Latest news with #Rao's
New York Post
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
These 5 NYC restaurants have the hottest patrons, controversial new AI ranking claims — and some top spots got seriously snubbed
Hot or not? A divisive new dining ranking — more interested in who's sitting at the table than what's on the menu — is raising eyebrows in New York's image-conscious restaurant world. Created by Gen Z programmer Riley Walz, LooksMapping scores hotspots in the Big Apple — and Los Angeles and San Francisco, too — based on AI-driven evaluations of the profile photos of patrons leaving Google Reviews. Advertisement 5 Restaurants and bars have always been prime ways for single people to link up — Gen Z's just trying to make it easier. CandyRetriever – After scraping countless amounts of data, the algorithm spits out an average score that supposedly represents the physical appeal of each eatery's clientele. And the results are, in some cases, a complete slap in the face. Advertisement Take Balthazar, Keith McNally's iconic Soho brasserie, for example, long considered one of the top NYC spots to see and be seen — there, the clientele ranked a somewhat pitiful 5.4 out of 10. Adding insult to injury in many cases, the site also dishes a detailed explanation of its findings — like which way age, gender and general physical beauty lean. Further downtown, for example, it's supposedly mostly unattractive, middle-aged men and women dining at The Odeon, a Tribeca spot with a dreadful 3.1 rating that appears to no longer play host to the 'It' crowd of artists and celebrities it once did. 5 'The model is certainly biased. It's certainly flawed. But we judge places by the people who go there,' the website reads. 'This website just puts reductive numbers on the superficial calculations we make every day. A mirror held up to our collective vanity.' Looks Mapping Advertisement And way up town at ultra-exclusive East Harlem Italian restaurant, Rao's, the elite crowd was handed a woeful 3.4 — suggesting, perhaps, that even AI models get jealous over not being able to snag one of the legendary spot's highly-coveted tables. Of course, it's not all bad news — fine-dining stalwart Jean-Georges is where hot-leaning, middle-aged men and women go, according to the tool, earning the quintessential French spot a 7.1 and a light, rosy-hued marker on the map. But even that crowd can't beat local institutions like Katz's Delicatessen, which managed to snag an 8.1 rating — suggesting the customers are as beautiful as the city's best pastrami sandwiches. 5 Balthazar is a legendary spot in the NYC food scene, and despite its apparently unattractive reviewers, it still proves tough to snag a reservation. Bloomberg via Getty Images Advertisement The top ratings in town, however, were reserved for a handful of relatively obscure options — from a Midtown sushi spot to a Thai restaurant in the Financial District. The NYC restaurants with the hottest patrons, according to AI Ubani Midtown: 10/10 Shinn West: 10/10 KYU NYC: 10/10 Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen: 10/10 Top Thai 55 Carmine: 10/10 Walz first shared news of the site's launch back in March, and a steady wave of AI-haters, driven developers and delighted daters on the prowl quickly flooded the replies. 5 Rao's was among the LooksMapping's lowest-ranked of the iconic NYC restaurants. Google Maps Many have pronounced the AI model flawed — even suggesting that it has a racial bias. On this subject, Walz told the New York Times, '[the project] is making fun of AI,' and admitted that the attractiveness ranking system was 'a bit janky.' For now, Manhattan and the Bronx are the only boroughs included on LooksMapping, but Walz, a native New Yorker currently based in San Francisco, 'knew people would rightfully give [him] crap' and is planning to add the other three soon, he assured eager diners in a post on X. The release of the talked-about tool comes as younger diners are increasingly concerned with customer attractiveness. Advertisement With limited budgets and time on their hands, young and single New Yorkers want to go where they might score. 5 Admittedly, clientele can be considered a part of a restaurant's atmosphere, which, for many, is a key factor in deciding to make a reservation. bobex73 – On TikTok, a new trend has taken hold among women in their 20s that clearly demonstrates a demand for sites like LooksMapping. Advertisement Ahead of going out for the evening or as a deciding factor, these ladies are calling the restaurants and bars they're interested in going to and asking the staff whether the current crop of patrons is hot. 'As a hostess, I take my job of vibe checking very seriously and am always happy to keep the girls updated #womensupportingwomen,' wrote one understanding commenter.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I Asked Italian Chefs to Name the Best Jarred Marinara Sauce—There Was a Clear Favorite
Most Italian chefs agree that homemade marinara tastes best—but some jarred sauces come really close. Rao's Homemade Marinara was the top pick for its simple ingredient list and rich tomato flavor. In general, the chefs recommend looking for jarred sauces with no added sugar or a last name like Rotondo, I know my way around a marinara sauce. My grandmother's recipe comes together in roughly 20 minutes—about the same time it takes to boil a pot of water and cook pasta—so as a good Italian American, I should never reach for the jarred stuff, right? Ask a lot of chefs (like I did for this story) and they'll agree. "I don't know a single person in Italy that would consider buying jarred sauce," Gregorio Fierro, a Philadelphia-based pizza consultant who has had a hand in some of that city's best pies, tells me in no uncertain terms. And he has a point: When you make your own sauce, you know exactly where the ingredients came from, how much salt's been added, if you need a bit more homemade just tastes I would never even think to replace my grandmother's recipe with a jarred version, that doesn't mean I don't keep a jar or two in my pantry for weeknight pasta emergencies (everyone has those, right?) or when I need to quickly turn leftover meatballs in my freezer into sandwiches. Turns out, most of the chefs I spoke with agreed, and many even went so far as to name Rao's Homemade Marinara as one of their top choices. "Hands down, the best overall," says chef Steve Chiappetti, a James Beard Award–winning chef and the Chicago mainstay behind the Albert at the Hotel EMC2. "It keeps things simple and lets the natural sweetness and acidity of tomatoes shine. No overworked seasoning—just clean, rich tomato flavor. It's as close to homemade as it gets on a shelf." Marinara sauce is known for its simplicity—the best versions let the tomatoes truly shine. Often, the ingredient list is short: Besides tomatoes (canned or fresh can be used, but fresh ones involve a bit more prep work), expect to see extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and Italian herbs like basil and oregano. Some recipes call for onions, some like to add crushed red pepper for a slight kick. It's more of an art than a science—and it's not meant to be hard to where supermarket sauces have previously fallen short, several of the chefs I spoke with said. Often, they use preservatives or artificial flavors—or they contain too much added sugar, making the sauce too sweet. "That reputation hasn't come out of nowhere. Plenty of sauces on the market have leaned too heavily on shortcuts, using overly processed ingredients and sacrificing depth of flavor," says Domenico "Mimmo" Tolomeo, a pizzaiola who co-owns Taglio Pizza in Mineola, NY, and is the corporate chef for Orlando Foods, an Italian food importer. But that isn't to say all jarred marinara is a no-go, he adds: "When done right, a jarred sauce can offer both convenience and authenticity. It all comes down to the intention and care behind it." Many chefs recommended Rao's because the ingredient list is straightforward—just Italian whole peeled tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, garlic, basil, black pepper and oregano. "No added sugar is the top thing for me, I want the sauce to have acidity, which is what I crave from tomato-based sauces," Italian American chef Carla Contreras says. "Making my own sauce doesn't take a lot of time, but on a busy night as a parent who has worked all day, I want to get dinner on the table in less than 10 minutes. I can boil the pasta, toss in some sauce, freshly grate Parmesan on top of the pasta and serve a salad or veggies I roasted on the weekend, and dinner is done."Beyond sugar, avoid sauces that have vinegars or citric acid, and try to avoid going the cheapest route. "Treat the sauce like you're going to eat it," says Matt Harding, a former chef and Chief Concept Officer at Piada Italian Street Food. "Pick the ones with the least added sugar, free from preservatives, and for God's sake don't get the least expensive. A jar of expensive sauce is $8, which equates to around $1.50 per serving." While Rao's doesn't use San Marzano tomatoes, that can also be a clue that a jarred sauce is high-quality. Look for a DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) designation on the label, indicating that the tomatoes used in the sauce came from the protected region of Italy known for San Marzano production. "Also, the words 'imported,' 'Italian' or 'San Marzano' before 'tomatoes' on the ingredients list is always a green flag, along with these words being the very first ingredient," advises chef and sommelier Dana Beninati. While you can certainly use a jar of Rao's to sauce your pasta (spaghetti, penne and rigatoni were the top pasta shapes for marinara among chefs we spoke with), most chefs had plenty of other uses. Chiappetti uses jarred marinara as the base for shakshuka, which makes pulling off the dish in the morning particularly easy. Others mentioned using it as a tomato soup base, along with some water and cream. Whether reaching for Rao's or another brand, nearly all the chefs told us to feel free to punch up the garlic or herbs to your liking. "I treat it like a blank canvas," Chiappetti explains. "I'll warm olive oil in a pan, lightly toast some sliced garlic, add chili flakes and let fresh basil infuse into the oil. Then I stir in the jarred marinara and season to taste. It's a fast way to create a deeply flavored sauce that feels totally your own." While I certainly wouldn't suggest always forgoing homemade sauce (I'll never stop making my grandmother's recipe), if you're in a pinch, take a suggestion from the chefs we interviewed and try Rao's Homemade Marinara. Chefs like this jarred sauce for its simple ingredient list, no added sugar and rich tomato flavor. You can easily jazz up the sauce by warming it with garlic and olive oil to give it a deeper flavor. It's the perfect solution on a busy weeknight. Read the original article on EATINGWELL
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Leonardo DiCaprio gets cozy with NYC's power crowd while dining at city's most exclusive restaurant
Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted breaking bread with political insiders and entertainment moguls in New York on Thursday. The actor, 50, dined at Rao's the legendary, ten-table East Harlem Italian joint where landing a seat is tougher than scoring an Oscar. According to Page Six, the A-lister sat down with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and entrepreneur Andrew Murstein, who hosted the gathering. DiCaprio's Wolf of Wall Street co-star Bo Dietl, ABC Radio's Sid Rosenberg, host of Sid and Friends in the Morning on 77WABC, New York's top-rated morning news talk show the actor's father George DiCaprio and his stepmother rounded out the party. 'Leo was extremely friendly and took a dozen photos with fans, and at least five video chats on FaceTime' with enthusiastic diners' friends and family members,' an Insider told Page Six. While the Titanic star drew plenty of attention, it was Blakeman who showed up with the muscle. 'A lot of security was there, but not for Leo. There were five security detail people for Blakeman,' the source added. During the hush-hush meal, guests reportedly overheard Blakeman pitching his vision to transform Nassau County into Hollywood East, citing the $533 million in economic impact generated by Grumman and Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, where scenes from Wolf of Wall Street were filmed. Blakeman previously served as commissioner for the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, as well as a Nassau County legislator and Hempstead town councilman. Leo kept it casual for the occasion and sported a black shirt, beige jacket and a baseball cap accessorized with a gold chain. While the dinner was arranged through Murstein, even celebrities struggle to get through the door at Rao's. The 125-year-old Harlem hotspot doesn't accept walk-ins or reservations, and there's virtually no way to contact the restaurant unless you have an 'in'. The exclusivity is so extreme, one seat at Rao's recently hit $20,000 on the bidding site CharityBuzz. Menu prices at the famed eatery start around $16, with their signature beef lasagna coming in at $36 and their top-tier steak reaching $70, not including the sauces or sides. Other famous celebrities seen dining at Rao's include Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra, Robert De Niro, Donald Trump, Pete Davidson, Kevin Costner, and Bethenny Frankel, among others. The exclusivity is so extreme, one seat at Rao's recently hit $20,000 on the bidding site CharityBuzz (Pictured: Pete Davidson attending Rao's Restaurant pop-up in February 2025 in New Orleans) While normally the preserve of the rich and famous, one man has managed to crack the code. Nicky DiMaggio, is a professional reservationist who charges $500 to $1,000 to get clients into New York's most exclusive restaurants - including Rao's. He first got into the restaurant at 17-years-old with help from a cousin and never looked back. 'I realized, if I walked through these doors, I could walk through any door,' he previouly told Daily Mail. Demand grew so much that DiMaggio launched his own business based on insider connections and impossible bookings. 'The whole reservation thing is a science,' he said. 'People want what they can't have. [Restaurants] want you to want it more and be frustrated that you can't secure a reservation.'
San Francisco Chronicle
02-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Recession indicator? People are cooking at home at the highest level since COVID
What's for dinner tonight? For a rising share of Americans, something they made themselves. That's according to the most recent earnings call for Campbell's, where the CEO of the food giant said they've seen more people opting for a home-cooked meal than they have since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Consumers are cooking at home at the highest levels since early 2020,' Mick Beekhuizen said Monday. Sales were up in the meals and beverages category for the company, which owns the canned soup brand as well as Rao's, Prego, Swanson, Pepperidge Farm, V8 and other grocery store staples. Specifically, spending in the U.S. was up for pasta sauce, broths, and condensed and canned soups. Dave Chalk, Campbell's vice president of consumer insights for meals and beverages, said the company uses interviews with consumers and behavioral data collected by research companies to assess at what rate people are cooking at home. 'We have seen a shift to what we call 'stretchable' categories,' he said in an email. 'These are categories like soups used for cooking and also include rice, pasta, broths and Italian (pasta) sauce.' He said the company has also noticed consumers opting for premium products, like Rao's pasta sauces, that can help make a homemade meal taste more like it came from a restaurant. Unfortunately, this behavior probably isn't a sign of a cultural shift toward healthy eating and thoughtful budgeting, said WalletHub managing editor John Kiernan. 'It's definitely not a sign of the economy doing great,' he said. 'People aren't going to be loading up on the staples and eating home far more often if they're feeling flush.' Back in the early part of 2020, consumers were adjusting to lockdowns and limited grocery store hours alongside predictions of potential global economic collapse in the face of a novel virus. The economic policies that staved off that potential collapse — low interest rates, stimulus checks — instead pushed the U.S. and most other developed economies into a protracted period of inflation. Exit polling in 2024 indicated many voters were persuaded by so-called 'kitchen table' arguments – the idea that President Donald Trump would bring down the price of eggs and other household goods. Instead, he's introduced several large-scale policies that aggravate inflation, including immigration crackdowns (which make grocery prices go up) and widespread tariffs (which make all prices go up). A soup-buying boom could be yet another one of the 'recession indicators' we've heard so much about. Actually, according to a report released Monday by financial services company Morningstar, some of the classic economic indicators of a recession have cooled off — but it's hard to say whether the recent GDP contraction was a tariff-induced blip or a sign of things to come. A recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP shrinkage. From the perspective of a personal finance columnist, I don't think it's a bad thing for people to experiment with cooking at home, though I wouldn't recommend financing your groceries if you don't absolutely have to. Cooking at home is certainly cost-effective, as we found in a Chronicle analysis comparing identical meals procured via food delivery app, meal kits and good old-fashioned groceries. As someone who went through this journey myself, I can say that cutting back on dining out and learning to cook simple meals at home is both personally and financially rewarding. Much of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending, and a lot of local economies rely on people going out to eat. But that's not your personal problem to solve. My 31-day Wealth Challenge newsletter dives into how to effectively meal plan, plus lots of other tips to cut spending and up your savings. You can sign up below:
The Australian
18-05-2025
- Business
- The Australian
Former White house mouthpiece and Wall Street hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci on Donald Trump
It's just after 6pm in New York, and Anthony Scaramucci is in the back seat of an Uber heading uptown. He got the call a short time ago. A table has suddenly become available at Rao's, the legendary Italian restaurant in East Harlem that's more famous for being impossible to get into than its signature meatballs. Scaramucci left his Madison Avenue office and is racing to get there by 7pm. 'If I bomb out then I can't go there anymore,' he says. Known worldwide as 'the Mooch', Scaramucci is speaking to The Australian via video link. The fast-talking Wall Street hedge fund manager from the Italian suburbs of Long Island was catapulted onto the global stage when he was tapped by Donald Trump, to become communications head during the US President's first administration. It was 2017 and The Mooch lasted just 10 days in the job before he was fired by Trump amid an acrimonious falling out. The then White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci with Donald Trump during his first term. Scaramucci had known Trump for more than two decades before he became president. They first met when The Mooch was at Goldman Sachs, but the two connected over their big personalities and all things New York. That gulf is now so great, Scaramucci has labelled Trump as 'dangerous' and endorsed former vice president Kamala Harris in her failed bid for the White House. Seeing Trump up close in business and private long before his political career, Scaramucci knows what makes the President tick. It all comes down to two things: money and attention. Both forces are constantly vying to be at the top spot. 'When you look through the prism of what he's doing, it is best to say: 'Okay, what does that get him attention or money?' Scaramucci says. 'The tariff thing: the way he spun that, and the way he created that he put himself in the minds of every single business person in the world, every single media person, every single journalist'. The fact that (we) are talking about him, he would absolutely love that. He wants his name, his persona, his psyche infecting your brain.' Scaramucci pauses. 'It's almost like 'Covid-19' is like 'Trump 2025'. It's like he's a virus, and he wants to be a pandemic on your brain. If you see him through that prism, and you say, 'Okay, I see why he did that. I see why he went to 180 (per cent tariff) and now he's at 30 on his way to zero, frankly, because it'll go right back to where it was' … He wants us talking about him.' On the question of money, it's how this benefits the Trump family's investments. Scaramucci says last week's tour of the Middle East's richest counties will offer plenty of private investments. 'If you think the interests of the West, leading the free world, helping the MAGA base … if you think any of those things are even on the list, then you really don't understand the guy'. After the White House and his moment in the sun, Scaramucci returned to SkyBridge Capital, the hedge fund he founded after leaving Goldman Sachs. The aim of the fund was to connect the biggest-name wealthy clients in the hedge fund industry. SkyBridge has since become a major player in cryptocurrency markets, launching the Bitcoin Fund in 2021. Scaramucci, who also runs his own podcast with BBC correspondent Katty Kay, will be headlining the 10th annual Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Conference, which returns to the Sydney Opera House in November. All the proceeds from the conference go to medical research, with nearly $80m donated over the decade it's been running in Australia. (When he is in Australia, The Mooch is hoping to take a side trip to Melbourne: 'I love that town. It has the best coffee in the world.') Market turmoil followed Trump unleashing his Liberation Day tariffs early last month, with a share market sell-off pushing Wall Street into bear-market territory. But as the turmoil spread to bond markets just over a week later, Trump started to back away. He outlined a three-month pause in punishing reciprocal tariffs and opened a window for negotiations. He held firm with China for several weeks. Two weekends ago, there was a dramatic walk back from both sides. Trump slashed his 145 per cent tariffs on China to 30 per cent for a three-month window. China also agreed to cut its retaliatory tariffs on US goods. Anthony Scaramucci says Donald Trump's political instincts are often correct. Picture: AP There's good reason for the walk back, the former White House adviser says. While Trump initially shrugged off turmoil in equity markets, even he couldn't ignore the warning signs in bonds. Sharemarkets may have rebounded; there's doubt still in bond markets. Over the weekend, Moody's stripped the US of its rolled-gold AAA credit rating. 'Donald Trump does have a ruler, and that ruler is the bond market,' Scaramucci says. 'Which is why by April 9 he caused a pause (in tariffs)' and this month de-escalated with China. No doubt the tariff execution was botched. Scaramucci gives the President credit; his political instincts are often right. 'There are some trade imbalances with China that we in the West should rectify,' Scaramucci says. 'We did have a problem on our southern border. Don't go by me – 70 per cent of the Americans felt that we had a problem on our southern border. 'If you have an obligation to spend 2 per cent of your GDP on defence, and you're a member of NATO then you're under that number … there are kernels of truth in what he's saying.' Why does it go wrong? 'What I always say is there's a good angel on Trump's shoulder,' he says. 'He can identify things, and he can say these things. You look at him, say, 'okay, that's actually true'. But then there's a bad angel in terms of the implementation of policy and the need for attention. And he's literally got the bad angel or the devil on his shoulder saying, 'Hey, you might be able to rake in $200bn for your family here'. 'In Trump-1 he was fearful and insecure about the presidency. He had a lot of establishment people in the mix with him that were stopping him from his worst instincts. In Trump-2. He doesn't have that.' Whereas son-in-law Jared Kushner was a calming force during Trump's first administration, he is no longer in the circle of power of the new administration. Instead, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, the Trump family's biggest backer of MAGA, is the President's new spirit force. 'This is why Trump-2, in my humble opinion, is way more dangerous than Trump-1,' Scaramucci says. 'You asked 'what is he doing?' They don't know what he's doing as of tonight. He's not actually sure what he's doing tomorrow. He's not sure because he wants to get attention. Elon Musk has the one thing Donald Trump loves: money. Picture: AP 'He wants to do some things that will potentially enrich his family, and so when he figures out what they are, he'll start doing them. And that's, that's him'. There's a big figure who looms over all this: Elon Musk. Scaramucci admits he got it wrong, thinking Trump and Musk would flame out earlier. Earlier this month, the multibillionaire effectively handed in the keys to the controversial Department of Government Efficiency and returned to his role as Tesla chief executive. The Musk relationship comes back to one of the core Trump drivers. 'Elon's loaded; Trump loves money,' Scaramucci says. However, he says it was clear the multi-billionaire overstayed his White House time and was starting to get on Trump's nerves. 'It's the old Ben Franklin thing,' he says. 'House guests are like fresh fish – they last three days. And so Elon, he wanted him out, but he's too rich to push him out the way he pushed out me or (former adviser) Steve Bannon. Elon will be in the mix from a distance for quite some time because of the money associated with him'. This is a good point to ask about Scaramucci's own flame out with Trump. Their 20-year friendship was over following Scaramucci's frenzied 10-day stint as White House communications director. The public line was Trump fired him (via then chief of staff John Kelly) for the Wall Street banker's colourful criticisms of Bannon, the Trump loyalist and champion of the far-right. (Bannon was sacked as chief strategist a few weeks later.) Scaramucci counters that his own fate was more than what has been written. He was pushing back on the President too much. 'I got fired because I was fighting with Trump,' he says. 'Trump told me that I was a Deep Stater. I'm like, 'Dude, I haven't even been to Washington on a field trip. I'm definitely not a Deep Stater'.' Still, taking the job was the 'biggest mistake' of his life. Anthony Scaramucci conducting a White House press conference in 2017. Picture: AFP 'If you want me to be brutally honest with you, it was the wrong job for me,' he says. 'My wife hates Trump, almost as much as Melania (Trump) hates him. My wife told me, 'Don't go work for him. He's gonna burn you. He's gonna hurt you. Blah, blah, blah'. But the kid from Long Island … this was an egocentric mistake 'It's actually a very good lesson for investors. When you put your ego, and you put your pride into your decision-making, you make colossal mistakes. That's true in investing. It's true in your personal life. It's true in your career'. It's now nearly 7pm as Scaramucci's Uber slowly pulls up out the front of Rao's. Perfect timing. 'When Bill Clinton left the White House, he got himself an office right by this restaurant,' he says. 'He tried to get a reservation. They told him: 'Look, sorry. We don't care'. The only way you can get in there is you got to know somebody that owns one of the tables in the restaurant'. Scaramucci simply can't miss that table. Anthony Scaramucci will be headlining 2025 Sohn Hearts & Minds conference in Sydney on November 14
