Food news antipasto

If there is one theme for this week it’s cheese. If you believe that fromage is fabulous, you might be interested in visiting a new cheese-themed hotel suite. Brought to us by the UK chain restaurant Café Rouge, the suite will be all cheese, all the time: cheese wallpaper, artwork, bedding, and even cheese-themed games will be on display in the popup. Naturally, you’ll get plenty of cheese delivered to the room as well.

The story of The Spotted Pig, mired in a turbulent sexual harassment and assault controversy, became more settled last week due to an historic settlement. Ken Friedman is now officially out of the restaurant, although future plans for The Spotted Pig, a groundbreaking restaurant once co-owned by April Bloomfield, is unclear. In a statement, Friedman said “I’m sorry for the harm I have caused, and for being part of an environment where women were afraid to speak up. I will spend the rest of my life regretting my actions, and trying to be someone worthy of the respect and love of my family.”

Those of us in the northern reaches of the globe are bracing ourselves for the worst of winter. Short days, bonechilling temperatures, and plenty of snow mean that comfort food is on the menu. Root vegetables can play an important role in wintertime meals, but sometimes it is difficult to be inspired by them. Saveur comes to our rescue with ways to maximize flavor and character from root vegetables.

In the baking world, a decade ago fondant was king. More recently the smooth-but-flavorless cake topping has fallen out of favor, and nowhere is this more apparent than in a Reddit subgroup called /r/FondantHate. With over 112,000 members, the group shares anti-fondant memes and decries “the fad of beautiful cakes that taste awful” thanks to “the devil’s sugary Playdoh.” The backlash against fondant is part of a larger trend toward more rustic or natural-looking foods.

Photo of Linsey Lam’s raspberry-coconut chocolate cake with marbled fondant from Food Network Magazine