Stanley Cup Woes And A 21+ Dunkin': The Week's Top Food News

It's a busy week in culinary news: Robert Downey Jr. became a coffee entrepreneur, a minor league baseball team changed its name to honor salad dressing, and Popeyes announced its expansion into Italy. Read on for more of the top food stories of the week.

Baseball and salad dressing aren't exactly a likely pairing, but Ohio is a magical place. A minor league baseball team known as the Akron RubberDucks (which is already a great name) will be renaming itself after a salad dressing on July 19 for one night only. - Dennis Lee Read More

In Boston, all roads lead to Dunkin'. So it should come as no surprise—even to Beantown's own Ben Affleck, whose fumbling of multiple iced coffees is a viral meme—that one of the only 21+ Dunkin' locations in the world is behind the red velvet rope at a swanky casino on the banks of the Mystic River. - Andrea McHugh Read More

Subway's bet on footlong snacks and desserts is paying off faster than anyone probably thought a ruler-length cookie would. The chain announced today that sales for its new Sidekicks menu category are blowing up and have contributed to a strong start to 2024. – Angela L. Pagán Read More

Starbucks is going all in on its olive-oil-infused menu beverages. After a few months of a limited rollout in select cities, the company announced Monday that its entire Oleato menu will now be available for purchase at all of its U.S. and Canada locations. - Angela L. Pagán Read More

We don't need The New York Times to tell us what "Girl Dinner" is, or whether you can determine someone's political party by the contents of their fridge. But sometimes the paper of record puts its resources toward something innovative and beautiful, such as its recent showcase of 121 restaurant menus and what those say about the current state of dining in America. - Marnie Shure Read More

As a home cook I've been experimenting with a pretty wide range of dishes and cuisines for my entire adult life, but for the longest time the one thing I struggled to improve was the amount of vegetarian meals in my diet. I always chalked this up to some moral deficit, that perhaps I had been trained by consumer culture to crave meat all the time. But the reality, it turns out, was that I just wasn't eating enough beans. - Matt Spina Read More

When you think of Robert Downey Jr., you probably think about his performances as Marvel's Iron Man, or his recent Academy Award nomination for his role in Oppenheimer. You can now add "coffee purveyor" to his list of accomplishments, because he and a consumer packaged goods executive have partnered up to create a new line of coffee called Happy. - Dennis Lee Read More

All the kids want Stanley cups. All the adults want Stanley cups. No, not the hockey kind. The giant metal tumbler with a straw. It's a status symbol and great fodder for jokes about water bottle elitism. But few fans of the cups might realize that they also contain lead. - Laura Wheatman Hill Read More

If there's one universal truth, it's that everyone, everywhere, loves fried chicken. And it looks as though another European country is about to get a taste of our American version: Popeyes' parent company, Restaurant Brands International, has released an announcement stating that it will open its first location in Italy later this year. - Dennis Lee Read More