Pete Wells

This image and the idea for the dish itself -- "caviar-infused crème fraîche ice cream served in a crisp, wafer-thin potato tuile shaped like an eggshell” -- were generated by ChatGPT at the prompting of the chef @grant_achatz. (The bent-spoon service piece is not too wildly different in spirit from the dozens of custom pieces that @crucialdetail_official has designed for Alinea.)

The prompt that led to this image? Achatz told ChatGPT to suggest dishes that might be created by "Jill," a 33-year-old chef from Wisconsin who has worked for Ferran Adrià, Jiro Ono and Auguste Escoffier.

@grant_achatz is one of several people I interviewed for an article on chefs who are collaborating with AI in their creative process. @jennertomaska has come up with dishes at @esme_chicago that began with images generated by @mid.journey; one was fleshed out by the ceramist @manossanas and another by the artist @pauloctavious.

When he was building @selinerestaurant in Santa Monica, @dcberan used AI imagery to help him talk to his designer about the look and feel he wanted for the interiors.

Ned Baldwin at @housemanrestaurant has had long, searching conversations with ChatGPT about the theory and practice of sausage making.

I don't get the idea that this kind of thing is widespread yet. Many chefs haven't had time to explore AI and others aren't interested. But for a few, it's become a reliable and tireless collaborator in the kitchen. More details in my article, which you can find through the link in my bio. Less

In my time as critic, I wrote a lot of reviews of sushi counters that I thought were game changers for New York. Then a year or so later an even more impressive spot would come along and change the game again. (See: Ichimura at Brushstroke, Sushi Nakazawa, Nakaji, 69 Leonard under two different chefs, Yoshino.)

Early this year, Sushi Sho opened on East 41st. I didn't have a chance to review it before I left the job, but if I had I would have said that it had elevated the game once again. It is now the most impressive sushi counter in the city in just about every way.

I finally wrote about it this week. It's not a review but a profile of the chef and owner, Keiji Nakazawa. He was one of the leaders of the Edomae revival, a return to pre-refrigeration techniques for treating fish. The movement has rippled out from Tokyo around the world. "People realized that what was done 100 years ago was valuable," he told me.

On Monday, he learned that Michelin has given Sushi Sho two stars.

Please see my profile to learn more about his career and influence on the sushi scene. Link in bio. Less

The chicken tender turns 50 this year. This may surprise you if you're younger than that and grew up seeing tenders in every school cafeteria, food court, airport and diner, but older Americans can remember a time when tenders were not a thing. To understand how tenders took over the nation, I went to their birthplace, Manchester, New Hampshire, aka Tender Town. First stop was the @puritanbackroom, where they have been on the menu since 1974; the classic version is served in a simple breading with the Puritan's take on duck sauce. (It's yellowish and tastes a bit like applesauce.) Other stops: the Goldenrod (2); the round-the-clock @redarrow24diner (3,4); Magoo's drive-in across the river in Goffstown (5,6); and Vintage Pizza (7,8), locally renowned for "Asian tenders," a distant relative of General Tso's chicken. For all this and much more, see "How the Chicken Tender Conquered America" on nytimes.com (link in bio). Less