Brandon Jew opened the restaurant earlier this year, he offered a banquet-style menu, but the format “proved a bit of an obstacle for repeat diners, in terms of both price and time commitment,” per Eater SF.
• Here’s a place making great canelé in DC.
• And here’s why cookbooks are looking more and more like comic books.

Social Media Interlude:

@nicksolares at The Carousel Bar & Lounge in New Orleans.

A pecan pie by @bonappetitmag.

@eater_la: Taiyaki ice cream at @chelocreamery (photo credit: @hungryhugh).

Things That Aren’t From Eater But Are Also Good:

^ THIS

• A recent report from the Food Chain Workers Alliance showed that while the food system continues to create jobs, “workers in this industry face low wages, few benefits, unsafe working conditions, and discrimination.” [Civil Eats]
• Like everyone else, I’m obsessed with this Thanksgiving package from the New York Times. A thousand kudos. [NYT]
• Peter Meehan on why Los Angeles is the best eating city in America. [Lucky Peach]
• Here, a great essay by personal hero Preeti Mistry. Choice quote: “I had to work a little harder. I always took the hardest job; I always got up on the stove, changed the filters every night, cleaned the hood, the fucking fryer, whatever. You talk to any female chef, she'll tell you, as soon as you become a sous chef or executive chef, you learn this whole new level of sexism.” [Chefs Feed]
• The wonderful Kim Severson continues the conversation around food at Standing Rock. It seems at once inspiring and frustrating and wildly chaotic as so many volunteers with different skills and ideas about food converge to feed the community fighting the pipeline. [NYT]
• “At McDonald's owner Ray Kroc’s ranch, there were parties, food experiments, and—strangely—health conferences.” [Curbed LA]
• Oh, and wow: Southern chef Sean Brock has a terrible illness that almost rendered him blind. [GQ]

Enjoy, take care.

— Amanda Kludt (@kludt)

Edited by Jenny G. Zhang