Bethenny Frankel was busy keeping the Hamptons skinny this summer. Over at “Supermodel Cafe,” you could order a Rage Bait sandwich, a $43 Nepo Baby bagel, and a 100 calorie cheesecake. Before the pop-up closed up over Labor Day weekend, the so-called queen of chicken salad and skinny expert sat down with Mel Ottenberg for a taste test. “We’ve been through low-carb, we’ve been through Atkins, we’ve been through South Beach,” she says of her expertise. Over a few skinny bites (but not too many), the pair discussed Frankel’s time on Bravo, her Burning Man era, and embracing the everlasting hate.
SATURDAY 10:51 AM SEPTEMBER 5, 2026, MONTAUK
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BETHENNY FRANKEL: Are you ready?
MEL OTTENBERG: I’m ready for you. I want to order.
FRANKEL: You want to get your food. Let’s try it all.
OTTENBERG: What’s a Rage Bait [sandwich]?
FRANKEL: What is in a Rage Bait again?
CAFE EMPLOYEE 1: It’s chicken salad with a bump of caviar.
FRANKEL: Everything’s my recipe, but someone else obviously made it. You thought we were making cheesecakes in my apartment?
OTTENBERG: I can’t wait to try it.
FRANKEL: It’s been such a discourse online. People love it. And then some people were like, “This is a small bagel.” I’m like, “It’s a Supermodel bagel.” You know what I mean? It’s not a giant H&H bagel, a bagel the size of my ass.
OTTENBERG: Yeah, that’s not good for the supermodels.
FRANKEL: Yeah. It’s not a gigantic bagel. This is 100 calories, with 10 grams of protein. Everything’s low-calorie.
OTTENBERG: Is everyone too obsessed with protein?
FRANKEL: I think so. It’s so annoying. I’m doing it for the people, but I don’t particularly give a shit. Everyone’s adding protein powder to everything, which I think is dumb.
OTTENBERG: It’s not for me.
FRANKEL: I don’t know how old you are, but—
OTTENBERG: 50.
FRANKEL: Okay. So we’ve been through low-carb, we’ve been through Atkins, we’ve been through South Beach.
OTTENBERG: I lost 22 pounds on South Beach, but I gained it all back.
FRANKEL: We’ve been through it all, so we know that this will not last forever.
OTTENBERG: It’s true. So I need to have the Nepo Baby sandwich and the Rage Bait sandwich, which is the chicken salad, and then a cheesecake.
FRANKEL: Well, you have to have a Supermodel too.
CAFE EMPLOYEE 1: The Supermodel is turkey, tomato, Everything But the Bagel seasoning, and it has spicy sriracha cottage cheese spread.
OTTENBERG: I have to have it.
FRANKEL: Just get them. Get them all. Take a bite.
CAFE EMPLOYEE 1: One of each?
OTTENBERG: Sure. This is Bethenny’s thermos. We’ve got to find out what’s in it.
FRANKEL: Hydration packets. Thirsty bitch. Always have water. And these are the electrolytes and creatine. I just got back from Burning Man, so—
OTTENBERG: How are you feeling?
FRANKEL: I’m okay. It was insane, strange. I slept a little. I got a massage yesterday. By the way, there’s no way to do it bougie. Everybody still has sand up their ass. It doesn’t matter. I need a minute to process before I fully articulate what it is because it’s been in waves. I understand and respect the experience. I personally would not go back unless something happens.
OTTENBERG: Did you go because after your misdiagnosis you were like, “Fuck it, I always want to go to Burning Man?”
FRANKEL: I never wanted to go to Burning Man. I went because I was invited. I was going to back out and then I’m like, “I committed. Let’s have an experience. I will try anything once.” Not drugs though.
OTTENBERG: You don’t do D-R-U-G-S?
FRANKEL: No, I do not do any D-R-U-G-S. I’m in the airport ready to get on a small plane and we just started and a girl is sitting where you are just like, “I don’t want to drink. I prefer LSD.” And then one morning going up to the sunrise DJ set at 4:30 in the morning, people get up and go out and it’s pitch black, someone in a basket like this is like, “Mushroom, anyone?” “I’m good.” In that place, which is not a controlled environment for me, I can’t imagine trying anything. I’d sooner do LSD in this Supermodel Cafe, you know what I mean?
OTTENBERG: Yes. 100%. I have a question for you. Have you turned your channels into a reality show? Are you pumping it with producers and everything? Because I’m riveted.
FRANKEL: No. Chanel was a series. The Burning Man is now a series. It’s all me. I shoot it.
OTTENBERG: Oh, I know, but you’re doing it as your own schedule?
FRANKEL: No, it wasn’t proactive. It’s always been haphazard. So the Burning Man of it all was just like, “Oh, I’m going.” And of course it’ll be good content. I didn’t even know that thing on the top of the trailer would be good. I do one take, and I put it in. I’m bored and I just do it. But before when this cafe was opening, I called a production partner that I know and this is what I used to say to Bravo, “Get the fucking cameras up now. We’re doing this thing and this has to be ready in three and a half weeks.” So it could bomb, it could be good. No one could show up and I wouldn’t mind. The truth is I don’t ever want it to be too produced.
OTTENBERG: Yeah, it’s one and done.
FRANKEL: It’s better. It’s more homemade. It’s like a lemonade stand.
OTTENBERG: Yes. This is the Rage Bait sandwich.
FRANKEL: Because I have so many haters, we had to have a Rage Bait.
OTTENBERG: What do you think about hate? Does it fuel you? Does it inspire you? Viva hate, I always say.
FRANKEL: I think it’s good for my daughter to see how I handle things, because you’re going to get hate no matter what.
OTTENBERG: The chicken salad is pretty good. But like you were saying, we come from the 2000s, we come from the South Beach Diet.
FRANKEL: Atkins.
OTTENBERG: I never did that. Did you do that?
FRANKEL: No, because it’s too salty and constipating.
OTTENBERG: Have you ever been on a diet?
FRANKEL: Until my 30s, I was always restricting, always because I grew up in a house of dieting and drugs and everything else. In my 30s I just released it, which is when I wrote the book Naturally Thin, which was about allowing and indulging. Hence, the skinny margarita was about being able to have a margarita. It still had some sweetness, but you could trust it. It was never about restricting, it was about allowing. This is allowing.
OTTENBERG: This is pretty good. Everyone warned me I’d hate it, but I don’t. It’s definitely Skinny Girl, but it’s kind of fucking good.
FRANKEL: Well, you’re going to be able to get them on the menu in New York.
OTTENBERG: So it’s for real, you were working on New York today with somebody? Goldberg’s?
FRANKEL: No.
OTTENBERG: This was just a fun and done thing?
FRANKEL: This was a, “Let’s see what lives.” It was a great R&D test case. I may open a cafe in Florida just because my daughter came in every day and that was a dream. That would be like the Peach Pit on 90210. We have a house in Boca. So she wants me to go there, which is where all the Jews are. They’re going to love it.
OTTENBERG: Are you Jewish? No. You’re just Jew-adjacent.
FRANKEL: Jew-ish.
OTTENBERG: Is this the Nepo Baby?
FRANKEL: That’s the Nepo Baby. It’s almost like a mockery of a bagel with the onion and it’s got the caviar, tomato.
OTTENBERG: This is $43.
FRANKEL: Yeah. That’s been polarizing. My opinion is you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. It’s an Hermès bag. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You’re welcome. Fuck off.
OTTENBERG: I’m having the matcha.
FRANKEL: And you were obsessed with which?
OTTENBERG: I’m eating the chicken salad right now, and I fuck with it.
FRANKEL: Well, you’re going to take some home. Amazing.
OTTENBERG: Yeah. I like a chunky chicken salad too, but I like this blended chicken salad. This is good skinny girl shit, you know? For skinny bitches, which I would love to be one.
FRANKEL: Well, you’re taking some home and getting skinnier by the minute. So back to the hate, I didn’t realize the first time I had been going viral was for people going after me. At the same time, my podcast was getting millions and millions of downloads. So it took a while for me to understand that hate is, I don’t want to say, good. I’m not looking for it. I’m not actually rage baiting people. I do it naturally. I’m a natural rage baiter. But it drives people crazy that each time I’m getting hate that they can’t fully pull me down. They think they’re going to be able to get me down the drain. They’re so close because so many people are talking about hating me and then I pop back up again like one of those fucking balloon dolls. This place is packed all day and you’re seeing videos that say, “I’m obsessed with it,” and then you’re seeing videos saying, “I hate it.” And I’m like, “Great.” I’m open to criticism. Hate is okay.
OTTENBERG: I just want to say, in conclusion, I fuck with the chicken salad. I didn’t like the Nepo Baby as much because I liked the chicken salad. I didn’t like the Supermodel as much because I liked the chicken salad. The really good news is, and this is the most important thing because it’s Bethenny Frankel, is that I like the chicken salad. I think it’s time for me to try the cheesecake.
FRANKEL: The raspberry one, you’ll start crying.
OTTENBERG: I’m going to cry. I fuck with this too. Wait, how many calories is this? 100.
FRANKEL: 100. Here’s the thing, cheesecake is not an everyday event. So my partner, I said to him, “People are going to go crazy because it’s Bethenny. People won’t eat cheesecake every day and now they will.”
OTTENBERG: This isn’t 100 calories.
FRANKEL: That one’s more because that has the raspberry in it. It’s probably 160 maybe, but still. You can eat this for breakfast. You can use it for a snack instead of a bar. It’s protein.
OTTENBERG: This is better than a bar. Yeah. This is your new skinny wine.
FRANKEL: It’s a more elevated version of the Skinnygirl. You’re allowing yourself to have something that’s traditionally not allowed. Traditionally, people are afraid of bagels. They’re afraid of cheesecake. That’s the difference.
OTTENBERG: I’m afraid of cheesecake.
FRANKEL: Not anymore. That’s the point.
OTTENBERG: Would you ever go on a reality show again?
FRANKEL: No, because you sit at a table with a bunch of suits telling you what’s going to work, what’s not. Three months later, the cameras go up. Six months later, it’s going to be on the air. Then you’ve got to do a talk show service. It’s dead. It’s over. The moment happened.
OTTENBERG: Thoughts on Carole Radziwill going back to Real Housewives of New York?
FRANKEL: Good for her and good for them. I don’t watch reality TV and that’s no shade. I don’t know the medium anymore. I can’t imagine being there all these years later. It feels like you’re going back to your high school and you’re like, “Wait, is this still happening here?” How many years has it been out?
OTTENBERG: Since Cartagena, which is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on TV.
FRANKEL: I saw Jeff Lewis went back on. I was like, “Great move.” This is not a shady comment. The show provided a medium for women who might’ve been married, might’ve had a career in a former life, and they’re at an age where you’re not really entering into the job market in the same way. And so this gave them all a platform to still be working and relevant.
OTTENBERG: Fuck yeah.
FRANKEL: I’m doing pretty well. Other people should all go rise with the tide.
OTTENBERG: What’s your biggest moneymaker in 2026?
FRANKEL: I make a ridiculous amount of money from brand deals because they get the awareness or the criticism about what they need to correct. The customer wins because someone is cutting through and being honest about what sucks and what doesn’t. I’ll say something sucks from a company I’m going to work with, which is why I have no exclusivity. If I have exclusivity, then I have to be shackled to them and pretend everything’s good. So that was the thing that Emma Grede was shocked by. “I’ve been in this business for all these years, I’ve never heard of anyone not being exclusive with the kind of money you’re making.”
OTTENBERG: Are you wearing your lashes?
FRANKEL: I’m glad you asked. Yes, I am.
OTTENBERG: Fabulous. Who makes your dress?
FRANKEL: This is Jonathan Simkhai.
OTTENBERG: It looks good on you. Who makes the shoes?
FRANKEL: These are Altar’d State, like a cheapo, nothing.
OTTENBERG: Incredible.
FRANKEL: What am I going to do? I mean, Chanel and Hermès aren’t giving me anything. Would I wear their shit? No.
OTTENBERG: Will you give me this hat?
FRANKEL: Yeah, of course, but you need a giant Supermodel sweatshirt.
OTTENBERG: I will get one.
FRANKEL: What made you want to come in here?
OTTENBERG: I was in Provincetown for August, and I was watching your videos, and then I was watching the reviewers and the haters and the lovers. I was like, “This is amazing. Why would you not want to come?”
FRANKEL: But you were already coming to the Hamptons?
OTTENBERG: No, I wasn’t. I was in Cape Cod, but I was like, “Oh, I really want to go.” Our audience is watching. Whether they care to admit it, our audience is loving Bethenny Frankel TikTok.
FRANKEL: How do you know?
OTTENBERG: I just feel it in my bones.
