New York Magazine

This past Valentine’s Day, 71-year-old Brad Reese, proud grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups inventor H. B. Reese, posted a scathing open letter to the manager of corporate brand and editorial at Hershey, accusing the company of unforgivably altering many Reese’s products by replacing real chocolate with compound chocolate — basically using vegetable oils instead of cocoa butter to lower costs and replacing real peanut butter with “peanut-butter-style crèmes.” “And Reese wasn’t alone in feeling like everything was getting worse,” writes Rachel Handler. “Everyone in my life I spoke to agreed that something was amiss, that Reese’s — and commercial chocolate in general — didn’t taste the way it used to.” Handler would spend the next several months tumbling down a chocolate vortex, encountering dozens of eccentric characters, all disagreeing about the fundamental question of what chocolate even is and who it should be for. “I learned that — not to sound like a LinkedIn guy — what’s going on with chocolate is a parable for the modern world. That at this particularly bleak end stage of capitalism, everything we once treasured has or will lose its essential essence and MrBeast will always be involved somehow.” For our cover story, Handler takes a deep dive into the molten belly of the chocolate world. Read it in full: nymag.visitlink.me/vKKky_

Former Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz and his wife, Laura, say they and their kids were unceremoniously kicked out of Justin and Hailey Bieber’s house during Carl’s cheating scandal in 2020. thecut.com/article/hillsong-…

The denouement is upon us! For the last five Fridays, we have shared installments of Lauren Oyler’s short story, “The Hater,” in our flagship daily newsletter, Dinner Party. And now, we have reached the final chapter. At last, the main character, who is also named Lauren, discusses her meeting with the Hater, who she met on Feeld, and we learn something truly unforgettable about the circumstances of his faltering marriage. As a crowd gathers at the bar to hear the end of Lauren’s tale, tensions rise between Lauren and the narrator. Then they boil over, as rising tensions tend to do. Read the full story by signing up for Dinner Party: nymag.visitlink.me/7HHM3c

Olivier Martinez’s request for a domestic-violence restraining order against Halle Berry, whom he has a accused of ‘physically abusing’ their son, was denied on Thursday. thecut.com/article/halle-ber…

The beloved British actor known to most U.S. audiences as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of ‘Star Trek: Next Generation,’ died after a brief battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body dementia. thecut.com/article/patrick-s…

Patrick Stewart, the star of various ‘X-Men’ and ‘Star Trek’ projects, is dead at 86. He will be remembered for the gravitas he brought to both the highest of prestige and the most mainstream of hits. vulture.com/article/patrick-…

Everyone loves to judge what rich people do with their money, and no one has a better front-row seat than those they keep closest: their personal assistants. For decades, Brian Daniel worked as a PA for ultrawealthy clients. Now, he helps recruit and train other high-level PAs for some of the world’s richest families and top-earning CEOs, building a deep network of people in the private-service industry along the way. In a 2024 interview, personal-finance columnist Charlotte Cowles speaks with Daniel about how to snag a table at the most in-demand restaurant at the last minute, and what it’s like when your boss has never heard the word “no”: nymag.visitlink.me/-ruS5-

Patrick Stewart, an actor who straddled the worlds of prestige theater and mainstream success, has died at age 86. Read the full update: nymag.visitlink.me/2ZLPZP

Real estate agents are breaking with the tradition of showing buyers blank slate-photos in apartment listings and putting themselves in the mix. curbed.com/article/real-esta…

New York City–based brand Kallmeyer just launched its first-ever hero handbag, the Magazine Bag. One Cut editor tested it to see if it’s worth the splurge. thecut.com/article/is-the-ka…

According to Erivo, people who had an issue with the ‘Wicked’ press tour just couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that “two women could actually be friends.” thecut.com/article/do-not-an…

When the revamped Café des Artistes opens next year on the Upper West Side, it will join a wave of new restaurants that are also very old restaurants. Across Central Park, on Lexington Avenue, Jon Neidich has leased the space that was home to Donohue’s Steak House, where he’ll court the old regulars with an as yet unnamed establishment opening in 2027. “I think a lot of them will come back and hopefully enjoy what we did,” he says. While he can’t use the old Donohue’s name, he can evoke the memories of being in that place: The wooden walls and black-and-white linoleum floor will be refurbished; there will be black vinyl booths on at least one side of the room, and the new bar will be where the old one stood. “My goal is for it to feel very similar,” he says. In Brooklyn, the century-plus-old Sicilian sandwich shop Ferdinando’s Focacceria reopened this year as Bar Ferdinando. Moving toward Atlantic, Georgia Fulton reopened Sam’s with the same name, façade, and décor, while Alex and Miles Pincus, owners of several bars in New York and New Orleans, assumed control of Montero, where they changed very little. The owners of Mamali, a café and bar that looks from the outside exactly like the Village Cigars shop it replaced, and Mash Inn, which co-opted the faux–Lannon-stone façade and corrugated-metal awning from the laundromat that previously occupied the space, say neighbors were happy to learn that the character of the businesses wasn’t changing entirely. Read Robert Simonson how the new old restaurants cropping up around the city reveal a particular comfort now in saving spaces that have endured for decades: nymag.visitlink.me/wnZnQj

Laura Brand, who met Russell Brand when she was 19 and later reconnected with him after his divorce from Katy Perry, described her husband as “caring” and “kind” while testifying as a character witness at his U.K. rape trial. thecut.com/article/russell-b…

Let’s get LeBron James to more Broadway shows: After the recent New York transplant saw and loved ‘Paranormal Activity,’ we have ideas about what he should catch next. vulture.com/article/lebron-j…

Natalie Harp taps ‘court jester’ of AI slop to cheer Trump. Bill Pulte has worn many hats. Now he’s joined Harp in feeding Trump flattering memes and polling — often on poster board — to soothe his dark moods. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

Short-lived press secretary Katie Zacharia is still spinning for Donald Trump, saying he has ‘held America together.’ nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

A look at final pre-midterms polls show that outside Trump’s MAGA base he’s more unpopular than he’s ever been, at the worst possible time for his party. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…

A new authorized biography of the “multipotentialite” Kim Kardashian goes deep into her ever-upbeat personality and the cracks starting to form. vulture.com/article/citizen-…

Philomena Cunk is back, exploring moviegoing in the upcoming ‘Cunk on Cinema.’ Michael Bay is already confused. vulture.com/article/cunk-on-…

The passengers aboard the ‘Villa Vie Odyssey’ are in shockingly good spirits after they were told with hours’ notice that their never-ending cruise was, in fact, coming to an end. thecut.com/article/abandoned…

For decades now, Donald Trump has been keeping Americans informed about the relative attractiveness of various celebrities and public officials. When he assumed the presidency, he made “the look” a key factor in staffing decisions, openly stating his preference for hiring people out of “central casting.” The results speak for themselves. The former beauty-pageant proprietor claims to have particular expertise in female aesthetics. But he has been working to diversify his objectification. Trump has opined the handsomeness of various Republican midterm candidates, often right to their face. And rather than simply branding these men “hot” or “not,” the president is offering detailed analysis, from the appeal of their general build to the muscle tone of their butt. If you are planning to cast your midterm votes based solely on which man the president of the United States finds sexiest, this ranking is for you: nymag.visitlink.me/B0wYCL