Resy Presents

Why We Go

What makes a restaurant special enough for us to return to again and again? Whether it's for loyalty, nostalgia, relationships, or memorable cooking and the warmth of a familiar room, we asked our favorite cultural and literary figures why they returned to a treasured place. These are the reasons why we go to the restaurants we love.

Header illustration by Olivia Waller

Los Angeles

Dinner at The Hotel Bev Wil, by Roxane Gay

For our second date, my now wife Debbie and I went to CUT Steakhouse at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills.…

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New York

The Bakery That’s Delicious Without Qualification, by Noor Tagouri

I come to you bearing a miracle of life. At least, that’s what I believed I encountered when I met…

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London

The Gift of Lunch, by Fatima Bhutto

The first time I accompanied my friend, the food critic and travel writer A.A. Gill, to a restaurant he was…

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Chicago

Love Is a Torta From 5 Rabanitos, by Erika L. Sánchez

When asked to write about my favorite restaurant, I was momentarily stumped. The pandemic has changed the way we eat…

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We look for home in the company we keep, the photos we hang on our walls, and most definitely in the restaurants we eat and return to. One of those restaurants for me is Di An Di in Brooklyn, New York. — Bao Nguyen, ‘Can a Restaurant Become a Second Home?’

Washington D.C.

Nem Chua by Moonlight, by Amanda Ngoc Nguyen

The last meal Lan ate on her homeland was forbidden. Refugees were not allowed to bring anything onto the boat.…

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New York

Over Rice and Beans at Casa Azul, We Find That We Are Still Ourselves, by Naima Coster

Nestled on the corner of a busy thoroughfare in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is a Oaxacan restaurant called Casa Azul. It…

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National

When Simplicity Is the Best Thing, by Maynard Keenan

I grew up in a rural farming community in West Michigan. Mason County is home to extensive asparagus and corn…

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National

Nothing Says ‘Home’ Quite Like Bulgogi, by John Paul Brammer

For the first time in my life, I got to introduce someone to The Junction. It was just after Christmas,…

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London

The Sanctuary of an Omelette and a Martini, by Raven Smith

Food memories, like normal memories, are recalled more vividly when entwined with trauma. The most extreme, or at least memorable,…

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Years later, I have been back to this restaurant more times than I can count. They know my name now, the name I would pick days after she moved out. — Andrea Long Chu, ‘We Knew It Was Over’