Photo by Matthew Suárez

“There are still tears,” says Tina, “but it’s a lot less. In the beginning, there were tears every day. Then it was maybe every other day. Now, it’s just once or twice a week.”

Drinking and kids don’t mix

Your cover story for April 8, “There are still tears,” was offensive and racist. The cover depicted two brown children and a woman with her head deep in a giant wine glass. Latter in the article you display a picture of “Del Mar Tina” counting done the minutes to wine thirty. Del Mar Tina looks like she took the early flight to drunk city in the next photo.

If you are portraying a story about drunks please do not show children. Already wined up Tina looked white but the association with brown children made the story doubly bad. Next time you use children as story background use you own.

• John Stump
• City Heights

Gaslamp Tavern’s Chef Nick Brune says, “We were kind of working our way towards a cloud kitchen model for the future… covid just fast-forwarded that.

Photograph by Matthew Suárez

Algorithmic foodies

Admittedly, I was a bit shocked reading how well established the ghost kitchen industry has become (“San Diego’s ghost kitchens,” Cover Stories, March 31). Its the ultimate drop shipping business. Perhaps it is turning food delivery into a commodity. Get a space, get your food handler certs and trust the algos.

I respect the entrepreneurs who have jumped in, pivoted and are making a go of it. Perfect for busy consumer or for the failed home chef. If only we knew the cooks, could trust that the kitchen is sanitary, that someone poured their hearts and souls into preparation and did their best to get it right. Wait, why do I go to restaurants again?

• John Stack
• Vista