What’s Happening: From Mario-inspired cafes to the Central Perk pop-ups that just won’t go away, the nostalgia factor is high at these kitschy restaurants whose offerings seem more engineered for Instagram than human consumption.

The Download: Friends wouldn’t be Friends without Central Perk, the cozy West Village coffeehouse that Ross, Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel would all hang out and catch up in throughout the sitcom’s decade-long run. Even though the ‘90s-defining series is long over, the show still has a tight grip on popular culture. Case in point: plans to build a physical Central Perk serving Friends-themed brews like the “Pivot Blend” and “We Were on a ‘Coffee’ Break.” If the concept sounds familiar, that’s because Warner Brothers hosted a Central Perk pop-up in 2014, spawning a slew of imitators since.

Friends is hardly the only pop culture phenomenon capitalizing on its long-term popularity for restaurant pop-ups. In Los Angeles, Golden Girls fanatics flocked to a “fully immersive” fast-casual kitchen whose $50 cover earned diners a 90-minute timewarp to 1980s Miami where they could eat cheesecake in the show’s replica kitchen, replete with plant-patterned wallpaper and yellow curtains. Londoners hooked on Breaking Bad can now order molecular cocktails like “The Pinkman” and “The Heisenberg” from an RV bar decorated as a meth lab. A like-minded Istanbul coffee shop is staffed with waiters dressed in hazmat suits serving drinks out of beakers.

The final boss of kitschy restaurants has spawned at Universal Studios Hollywood, which is gearing up to open Super Nintendo World this month. When park-goers are fatigued from Mario Kart–inspired rides and the 1-Up Gift Shop, they can dine at the immersive Toadstool Cafe, a zonked-out eatery that feels like a portal to the Mushroom Kingdom. No surface in the 244-seat dining room is left untouched from the franchise’s polka-dot mushroom motif and cartoonish flourishes such as the bright green Warp Pipes protruding from the ceiling. Patrons nosh on aptly named Italian fare (Piranha Plant Caprese, Luigi Burger With Pesto, and Princess Peach Cupcakes) that pays vivid homage to their Nintendo namesakes.

What’s fueling the current spate of pop culture–driven culinary experiences? Social media, mostly—just about every detail inside the Toadstool Cafe seems cooked up for TikTok rather than human consumption, from the digital windows projecting views into the Mushroom Kingdom to mustaches grilled atop the Mario and Luigi Burgers. Photo ops also abound at the Golden Girls Kitchen. Who wouldn’t want to visit Blanche’s Boudoir and selfie in front of a rose-festooned neon artwork that says “thank you for being a friend?”

There’s also the nostalgia factor. At the onset of the pandemic, fictional universes from Animal Crossing to Westworld satisfied our escapist yearnings or reminded us of simpler times. A nine-dollar Princess Peach Cupcake is a small price to pay for some peace of mind and social media clout.

In Their Own Words: “There are gamers, and there are people who kind of understand games, and then there are non-gamers,” Joe Corfino, vice president of Universal Creative, tells Eater. “And the important part is no matter which one of those three categories you fall into, it’s all about immersing you in a magical environment and having a great time.”

Surface Says: We’re curious to try Sophia Petrillo’s lasagne and be served by hazmat-suited bartenders, but Austin’s Big Tiny takes fantasy dining to unmatched levels. Challenge us to “simulated combat” if you disagree.

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Beyoncé may have become history’s most decorated musician after receiving her 32nd Grammy Award over the weekend, even if the internet is still ablaze over her Album of the Year snub. But the closely watched ceremony also served as a secret showcase for another barrier-breaking artist in a different medium. Backdropping the action on giant screens were shape-shifting abstract visuals by Refik Anadol, the Turkish-American digital artist whose “machine hallucinations” currently illuminate the Museum of Modern Art and are available as a series of NFTs on OpenSea.

For the ceremony, Anadol trained a machine-learning algorithm on deep-space photographs captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and 300 million images of trees and flowers, which generate swirling visuals in real time that never repeat. “This, to me, is very poetic,” Anadol told Hyperallergic. “It’s technically photos of our past, and the memories of the universe.” It seems fitting that Anadol would find a major showcase at the Grammys, which was held at the controversially christened Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles.

Charles and Ray Eames are enshrined among the 20th century’s most influential creative visionaries whose contributions to design need no introduction. The husband-and-wife duo pioneered the Kazam! Machine, an apparatus used to steam bend and mold their plywood furniture, and which can also shape skateboards. This caught the attention of skateboard maker Globe, which joined forces with Eames Office to create decks that showcase three Eames signatures: Hang-It-All, Molded Plywood Sculpture, and Solar Do-Nothing Machine. Outlines of each are subtracted from matte white ink to reveal the boards’ walnut and rosewood veneer, lending textural intrigue befitting placement on a wall.

Eames and Globe may seem like strange bedfellows, but the two share far more common ground than plywood molding. Globe’s sustainable outlook includes working with the National Forest Foundation to plant more than three times the amount of trees harvested to source their wood. It’s also a family business that doesn’t fool around when it comes to “serious play.” Byron Atwood, CEO of the Eames Office and the couple’s grandson, is bullish on brand partnerships, recently teaming with Reebok and Gelato Pique on collections that bring his grandparents’ wisdom to an entirely new generation. Case in point: “Toys are not really as innocent as they look,” Charles famously observed. “Toys and games are preludes to serious ideas.”

When: Until March 11

Where: Claire Oliver Gallery, New York

What: Adebunmi Gbadebo uses indigo, rice paper, cotton, human hair, and ceramic creations to explore the plight of her ancestors, who were enslaved at the True Blue plantation in Fort Motte, South Carolina. The effect is powerful; ceramics made from the soil in which her ancestors are buried, on the plantation, are displayed along with architectural fragments from structures built by her ancestors’ forced labor.

“I’ve been dedicated to exploring materials, like rice, indigo and cotton, whose origins as commodities were born of violence and enslavement,” Gbadebo says. “My newest work is even more intimate and personal: I crafted ceramic vessels from the very land once cleared by my ancestors as a way to commemorate what they endured and as a way to activate the land, using it and shaping it. The making of the work has been a practice of healing and care for their memories and what remains of their physical bodies—it’s in the soil.”

Pet-centric design is getting fancier. From staging home renovations and decor overhauls that prioritize Fido’s needs and perfumed pooch products from a 12th-century fragrance house to paws-itively extravagant fine dining, the power of the dog is irrefutable.

For example: In a recent Instagram post, splurgy British paint brand Farrow & Ball shared an aspirational shower photo. It featured Shaker-style cabinets done up in the brand’s self-described “moody” mustard-yellow paint, complementary toile wallcoverings from 19th-century wallpaper brand Morris & Co., hefty brass cabinet pulls, and magnificent stone flooring that wouldn’t look out of place in a 16th-century abbey. The photo—which amassed more than 30,000 likes, well over triple the usual for the brand—doesn’t show a human’s status-shower, but a Weimaraner’s.

Firms like Sabbe Interior Design, who designed that Instagram-famous dog shower, and Martha O’Hara, who created sleek kitchen cabinets to hide pet food and water bowls, are increasingly fielding requests for features “tail”-or made for furry family members.

Room57 Gallery is driven by the idea that art and design discovery should be organic, and that collectors should be able to personally engage with works before bringing them into their home. The exhibition space creates the impression of an upscale home rather than a gallery, incorporating an eclectic yet clean curation of works from paintings and photography to furniture, decor, and more.

Surface Says: A forward-looking space that isn’t afraid to blend styles and disciplines, Room57 Gallery stands out for its dynamic, apartment-like setting and exhibitions that embrace the rising vanguard of digital artists.

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