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Welcome to Deep Dish, a weekly roundup of food and entertainment news. Last time we covered the ongoing Noma meltdown.<\/em><\/p>\n Hilary Duff, of Lizzy McGuire fame, has graced my feeds twice in the past month. First, for her embroilment in a mom group drama, now entered into public record via The Cut<\/em> by fellow early 2000s phenom Ashley Tisdale. Then, more recently, she\u2019s been on a press junket for her forthcoming album, divulging in a recent interview that she believes McDonald\u2019s receives a more delicious version of Diet Coke than the rest of the fast food chains. My fellow writer Sam Stone contextualizes.<\/p>\n Also this week, Blank Street is opening bigger stores, Chipotle has a shockingly intelligent chat bot on its website, and more.<\/p>\n The former Disney Channel star is on a press tour for the first time in years to promote her latest album Luck\u2026or Something<\/em>, and she\u2019s making headlines. Or, at least stan accounts are posting about her. One delicious morsel that\u2019s come forth from her many appearances: Duff is a bit of a Diet Coke conspiracy theorist.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know why a Diet Coke from McDonald\u2019s hits different than a different Diet Coke?\u201d she asked Mythical Kitchen\u2019s Last Meals<\/em> host Josh Scherer, phrasing her question, for some reason, like a sphynx guarding a tomb. She goes on to explain that she\u2019s heard rumors that McDonald\u2019s has a \u201clifelong contract\u201d with Diet Coke, which supposedly means that each franchise gets its Diet Coke pre-mixed. The result, she says, is a more delicious soda.<\/p>\n Many have asked similar questions over the years, and wild theories abound. About a year ago, McDonald\u2019s set the record straight. Its Diet Coke tastes different (and, according to Duff, better) because of several key factors: 1) The water and syrup are pre-chilled (this translates to less ice melt and more sugar per sip); 2) there\u2019s a bit more syrup in the ratio (lending the drink a more concentrated flavor); 3) the water is filtered (there aren\u2019t competing flavors in the final drink); and 4) the straws are slightly bigger (you get more soda per sip). Perhaps Duff\u2019s conspiracy wasn\u2019t so out there after all. \u2014Sam Stone, staff writer<\/em><\/p>\n If you are, you\u2019re certainly not alone. A growing number of diners are turning away from sommeliers and toward AI apps to help them choose their wine at restaurants. Ostensibly they\u2019re nervous about mispronouncing a name, or ordering a bottle that\u2014pearl clutch<\/em>\u2014doesn\u2019t go well with their entr\u00e9e. But those fears belie a general misunderstanding of how a restaurant is supposed to function. It\u2019s about hospitality,<\/em> folks: The sommelier takes you on a little journey, you learn something, you explore and experience something new and memorable. Doesn\u2019t that sound nice? Must we always be wine-maxxxing? \u2014S.S.<\/em><\/p>\n A few years back, I wrote a story about Blank Street\u2019s peculiar, and frankly fascinating, aesthetics. In the piece, I argued that its sterility (blankness, if you will) served the higher marketing purpose of facilitating collaborations with influencers, who could fill the negative space with their own branding. The small grab-and-go posts were little more than event spaces, photo ops, and receptacles for OK-at-best coffee. Now, Blank Street is reversing course on its brick-and-mortar spots, announcing this week that it will launch larger stores with seating that invite customers to linger.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of the company has changed to a certain degree,\u201d Blank Street\u2019s cofounder Issam Freiha told Bloomberg in an interview. \u201cMaybe the easy thing would\u2019ve been to figure out how we can just get more and more drinks shipped out to the counter for people to pick up. We very intentionally created the tension to try and do exactly the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nHilary Duff Comes Clean as a Diet Coke Truther<\/h2>\n
Are You Bringing ChatGPT to Restaurants?<\/h2>\n
Blank Street Is Getting Bigger, Literally<\/h2>\n