TL;DR
- Michelin added 15 New York restaurants and 12 in Britain and Ireland to its selection, all now in the running for stars in November.
- The World's 50 Best Restaurants heads to Lima on November 4, its first South American ceremony, with local champion Maido retiring into its hall of fame.
- Yum! Brands is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion, offloading its weakest chain to a private-equity firm and Yum China.
- US restaurant menu prices rose just 3.4% over the year to June, the slowest annual pace in 17 months.
Openings and closings
St. Louis lost two neighborhood mainstays this month. BJ's Bar & Restaurant, the family-owned Florissant institution known for St. Louis-style pizza (thin, cracker-crisp crust cut into squares) for 70 years, served its last slice, and Syberg's on Market closed on July 18 (via St. Louis Magazine).
Birdcall wants to be everywhere. The Denver-born chain of all-natural fried chicken counters unveiled plans to add nearly 100 franchised locations across six Midwestern states, one of the summer's more aggressive fast-casual growth bets (via RestaurantNews.com).
Chefs and restaurants
From paperboy to James Beard medal. Christopher Gross, the Phoenix chef behind Christopher's at Wrigley, traced a four-decade climb built on signatures like a roasted-pepper sauce reworked into soup and a Parisian meringue that became a chocolate dessert (via Cronkite News).
Beyond that, big chef moves stayed quiet this week, with most kitchen heads down on summer menus.
Food trends
Protein has colonized the snack aisle. At the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, exhibitors packed it into ice cream, jam, tea, popcorn and pancake mix, chasing GLP-1-era appetites, while functional drinks pivoted from vague wellness claims to named benefits like collagen and adaptogens (via Forbes).
Cabbage is the vegetable of the year. The cheap, sturdy brassica is muscling onto menus and grocery displays as cooks lean on its versatility and low price, one of 2026's more unlikely produce stars (via Tasting Table).
Guides and awards
Michelin quietly stacked the deck in New York. The guide added 15 restaurants to its selection on July 15, three in Brooklyn, nine in Manhattan and three in Queens, all now eligible for stars or a Bib Gourmand (its label for great food at a gentler price) at November's ceremony (via Forbes).
Britain and Ireland picked up 12 fresh entries too. July's additions span London newcomers Aki, Clio and Koyal plus Michael O'Hare's In Lamentation in West Yorkshire, all added ahead of the annual star reveal (via The Caterer).
The World's 50 Best is finally crossing to South America. The ranking will hold its 2026 ceremony in Lima on November 4, its first in the region, where hometown favorite Maido graduates into the retired Best of the Best hall of fame (via The World's 50 Best).
Drinks
Punch anointed its class of rising bartenders. The drinks site named its Best New Bartenders of 2026, ten talents from rooms like Chicago's Three Dots and a Dash and Providence's Courtland Club, spotlighting people who put hospitality first (via PUNCH).
Singapore's cocktail scene keeps multiplying. Five new bars opened across the city this month, including one pouring an Afterglow Punch of mezcal, coconut-infused Ancho Reyes, pineapple juice and blue-pea syrup (via Time Out).
Food industry and business
Menu inflation is finally cooling. US restaurant prices rose about 0.2% a month through the first half of 2026 and sat 3.4% above June 2025, the slowest annual pace in 17 months, easing pressure on operators and diners alike (via National Restaurant Association).
Yum! Brands is cutting Pizza Hut loose. The KFC and Taco Bell owner agreed to sell the struggling chain for $2.7 billion, splitting it between private-equity firm LongRange Capital and Yum China, with the deal set to close this quarter (via CNBC).