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Bears are cute, even the giant grizzly bears that would probably eat you if given the chance. There’s something about them being chubby and fluffy that makes you want to snuggle them. But most people, wisely, wouldn’t dare to get close to one because humans have pretty keen survival skills that override the cuteness factor.

But as humans continue to encroach on natural animal habitats, there are more and more reports of interactions with bears. Mostly bears getting into trash cans or opening car doors while everyone is tucked in their beds, sound asleep. Recently, a Connecticut family found themselves unexpectedly face to face with a hibernating bear.

When Vincent Dashukewich took his dog out, she started acting strangely and growling at something under the pool deck. Surprisingly, when Dashukewich took a peek under the deck, a sleepy black bear was staring back at him. That’s certainly a sight that will get your heart pumping.

Dashukewich told ABC News, “He’s been super chill. I’ve gone out to check on his a few times and he hasn’t really moved. He’s looked at me a few times, but you know, he’s pretty calm right now.” If you’re wondering why he’s still got a bear hanging out under his pool deck, it’s because the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said to leave the bear to do bear things as long as it’s not bothering anyone. The agency surmises that Marty the Bear will leave by the end of the month.

But if the Dashukewich’s new guard bear doesn’t want to play nice anymore, they can call wildlife officials to remove Marty. While I personally wouldn’t want a Marty under my deck, he sure is cute all snuggled up under someone else’s.

If you want to get a look at this real life furry intruder, check out the video below.

Kids get a lot of birthday party invitations. Many daycares and schools have a rule that if you invite a few kids in the classroom, you have to invite all kids in the classroom so no one feels excluded. Parents get used to grabbing invites out of cubbies throughout the school year without much thought.

You see the invitation, ask your kid if they’re friends with the person the party is for and if they answer in the affirmative, you RSVP for a tiny human’s birthday bash. It becomes like a reflex. But for mom Tasha Salyer on TikTok, that reflex got her into a confusing, yet hilarious situation.

Salyer uploaded a video of herself explaining to a table full of people how she ended up at the charity event instead of a child’s birthday party. People at the table couldn’t contain their laughter as the story went on. Apparently, Salyer picked up the invitation out of her daughter’s cubby at daycare and confirmed with her daughter that she actually knew the child, Jésus.

The mom revealed that she expressed how strange it was to her own mother that there was no RSVP section, saying, “You know it’s so weird. There was nowhere on there for me to RSVP, like they don’t care how many kids show up?” Her confusion continued, “They don’t want him to have any gifts? Like, you can just bring food for the food pantry?” Salyer’s mom confirmed that it was indeed weird to not have gifts for a birthday party.

Salyer, still believing it was a birthday party for Jésus, thought that maybe the parents just didn’t want him to have a lot of toys. After showing up she realizes that there aren’t many children there and her confusion grows when she can’t find Jésus or his parents.

Turns out, her daughter didn’t know Jésus from sitting next to him during circle time. She knew him from Bible stories because her daycare is attached to a church, but the invitation was indeed a party. One for the actual Jesus and the gifts were adding food to the food pantry to feed the community.

Listen to the whole story below:

@tashasalyer

As a parent, you want your kid to find their space in the world, discover what they’re passionate about and build the skills needed to be successful in whatever path they choose.

You also want them to do their dang homework. Even the stuff they aren’t particularly thrilled about.

Balancing those things isn’t always easy, especially when you have a kid who has very specific interests and very specific non-interests. And that familiar struggle is hilariously depicted in a delightful, viral family car ride.

In the video shared by Samantha Broxton on her TikTok channel, 11-year-old Kevin sits in the back seat singing his heart out to the song “Naughty” from the new Netflix version of “Matilda.” The film was just released in December, which makes it all the more impressive that Nathan knows the whole thing by heart.

The “by heart” part is what prompted Nathan’s dad, Kevin, to pause the song part-way through and interject with the most classic dad comment ever.

“Don’t tell me you can’t memorize your math facts no more,” he said. “OK? I don’t hear that. Multiplication, division, all that. Don’t tell me you can’t do it.”

Kevin is a musician himself and a fan of musical theater and you can see him enjoying Nathan’s singalong, but he’s also a dad wanting his kids to get the most out of their education. He may have a point about where his son puts his memorization energy, but that didn’t deter Nathan from waiting patiently for Dad to turn the song back on so he could continue his performance.

@raisingself

Let’s just call this Nathan’s audition for Matilda the Musical!

In Nathan’s defense, it is easier to memorize things when they’re put to music, which is why Schoolhouse Rock! exists. Perhaps Nathan should find a program that puts math facts to music, though that’s still not quite as much fun as singing along to “Matilda.”

Samantha tells Upworthy that Nathan has been into musicals since “Hamilton” came out, which makes what happened after this video went viral all the more exciting for the Broxtons.

As the “Matilda” video started circulating on Twitter, another video of Nathan singing in the car started making the rounds along with it. In this one, he is singing “Wait for It” from “Hamilton.”

u201cLOOK at baby @leslieodomjr. ud83dudd25ud83dudd25ud83dudd25u201d

— April (@April)
1673367002

His passion is so clear that it even caught the attention of Leslie Odom Jr., who originally performed the song in the role of Aaron Burr on Broadway. Odom shared the video with a message of praise for Nathan.

“Young brother is far more committed than I even dreamt of being at his age,” he wrote. “This is conviction! And I love to see it. On this trajectory, he’ll eclipse me in no time.”

u201cYoung brother is far more committed than I even dreamt of being at his age. This is conviction! And I love to see it. On this trajectory, heu2019ll eclipse me in no time. Ha ud83dudcaaud83cudffeu201d

— Leslie Odom, Jr. (@Leslie Odom, Jr.)
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The family was blown away by the tweet.

“I’m so touched by Leslie acknowledging our Nathan,” Samantha says. “We think Nathan is talented and could really be amazing in the theater world, but we are obviously very biased as his parents and family. Hearing from someone like Leslie Odom, Jr., with his body of work and broad range and depth of talent, it was really like an overwhelming external confirmation that something similar might really start to be possible for Nathan in the near future.”

Nathan’s reaction to seeing Leslie Odom Jr.’s tweet, shared by Samantha with his permission, is so pure.

@raisingself

Shared with permission from Nathan. He is so thankful for everyone’s kind words and encouragement. This year he want to get voice lessons and dance lessons and get even more serious about Musical Theater.

Samantha says she and her family have been sharing stories from everyday life on social media for a few years. “It truly is a labor of love, rooted in the desire to build community and share what we have and are actively learning about family, love, healing and adulting,” she says, adding that their content is mostly unscripted and that their children have a say in what they post and how the videos are edited. “This is super important to us,” she says. “We make the decision to continue to make content as a family, and we wrestle with it every year.”

With the positive feedback Nathan is receiving from the musical theater community and people in general, it appears it was definitely a good choice this year.

When news came of African students facing discrimination and abuse while fleeing Ukraine after the Russian invasion last February, community organizer Asmara knew her Germany-based charity dedicated to helping refugees could help.

With the experience Asmara’s World has gained since 2016, they were able to quickly mobilize volunteers, funds, and buses—and a wave of online support via social media—to help 120 students evacuate to Germany.

“Facebook, but especially Instagram, was a great platform where subscribers were made aware of the problem in a very short time and donated over €20,000 within 48 hours, which made the evacuation possible in the first place,” Asmara tells Upworthy. The group also used WhatsApp to communicate directly with the students fleeing. In the months since, Asmara’s World has helped hundreds more young Africans fleeing Ukraine with basics such as housing clothing and hygiene items as they start to rebuild their lives.

The war in Ukraine has dominated the headlines, but the refugee crisis reaches far beyond its borders. At the start of 2022, more than 82 million people were displaced worldwide by war, conflict and other crises. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed that number to over 100 million.

Since no single entity can manage that many upended lives, refugee response requires a combination of large, global organizations and local, grassroots efforts to ensure our fellow humans find a safe home and the ability to sustain themselves.

That’s where Asmara’s World comes in. No one understands the process of forced migration better than people who have been through it, and Asmara’s World is made up primarily of refugees or people who have a migration background themselves. Members originally came from Eritrea, Senegal, Gambia, Cap Verde, Poland, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iran, and they advise and support refugees through evacuations, deportation prevention, language learning and more.

“Asmara’s World serves as a bridge builder between cultures and supports both institutions and individuals in developing understanding for the different concerns and wishes,” Asmara tells Upworthy. She says the organization explicitly pursues an “empowerment approach” in advising and supporting refugees in social matters. Refugees are smart and resourceful and eager to learn—they just need the opportunities to put their skills to use.

In addition to the primary concern of getting people housed and fed, one of the main goals of Asmara’s World is to make sure refugees are able to receive the education they need to be successful in their new home, such as learning the German language.

“They need to reach B2 language level as soon as possible, in order to apply to universities,” says Asmara. “They need to fulfill this first.” (B2 is an advanced level of fluency necessary for higher education.)

Then there’s the tragic reality of what caused them to flee in the first place.

“Many are psychologically exhausted, traumatized,” says Asmara. “Asmara’s World offers them a safe space and the opportunity to be empowered and to create concrete solutions.” From professional help to legal advice, Asmara’s World accompanies refugees through the bureaucratic process, but also serves as an understanding, empathetic source of counseling and support—which, sadly, is a continuing need even after they are safe from war.

“Many BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] are wandering around Europe without protection and do not know where to go, as they are asked everywhere to return to their countries of origin, although they have not lived there for several years and have become adults in Ukraine,” says Asmara. Even if they wanted to return to their countries of origin, it wouldn’t be possible for most. “The families have gone into debt to pay for their studies in Ukraine and are broke.”

And, of course, every step of the refugee’s journey requires money. Asmara’s World uses Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness and call for donations and WhatApp to organize activities and share information, but social media also serves as a valuable source of networking with other non-profits. As word spread of the organization’s efforts early in the war, Asmara’s World began receiving donations through aid and human rights organization Medico International, which helped fund rescue buses and basic humanitarian aid.

The refugee crisis won’t be solved overnight, but with continued support, groups like Asmara’s World can help people who are forced to flee violence find a peaceful home where they not only survive, but also thrive.

Harry Styles lives a charmed life, but it doesn’t come without obstacles. The Harry’s House supernova’s mostly flawless Love On Tour hit a few snags — the postponement of three Los Angeles shows due to Styles falling ill in early November, followed by the hijacking at gunpoint of a tour van in Brazil — and Styles was at the center of a controversial Gucci campaign.

With respect to the latter, Styles is taking steps to avoid any hiccups with his own merchandise.

As reported by Billboard today, January 11, a lawsuit has been filed in Chicago federal court against “a number of online sellers for allegedly violating his intellectual property rights by selling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting Harry fans,” specifically citing that “the counterfeiters are mostly located in China, or in ‘other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement system.’”

Here’s the key context from Billboard‘s report: “Arguing that the counterfeiters use misleading tactics to make it ‘difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer,’ attorneys for Styles want a judge to issue a sweeping court order that would, among other things, force big web platforms like Amazon and Etsy (who are not named as defendants) to immediately shut down the listings.”

The next opportunity for fans to cop verified Love On Tour merch will be at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, where Styles is playing his postponed November dates on January 26, 27 and 29 before hitting Australia in February. See his full 2023 tour schedule here.

There are many reasons to love Garden of the Gods Resort, which was recently named Yelp’s #1 Hotel in the United States. The most obvious one is that you can’t find a view of the iconic Garden of the Gods park like this anywhere else. Set just above the park’s visitor center, the resort has the best possible vantage point of the red rocks and Pikes Peak in the distance.

The founders bought the property in 1949 to create a private club and resort, enamored with the view and possibility it would bring for tourism and members. After changing hands the resort is now again locally owned, and touts that what was once an exclusive club is now aimed towards continuing to be “an inclusive destination of discovery” and committed to “welcoming all who seek to restore their spirits and satisfy their souls”.

With the addition of the state of the art STRATA Med Spa and Fit, the resort is, to me, equal parts luxury, outdoor basecamp, and wellness getaway – all with great food and drinks.

Here are the details:

WHY IT’S AWESOME:

You’ll notice I mention the view about 450 times in this piece. Sorry, I just can’t get over it. After spending part of my childhood living in Colorado Springs and now visiting frequently as a traveler and Colorado resident for the past decade – the view from the resort is still unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Even without the amazing food, high ceilings in the luxurious club rooms, amazing service, wellness classes, spa, and infinity pool – the view on its own would be worth a visit.

Luckily, if you’re not as visually motivated as I am – there is so much more than just what meets the eye here. Despite its location in the middle of one of Colorado’s consistently fastest-growing cities, it feels like you’re in a secluded wellness retreat.

Its STRATA Med, Fit, and Spa really set the resort apart. While not all-inclusive, there is an abundance of wellness options you can choose to schedule during your visit. From concierge medicine to spa treatments (where I had one of the best massages of my life) to daily fitness classes and personal training – the resort caters to all wellness needs.

IN-HOUSE FOOD AND DRINK:

For a resort that feels intimate, there are a surprising number of food and drink options. From the more upscale Grand View Dining Room (currently under renovations), to the slightly more laid-back Rocks Dining Room and Rocks Lounge and Patio, Kissing Camels Grille and Bar and Beach and Cable Barista – you have lots of choice without ever leaving the property.

I especially enjoyed the large room service menu that can also be delivered to the infinity pool. During my dinner at Rocks Lounge, there was live music, low lighting, and truly exceptional service. I can’t wait to return.

AMENITIES:

• All rooms with private balcony or patio
• In-room fireplaces
• Fitness center with daily fitness classes
• In-room wine on tap
• STRATA Med Spa Fit center
• M & M Tennis Facility
• Recreation center
• Three swimming pools
• 27-hole golf course
• Kids Club
• Spa and salon

ROOM TYPES:

Something I loved about Garden of the Gods Resort was that every club room and suite in the lodge portion has either a balcony or a private patio facing the Garden of the Gods and Rocky Mountains. If you have a larger party or want more privacy – you’re covered. The resort also has plenty of residential-style cottages and private casitas with one, two, and three-bedroom options.

Explore room types here.

BEST THING TO DO WITHIN A 15-MINUTE WALK:

Garden of the Gods visitor center and park is just below the resort – and it is well worth a visit. The National Natural Landmark is a public park that is free to the public and absolutely awe-inspiring. The rock formations are otherworldly and the views are epic. There are 21 miles of trails within the park, as well as opportunities for technical climbing (with a guide), horseback riding, and biking. You can even take a Segway tour around the park. It is legendary in Colorado Springs and outside of it – consistently one of the top attractions in the country.

BEST THING TO DO WITHIN A $20 CAB RIDE:

Garden of the Gods Resort is located in Colorado Springs but is just a couple miles from one of my favorite vibey mountain towns: Manitou Springs. Known throughout history for its healing mineral springs, it is one of my favorite places to spend a day. The downtown area is super walkable, eclectic, and unique. And just up the road, you can grab a ride on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway – the world’s highest cog railway that climbs up the iconic Pikes Peak. Once you’re at the top you gotta stop for the famous Pikes Peak high-altitude donuts made at the Summit House before walking around and understanding why this mountain inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write the song “America the Beautiful.”

BED GAME:

This is a luxury resort, so I expected a comfy bed – and I was not disappointed. The club room I was in had a large bed with luxurious linens I had to pull myself out of. But the best part is that if you want to stay in it you have a million-dollar view right from there.

Rating: 9/10

SEXINESS RATING:

While the room, spa, and wellness areas are all sleek and would garner a 10 rating in sexiness, the common areas in the lobby are definitely family-friendly and lean somewhat more refined than sexy.

I’ll have to come back in the summer season – when the infinity pool switches back to adult only – to see if a score change is warranted.

Rating: 8/10

THE VIEWS AND PHOTO SPOTS:

Garden of the Gods wasn’t named TripAdvisor’s #2 attraction in the country (and #9 in the entire world) in 2022 for nothing – it’s remarkable. And you have a view from nearly everywhere on the property at Garden of the Gods Resort. From the infinity pool to the private balconies or patios in every club room or suite to the windows in the bar and the reflection pool that dates back to 1951 – the options are nearly endless.

I recommend waking up for sunrise at the infinity pool – it may be cold but the warm light hitting the red rocks is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

BEST SEASON TO VISIT:

I have only visited the resort in the winter – which was magical – but I’ve visited Garden of the Gods park in all seasons. There truly isn’t a bad time to go. The warmer months will bring more crowds, but also more activities on the resort and off, while the winter months are peaceful and slower. It’s also a treat to wake up to snow-covered red rocks in the distance.

IF I HAD TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ONE THING:

When I visited in December only one of the three pools was open for the season – the heated outdoor dreamy infinity pool with views of the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. While this normally wouldn’t be a problem, it’s an adults-only pool when the others are open seasonally, and during the winter transitions to all ages. I would love to visit and be able to relax in an adult-only environment anytime.

BOOK HERE:

Rates start at just over $220 per night for a basic queen room, with specials for Colorado residents.

INSTAGRAM IMAGES TAKEN AT GARDEN OF THE GODS RESORT:

If even some of the many allegations against him are true, then George Santos would still be one of the most prolific liars of the modern age. The newly appointed New York representative has been accused of so many fibs it’s hard to keep track. Was his mom killed in the September 11 attacks? Nope. Was he one of the first people to contract COVID-19? Nuh-uh. Is George Santos even his real name? The jury’s out on that one. Now he’s even been called out for allegedly lying about his college years, which probably didn’t happen either.

As per Insider, the Nassau County Republican Party, which includes Santos’ district, held a press conference in which they had big news: They were formally calling upon him to resign over lying about, well, everything during his congressional run. One member, Joseph Cairo, singled out one fib for being particularly strange.

“He told me … that he was a star on the Baruch volleyball team and that they won the league championship,” Cairo said to chuckles. “What can I tell ya?”

Where did Santos say he was a volleyball star? He used to claim he attended Baruch College and New York University. It turns out he went to neither, as he later admitted. “I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he said following a shocking exposé by The New York Times.

If you’re willing to lie about 9/11, you’re probably fine making stuff up about your athletic prowess, too. After his own party in his own district called on him to resign, Santos announced that he wouldn’t be taking their advice. But perhaps he’s not being honest about that either.

(Via Insider)

If you’re asking team Uproxx, The Menu is easily the best film of 2022. And now that it’s hit HBO Max, it’s feeding us all over again with some of the best discourse we’ve had in some time, as people dissect its themes and that famous final course. But what is it about The Menu that resonates so strongly?

For starters, the movie has a lot of things going for it — the way it combines comedy and genuine horror, the perfect cast that absolutely nails their parts both big and small (seriously, how great is every f*cking player in this movie?), and of course, the way it weaves the pleasure and displeasure of servicing people throughout its entire narrative. It gives us a lot to unpack and ruminate on. Dare I even say, marinate over. But my favorite thing about the film is the way it offers a little something for everyone, whether you want to talk about food, class, society, love, sex, passion, or all of those things at the same time.

That’s truly The Menu‘s power. It’s multifaceted and smart. And it manages both without making you, the viewer, feel dumb.

For instance, you don’t really have to know sh*t about fine dining to understand the world the script builds. In fact, as critical of fine dining and the sort of people who can afford to consume it as The Menu might seem (I’d also argue that Tyler’s cobbled-together dish is a send up of “do-it-yourself” services like Hello Fresh) it’s actually also a celebration of what makes our modern food scene so vibrant and fascinating. The skewering is not the food or even fancy food, in general — it’s about the characters assembled at this particular dinner.

As for that food (and there’s some excellent food porn in the movie), The Menu achieves haute cuisine authenticity by looking towards and borrowing inspiration from the actual giants of our contemporary food scene, as well as some great production design from Ethan Tobman and culinary consultation from Dominique Crenn, the chef behind San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn which is set to reopen its doors in 2023. In fact, let’s take some time to shout out Crenn whose insight is part of the reason Ralph Fiennes’ Julian Slowik is such a believable character. Crenn also is known for creating menus in the form of poems, so there is a bit of the chef in the DNA of Slowik himself.

You don’t need to know who Chefs René Redzepi, Massimo Bottura, or Ferran Adrià are to enjoy The Menu, but seeing the way these large culinary personalities inform the character of Julian Slowik, his island restaurant Hawthorne, and the very dishes served on the titular menu is that extra little ingredient in the film that makes it so damn fun to watch. So we’re shouting out all the references to real-life chefs that we caught on to over the course of the film and where you can experience their food right now. Let’s eat!*

*Thomas Keller’s French Laundry isn’t on this list because we stuck to super-overt references (the movie doesn’t hide its nods and winks) but Keller’s food, approach, and the way he reinvigorated the American fine dining scene in the late 90s and into the 2000s certainly looms heavily over the film.

MEET THE CHEFS:

René Redzepi — NOMA

NOMA is a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Copenhagen run by chef René Redzepi and is known for its highly creative dishes and routinely recognized as the “best restaurant in the world,” by culinary obsessives, critics, and chefs.

The menu at NOMA (which at one time included something called reindeer brain custard with bee pollen) put an emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients, wild-caught fish, and foraged plants.

The most NOMA-inspired dish in the movie? Definitely that first course of freshly harvested scallops, plants, flowers, and slightly frozen seawater. That dish is so ridiculous it’s almost unbelievable, but because NOMA exists we can actually say “cool bro, but we’ve seen crazier stuff!”

Where You Can Find Their Food Today:

Just this week Chef Redzepi announced that NOMA would be closing its doors in 2024 and reopening as a giant test kitchen food lab called NOMA 3.0 in the future. The reason for NOMA’s shutdown? According to Redzepi, the sort of fine dining popularized by NOMA is “unsustainable,” both “financially and emotionally.”

Many on Twitter theorized that it was because he saw a certain movie.

Massimo Bottura — Osteria Francescana

Another three-Michelin-star restaurant, Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana is located in Modena, Italy, and is largely recognized as one of the best restaurants for Italian cuisine with a menu that makes deep reference to history, art, and philosophy. You know, like high end food menus are wont to do.

A lot of Bottura’s spirit bubbles through The Menu and the restaurant is known for its highly exclusive dining room that contains just 12 tables. One of the chef’s most famous dishes, “Oops, I Dropped The Lemon Tart,” a dessert served upside down and smashed, is a commentary on our obsession with achieving perfection, something chef Slowik directly talks about in the movie and may be best exemplified by the broken emulsion he serves Janet McTeer’s pretentious food critic Lillian. (The idea of a single dish that put a chef on the map feels like a nod to multiple chefs but Bottura is definitely one of them.)

Where You Can Find Their Food Today:

Osteria Francescana has future booking dates open for August through December of 2023 on the restaurant’s website.

Ferran Adrià — elBulli

Chef Ferran Adrià’s elBulli was a three-Michelin star restaurant known for its highly creative menu of molecular gastronomy and was named the best restaurant in the world fives times by Restaurant Magazine.

A documentary about the restaurant called El Bulli: Cooking In Progress, gave the world its first glimpse into how much creativity and attention to detail goes into the sort of service that Slowik’s Hawthorne is riffing on.

There isn’t a dish directly inspired by elBulli’s menu in the movie but much of Chef Slowik and his crew’s attention to detail comes directly from the Cooking In Progress documentary, especially Hawthorne’s backlit spice rack (seen in passing through the movie), which is a direct homage to elBulli’s famous backlit shelf. Also, the whole “everyone on staff living together for the season” is very Noma/ elBulli.

Where Can You Find Their Food Today?

elBulli closed its doors in 2011 but Adrià newest venture, elBulli 1846 is set to open its doors in the summer of 2023 near where the original restaurant stood overlooking the Costa Brava cove in Cala Montjoi.

Adrià has kept busy since closing elBulli, mostly with the elBullifoundation as well as Tickets, a restaurant in Barcelona headed by his brother Albert Adrià which just recently closed.

Grant Achatz — Alinea

Grant Achatz’s Alinea is a three-Michelin star restaurant located in Chicago, the only restaurant in the city to be awarded this accolade. The restaurant is known for Achatz’s intense use of molecular gastronomy and is the reason why everyone in the hit show The Bear, no matter their position, calls each other ‘chef,’ as a sign of mutual respect in the kitchen.

That practice was popularized by Alinea. The dish most inspired by Achatz in The Menu is the final course, a Jackson Pollock-esque take on s’mores that was directly lifted from Alinea’s own final course but blown up (literally and figuratively) for the movie’s sake. According to an LA Times piece, production designer Tobman painstakingly tasked himself with figuring out how to translate this tabletop painting of a dish to a 30-by-60-foot space.

It was worth it, that overhead shot of the s’mores dish is one of the movie’s greatest single frames.

Where Can You Find Their Food Today?

Alinea is open for booking at the restaurant’s website.

Hugh Acheson — Empire State South

Although the build isn’t quite the same, (SPOILERS) the well-made cheeseburger at the film’s climax feels like a direct reference to Chef Hugh Acheson’s off-menu double cheeseburger from Georgia’s Empire State South.

The burger is made from local beef served on a Japanese milk bun and topped with local cheddar, housemate pickles, and a burger sauce. It’s simply, a well-made cheeseburger but it’s definitely one that is stuck in Uproxx food writer Zach Johnston’s memory. He calls it one of his favorite burgers in the country and we’re inclined to believe Zach because he knows his sh*t.

Where Can You Find Their Food Today?

Acheson is the chef/owner of Five & Ten, The National, and Empire State South, all of which are still open.

Magnus Nilsson — Fäviken

Chef Magnus Nilsson’s Fäviken, located in Sweden, was known for its Nordic cuisine-influenced menu and the chef’s heavy involvement in the sourcing of ingredients. Chef Nilsson was known to catch the fish served on the menu himself (like the first scene on the island!) and would build out an ever-shifting prix fixe menu of multiple double-digit courses, using preserved vegetables harvested by Nilsson himself and stored from up to eight months in the restaurant’s famed root cellar.

The meat smokehouse from The Menu, built in the “Nordic tradition” is a reference to Nilsson’s famed cellar.

Where Can You Find Their Food Today?

Chef Magnus Nilsson closed Fäviken’s doors in 2019 citing burnout as the primary reason. Are you sensing a trend here?

Today Nilsson is running an apple orchard in Sweden which sounds like a way more chill way to spend your days than foraging and fishing for your menu. We’re willing to bet those apples are good.

Roy Choi — Koji

While not explicitly “fine-dining” longtime FOU (friend of Uproxx) and star chef Roy Choi’s Kogi truck is a renowned fixture in food conversations. Choi is never directly referenced in the movie but in a deleted scene McTeer’s Lillian shares a story of a Korean taco truck serving “the platonic ideal of a Korean taco,” (whatever the f*ck that means) manned by Julian Slowik.

This taco leads to the interview that puts Slowik “on the map.”

Where Can You Find Their Food Today?

Roy Choi is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef of Kogi BBQ, Chego!, Best Friend, and LocoL. All of which are still open.

Blaine Wetzel — Willow’s Inn

As much as we’d like to only highlight the positive influences, The Menu is a dark film, so we need to mention some of the darker source material as well. A lot of director Mark Mylod’s inspiration for The Menu seems to have come from Blaine Wetzel’s notorious Willows Inn, a restaurant that was profiled by the New York Times last year over its “genius chef” and the restaurant’s toxic work environment.

The restaurant was located on the island of Lummi, part of the San Juan archipelago of Washington state (clearly where the movie takes place), 100 miles to the north of Seattle, and is only reachable by ferry. The island enjoys forests, farms, and fisheries and attracted food obsessives far and wide to come for multi-course dinners that made use of (or claimed to) the island’s many resources, from freshly foraged flowers to salmon pulled straight out of the surrounding waters, which are viewable from the dining room.

Starting to sound familiar?

It’s Hawthorne to a tee, and the many allegations of verbal abuse and sexual harassment of the female employees and residents of the island by male kitchen staff members as well as allegations of physical and verbal abuse and a generally toxic environment created by Chef Wetzel, all bring The Menu’s dish “Man’s Folly” to mind. Chef Wetzel has since denied the allegations but we’d like to note that the Times spoke to 35 former employees and the restaurant subsequently suffered a mass exodus of chefs after the story went live.

Despite the allegations, people kept flocking to Willow’s Inn even after the New York Times story dropped.

Where You Can Find Their Food Today

The Willows Inn is currently closed and considering the property is now owned by Lighthouse Mission Ministries, a nonprofit whose mission is to end homelessness, it doesn’t look like it will ever return. As for Chef Wetzel, it doesn’t look like he’s currently cooking anywhere right now but his wife, Chef Daniela Soto-Innes is set to open a new restaurant called Rubra in Nayarit Mexico in the spring of this year.

Soto-Innes joined Wetzel at Willows Inn following the fallout from the New York Times story bringing along some of her staff with her, so her touch was part of the Willow’s Inn’s final months. According to Bon Appétit, Wetzel will not be involved in Soto-Inne’s newest project.

Natasha Lyonne is one of our most eccentric screen stars. She’s also one of our most eccentric interviews. Like her characters on Russian Doll and the forthcoming detective show Poker Face, the actress-filmmaker thinks and talks a mile a minute. That produces some, shall we say, very original thoughts, ones that only she could produce. Such as one in a new Rolling Stone profile about brains, you know, just chilling together while lifeless bodies smoke in bed.

The Orange is the New Black alum spoke with the publication’s Alan Sepinwall about her new series, in which she plays Charlie Cale, a cardsharp-turned-cocktail-waitress-turned-amateur sleuth whose superpower is she can always tell when people are lying. It teams her with a new king of the mystery format: Rian Johnson, who started Poker Face while he was doing post-production on Glass Onion. She met Johnson through his wife, You Must Remember This podcaster Karina Longworth — two very brainy people who know how to get stuff done. Talking about them prompted her to go off on quite the tangent.

“I think I have some sort of smart-people boner disease, just to seem as smart as I can in this moment,” Lyonne said. “I am very hot for very smart people. They really do it for me. I don’t want to possess their bodies. I want to possess their brains. I want to put their brains in a jar in a room. I want to take my brain out of my body, put it in its own jar. And then I want to sit in my bed like Ray Liotta in Hannibal, sit there with my skull just open, watching the brains play together and hang out while my brainless self sits in bed smoking cigarettes. That’s my fantasy, you see.”

It’s quite the image! Brains monkeying around together, Lyonne doing her best scalpless Liotta, a cigarette dangling from her mouth. There’s a good chance no one else has said anything remotely like these exact words.

Lyonne also talked about how her busy schedule leaves little free time. But she’s cool with working “to the bone,” as she puts it. “No life, no kids. It’s just me and Rootbeer,” she said, referring to her dog, a little Maltipoo.

Poker Face brings back the bygone mystery-of-the-week format of ‘70s shows like Columbo, McMillan & Wife, and Lanigan’s Rabbi. It’s not as self-contained as it was back in the day; apart from acquiring a Basset Hound early on in the series, then tending to him every now and then, Peter Falk’s Lt. Frank Columbo had no character arc, and each episode is its own discrete entity. This one has both a continuing story and a new murder every week.

Poker Face premieres on Peacock on January 23, and if it’s anything like this Rolling Stone interview, it’s going to be a corker.

(Via Rolling Stone)

This year’s Golden Globes turned out to be a genuinely enjoyable production. We received a plentiful amount of Jennifer Coolidge. Jerrod Carmichael told some savage jokes that hit well. And the world has remembered the charming nature of Colin Ferrell. Yes, he was also recognized for his performance in Banshees Of Inisheren, but he endeared everyone and also delivered an update on an ailing former co-star.

In that light, one of this week’s Hollywood Reporter roundtables is worth revisiting, and it’s also got some lovely words from both Brendan Fraser and Adam Sandler, both of whom were not at the ceremony (and Fraser had a very good reason). While speaking with Hollywood Reporter, here’s what they each said about their favorite career advice that they ever received:

FARRELL Before I did my first American film, Pierce Brosnan got me in a bear hug, picked me up and said, “Keep being bold.” I don’t know that he knew that I was bold, but it was a lovely thing to hear.

SANDLER A lot of the guys I’ve worked with over the years, older actors and actresses, like to say before we move on from a setup, “Let’s go one more and see what happens. We’re here, it’s set up, let’s go one more.” Sometimes you land on something you weren’t expecting.

FRASER Ian McKellen [Fraser’s co-star in Gods and Monsters] said, “Approach each role as if it’s the first and the last time you will act,” and that’s stayed with me.

Even though I am mildly disappointed that the best advice for both Sandler and Fraser didn’t come from each other while working on Airheads, this will do. I think I most enjoy the advice that Sandler received, but Farrell is (as the kids say) having an (arguably overdue) moment. Let him run with it.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)