Latest news with #Ezekiel
Axios
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Megadrama hits Texas Senate race
Sen. John Cornyn will have to keep praying for a President Trump endorsement in the GOP Senate primary in Texas, but today he got some direct intervention from a different source: his opponent's wife of 38 years. Why it matters: The very public announcement from Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton that she would file for divorce from Texas AG Ken Paxton on "biblical grounds" might not save Cornyn, but it finally gives him an opening in a race that was slipping away. 📺 Before the divorce news, Trump was acting as a spectator-in-chief and not an endorser-in-chief. In a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Thune (R-S.D.) on Wednesday night, Trump officials said they wanted to see if Cornyn could close his massive polling gap before the president puts his thumb on the scale, as Punchbowl News first reported. Both Cornyn and Paxton camps think a Trump endorsement could make or break their chances — but Cornyn needs it most right now. ✈️ News: Cornyn will fly with Trump on Air Force One to Texas on Friday, according to a Cornyn aide, as the president visits where flooding took the lives of more than 120 people. Zoom in: The GOP establishment quickly pounced on the divorce bombshell. "What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. Another NRSC staffer reposted an old photo of John Cornyn and his wife, Sandy, celebrating an anniversary. SLF executive director Alex Latcham posted"Ezekiel 16:33," a Bible verse referencing gifts to prostitutes. Zoom out: The nasty primary has been giving Republicans heartburn for months. Paxton has been above 50% in some private polls. He survived an impeachment hearing in 2023, when Angela Paxton first heard the accusation that he had a mistress.
Axios
17-06-2025
- Business
- Axios
Birdie's Arjav Ezekiel takes home James Beard
Birdie's co-owner and wine pro Arjav Ezekiel beat out talent from across the country to take home a prestigious James Beard Award on Monday. Why it matters: The Beards are like the Oscars for the American hospitality industry, and win can be a huge boost in business for restaurants. Driving the news: Ezekiel won in the new Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service category. It's one of three new categories focused on beverages at the James Beard Awards. What they're saying:"It feels like a big win for our city," Ezekiel told Axios at the ceremony in Chicago. "I think people assume Austin is a cocktail city, but we're very fast becoming a wine city." Between the lines: Birdie's continues to be a standout in Austin's culinary scene, and Ezekiel was Austin's only finalist at this year's awards. The restaurant's chef and co-owner, Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, was a finalist in the Best Texas Chef category last year. Zoom out: Houston's Belly of the Beast chef Thomas Bille nabbed the title of Best Chef in Texas, beating out four other finalists in the regional category.
Eater
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Here Is Austin, Texas's 2025 James Beard Award Winner
The James Beard Foundation Awards were held tonight, June 16, and Austin, Texas walked away with one big winner. Arjav Ezekiel, beverage director and co-owner of Birdie's in East Austin, won the Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service award. Ezekiel was born in New Delhi, India, and moved with his family to Portland, Oregon when he was 12 years old, where he gained foundational hospitality knowledge from his father, who worked in hotels. After stints working at restaurants in Washington, D.C., and New York, he eventually relocated to Austin and opened Birdie's with his wife and business partner Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, who serves as Birdie's chef and co-owner. The wine program at Birdie's has been recognized in national food publications, including on Eater Austin, when Birdie's won an Eater Award for Best New Neighborhood Wine Bar in 2021. In January 2025, the James Beard Foundation recognized six Austin chefs and restaurants on its semifinalists list, while San Antonio earned seven nods, largely in the Best Chef: Texas category. On April 2, the foundation revealed its finalists: In the Best Chef: Texas category, Emil Oliva of San Antonio's Leche de Tigre and Michael Anthony Serva of Marfa, Texas's Bordo each received nods; the award ended up going to Thomas Bille of Belly of the Beast in Spring, Texas. Other finalists included Mixtli in San Antonio in the Outstanding Hospitality category; Atomix, a restaurant in New York City, took home that honor. The James Beard Awards, often considered 'the Oscars of food,' are among the most prestigious awards in the food and hospitality industry. Each year, the James Beard Foundation restaurants, bars, and hospitality professionals in categories like Outstanding Restaurant, Best Chef, and Best New Chef. This year's awards added three brand-new categories: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service. The first James Beard Awards ceremony was held in 1991, when chefs like Rick Bayless, Nancy Silverton, and Wolfgang Puck walked away as winners. In recent years, the foundation has been under increased scrutiny after canceling its programming in 2020 and 2021 due to misbehavior and abuse allegations against nominated chefs, and a lack of nominated and winning Black chefs among the categories. In response, the James Beard Foundation conducted an internal audit to make its voting processes more inclusive and equitable before returning in 2022. The awards have also shifted the Best Chef category to a regional model to better recognize the diversity and depth of talent. Here are the 2025 James Beard Foundation awards winners for Austin:Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service: Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie's in Austin Get the full list of James Beard Award winners from across the country on Eater. Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Awards. Eater is partnering with the James Beard Foundation to livestream the awards in 2025. All editorial content is produced independently of the James Beard Foundation. See More:
Axios
15-06-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: Zorro clinches $20M Series A for ICHRA health plans
Health benefits provider Zorro raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Entrée Capital, CEO Guy Ezekiel tells Axios exclusively. Why it matters: As employers wrestle with rising health plan costs, individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (ICHRAs) are gaining steam. Driving the news: Launched in 2020, ICHRAs were enabled by a Trump-era rule letting employers reimburse employees tax-free for individual health insurance instead of offering group plans. After a slow start, rule clarifications and compliance tools made them more accessible to midsized employers. Follow the money: Existing backers Pitango and 10D joined the round, which will be used to scale operations and improve support for employers. The Series A brings Zorro to $31.5 million total raised. The company is not yet profitable. How it works: New York City-based Zorro replaces traditional group plans with defined-contribution models. Employers set a budget; employees use Zorro's AI engine to select personalized plans, and brokers get real-time tools to compare group plans versus ICHRA-based options. When it onboards an employer, Zorro asks them to send their benefits roster from the previous year, asks about quality and budget priorities for the upcoming year, and helps predict what benefits employees might want next. Zorro has "several thousand" lives on the platform, per Ezekiel. Between the lines: Zorro's pitch hinges not just on cost control but on its ability to shift complex decision-making from HR to software — claiming that 75% of users enroll without human help. What they're saying: "We're giving the employer a line of sight to how his upcoming year is going to look," says Ezekiel. Reality check: While ICHRAs are gaining traction, they remain a small fraction of the employer market. Zorro's long-term success depends on widespread broker adoption and employee trust in AI-led benefit decisions. State of play: A February Bailey's report predicted the debut of several new ICHRA startups in 2025. Several others have secured recent funding. In April, Thatch raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Index Ventures and Venteur Health Insurance raised a $20 million Series A led by Informed Ventures and American Family Ventures. Remodel Health last December collected more than $100 million in a round led by Oak HC/FT and Hercules Capital.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Aldi Shoppers Say These "Dupes" Are Way, Wayyy Better Than The Originals (And Now I Want To Try Them All)
If there's one grocery chain that can pry shoppers away from their die-hard name brands, it's Aldi. Between the weekly specials and the quietly brilliant knockoffs, you never know which look-alike product will end up replacing the 'real' thing in your pantry. That's exactly what Redditor Sleepy_Gary_Busey wanted to explore when they asked r/aldi, 'Which Aldi copies do you actually prefer over the name brand?' The thread filled up fast with a few staples that Aldi fans insist are better than the originals. I sifted through the replies and pulled the 22 most-loved picks so you can decide which swaps are worth making on your next Aldi run. 1."Cheddar Turtle Crackers. Cheese Curls. Kettle Chips. Evolution ONLY bars. Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits. Organic Ketchup (flavor reminds me of Annie's, which I prefer, but that one is hard to find and certainly not $1.99)." —RedSpaceMagic 2."The Cinnamon Crunch Squares cereal is definitely one of them. I can damn near eat a whole box in one sitting. Which is why I haven't purchased any in a while." —emptyfebrezebottles 3."The aged sharp white cheddar. Knocks the socks off anything else I've tried, and I'm a womb-to-tomb Wisconsinite. I have tried a LOT of cheese." —svapplause 4."Knock Your Sprouts Off sprouted-grain bread over Ezekiel, Silver Hills, or other expensive brands that cost $8 a loaf and $10+ at Whole Foods/Sprouts/co-ops." —OrganicBn 5."Aldi Pop-Tarts have way more frosting than name-brand Pop-Tarts." —Otherwise_Rip_7337 6."I like their butter more than Challenge, which is what I usually get. I am sure there are better butters, but just as a regular ol' butter for cooking, it's the best I've had. And I'm a Southern cook, so I use a lot of it." —ItsPumpkinSpiceTime 7."The Moser Roth dark chocolate with sea salt and caramel. I will stop in just for these. I like how each big bar is divided into five individually wrapped pieces." —Commercial_Fun9634 8."Klancy Kettle Salt and Vinegar Chips. They're not as aggressively salty and vinegary as Kettle or Great Lakes, so I can eat way more before my mouth gets raw." —buffalocoinz 9."The Stackerz are better than Pringles. The fancy entertainment crackers that come in a variety pack. My toddler loves the tiny cheese sandwich crackers over the Ritz brand, and I can't eat them because I'll eat the whole box." —gurlsplaygames 10."The breakfast bars (a dupe of Nutrigrain bars). The texture is much better, and they hold together better, so there's less mess. Nutrigrain bars are too crumbly." —FloweredViolin 11."The Fiber Now Bars are a knockoff of Fiber One Bars and are better than the name brand. They have a cinnamon coffee cake flavor, chocolate fudge, and lemon. The lemon is so good and the best one to me." —Relative-Abrocoma812 12."Their Prosecco and Moscato are absolutely delicious! They also make yummy mimosas and a delicious peach bellini." —Loud_Yogurtcloset789 13."I love the hummus! Especially the roasted red pepper flavor. Sometimes a brand name will go on sale at Meijer, so I'll give it a try, but it's never comparable. Brand names are thicker/chunkier, and the flavor is never as nice. Aldi hummus all the way!" —uniquelynameduser123 14."The Hot & Spicy Pork Rinds are half the price of name-brand options and have way better crunch and flavor. Plus, they're a great alternative to chips for anyone looking to lower their carb intake. The Girl Scout cookie knockoffs are just as good, if not better than the real thing, and cost less than half the price." —Mr_Evil_Guy 15."The Never Any! Bacon is my favorite over any other brand because of ingredients, price, quality, and flavor. My husband prefers Aldi Doritos over name-brand Doritos because the chips are better. And then always red bag chicken nuggets over other brands." —illbeyourgoodgirl_ 16."Their original unsweetened almond milk is better than every other brand I've tried. It has a mild flavor, way more similar to actual milk, and works well in recipes. I use it a lot, but in my coffee, I've noticed other brands get WAAAY too foamy if you do any blending with them — Aldi's doesn't. It's also the only almond milk that works well with cereal." —Atrinoisa 17."The homestyle canned biscuits are excellent, and my family prefers them over Pillsbury now." —durden226circa1988 18."The bag of peanut butter cups is my favorite! They are especially amazing with the warm, melty peanut butter in the summer." —Spacey_fangirl 19."The plain Greek yogurt! Half the price of the name brands, usually $2–$3 cheaper than the other store brands near me, and just as good." —mangus42 20."They recently redid their fruit snacks in the big blue box. Fruit snacks are one of my guilty pleasures. These new ones are firmer and have a much better flavor than the old ones. The Specially Selected marinara sauce is bomb. Especially Selected sharp white cheddar block. Their cottage cheese is the only one I will eat. Something about it; I don't know if it's creamier or saltier or what, but it's the best." —mouseSXN 21."The cheddar popcorn and the gluten-free chicken breast pieces (best gluten-free nuggets I've had, and I've tried a lot of brands). Also, the gluten-free bread is the closest to a normal bread loaf size I've seen for a gluten-free product." —Ellocina 22."We've tried so many sourdoughs, other than fresh, Aldi's sourdough has been the best store-bought." —yomaishimi Have a favorite Aldi dupe I missed? Share your take in the comments or fill out the anonymous form below! For delicious recipes that won't break the bank, download the free Tasty app to search all of our budget-friendly meals — no subscription required.
