These days, ‘surprise and delight’ is a tactic belonging to most brand’s marketing strategies. While success varies, the concept remains a sound and self explanatory one: enhance customer engagement with unexpected rewards.

Imagine yourself as Gwyneth Paltrow for a day: you start with a nice intermittent fast, snack on a few things that won’t “spike your blood sugar,” then it’s onto bone broth for lunch followed by a nice paleo dinner, both meals supporting “your detox.” Oh, and you make sure to do one hour of movement, or so the actress declares in a controversial clip about her “wellness routine” — one in which critics claim the Goop founder regresses to a toxic dieting culture that’s no longer acceptable.

Welcome to It Didn’t Happen By Accident, a new series in which we look back at legendary restaurants and the tactics that took them to the top. In honor of the 95th Academy Awards happening this Sunday, writer Darrell Hartman kicks things off by going deep on Romanoff’s – Hollywood’s OG celebrity hot spot. We hope you enjoy, and would love to hear your feedback in the comments below.   

We all know how hard it is to get a reservation these days. We feel it, and we’ve read about it. Of course, this isn’t true for all great restaurants. There are still neighborhood standbys and tried-and-true spots that are easy to walk into (or snag a day-of reservation at) because they’re out of the limelight, and maybe never even craved the limelight in the first place. And yet the game to get into hot spots — i.e., Horses in LA, Carbone in New York and Miami, San Ho Won in San Francisco, to a name a prototypical few — is more competitive than ever.

Welcome to From The Kids Table, a personal essay series we’re beta testing. On some Sundays, we’ll ask writers to share childhood memories about dining out. For our third installment, author Katy Kelleher writes about her parents’ divorce, and how she and her father attempted to mend their strained relationship through the power of raw fish. We hope you enjoy, and would love to hear your feedback in the comments below. 

Last year, I bought my five-year old son a Nintendo Switch, as well as the latest Super Mario Bros. game: Super Mario Odyssey. I’d be lying if I didn’t say these purchases weren’t intended for Dad, too. But whereas my five-year old immediately took to the game’s seemingly boundless levels, intricate patterns, and problem solving, I was less enthused. My inability to cotton to Super Mario Odyssey came down to one thing, or a lack of one thing: just where were the power-ups?

Last week, AMC made headlines — and ruffled quite a few cinephiles’ feathers — by announcing Sightline, a new pricing system that will charge theatergoers more money for the best seats in the house. A week prior to that, in the more niche world of Alpine skiing, Arizona Snowbowl set a single-day lift ticket price record of $309 after a bevy of big snowstorms sent local skiers scrambling in search of powder.

Those of us who love to eat know the feeling well: you’re being introduced to someone, or perhaps a friend is teasing you, and suddenly you’re being referred to as a “foodie.” Shudder.

Sure, Bond might be a two-dimensional character, but the man’s got taste.