High blood pressure remains one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, and cardiologists have spent years trying to explain why some cases stay elevated even after standard treatment. New March 2026 findings narrowed that question to a specific subgroup: patients with resistant hypertension, whose blood pressure remains high despite taking multiple medications. Researchers now say excess cortisol may be another hidden cause in a substantial share of those cases.

Researchers tied resistant hypertension to excess cortisol in a large U.S. study

Corcept Therapeutics presented late-breaking data from its MOMENTUM trial at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session on March 28, 2026, reporting that 27.3% of 1,086 screened patients with resistant hypertension had hypercortisolism, according to the company and a concurrent Mount Sinai summary of the findings. Resistant hypertension was defined using American Heart Association criteria, meaning blood pressure remained uncontrolled despite the use of three or more medications.

That scale matters because MOMENTUM was described by Corcept and study investigators as the first large, U.S.-based observational multicenter study focused on endogenous hypercortisolism in resistant hypertension. The result translates to 297 patients with excess cortisol in the screened population, a rate researchers said was higher than many clinicians had expected in this setting.

Investigators said hypercortisolism, sometimes associated with Cushing syndrome, can be difficult to recognize because patients may not show the classic physical signs that typically prompt endocrine testing. The study’s message was not that cortisol explains all hypertension, but that it may account for a meaningful portion of difficult-to-control cases that otherwise look routine in cardiology practice.

What the findings mean in the U.S., and what is still not known locally

The confirmed impact of the study is national rather than state-specific. MOMENTUM enrolled patients across multiple U.S. centers, and the public materials tied to the research identify participating institutions in states including Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. However, researchers have not released a full public site-by-site enrollment breakdown, so it is not yet possible to say how many patients came from any one state or metro area.

That leaves important local questions unanswered. The study materials do not provide city-level prevalence figures, nor do they identify whether any specific state had a higher or lower share of resistant hypertension patients with hypercortisolism. They also do not show how many community clinics versus large academic centers contributed patients.

For patients and physicians, the immediate takeaway is more practical than geographic. The data suggest that some people being treated repeatedly for “essential” or unexplained resistant hypertension may actually have an identifiable hormone disorder. Mount Sinai said the findings support broader recognition that excess cortisol could be contributing to blood pressure that does not respond as expected to standard therapy.

Why researchers say this is important for treatment and next steps

The broader medical context helps explain why the findings drew attention. The American Heart Association said in its July 17, 2025 science advisory that about 15% to 20% of patients with hypertension have treatment-resistant disease, highlighting the need for new approaches. That advisory focused on the gut microbiome as an emerging factor in blood pressure regulation, showing that the field has increasingly moved beyond older one-cause explanations.

MOMENTUM points to a different pathway: hormone imbalance. Excess cortisol can affect blood pressure through several mechanisms, including fluid balance, vascular tone, and metabolic stress, which is why endocrinologists have long linked Cushing syndrome to hypertension. What is new here is the apparent frequency of elevated cortisol in a large resistant-hypertension population that was screened systematically rather than identified only after obvious symptoms appeared.

What this means for patients is still being defined. The March 2026 presentation does not establish that every patient with resistant hypertension should receive the same workup, and it does not prove that treating hypercortisolism will normalize blood pressure in every case. It does, however, give clinicians a stronger factual basis to consider endocrine screening in hard-to-control cases, while research continues on which patients benefit most from that approach.

A liver disease once widely discussed as fatty liver is now drawing broader national attention as obesity, diabetes, and metabolic risk factors remain common in the United States. The condition at the center of that attention is metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, a largely symptom-free illness in its early stages that can progress to scarring, liver failure, or cancer. Its rising profile sharpened on March 14, 2024, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug specifically for adults with more advanced inflammatory disease known as MASH.

The disease now affecting millions

MASLD is the updated name for what many patients and doctors previously called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Federal health materials describe it as a buildup of fat in the liver linked to metabolic dysfunction rather than heavy alcohol use. Because many people have no clear symptoms at first, it is often described by clinicians as a silent disease.

The “1 in 3 Americans” framing reflects the broad burden of disease in adults. NIDDK describes fatty liver disease as one of the most common and growing chronic liver diseases, while American Liver Foundation materials say about one in three U.S. adults are believed to have MASLD and about 20% of those patients may have the more serious inflammatory form, MASH. FDA materials issued with the first MASH drug approval stated that about 6% of U.S. adults, or roughly 14.9 million people, have MASH.

That March 14, 2024 approval covered Rezdiffra, the brand name for resmetirom, for adults with noncirrhotic MASH and moderate to advanced liver scarring, the FDA announced. The agency said the drug was approved for use alongside diet and exercise, marking the first federal approval of a treatment aimed directly at this stage of the disease. The action did not apply to all people with MASLD, but it signaled a shift from awareness alone to active treatment for a defined high-risk group.

What the U.S. impact looks like

The scope of MASLD is national, but the burden is closely tied to other common chronic conditions seen in every state. CDC data show obesity remains widespread among U.S. adults, and federal diabetes data show diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes are far more common among adults with overweight or obesity than among adults at lower weight ranges. Those patterns matter because diabetes, obesity, abnormal cholesterol, and related metabolic conditions are among the main risk factors tied to MASLD and MASH.

What is confirmed is that millions of Americans likely have liver fat disease and many do not know it. What is not yet known is exactly how many people in each state have been diagnosed, because broad prevalence estimates and confirmed case counts are not the same thing. There is also no single national patient registry that publicly lists state-by-state MASLD totals in real time.

Screening is becoming more structured in primary care and diabetes care. AASLD guidance identifies the FIB-4 blood-test calculation as a useful first step to help identify patients at higher likelihood of advanced fibrosis, and the American Diabetes Association’s 2026 standards say FIB-4 is the most cost-effective initial screening strategy for at-risk MASH in primary care and diabetes settings. That means more patients may be flagged for follow-up imaging or specialist referral even if they feel well.

Why the disease is getting more attention now

The main reason MASLD is gaining visibility is the overlap with the nation’s broader metabolic health trends. According to CDC obesity data and federal diabetes statistics, large numbers of adults are living with conditions that raise MASLD risk. Liver specialists have also emphasized that the disease can advance quietly for years, which has contributed to underdiagnosis until scarring or abnormal lab work appears.

Another reason is that medical guidance and terminology have changed. AASLD and related liver experts have adopted MASLD and MASH terminology in place of older NAFLD and NASH labels, and the updated language is increasingly appearing in clinical guidance, hospital materials, and public education. That shift is intended to align the disease name more closely with its metabolic drivers and standardize screening discussions across specialties.

For patients, the practical takeaway is narrower than the headline but still significant. The FDA-approved treatment is for adults with noncirrhotic MASH and moderate to advanced fibrosis, not for every person with liver fat, and diagnosis still depends on clinical evaluation, blood work, and often noninvasive testing, according to the FDA and AASLD guidance. Even so, the combination of broader screening recommendations, updated disease names, and the first approved therapy means this once-overlooked condition is likely to remain a larger part of routine U.S. medical care.

Fast food still dominates American dining, but not every giant is holding its ground. Behind the familiar signs and value deals, several major chains are losing visits, shuttering stores, or struggling to keep customers loyal.

That does not always mean collapse. It does mean the brands on this list are facing real pressure in a market where consumers have become more price-sensitive, less forgiving, and quicker to switch.

The chains showing the clearest signs of trouble

Subway remains one of the biggest restaurant chains in the country, yet its U.S. footprint keeps sliding. Nation’s Restaurant News reported that the chain closed 631 U.S. locations in 2024, leaving it with about 19,500 domestic restaurants, the first time it has fallen below 20,000 in roughly two decades. For a brand once defined by ubiquity, that is a major symbolic and operational setback.

Burger King is also still huge, but its domestic count has been moving in the wrong direction. QSR’s 2025 data shows the chain ended 2024 with 6,701 U.S. restaurants, down 77 from the prior year, after an even steeper decline in 2023. The company’s expensive “Reclaim the Flame” turnaround and remodel push suggest management knows the brand cannot rely on name recognition alone.

Pizza Hut and KFC, both under Yum Brands, have been wrestling with weaker traffic in the U.S. QSR reported that KFC’s year-over-year visits fell sharply early in 2024, including a double-digit drop in March, while Pizza Hut has also dealt with soft same-store sales and sluggish demand. In practical terms, both brands are fighting to stay relevant with customers trading down, cooking at home more often, or choosing faster-growing rivals.

Why America is pulling back from some old favorites

The biggest problem is not just competition. It is value perception. Across the industry, years of menu price increases changed how customers think about fast food, especially lower-income diners who once treated it as a dependable budget option. According to Revenue Management Solutions and Black Box reporting cited by QSR, quick-service traffic was down in key stretches of 2024 and 2025 even when sales held up, meaning price, not guest growth, often did the heavy lifting.

Wendy’s offers a clear example of that squeeze. QSR reported that its U.S. same-store sales fell 3.6% in Q2 2025, with July trends down even more sharply. Management pointed to weak consumer spending and overly complex promotions, a reminder that flashy limited-time offers do not always solve a basic affordability problem.

Jack in the Box has posted even more alarming numbers. In its official fiscal 2025 results, the company said same-store sales fell 7.4% in the fourth quarter and 4.2% for the full year. That kind of sustained decline usually signals more than a bad quarter. It suggests a brand that has lost momentum with core customers and has not yet found a convincing recovery formula.

Not every struggling chain is doomed, but the pressure is real

McDonald’s belongs on this conversation, though with an asterisk. It suffered a U.S. comparable-sales dip in late 2024 after the E. coli outbreak tied to slivered onions on Quarter Pounders, and its first quarter of 2025 was also soft. But unlike several peers, McDonald’s regained momentum by year-end 2025, showing that scale, operational discipline, and strong value messaging can still reverse a stumble.

That contrast is what makes the rest of the list more revealing. The chains losing America fastest are not necessarily disappearing tomorrow, but they are the ones with shrinking store counts, negative traffic, or falling same-store sales at a time when stronger brands are adapting faster. Consumers now expect speed, consistency, digital convenience, and real value all at once.

So which seven chains are losing ground most visibly? Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, and, more cautiously, McDonald’s. If your favorite is on that list, it may not be finished. But it is almost certainly under more pressure than the drive-thru line suggests.

A good homemade food should earn its place in your routine. It needs to taste noticeably better, cost less over time, or give you control that store-bought versions cannot.

That is why the smartest make-or-buy decisions are not about romance. They are about flavor, labor, safety, and whether your kitchen can realistically beat what a manufacturer already does well.

The homemade foods that truly pay you back

Bread is still one of the clearest DIY wins. A basic loaf relies on inexpensive pantry staples, and even when energy costs are factored in, home bakers can turn out bread with a better crust, softer crumb, and fewer additives than many packaged supermarket loaves. The bigger payoff is freshness: bread is one of the few foods that drops in quality almost immediately after purchase, which makes a warm homemade loaf feel like a different category altogether.

Yogurt is another smart homemade staple, especially for households that eat it often. University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension notes that yogurt can be made at home with ordinary kitchen tools and is often less expensive than buying it ready-made. It also lets you control sweetness and texture, which matters when many flavored retail cups are padded with added sugars, stabilizers, or expensive branding rather than better dairy.

Granola and salad dressing are smaller projects with outsized rewards. Homemade granola lets you decide whether the mix is oat-heavy, nut-heavy, lightly sweetened, or clustered, and Iowa State Extension recipes show how inexpensive the base formula can be when oats do most of the work. Salad dressing may be the simplest win of all: oil, acid, mustard, herbs, and salt beat many bottled versions on flavor, while avoiding the stale taste that comes from long shelf life.

The foods where homemade quality clearly beats the shelf

Tomato sauce deserves the saucepan. When you make it yourself, you can push it toward sweetness, acidity, richness, or brightness depending on the tomatoes and how long you cook them. Store-bought sauce is convenient, but it often tastes standardized by design. A homemade pot can also be batch-cooked and frozen, making the time investment easier to justify on a busy weeknight.

Pesto is worth making fresh for one simple reason: aroma. The moment basil, garlic, nuts, cheese, and olive oil are crushed together, the result has a fragrance and color that jarred pesto rarely matches. Extension food preservation guidance consistently advises freezing pesto rather than canning it, because there are no research-tested home canning recommendations for typical pesto formulas. That makes pesto an ideal make-now, freeze-later food instead of a pantry project.

Pie crust and whipped cream round out the homemade list because both are highly sensitive to freshness and handling. A homemade pie crust can be flakier and more buttery than frozen or refrigerated alternatives, while whipped cream made minutes before serving tastes cleaner and richer than shelf-stable tubs. These are not everyday necessities, but when dessert matters, technique beats packaging.

The foods you should just buy and never feel guilty about it

Mayonnaise is the clearest buy, not make, for most people. FDA food safety guidance warns that homemade mayonnaise made with raw eggs can be risky, while commercial mayonnaise uses pasteurized eggs and controlled manufacturing. Store brands also deliver stable emulsification and long refrigerated life after opening, which is difficult to match consistently at home without specialty ingredients or careful handling.

Puff pastry belongs on the buy list for a different reason: labor. True puff pastry requires repeated rolling, folding, chilling, and strict temperature control to create hundreds of layers. Good frozen versions are reliable and dramatically reduce effort, making them one of the most rational shortcuts in the freezer aisle. This is exactly the kind of product industrial precision handles better than a home schedule.

Crackers and dry pasta are also usually smarter purchases than projects. Both require a lot of repetitive work for a product that is often cheap, widely available, and highly consistent when bought. Homemade pasta can be wonderful for special occasions, but dried boxed pasta is hard to beat on value, shelf life, and convenience. The best rule is simple: make foods where freshness transforms the result, and buy the ones where manufacturing solves the harder problem.

Most people build a grocery list from recipes. Smart shoppers do the reverse.

The better strategy is to start by “shopping” your own kitchen first, then planning meals around what needs to be used, what is already stocked, and only then deciding what to buy.

Start With Inventory, Not Inspiration

A recipe-first list feels organized, but it often creates duplicates. You buy another onion when three are already in the drawer, another bag of spinach when the first one is fading, or another carton of broth while one sits half-used in the fridge. That is how food budgets quietly leak money.

A pantry-first approach fixes that by making inventory the first step. Check the refrigerator, freezer, and dry goods shelf before writing a single item down. Note what is abundant, what is running low, and what needs to be eaten soon. Recent advice from the FDA on cutting food waste specifically recommends planning meals, using shopping lists, and avoiding impulse or bulk purchases of highly perishable foods like produce and dairy.

This strategy also has evidence behind it. A 2024 study on household food waste found that careful weekly meal planning can reduce waste while improving cost and nutrition outcomes. ReFED’s 2026 food waste report also points to better grocery shopping, meal planning, and home food management as meaningful levers for reducing residential food waste.

What matters is not culinary ambition. What matters is sequence. When your list begins with inventory, every later decision becomes sharper: what meals make sense, what substitutions are easy, and what purchases are actually necessary.

Build Meals Around Shelf Life and Flexibility

Once you know what is on hand, the next step is not picking the most exciting dinner. It is sorting food by urgency. Use delicate items first, including berries, salad greens, fresh herbs, mushrooms, and opened dairy. Save longer-lasting ingredients such as carrots, cabbage, potatoes, beans, pasta, rice, and frozen vegetables for later in the week.

This is where practical shoppers outperform aspirational ones. Instead of buying ingredients for five tightly scripted meals, they create a loose framework. One roast chicken can become tacos, grain bowls, soup, or sandwiches. A bunch of scallions can work in eggs, stir-fry, baked potatoes, and salads. The point is flexibility, not repetition.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics advises shoppers to think in food groups and buy only the fresh produce they realistically need for the week. That aligns with food safety guidance from the FDA, which stresses proper storage, using covered containers, and checking leftovers daily for spoilage.

This shelf-life mindset also protects against the classic midweek collapse. If schedules change, a rigid recipe plan breaks. A flexible list built around perishability and overlap keeps meals possible even when life gets messy.

Buy the Missing Pieces, Then Protect the Food You Paid For

After inventory and meal mapping, the grocery list becomes shorter and smarter. You are no longer buying full meal identities; you are buying missing pieces. Maybe you have rice, frozen broccoli, and chicken, so all you need is garlic and lemons. Maybe a can of beans, tortillas, and salsa mean dinner is already halfway done.

That shift matters because grocery inflation may ease in broad averages while individual categories still swing month to month, according to USDA Economic Research Service data. In that environment, the most effective savings habit is often not chasing every sale. It is reducing unnecessary purchases and preventing the food you already bought from being wasted.

Protection after checkout is part of the same system. The FDA advises washing produce under running water before eating or prepping it, keeping produce separate from raw meat, and freezing foods you will not use in time. Freezing does not meaningfully change a food’s protein value, and it remains one of the simplest ways to stretch ingredients safely.

The smartest shoppers understand that the list is not the beginning of the process. It is the final edit. By the time you get to the store, your kitchen should already have told you what belongs in the cart.

Across the U.S., weight-loss advice remains a major part of the food and health conversation, even as obesity, ultra-processed foods and diet-related disease continue to shape household habits. That broader debate narrowed on August 17, 2026, when NPR’s Fresh Air featured Harvard paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman discussing why people are biologically drawn to fat and other calorie-dense foods. His central point was straightforward: the same evolutionary traits that once helped humans survive scarcity can complicate dieting in a modern food environment built around constant access.

Daniel Lieberman says human evolution helps explain fat cravings

Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology and author of Fed Up: What Evolution Reveals About Food, Diet, Health, and Eating Well, said in NPR’s August 17 interview that evolution often works against weight-loss efforts. NPR identified him in the segment as a paleoanthropologist discussing why dieting is difficult and why contradictory nutrition advice can leave consumers confused. The interview was published August 17, 2026, and focused on how human biology shapes eating behavior.

Lieberman’s argument is that humans did not evolve in a setting where rich foods were constantly available. In that context, a preference for fat made biological sense because fat is energy-dense and could help people store calories when food was uncertain. Harvard’s coverage of Lieberman’s book this month similarly described his project as an effort to explain how humans evolved to eat and why modern diets create confusion.

That helps explain why simple diet rules can break down in practice. If the brain is primed to value calorie-dense food, reducing intake is not only a matter of information or discipline. Lieberman said the body and brain can respond to dieting in ways that make long-term weight loss harder, a point that places cravings in a biological framework rather than a purely behavioral one.

What the science means for Americans trying to diet now

For U.S. consumers, the immediate takeaway is not that fat is uniquely harmful or that one branded diet has solved the problem. The confirmed point from Lieberman’s interview is narrower: cravings for rich foods reflect an evolutionary history that does not match the modern grocery aisle, restaurant market or snack economy. The interview did not present a state-by-state impact breakdown, and no public dataset tied the discussion to any one U.S. region.

What is known is that this mismatch matters in everyday dieting. Americans trying to lose weight are often navigating a food environment where highly palatable foods are cheap, visible and heavily marketed. Lieberman’s discussion, along with recent podcast summaries of his book, emphasized that the challenge is not only calories on paper but also how the brain responds to abundance, reward and routine.

What remains less certain is how much any one person can infer about an individual diet plan from the interview alone. Lieberman did not announce a new federal guideline, product change or clinical recommendation. Instead, the discussion added context to an established public-health problem: many people understand diet advice in theory, but sustaining it can be difficult when appetite systems evolved for scarcity, not surplus.

Why experts say dieting advice often collides with biology

The broader context is that modern diet culture often assumes people can override appetite with the right rule set, but Lieberman’s work argues that biology is a major part of the story. According to Harvard’s description of Fed Up, the book draws on evolutionary biology, anthropology and medical science to explain why food, health and dieting are so contested. That framing shifts the conversation away from short-term willpower alone.

Lieberman has also criticized the search for a single “optimal” diet, according to summaries of his recent media appearances. Those accounts said he has discussed the limits of rigid approaches such as all-meat, keto, paleo or similarly narrow plans when they are marketed as universal answers. His reported view is that humans are adaptable eaters, but modern food systems can exploit built-in preferences for fat, sugar and convenience.

For readers, the practical implication is that difficulty resisting high-fat foods may reflect normal biology interacting with an unusually permissive food environment. The August 17 NPR interview did not suggest that dieting is futile, but it did frame weight loss as more complicated than a slogan. The most concrete forward-looking point from Lieberman’s current book promotion is that better eating strategies may depend less on fad rules and more on understanding how appetite evolved in the first place.

Independent restaurants across California continue to face pressure from higher operating costs, shifting customer habits, and tougher competition from off-premise food businesses. In Los Angeles, that pressure is now ending a 34-year run for Sky’s Gourmet Tacos, a Mid-City restaurant that helped make its soul food-influenced tacos a local staple.

Sky’s Gourmet Tacos said it will close its Pico Boulevard restaurant after 34 years

Sky’s Gourmet Tacos confirmed that its restaurant on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles will close permanently on Aug. 15 after 34 years in business. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 29, 2026, that owner Barbara “Sky” Burrell announced the closure of the Mid-City landmark, which opened in 1992 and built a following for what Burrell has described as “Mexican with a splash of soul.”

The closure involves the restaurant’s long-running Pico Boulevard storefront, not a broader chainwide shutdown. According to the Los Angeles Times, Burrell said the full menu would remain available through Aug. 15 while the business winds down dine-in and takeout service at the location. She also said she is seeking a new space that would allow the company to continue in a catering-focused format.

The scale of the change is specific and verified: one well-known Los Angeles restaurant is ending service at its current home after more than three decades. Public reporting reviewed for this article does not indicate additional California storefront closures tied to the announcement, and the company has not released any broader statewide closure list.

The closure is centered on Mid-City Los Angeles, with no broader California location list released

What is confirmed is that the affected site is Sky’s Gourmet Tacos on Pico Boulevard in Mid-City Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times identified the restaurant as a neighborhood landmark and reported that Burrell plans to transition the business away from the current restaurant model and toward catering if she secures a new space.

What is not yet known is whether any future catering hub will remain in the same part of Los Angeles or reopen elsewhere in the city. The company has not released a detailed transition timeline beyond the Aug. 15 restaurant closing date, and it has not announced a new address. There is also no publicly confirmed list of other specific California cities affected by this decision.

The local impact is significant because the restaurant has been part of a changing Pico Boulevard business corridor. The Los Angeles Times noted that other longtime Black-owned restaurants in the area have also closed in recent years, including Roscoe’s Chicken n’ Waffles’ Pico location in January 2023 and My 2 Cents in 2025. In that context, Sky’s closure removes another established independent restaurant from a stretch of Mid-City that has seen visible turnover.

Burrell attributed the decision to costs, weaker traffic, and competition from ghost kitchens

Burrell told the Los Angeles Times that the decision was economic. She said the current restaurant model no longer made sense and pointed to a combination of rent and utility increases, reduced foot traffic, a changing restaurant industry, and growing competition from ghost kitchens.

Those factors align with pressures other California independents have cited in recent closure announcements. In Mountain View, for example, the owners of Los Portales said in January 2026 that fewer customers and higher food prices made it difficult to continue operating, reflecting the same cost-and-traffic squeeze confronting many small operators.

For customers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the Pico Boulevard restaurant is scheduled to keep serving its regular menu through Aug. 15, after which the storefront will close. Burrell told the Los Angeles Times she intends to continue the business in a catering format if a new space is secured, so the brand itself is not necessarily disappearing even as the longtime Mid-City restaurant comes to an end.

Restaurant chains are still chasing growth in a market shaped by cautious consumer spending, regional brand loyalty, and demand for fresh formats. Into that backdrop, Chicken Salad Chick has landed at the top of a new national ranking that measures which emerging restaurant brands are gaining traction with consumers. The result gives one of the South’s fastest-expanding fast-casual concepts a new data point as it pushes deeper into markets outside its traditional footprint.

Chicken Salad Chick took the top spot in YouGov’s new study

Chicken Salad Chick ranked No. 1 in YouGov’s first 2026 U.S. emerging dining brands study, according to reporting by Nation’s Restaurant News and YouGov’s published overview of the new research. Nation’s Restaurant News reported that the Atlanta-based chain posted an Emerging Momentum score of 83.2, ahead of No. 2 Cook Out at 75.3 and No. 3 Just Salad at 72.9. The top five also included Nothing Bundt Cakes and KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot.

The study screened 70 emerging brands and advanced 34 chains that had reached at least 10% national awareness, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. YouGov said the full study measures more than recognition alone, evaluating consideration, brand impression, innovation, customer experience, and whether consumers see a brand as on the rise. That made the final list a broader test of consumer momentum rather than simple name familiarity.

Chicken Salad Chick stood out across those measures, with Nation’s Restaurant News reporting that 54% of aware consumers said the brand is bringing new ideas to foodservice and also viewed it as on the rise. The publication said the chain performed especially well on innovation and upward momentum. Those findings put a measurable number behind the brand’s fast expansion and growing national profile.

The ranking matters because the chain is moving beyond its Southern base

For readers across the South, the ranking reflects a chain that already has deep regional awareness and is now using that base to expand further. YouGov said Chicken Salad Chick reached 34.4% awareness in the South, compared with 19.1% nationally, showing that the brand’s recognition remains strongest in its home region even as it grows beyond it. That regional strength helps explain why the brand could score highly in a study built around consumer perception and momentum.

The company said on July 29 that it had more than 340 restaurants open nationwide and had reached 25 states with planned summer openings in Apple Valley, Minnesota, and Allentown, Pennsylvania. Chicken Salad Chick also said it opened 42 restaurants across 14 states in 2025 and sold another 52 restaurants during the first quarter of 2026. Those figures show that the ranking arrived during an active expansion stretch rather than after a quiet operating period.

What is not yet publicly detailed is a full market-by-market breakdown tied to the YouGov ranking itself. The company has not released a state-by-state list showing which existing markets contributed most to the score, and YouGov’s public materials do not identify performance by individual city. What is confirmed is that the brand’s strongest awareness remains in the South while its current growth strategy is extending into the Midwest and Northeast.

Expansion, awareness, and category positioning help explain the result

The ranking comes as chicken remains one of the restaurant industry’s most competitive categories, but Chicken Salad Chick is positioned differently from chains built around tenders, wings, or fried chicken. Nation’s Restaurant News noted that the chain ranked ahead of several better-known emerging players by leaning into a chicken-salad-centered menu that stands apart in fast casual. In practical terms, the concept benefits from clear category distinction at a time when many restaurant brands are competing for similar occasions.

YouGov’s own methodology points to why that matters. The firm said brands had to clear a 10% national awareness threshold to advance, then were assessed on measures including consideration, innovation, and whether consumers see them as rising. A chain that can combine a strong Southern base, a recognizable niche, and visible new-market openings is likely to perform well on those dimensions.

The company has described 2026 as a period of continued national growth, and its recent announcements show that it is still entering new territories rather than only densifying existing ones. For customers, that means the ranking is less about a one-day accolade than about the chain’s growing visibility in more U.S. markets. The practical takeaway is straightforward: Chicken Salad Chick’s No. 1 finish formalizes the momentum the brand has been building as it expands beyond the South.

Some of the best food in America was born when money was tight and waste was unacceptable. These recipes lasted because they were cheap, filling, and far better than their humble ingredient lists suggested.

Why “make-do cooking” still hits today

Frugal cooking was never just about deprivation. It was about technique: stretching protein, rescuing stale bread, and turning low-cost staples into meals with texture and depth. Smithsonian’s writing on lean-time eating and Depression-era food culture shows just how inventive home cooks became when dried beans, onions, potatoes, cornmeal, and scraps had to do the heavy lifting.

That is the world that gave us dishes like beans and cornbread, potato soup, fried cabbage and noodles, milk toast, bread pudding, rice pudding, salmon patties, tomato gravy, creamed chipped beef on toast, and skillet hash. None of them needed luxury ingredients. Most relied on bulk staples, leftovers, or preserved foods that could sit in the pantry and wait.

There is solid nutritional logic behind that old wisdom. USDA nutrition guidance notes that beans deliver protein, fiber, iron, potassium, and other key nutrients, which helps explain why they anchored so many low-cost meals. A pot of beans with cornbread was not trendy “plant-forward” eating. It was dinner, and it worked.

Stale bread was another secret weapon. King Arthur Baking points out that bread pudding remains one of the classic ways to transform old bread into something rich and comforting. National Geographic has also highlighted how many cultures built signature dishes from leftovers rather than treating them as waste. Grandparents did not “upcycle.” They simply knew better than to throw away perfectly usable food.

The 10 recipes that prove less can taste like more

Beans and cornbread may be the purest example of thrift meeting satisfaction. Dried beans were cheap, shelf-stable, and filling, while cornbread came together from cornmeal, fat, salt, and leavening. Add onion, a ham hock if you had one, or even just pepper, and dinner was set.

Potato soup, skillet hash, and fried potatoes with onions all came from the same principle: the potato is endlessly stretchable. A little milk, broth, bacon drippings, or flour could turn it creamy, crisp, or hearty. That flexibility made potatoes a cornerstone of working-class kitchens for generations.

Then came the bread savers: milk toast, tomato gravy over toast, bread pudding, and rice pudding. These were texture-driven foods, not just filler. Soft custard, browned edges, and savory gravies made them comforting enough that people still cook them by choice, not necessity.

The protein-stretchers rounded out the list. Salmon patties used canned fish, crumbs, and egg to become a full meal. Creamed chipped beef on toast turned preserved meat and white sauce into something substantial, while fried cabbage and noodles proved that butter, starch, and a brassica can punch far above their price point. Even today, these recipes feel less like relics and more like proof that seasoning and know-how beat expensive groceries.

What these recipes teach modern cooks

The first lesson is that cost control starts with pantry design. Keep dried beans, rice, flour, cornmeal, potatoes, onions, canned fish, pasta, and bread in circulation, and you can build half this list on demand. That is not nostalgia talking; it is efficient household management.

The second lesson is that waste reduction improves flavor as much as it saves money. Slightly stale bread absorbs custard better. Leftover potatoes fry better. Extra rice becomes pudding or supper the next day. National Geographic’s reporting on cooking with discards makes the same point: many beloved foods began as intelligent salvage, not compromise.

The third lesson is emotional, and it matters. These meals endured because they fed people reliably, but also because they created comfort during unstable times. According to National Geographic, Americans spend far less time cooking than they did in the mid-1960s, which makes these older, simple preparations feel newly relevant.

That is why these recipes still slap. They are cheap without feeling sad, practical without being joyless, and familiar without being boring. Your grandparents were not chasing authenticity or vintage charm. They were making dinner from almost nothing, and in the process, they built some of the most durable comfort food ever cooked.

Restaurant operators across the U.S. continue to rework footprints as large dining rooms become harder to justify amid shifting customer traffic and higher operating costs. In Glenview, Hackney’s has announced that its Lake Avenue restaurant, a long-running family destination on the North Shore, will close in early September after 71 years. The move ends a decades-long run for one of the Chicago area’s best-known family-owned restaurant names at that address.

Hackney’s confirms the Lake Avenue closure after 71 years

Hackney’s announced on August 8 that its Lake Avenue restaurant at 1514 East Lake Avenue in Glenview will permanently close in early September after 71 years, according to the company’s public statement as reported by CBS Chicago and Patch. The business did not provide a final day of service, but it said the closure will take effect at the beginning of September. The restaurant has operated in that building since 1955, giving the site its 71-year run in 2026.

The closure affects one specific Glenview restaurant, not the entire Hackney’s business. Patch reported that the Masterson family, which has owned Hackney’s since 1939, is consolidating activity around the Harms Road location rather than shutting down the brand. CEO Mike Masterson said the company plans to focus on what he described as a re-energized customer experience at the remaining Glenview restaurant.

Hackney’s also confirmed that renovation work is underway at Hackney’s on Harms, located at 1241 Harms Road in Glenview. According to Patch, interior construction began July 27 and is scheduled to continue through August 27, with updates to the bar, lobby, and booths. During that work, the indoor bar and dining room are closed, while the patio and kitchen remain open.

What is confirmed in Glenview, and what has not been released

The confirmed Illinois impact is centered on Glenview. The Lake Avenue restaurant at 1514 East Lake Avenue is the location set to close, while the Harms Road restaurant at 1241 Harms Road remains open and is being updated, according to Hackney’s website and local reports. No other Illinois city was identified in the company’s current closure announcement.

What is not yet known is the exact final operating date for the Lake Avenue site. CBS Chicago reported that the owners did not give a specific date beyond saying the restaurant will close in early September. The company also has not released staffing figures tied to the closure, so the number of workers affected has not been publicly confirmed.

The company likewise has not released a broader state-by-state breakdown because the current announcement concerns a single Illinois location. For readers in Glenview, the practical takeaway is that the Lake Avenue address is winding down while the Harms Road restaurant continues service during renovations. Customers can still order from the Harms location, and the company has publicly directed Lake Avenue diners there as the next chapter of the business moves forward.

The company says changing dining habits drove the decision

Hackney’s tied the closure directly to changing restaurant usage patterns. In comments reported by Patch, Mike Masterson said a 700-seat restaurant fit the market in the 1960s but no longer fits how customers use restaurants in 2026. That statement is the clearest explanation the company has given for why the Lake Avenue site is closing now after surviving for generations.

The decision also reflects a strategy of concentrating investment in one updated property rather than operating two nearby Glenview locations. Patch reported that the company is modernizing the Harms Road restaurant while preserving its longtime character, and Masterson said the goal is a classic but updated look. That suggests the family is repositioning the business around a smaller, refreshed footprint instead of maintaining the much larger Lake Avenue dining room.

For customers and residents, the immediate expectation is continuity at Harms Road rather than a full disappearance of the brand from Glenview. Hackney’s said it hopes Lake Avenue customers will continue visiting the Harms location, which is about a mile and a half away. The company’s public message framed the closure as the end of one address, not the end of Hackney’s in Illinois.