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The first time I had Goop Kitchen, it was on a flight from LAX to JFK in economy middle seats. I had dinner delivered to me at my hotel. I then took it to the airport in the car and through security. (No, TSA did not take the carrot-ginger dressing). Then, a few hours after, ate it on the plane. It was not only good, but it held up well. Even though I didn’t admit it, as someone who works in restaurants, that mid-sky meal made wish Goop Kitchen was bicoastal. The upscale fast-casual temple of Gwyneth and Kim Floresca’s VP of Culinary debuted in Los Angeles, 2021. Goop Kitchen, which has 11 locations in Los Angeles, along with three recent openings, opened its first ghost-kitchen location in Manhattan. Seven more locations will debut by 2026, with a focus primarily on pickup and deliveries. The team waits for 45 minutes before testing new menu items to simulate realistic delivery times. Social media is flooded with images of whole rotisserie poultry, four different pastas and bone broth. There are also salads, bowls and rolls. You can also order most items a la carte, whether they are sauces or proteins. All items are gluten-free, free of refined sugars and peanuts and corn. There are some New York-exclusives like the chicken wrap, a riff of the traditional Waldorf in the brand’s cassava flour-wrapped version, but most La-La Land favorites still remain. The Hall of Fame OrderThe Best Salad Brentwood Chinese Chicken Salad (18.50)I really love her. The carrot-ginger dressing brings together organic chicken, shredded cabbage and bok choy, avocados (lots of them), and bright vegetables like snow peas and watermelon radish. This is the only Goop sauce I would ever use. It could have used a little more gingery kick if I were you.) The Goop Teriyaki Bowl ($18.95). The portion of grilled, well-seasoned chicken is generous, and the shiitake, brown rice, (no white rice option, sadly) holds the teriyaki nicely. The sesame-marinated, softened kale is my favorite. I also like the sliced avocado with furikake and steamed broccoli. It’s also the most filling bowl.

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What makes a good toaster

• Build quality: A toaster should feel sturdy, with no wobbling, flimsy levers, or loose buttons. Beyond the body itself, I paid attention to the lift lever and any knobs or dials. Thoughtful construction shows up in the details.
• Large item capacity: A good toaster should handle more than standard sandwich bread. The best ones can accommodate a variety of sizes and shapes, lowering each piece fully and toasting it evenly all the way through.
• Browning range: There should be a clear, consistent gradient from barely toasted to deeply browned, with a noticeable difference between each setting. If the lightest and darkest settings look the same, that’s a problem.
• Defrost without over-toasting: A defrost function is only useful if it works. Too many toasters spit out frozen waffles that are burnt on the outside, cold in the middle, or just soggy. The best ones thaw and toast in a single cycle, producing results that are warm, crisp, and cooked through.
• Intuitive settings: Toasters don’t need to be complicated. The best models keep controls straightforward, with clear knobs, simple buttons, and no unnecessary features getting in the way of good toast.

Other toasters we liked

Martha Stewart 2-Slice Toaster

This toaster from Martha Stewart’s brand-new line of countertop appliances performed well in my most recent round of testing. The sleek touchscreen interface includes a whopping 10 different browning settings, which is impressive (if perhaps a tad excessive) and means this toaster is a good option for anyone who wants ultra-precise control over exactly how golden their carbs are. I ultimately felt that the Beautiful toaster accomplished a similar look, feel, and performance quality at a lower price point, but I’d still recommend the Martha toaster if it appeals to you.

Smeg 2-Slice Toaster

Not only does the Smeg look nice, it’s also a dream to use—glossy cherry red exterior, chrome lever, and intuitive control knob that satisfyingly clicks into place as you select your toasting preferences. While it toasts evenly on all temperature settings, we did notice it runs a little hot and slices could come out darker than expected or even burnt. But we did like the generously sized slots, which could fit hunks of sourdough, and the slide out crumb tray that makes clean up a breeze. Overall it’s a great toaster, but an expensive one. We found other models to be better values. Still, we’d recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone who prioritizes style in their kitchen appliances.

Breville Die-Cast Toaster

The two-slice version of our favorite four-slice toaster, the Breville Die-Cast, looks sleek, works like a dream, and has the hefty price tag to go with it. Unlike some models, the Die-Cast has no lever, only buttons. You adjust your setting, press a button, and watch your slice get magically lowered away and pushed back up for your enjoyment when it’s done. The design is also friendly for small spaces—all the controls are on the short side of the toaster instead of the wide side. This makes it easier to nestle in a small spot in your kitchen. Still, the Die-Cast’s a good $60 more than the “A Bit More,” which might push it out of your price range.

Oster Jelly Bean

Don’t let the silhouette and your assumptions about the flimsiness of the plastic body fool you—the Oster Jelly Bean is actually a quality toaster. While the curvy, charcoal silhouette of the Oster sets it apart from some of its sleek stainless-steel contemporaries, the matte look actually makes it resistant to fingerprints or smudges. It also performed pretty well. It evenly toasted everything I put it up against, even on the higher settings—though the curved design does mean the bread doesn’t get fully submerged for toasting, leaving the tops of your bread bare.

Haden Dorset 2-Slice Toaster

I was charmed by the retro design of this toaster from Haden. Its simple interface is intuitive to use but has everything you need to get the job done: a dial for switching between the six browning levels, defrost and bagel settings, and cancel button. I didn’t feel it was able to achieve quite as evenly-browned results as our top pick, and thought the different shade settings lacked a bit of variety from each other (especially the middle ones). This toaster also struggled with thicker bread options—its slots were barely wide enough to fit a halved bagel, and the bagel got stuck instead of popping out after toasting. That said, if you’re drawn to this Haden aesthetically, it’s not a bad option.

Toasters we don’t recommend

For one reason or another, these toasters didn’t earn our seal of approval.

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We’ve waxed poetic about All-Clad’s cookware for years, so it’s no surprise that its appliances are also top-notch. If you’re in the market for the best waffle maker money can buy, look no further: In the words of food director Chris Morocco, “the All-Clad waffle maker is the last waffle maker you ever need to own. It is unimprovable, at the top of its class, yet so simple that you won’t need the instruction manual to use it.”

What we love: Indeed, the All-Clad Waffle Iron is intuitive to use. Upon plugging it in, you’ll see a power light go on. After turning the dial to your preferred toasting level (there are six total options), the iron heats up accordingly, and a green Ready light illuminates when it’s time to pour in the batter. You’ll know your batch is complete when the machine beeps.

I made two batches: one at a level two setting, another at a level four. The results were exactly as expected, with the former yielding a golden, fluffy (but not undercooked) waffle and the latter landing as darker and more crispy (but not burnt). Removing them from the grates using a fork was simple and mess-free thanks to the nonstick coating.

The All-Clad is also, frankly, chic. The gleaming, polished stainless-steel exterior will look upscale on any countertop, which is helpful considering its size and hulking weight might make you less inclined to move it after every use. But, if you do plan to stow it away, know that when locked in the vertical position, it actually doesn’t take up a ton of room. (It has a much smaller profile than the family-size box of Cheerios that lives in my pantry, for reference.)

When the time comes for cleanup, you can pop the removable trays in the dishwasher. However, I found that the nonstick coating worked so effectively that there was no need. A quick—and I mean less-than-a-minute—hand-wash felt much more efficient.

What we’d leave: There’s no way around it: This appliance is large and heavy. That’s great news if you’re looking to work more biceps reps into your daily routine. For everyone else, it makes the machine a bit of a chore to lug around. But, again, if you have the counter or storage space to spare—roughly 16 inches if stored upright—you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-looking waffle iron to display.

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In 2000, season three of Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw sat on a bench outside Magnolia Bakery in New York City, and bit into a big pink cupcake. Curls tucked behind her ears and frosting stuck to her lip, it was a moment that launched a million ships.

At the time, the phrase “viral pastry” didn’t yet exist. But if it did, it would be the only way to describe the frenzied explosion of cupcakes that followed. In 2005, Sprinkles (RIP) opened in Beverly Hills as the world’s first cupcake bakery. By 2009, there were multiple cookbooks dedicated to the treats, including a compendium by Ms. Martha Stewart herself. That same year, Cupcake Wars, a reality competition series, premiered on Food Network.

All kingdoms crumble, though, and after a decade-plus reign, the cupcake was left behind—an aging monarch overthrown by Dominique Ansel’s cronut, and the neophilic nature of social media feeds.

Could now—a quarter-century after Carrie’s afternoon snack—be the right time for a cupcake revival? We think so. In fact, we believe in it so strongly, that for the first time in a decade at Bon Appétit, we’re publishing not one but three new recipes.

All the things that made the little cakes popular are still relevant today. They’re quick to make, baking up faster than their full-size siblings. They’re easy to transport and share, with no last-minute cutting or slice-size negotiating with your great aunt who wants “just a sliver.” And they’re cute!

Approached with a little consideration and curiosity, cupcakes can feel modern and sophisticated, the sort of treats we’d proudly unveil at any party, even if there are no kids running around. Consider these our contemporary cupcake commandments, illustrated by three new recipes that are, as Carrie would say, fabulous.

For new flavor combos, look in your pantry

Chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet are all solid flavors, classics that we’ll love forever. But just like MomTok admits, switching things up on occasion can make for interesting results. Your pantry is the ultimate source for simple flavor boosters. Other teas like Lapsang Souchong, jasmine, and genmaicha are all great additions to any basic batter. Rip open an Earl Grey tea bag and add it to chocolate cake batter for a smoky florality.

When it comes to frosting, ground spices like cinnamon, cardamom, or fennel; dried and powdered curry leaves or fig leaves (find them at a farmers market or neighbor’s garden) are all welcome inclusions. Or just whip a jar of cookie butter for the easiest frosting ever. Look around you for inspiration! It’s closer than you think.

Cookie Butter Banana Cupcakes

Make the recipe

Think outside the box, er, cupcake pan

Almost any baked good can be downsized to fit in a muffin pan. Brownies, popovers, cookies, and even galettes can all be cupcake-ified. We turned lamingtons, the classic Australian dessert, into an adorable bakery-fancy cupcake, complete with sponge cake squares sandwiched with jam and sealed in chocolate. Quick breads, like banana, zucchini, and pumpkin, can also transform into a sweet ready for a swoosh of frosting. Anything can be a cupcake if you try hard enough! And honestly, you don’t have to try that hard.

Lamington Cupcakes

Make the recipe

Frosting doesn’t have to be so sweet

Introducing an element of acidity can do wonders in taming frosting’s inherent sweetness. Think about how lemon juice or vinegar wakes up a salad dressing. Same principle. This magenta colored frosting is crammed with a half pint of fresh blackberries and generous splashes of lemon juice, both of which cut through the richness of the buttercream, making it all too easy to eat multiple spoonfuls on its own. Director of cooking, Emma Laperruque, is partial to a cream cheese frosting—this one, in particular, that’s almost universal in its application. Heavy on the cream cheese, light on sugar, it’s full of “milky and tangy and sunny” flavors.

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Lamingtons are a classic Australian dessert, thought to have been made by the French chef of Lady and Lord Lamington, the former governor of Queensland. A square of vanilla cake with a smudge of jam in the middle, robed in chocolate, and coated in shredded coconut, the lamington is rightfully iconic. Here, a cupcake pan streamlines the process, eliminating the need to cut large squares of cake. You’ll still split the cupcakes in half and spread a thin coat of raspberry jam in the middle before dunking the whole lot in a dark chocolate glaze and rolling in shredded coconut. These lamington cupcakes are a fuzzy delight, resembling cartoon rabbits from a fairy tale.

Dipping the cakes in glaze is messy business. Make peace with the process and it’ll go much faster (or get an assistant). Just like breading chicken, it helps to have one “wet” hand for dipping the cakes and one designated “dry” hand for rolling the glazed treats in coconut.

Read More: It’s Time for the Cupcake Comeback