Almost exactly a year ago, we introduced you to our new chief restaurant critics, Tejal Rao and Ligaya Mishan.

David Gardner, The Times’s director of employee storytelling, and Sarah Bahr, an editor who writes about culture and style, recently conducted separate interviews with Tejal and Ligaya to see what they’ve been eating. We’ve combined excerpts from the two conversations here.

What were the highlights from the year?

Tejal: Barbs B Q in Lockhart, and all of the excellent barbecue that I ate in Texas. Every meal at Diane’s in Minneapolis, but especially the chicken soup for breakfast. And the tasting menu at Emeril’s in New Orleans, which totally took me by surprise and reminded me that tasting menus can actually be fun.

Ligaya: I just completed the top 100 restaurants in New York City list. I feel like I’ve run a marathon. There were days when I ate at five restaurants in a day, and I was going all over town. Sometimes the subway ride was much longer than the actual meal.

Your jobs depend on being able to get reservations at the hottest restaurants — and you don’t cut the line. What are your tips?

Tejal: Nobody wants to hear this, but go at terrible times! Very early or very late. Also, if they accept walk-ins, give it a shot and be willing to wait.

Ligaya: You just have to devote hours of your life to it. I set multiple alarms for when reservations drop. Sometimes I’m working the apps on both mobile and desktop. I’ve found that if you keep refreshing in the first hour, time slots disappear but then pop back up. A lot of reservations now require full payment up front, and people back out.

You read a lot when dining alone. What book has stayed with you?

Tejal: I just finished “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” by Kiran Desai. The characters are still with me. It was such an immersive experience, I sometimes forgot where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.

Ligaya: “Spring Snow” by Yukio Mishima. It’s so full of quiet violence of emotions in a very buttoned-up society.

What’s your go-to meal at home at the moment?

Ligaya: My husband is the best chef in the city. My happiest meals are just vegetables and rice. The way he roasts carrots and eggplant — it’s so good.

Tejal: We do a lot of — in part because it’s easy and something my toddler loves to eat too — a stack of crisp nori, hot rice, a little protein of some kind and everyone’s favorite condiments. But after I’ve been on a trip, I truly crave and appreciate good salads.

What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve eaten in the past year?

Tejal: I have a few of those humiliating parent-of-toddler meals just eating things I don’t want my daughter to waste: A dried out quarter of a PB&J, half a squished apricot, a bit of cold chicken that may or may not have been chewed on already, who can say?

Ligaya: When I’m stuck at my desk writing, I eat a lot of Yasso bars. Sometimes like four a day, if the writing’s not going well.

When you’re just dining out for fun, do you order dessert?

Tejal: Yes.

Ligaya: 100 percent.

Butter or olive oil?

Tejal: Butter.

Ligaya: Olive oil.

Sweet or salty?

Tejal: Salty.

Ligaya: Both at once.

You can read Sarah’s full conversation with the critics here. And sign up to get our restaurants newsletter, “Where to Eat,” delivered to your inbox.

THE LATEST NEWS

War in the Middle East

• Protests in Albania set off by an episode at the site of a development project partly financed by Jared Kushner are actually about local politics, participants say.

• A court in Pakistan sentenced the father and an uncle of a 14-year-old girl from New York to life imprisonment for her killing. The father told investigators that her clothing choices, lifestyle and social relationships had brought shame to his family.

Other Big Stories

• The Times asked scholars across America to identify historical figures who shaped the country — and whose legacies remain debated. Read about eight. (We’ve made this link free for you.)

• A TikTok trend promoting the benefits of protein is a factor in a cottage cheese shortage.

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

A Times investigation revealed how the industry around kratom, a drug sold at convenience stores that is linked to thousands of deaths, has benefited from close ties to the Trump administration. Should the government ban kratom?

Yes. Kratom is a dangerous drug and the government has failed to act on it for too long, Kevin Sabet writes for the Washington Examiner: “Between 2020 and 2024, nearly 5,300 people died from overdoses involving kratom. From celebrities to everyday teenagers, our failed approach to kratom impacts Americans of all stripes.”

No. The war on drugs proved that bans just lead to black markets and dangerous drug use. Kratom should instead be regulated, Bryan Mauk writes for the Dayton Daily News: “Criminalizing users of kratom derivatives would do little to address addiction. In fact, the trauma of incarceration often worsens substance use and leaves lasting scars on families and communities.”

Leopard print: You can spot the Congolese World Cup team’s style a mile away.

Ask the therapist: A couple wonders why their family doesn’t support their estrangement from their toxic daughter. (We’ve made this link free for you.)

Metropolitan Diary: A special anniversary column, with some notable contributors.

Master of the sitcom: James Burrows helped create “Cheers” and directed more than 1,000 episodes of hit shows like “Taxi,” “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.” He died at 85.

WORLD CUP

Deniz Undav of Germany is making a pretty good case that he can be a true scorer. After bagging a goal as a sub in the team’s opening match, he added two more against Ivory Coast.

Curaçao got its first-ever World Cup point with a draw against Ecuador, thanks to the goalkeeper Eloy Room’s 15 saves. He may have tied the record held by the U.S. legend Tim Howard.

The Netherlands’ 5-1 defeat of Sweden made for tactically interesting viewing despite the final score.

Japan scored four goals — the most by an Asian team in a World Cup game — in an impressive 4-0 win over Tunisia.

A tiny private school in New Jersey has played host to World Cup teams for decades. Why? (We’ve made this link free for you.)

A NEW SHOW FROM ‘SERIAL’

True crime podcasts are ubiquitous, thanks in large part to “Serial,” which defined the medium when it came out in 2014. A new show from the “Serial” team twists a convention of the genre: the re-investigation of cases in which men on death row claim innocence. “The Last 12 Weeks” focuses on the “habeas” lawyers who spend years fighting to spare clients from execution. One is a profanity-spewing cowboy. Another is austere, eating plain turkey and cheese sandwiches in a motel as he awaits word from the court. You really cannot predict the fate of the convicted serial killer they’re working to clear — a man known as the Desert Killer — until the very end.

You can listen to the whole five-episode series here. Or hear the show in the podcast app of your choice: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon

THE INTERVIEW

This week’s subject for The Interview is Danny McBride, who is known for his wounded, vulgar and beloved male characters in shows like “The Righteous Gemstones” and “Eastbound & Down.” McBride is now publishing his first collection of short stories, “Thrilling Tales of Modern Men.”

A lot of the characters in the book are struggling to find purpose in their life, or they’re looking for meaning. Maybe because they feel emasculated or feel anxiety about their status. Where do you think people find meaning and purpose?

I grew up going to church. My mom was a puppet minister. My parents were really involved. After they got divorced when I was in sixth grade, we just stopped going. So now I have kids, and church isn’t really a part of our life either. And I started thinking, there are all these basic things I learned from going to church, basic morals and values, and I’m taking for granted that my kids are going to pick all that stuff up from the world around them, but they’re not. You do have to think about that.

Can you tell me about your mom’s puppet ministry? Maybe I’m betraying my own ignorance here, but I wasn’t really aware that was a thing.

You seem like you’d be really into puppet ministry.

I actually like puppet ministry, but I mean puppets of the band Ministry.

[Laughs] When I was a kid, we went to this little Baptist church in Spotsylvania, Va. My mom bought these puppets, and she would write these plays and do the children’s sermons during church. On Sunday mornings, we would load the stage and the puppets into the car and go to church early to help her get set up. I kept those puppets for a long time. I didn’t know what to do with them. You have these puppets that your mom had when you were a kid. The idea of them sitting in a dumpster somewhere is heartbreaking.

The perfect pancakes have crisp edges, fluffy centers and are easy to cook even if you’re not fully caffeinated. Melissa Clark’s recipe hits all the right notes. It uses buttermilk for tang, a combination of baking soda and powder for lightness and a touch of honey or sugar for gentle sweetness.