The Cheesecake Factory Drama, Explained

Welcome to Open Tab, a weekly column covering the news, gossip, and stories that have stayed open in my tabs all week. Last time we covered Italy’s looming food shortage.Well, it’s over. Last Ditch, the bar in Greenfield Massachusetts that became the center of a tornado of scrutiny, ridicule, discourse, and, erm, media coverage a few weeks ago is now closed as it searches for new co-owners, or to sell the bar to new owners. If your memory needs a refresh, the tl;dr is that the bar relaxed its COVID-conscious mask restrictions, and it tore the local community apart.The Boston Globe covered the drama, and the story quickly went viral. But despite—or perhaps because of—its newfound infamy, the bar couldn’t attract enough clientele to stay open. Could new owners resurrect the beleaguered business?Also in the discourse this week: Washington D.C. residents will be voting on a foie gras ban which has prominent chefs coming out as firmly pro-foie, despite public backlash. José Andrés argues that the American food system also mistreats many other animals—and that we have bigger issues, like child hunger, to address.Also in today’s Open Tab: why The Cheesecake Factory has made headlines this week, how salmon could decide Alaska’s midterm elections, a delivery platform acquisition for the ages, and a look inside LA’s buzzy Skywalker Grill.“Now why am I in it?” The Cheesecake Factory, probablyThis week the Cheesecake Factory’s name was splashed across headlines in a handful of national magazines and newspapers—a feat that hasn’t happened since…ever? It’s hard to say.This story starts last weekend, when former president Barack Obama made a joke at a campaign rally in Ohio. “[President Trump’s] got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere,” he said.Trump himself responded on Monday. “For you to say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president,” he told reporters. The White House X account followed up with some AI-generated trolling.Rick McCormack, the chain’s former vice president of design, also weighed in. “I think it’s a little bit sad that the pettiness of politics would create that sound bite, knowing all our challenges going on in the country today,” he said.Is the Cheesecake Factory designed to look like it was done by an Egypt-obsessed kid with an unrestricted budget and a lot of ambition? Yes. But that’s part of its charm. You need a maximalist setting to match a maximalist menu, a maximalist experience. As I see it, The Cheesecake Factory is designed as it is so that ordering an “all day morning cocktail” (?), or a slice of “Brownie Crunch Choc-o-Lot Cheesecake” suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy. The Cheesecake Factory, as we were reminded again and again this week, is an American institution. So, unfortunately, is a quips-based, sound-byte-heavy political system.And don’t feel too bad about the beleaguered corporate chain, which operates 200-plus locations. The C-suite is laughing their way to the bank: Stock analysts were quick to point out it is among the highest performing stocks on the market.Something’s fishy in Alaska’s midtermsA few weeks ago a friend who grew up in Alaska told me nonchalantly that the state’s upcoming primary would be decided by salmon. “It’s the only thing that matters,” he said.. According to a recent feature in the New Yorker, it looks like he was right.For many Alaskans fishing is both a job and a way to nourish their family. The democratic candidate, Mary Peltola, even settled on the slogan ““Fish, Family, Freedom.” But in recent years, runs of king salmon and chum salmon have collapsed, and don’t seem to be recovering. Experts point to climate change, but activists point to the practice of trawling—a method of fishing that includes pulling an enormous net behind the boat— for pollack which also catches millions of salmon which get killed and discarded by fishermen.“This is an ecological crisis, a cultural trauma, an economic emergency and a public-health disaster,” reads one op-ed in an Alaskan paper.DoorDash acquires InstacartToday in sentences that a Victorian tween wouldn’t understand a single word of: Delivery platform DoorDash, most recently in the news for its new fleet of drones, will buy Instacart for $17 billion.It’s hard to overstate just how enormous this deal will be. Instacart is among America’s dominant platforms for grocery delivery, and DoorDash corners the market on the country's restaurant delivery apparatus.The size of the acquisition would, under most administrations, attract FTC scrutiny. This is a pretty big consolidation in the field, after all. But the Trump administration has been particularly permissive of giant companies coming together to maximize their joint slay. In this case “joint slay” means market share and monopoly.LA’s Skywalker Grill cost sits atop a billion-dollar buildingMuseums must have a buzzy restaurant attached these days, and Los Angeles’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is no different. That’s where you’ll find Skywalker Grill, which, despite its monied environs, features a menu that’s surprisingly approachable. As Bon Appétit contributor Khushbu Shah tells us, it’s quickly become one of the city’s hottest tables. She takes us inside the restaurant to break down its surprisingly accessible menu.