The Monday Media Diet with Ben Leventhal

Ben Leventhal (BL) is the founder of Blackbird, a new web3 loyalty platform for the restaurant industry, as well as the co-founder of Resy and Eater. Read his thoughts on hospitality -- like how every restaurant is either a club or a diner -- on The Supersonic. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

New York is home, and that’s lucky, because I’ve spent my career being obsessed with its restaurant scene. The thing people don’t understand about New York as a restaurant city is that it’s been a “restaurant city” for more than 100 years. There are other great ones now, but the reason it seems to come so naturally to New York is because we’ve just been doing it for a long time. Did you know that before the hot dog vendors there were fresh oyster shuckers on every corner? Alas, I digress. More about me: I’m currently working on building Blackbird, a software platform that will revolutionize the way restaurants and guests connect. Previously, I was a co-founder at Resy and before that, Eater.

Describe your media diet.

When I was growing up print was still a primary channel, then as a person in my 20s and early 30s it was the age of the blogs — and there were RSS feeds. So, suffice it to say, I’m someone who likes to curate his own content feed, versus letting the algorithms drive. Wall Street Journal, FT, and the Athletic are usually where my media day starts, and then by noon I’ve also scanned through a bunch of newsletters and substacks. My regular opens are emails like Kristen Hawley’s Expedite and Matt Newberg’s HNGRY — restaurant industry inside baseball. There still are a few websites and columns that I’ll seek out, like AVC, Fred Wilson’s iconic VC blog, Matt Levine’s column in Bloomberg and, yes, Eater.

What’s the last great book you read?

I really loved Apeirogon, Colum McCann’s recent novel. McCann is one of the world’s greatest writers, I think, and I’m enjoying working my way through his cannon.

What are you reading now?

I have a stack of books on my nightstand, none of which I’ve gotten very far into, so I’ll own that upfront. That said, the Inner Game of Tennis is up next. After that, Netherland and then Flourish, a book about the science of happiness.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

Cover to cover, for sure, and often at 5 AM, with a freshly brewed pot of coffee and before anyone else in the house is awake. If it is something like Noble Rot or Racquet or Disegno, publications that don’t show up too often, I might up the ante with a really good bagel or a croissant. I always pull out follow-ups and further reading and to-dos while I’m going through, like I just noticed the “Meanwhile, in Texas” one-pager in Texas Monthly, which I tore out and made a note to share with our content team. It’s such a great format and I think we should crib it for the restaurant industry.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

I think anyone who wants to really understand their city should read an old, out-of-print guidebook about it. The older the better. For example, I just got the 1939 edition of Dining in New York with Rector, written by a restaurant operator turned writer. Online, Perfectly Imperfect, a sub stack about what really cool people think is cool, is great; and do check out Found, a publication about New York for the discerning explorer, written by my friend Lock, the other co-founder of Eater.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

After the fall of Dark Sky, like so many of us, I had to regroup. None of the mainstream weather apps did it. So I’ve been testing both Clime and ForeFlight. ForeFlight is a pilot’s tool, so it has the added bonus of keeping me ahead of airline announcements when I fly. I also have a Haikubox, which I love, so that app actually gets Home Screen status on my phone.

Plane or train?

Plane

What is one place everyone should visit?

There are so many, so I’m going to go hyper specific and local: the Backyard of Frankies 457 in Brooklyn. The Rooster in Antiparos. L’Avant Comptoir (de la Terre) in Paris. La Huella in Jose Ignacio.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

I’ve gone very deep on restaurant industry ephemera — matchbooks, menus, VIP cards, and assorted other merch. Tracking a place through the history of its branding is fascinating. If you look at Tavern on the Green, you can see through the various chapters of its design, and exactly where it became unmoored. For years it felt like an incredible heritage brand and then you can see when they started to use a new typeface and imagery and came undone. Same with ’21’ Club, where you can see years of it feeling like an actual club and then it just became a theme park of itself. If you look at Peter Luger over the years, it is basically unchanged.

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Ben (BL)

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