Marco Shalma

Editor-in-Chief, We Eat Here. Food culture from the operator's view. 20-year NYC hospitality veteran.

State Of The Street

ONE NEW YORK FEEDS THE CITY. THE OTHER ONE CHARGES $385 TO WATCH.

Jun 15, 2026

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4 min read

ONE NEW YORK FEEDS THE CITY. THE OTHER ONE CHARGES $385 TO WATCH.

There are two New Yorks. You can find the split anywhere you look, but the kitchen shows it fastest.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

Jun 15, 2026

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4 min read

THE THIRD ROUND IS GONE

How GLP-1s rewrote NYC restaurant unit economics while the hospitality industry stayed silent.

Marco Shalma

News Desk

THE CITY BUILT A SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SMALL BUSINESS. 137 OWNERS SAY THEY CAN'T FIND THE DOOR.

Jun 12, 2026

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3 min read

THE CITY BUILT A SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SMALL BUSINESS. 137 OWNERS SAY THEY CAN'T FIND THE DOOR.

We surveyed 137 New York small business owners about the help that is supposed to exist for them. Not one reported a good experience. Here is what they told us.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THEY'RE FLYING IN A MILLION PEOPLE TO EAT MCDONALD'S

Jun 10, 2026

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4 min read

THEY'RE FLYING IN A MILLION PEOPLE TO EAT MCDONALD'S

The World Cup hands New York the biggest crowd it has ever fed. The official menu is the same handful of logos those people left at home.

Marco Shalma

Argument

ENOUGH WITH THE GODDAMN QR CODE. GET ME A PROPER MENU.

Jun 10, 2026

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3 min read

ENOUGH WITH THE GODDAMN QR CODE. GET ME A PROPER MENU.

You sit down ready to spend money, and before anyone says a word, you’re told to take out your phone.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

NEW YORK IS SPENDING BILLIONS ON HOMELESSNESS AND GETTING PERMANENCE IN RETURN

Jun 8, 2026

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2 min read

NEW YORK IS SPENDING BILLIONS ON HOMELESSNESS AND GETTING PERMANENCE IN RETURN

New York is not underfunding homelessness. It is overfunding the wrong version of it.

Marco Shalma

For The Culture

THEY RAN THE OBITUARY. THEY SKIPPED THE NEXT SENTENCE.

Jun 6, 2026

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4 min read

THEY RAN THE OBITUARY. THEY SKIPPED THE NEXT SENTENCE.

Caputo's fed Brooklyn for 122 years. The food press covered the goodbye. Nobody covered where the 6,000 loaves a week go now.

Marco Shalma

For The Culture

THE WETTEST SANDWICH IN NEW YORK IS NOT A MISTAKE

Jun 6, 2026

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3 min read

THE WETTEST SANDWICH IN NEW YORK IS NOT A MISTAKE

Five families. Five boroughs. Zero coverage.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THEY BOUGHT YOUR CRM. THEY BOUGHT THE AD ENGINE TWO DAYS EARLIER.

Jun 5, 2026

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4 min read

THEY BOUGHT YOUR CRM. THEY BOUGHT THE AD ENGINE TWO DAYS EARLIER.

DoorDash now owns the data on every guest who ever booked through SevenRooms. The same company also runs a billion-dollar ad business. The operator built the inventory.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

NEARLY $8B IN SNAP RUNS THROUGH NEW YORK. WASHINGTON JUST REDREW THE LINE FOR WHO GETS TO ACCEPT IT.

Jun 1, 2026

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5 min read

NEARLY $8B IN SNAP RUNS THROUGH NEW YORK. WASHINGTON JUST REDREW THE LINE FOR WHO GETS TO ACCEPT IT.

The cut came dressed as a hunger story. Underneath it is a small-business closure program, and the corner store is the target.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THE GREAT NEW YORK COOKIE BOOM IS RUNNING OUT OF DOUGH

May 30, 2026

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2 min read

THE GREAT NEW YORK COOKIE BOOM IS RUNNING OUT OF DOUGH

A cookie used to be the quietest thing in a bakery.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THE RESTAURANT LABOR PIPELINE COLLAPSED. NOW EVERYONE IS ASKING WHO WILL WORK THE KITCHEN.

May 28, 2026

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3 min read

THE RESTAURANT LABOR PIPELINE COLLAPSED. NOW EVERYONE IS ASKING WHO WILL WORK THE KITCHEN.

For decades New York’s restaurant industry ran on a labor system that everyone relied on and almost nobody talked about.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THEY'RE SELLING GOWANUS AS THE NEXT AMSTERDAM. THE BLOCK THAT MADE IT IS GOING DARK.

May 25, 2026

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4 min read

THEY'RE SELLING GOWANUS AS THE NEXT AMSTERDAM. THE BLOCK THAT MADE IT IS GOING DARK.

Something strange has been happening over the last few weeks.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

INFLUENCERS ARE NOW SHARING POSTS ABOUT PEOPLE HATING FOOD INFLUENCERS. MAKE THAT MAKE SENSE

May 21, 2026

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2 min read

INFLUENCERS ARE NOW SHARING POSTS ABOUT PEOPLE HATING FOOD INFLUENCERS. MAKE THAT MAKE SENSE

Something strange has been happening over the last few weeks.

Marco Shalma

Off The Menu

THE TICKET IS THE BAIT. THE POPCORN IS THE BUSINESS.

May 19, 2026

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4 min read

THE TICKET IS THE BAIT. THE POPCORN IS THE BUSINESS.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

WHEN A BANK BUYS FOOD MEDIA, IT IS NOT BUYING JOURNALISM. IT IS BUYING THE MOMENT BEFORE THE SWIPE.

May 17, 2026

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2 min read

WHEN A BANK BUYS FOOD MEDIA, IT IS NOT BUYING JOURNALISM. IT IS BUYING THE MOMENT BEFORE THE SWIPE.

When JPMorgan Chase acquired The Infatuation in 2021, the reaction across the food world was mostly confusion. A bank buying a restaurant recommendation platform sounded strange at first glance. Finance and food media did not appear to belong in the same business conversation.

Marco Shalma

Off The Menu

THE CLOSURE WAVE IS NOT A BAD MARKET. IT IS A STRUCTURAL RESET.

May 16, 2026

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4 min read

THE CLOSURE WAVE IS NOT A BAD MARKET. IT IS A STRUCTURAL RESET.

Five structural reasons NYC restaurants are closing right now. None of them are on the list every food publication has been printing for thirty years.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THE GENERATION WITH THE WORST PALATE NEW YORK HAS SEEN IN YEARS

May 14, 2026

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3 min read

THE GENERATION WITH THE WORST PALATE NEW YORK HAS SEEN IN YEARS

Walk through New York today and the city appears obsessed with food. Lines stretch around bakeries before noon. Desserts engineered for social media sell out in hours. Burgers arrive stacked like architecture before anyone takes a bite.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

NYC HAS BEEN SUBSIDIZING GROCERY ACCESS SINCE 2009. THE NEIGHBORHOODS ARE STILL WAITING.

Apr 30, 2026

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6 min read

NYC HAS BEEN SUBSIDIZING GROCERY ACCESS SINCE 2009. THE NEIGHBORHOODS ARE STILL WAITING.

The FRESH program promised healthy food for underserved New Yorkers. It delivered luxury apartments with a grocery store attached.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

NEW YORK HAS THE BEST FOOD CULTURE ON EARTH. IS ALSO HAS THE BEST PR MACHINE FOR MEDIOCRE FOOD.

Apr 28, 2026

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5 min read

NEW YORK HAS THE BEST FOOD CULTURE ON EARTH. IS ALSO HAS THE BEST PR MACHINE FOR MEDIOCRE FOOD.

Three things the hype machine sold you. The operators paying for it never got asked.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

SIX THOUSAND NYC RESTAURANTS PAID A LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT THEY NEVER SIGNED.

Apr 27, 2026

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7 min read

SIX THOUSAND NYC RESTAURANTS PAID A LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT THEY NEVER SIGNED.

DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub spent three years in court fighting the city over delivery fees. They won. Your restaurant covers the difference.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

SMALL PLATES. BIG BILL. THE FASTEST WAY TO MAKE A NEW YORKER HANGRY.

Apr 22, 2026

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2 min read

SMALL PLATES. BIG BILL. THE FASTEST WAY TO MAKE A NEW YORKER HANGRY.

Walk into half the restaurants opening in New York right now and the script is almost identical. You sit down, the server introduces the menu, and somewhere in the explanation you hear the same line. The menu is designed for sharing. What that usually means in practice is something simpler. There are no real plates.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THE MUSIC WILL TELL YOU WHAT THE MENU WON'T.

Apr 22, 2026

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9 min read

THE MUSIC WILL TELL YOU WHAT THE MENU WON'T.

A field guide to reading any NYC restaurant before you sit down.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

WHEN YOUR NEIGHBOR BECOMES YOUR RESTAURANT

Apr 20, 2026

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5 min read

WHEN YOUR NEIGHBOR BECOMES YOUR RESTAURANT

California recently legalized something cities have fought for decades. People can now sell meals cooked out of their homes under a permit system.

Marco Shalma

State Of The Street

THE CITY IS OPENING A GROCERY STORE IN EAST HARLEM. THE GROCERS ALREADY THERE FOUND OUT FROM THE NEWS.

Apr 17, 2026

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3 min read

THE CITY IS OPENING A GROCERY STORE IN EAST HARLEM. THE GROCERS ALREADY THERE FOUND OUT FROM THE NEWS.

Mayor Mamdani committed $30 million to build NYC's first publicly owned market next to La Marqueta. The independent operators already feeding that block were not consulted. Victor Vazquez, 33, who manages one of those stores, found out the same day everyone else did.

Marco Shalma