CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
‘The Bear’ Season 2 Puts a Little Optimism on the Menu
With a gentler tone and reverence for hospitality, the Hulu show reaches beyond the chef to give other workers the spotlight.
By TEJAL RAO

A Proto-Pizza Emerges from a Fresco on a Pompeii Wall
That doughy disc with delectable toppings seen in a 2,000-year-old painting is not a pizza, experts insist. But can we get one delivered anyway?

2,000-year-old painting on the wall of a house in Pompeii house showing what may be a distant ancestor of modern pizza.
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Simple, Satisfying 3-Ingredient Barbecue Sauces
An Alabama white sauce, a South Carolina mustard sauce and a North Carolina vinegar sauce: Each comes together in minutes with just a few staples.

This mustard sauce enhances the sweetness of pork, but it works equally well on fish like salmon.
By STEVEN RAICHLEN

A Potato Salad That Packs a Serious Umami Punch
Serve with barbecue slathered in one of Steven Raichlen’s three new sauces and Millie Peartree’s sweet-tart Hennessy coladas.
By MIA LEIMKUHLER

EAT
A Dessert Recipe So Good, I Was Sworn to Secrecy
A friend told our columnist never to write about this easy Hawaii-style sherbet. Lucky for you, she did anyway.

By LIGAYA MISHAN

FOOD & DRINK
What’s the Best Local Beer to Cook Your Brats in?
Stop using the Coors Light that’s been sitting in your garage fridge and reach for one of these Minnesota beers instead.

By Matt Lambert

What Does It Mean to Be an Asian American Brewer?
Across the U.S., Asian beer makers are putting their mark on an industry that is still predominantly white.

After retiring, Oscar Wong embarked on a second career as a founder of one of the few Asian-owned breweries in the United States. His daughter Leah, left, took over in 2015.
By T.M. Brown