The dining area is great due to the surprisingly diverse drink menu. Everything from frozen cocktails to an array of martinis are available, besides the typical bar foods like nachos in mammoth portions. But most importantly, a front stage area is host to karaoke nights, where drunken barflies can belt out "Total Eclipse of the Heart" while the rest of the clientele cheers on. That's why King's is more of a theme park than a bar. Actually, its better than a theme park, because we don't recall strolling through Six Flags with tequila shots and beers in our hands. So if you want to embrace your inner child while imbibing adult beverages, head on over to King's to luxuriate in your castle.

King's [MenuPages]
King's [Official Site]

[Photo: Clubzone]

Tom Colicchio has a lot going for him. A pile of wildly successful Craft-branded restaurants far flung throughout the country, national celebrity as host of Top Chef, an oh-so-shiny bald pate. But one thing his fame and fortune haven't delivered is the one thing he started with in the first place: A kitchen of his own, where he could man the stoves himself and directly oversee the plating and service of a handful of happy diners.

So now that he's rich and famous enough to build a small, humble restaurant, he's building himself a small, humble restaurant: the tentatively-named Tom: Tuesday Dinner, which will be located in the private dining room of his New York Craft flagship, and will run dinner service every other Tuesday, to the tune of a few benjamins a head. The first seating is October 14.

While we can see this raising eyebrows in some circles, and we certainly see the ironic circularity of the situation, we are ultimately of the opinion that this kind of return-to-the-kitchen situation is precisely what's needed to counteract the current national scourge of celeb chef empires. For every Mario Batali, who can effortlessly pull off helming Babbo in New York and Osteria Mozza in LA with equal aplomb, there are a dozen wannabe-national chefs like Marcus Samuelsson, whose C-House flounders helplessly in Chicago while in New York, his Merkato 55 circles the drain. Not to mention Wolfgang Puck, who has become little more than a glorified Chef Boyardee: a well-known name and a smiling face, readily available on soup cans and in your grocer's freezer.

What Colicchio's doing is a smart antidote to Puck-style market oversaturation (or Samuelsson-style too-much-too-soon). While anyone with basic cable knows Tom's name and face, and anyone in New York, Atlanta, LA, or Las Vegas is within 30 minutes of a menu he's personally signed off on, he's taking it one step further. He's simultaneously appeasing his original fans, the ones who knew him by taste instead of by DVR, and also shoring up the core value of his celebrity. Both of these, fortuitously, are achieved merely by offering the real thing: Himself, in a kitchen, making a plate of food just for you.

Colicchio Cooks! [Diner's Journal]
Name This Restaurant [Diner's Journal]
More Details on Colicchio’s New Project, Tom: Tables Now Available! [Grub Street]
Craft [MenuPages]
Craft [Official Site]

So, Robert Parker wants us to boycott restaurants that over-charge for wine. The publisher of Wine Advocate reportedly writes in an upcoming article that restaurants jacking up the price of wine is, "nothing more or less than a legitimized mugging."

Strong words, no doubt. But for as much as we'd like to see his campaign work, it might be a non-starter. Parker decries the idea of wine as "a luxury item," but the fact is, for many people, it really is a luxury item. Take, for example, the recent study that found more expensive wine tastes better. And, as long as there is disposable income left in this country, somebody's probably going to dispose of theirs on fancy wines.

But he's right that it's infuriating to know you're overpaying by as much as 500 percent simply because other suckers out there are willing to do so. So yeah, go ahead and boycott those places that gouge you into the poorhouse, but you may just have to write them off for good. We don't think they're going to see the light any time soon.

if you do still want enjoy a glass of wine the next time you're out to dinner, get a look at Lettie Teague's Food and Wine tips for getting the best deals in a restaurant. Also, check out this 2003 New York Times article on how wines are priced.

Robert Parker Says Stop Eating at Restaurants with Unfairly High Wine Prices [Serious Eats]
Tips: A Cheapskate’s Wine Rules [Food And Wine]
Why Wine Costs What It Does [NY Times]

[Photo: Two Buck Chuck via Kables/flickr]

If you stop into Sol Azteca, we suggest starting off your meal with one of their many flavors of margaritas. Also, you can never go wrong with the fajitas, which can be filled with shrimp, chicken, beef, or vegetables. There's even a kid's menu, which is perfect if you want to make your trip to Sol Azteca a family affair. But no matter what you decide to pick from the menu, we guarantee this "sol" will shine brightly.

Sol Azteca [MenuPages]
Sol Azteca [Official Site]

[Photo: My Recipes]

• Today the new FDA country-of-origin labeling requirements go into effect for produce and meat! [Seattle Times]

• ... for most produce and meat, that is. Mixed vegetables and Spam are exempt. [Bloomberg]

• Part of yesterday's failed bailout included a bill that would prevent non-ambulatory cattle from entering the food supply. [Pork Magazine {a real publication!)]

• Cadbury, Heinz, and Mars are all pulling their Chinese-made products, as they may contain melamine. Sigh. [Telegraph]

• Voters in California are debating Proposition 2, which would mandate that farm animals — including swine, veal, and chickens — be uncaged. In related news, why don't we live in California? [SF Chron]

Let no one tell you that you can't live forever: immortality has been discovered -- well, for a burger, anyway. Death eludes the indomitable McDonald's hamburger. Consider the following evidence, via Serious Eats and courtesy of Karen Hanrahan's website, bestwellnessconsultant.com:

The burger on the left, purchased 12 years ago looks exactly the same as the burger on the right, circa 2008. No wrinkling, no discoloration... the cosmetic industry ought to take a hint.

The Big Mac's source of fountain of youth is not, as popular conspiracy theories would have us believe, children who had been sucked into the ball pits, but rather an elixir blend of powerful anti-aging ingredients: distilled monoglycerides, DATEM, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, guar gum, mono-and diglycerides, calcium peroxide, calcium propionate and sodium propionate. And that's just the bun.

Now the patty is a real puzzle. According to the McDonald's website, the patty is composed of
"100% pure USDA inspected beef; no fillers, no extenders. Prepared with grill seasoning (salt, black pepper)." But this doesn't quite explain why meat that ought to have rotted beyond recognition still looks like a recent order. Got theories on this subject? Send us a line.

I leave you with one thought, however: wouldn't it be embarrassing (or poignant, depending on your point of view) if a millennium from now, an advanced future race discovered the only remaining fragment of our civilization -- the soul-less, youthful carcass of a cheeseburger? And, in any case, aren't there better alternatives?

12-Year Old McDonald's Hamburger, Still Looking Good [Serious Eats]
1996 McDonalds Hamburger [bestwellnessconsultant.com]
McDonald's USA Ingredients Listing for Popular Menu Items [McDonald's USA Official Site]

[Photo: Via bestwellnessconsultant.com]

Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Big names, big fun.

Art Smith's shrimp and grits.

When they took the stage at Chicago Gourmet Sunday for a cooking demonstration, it was like getting a sneak peak into what that show would be like.

Both Gand and Smith are obviously at home in front of an audience because of the time they have spent in front of the camera, and they know how to put on a good show. They even had cookware prizes to give away! But there was also something more personal about their presentation.

The two friends cook together behind-the-scenes at events but rarely in public. Still, they know each other well. So Gand and Smith kicked things off by cracking open a bottle of wine. They raised a glass to Chicago Gourmet. Then they got busy helping each other cook.

Gand made apple fritters. And Smith whipped the egg whites for her. Smith made his famous shrimp and grits. And Gand helped with the sauce. Then they opened some champagne.

It was fun watching these two play in the kitchen! They share a love for food and cooking that's positively contagious.

I wish they'd come cook in my kitchen. As it is, I'm about to go heat up leftovers in the microwave.

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

Gale Gand and Art Smith play in the kitchen.

Closings

Allston: Fun Food Snackery has closed down due to a lackluster location. However, rumor has it the owners are planning to move to a new space. Where that is, we'll just have to wait and see. [Chowhound]

Chinatown: King Fung Garden officially closed as of Monday night. Luckily, the owner's second location, King Fung Garden II in Brookline, is much more successful. This is one of those rare occasions when the sequel beats the original. [Boston Herald]

[Photo: Daylife]

Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Hitting The Bottle

Jackie Shen telling her story at Chicago Gourmet.

"Honey, it comes from a bottle!" Shen admitted, with a rather devious smile during her "East Meets West: Wok and Wisk" seminar Sunday at Chicago Gourmet.

Of course Shen does a ton of stuff to that bottled sauce before she serves it.

You need to have a good foundation in cooking to know what to do, she says. Inspiration doesn't just strike. Finding the right balance of flavors is all about knowing what you're working with — and trial and error.

Shen went on to talk about how her entire cooking career has been about finding that balance. Originally trained as a French chef, she got bored with the cuisine (especially the sauces) about seven years ago and decided she needed a change.

"My dad said, you're not a chef anyway; you know nothing about Asian food," she said. "I wanted to prove him wrong!"

So Shen asked her mom to visit and teach her how to make wontons. She started to focus on the food she ate as a child in Hong Kong but didn't know how to make. And once she had a solid foundation in Asian cooking, she started to think of ways to fuse it with western-style food.

"I've had a good time going from fire to wok," said Shen. "People are traveling more, and trying new flavors. There can be balance between them."

Shen is currently exploring this further in a cookbook she is collaborating on in addition to teaching at Kendall College and working at Red Light.

One thing is for sure: I need to try that sauce from a bottle as soon as possible. Red Light here I come!

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

A story on the Barf Blog today raises a question so disturbing that much of our restaurant-o-phile readership will probably shudder at the very thought. But the evidence is there: Some restaurant and institutional kitchen food poisoning may be deliberate.

It's not pretty, but when you think we've all probably harbored some kind of sick revenge fantasy against a boss from hell or a job from hell or some such thing, you have to admit it's totally possible that some of the food poisoning cases in the world are no accident.

Barf Blog refers to a story of an International House of Pancakes in Texas that has been linked to more than 100 salmonella cases over the last five months. Police are investigating, and while they stopped short of calling the contamination intentional, they said they were, "investigating every option."

But don't let it scare you too bad. Really, when was the last time you heard a substantiated case of this kind of attack? Plus, it's one of those things you absolutely can't predict. So just try not to think about it, okay?

But do avoid the IHOP at I-40 and Western Street in Amarillo. Intentional or no, that's a shameful track record.

How much food poisoning is deliberate? [Barf Blog]
Over 100 salmonella cases linked to IHOP [KVII Texas]
Food Safety for First Responders [Centers for Disease Control]

[Photo: Food Poisoning Microbes via Braintree District Council]

There are many a French bistro around town that serve a perfectly acceptable platter of goodies, but few rise to the top as Hamersley's can. You have never had such a perfect plate of chicken. You have never had such a perfectly crisp fruit tart. Perfect portions make it possible to sample from every course without discomfort. And even down to the most simple but often ruined parts of the meal, you have never had such fresh bread, save that summer in Paris you lived upstairs from a baker. You get the idea, right?

But after all the years we've been patronizing the ol' HB, all the delicious menu swaps and seasonal comings and goings, the one thing that never changes is the service - sometimes literally. An impeccably informed and kind staff can be hard to come by, but the bistro management is arguably as professional as the kitchen, employing many a server for years on end. Take it from us. In all our years of waiting tables, we never had a boss we wanted to hang with for more than a year, tops. But at Hamersley's, they stay for years. We love knowing that everyone in the place is being treated as well as we are.

Hamersley's Bistro [MenuPages]
Hamersley's Bistro [Official Site]

[Photo: jcheng/Flickr]

Editor's Note: Former MP: Chicago editor Adam Peltz left MenuPages this summer for the greener pastures of law school in Boston. We were very sad. When he filed this dispatch from the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, however, we were filled with joy again. Enjoy! -Leila

As a new arrival to Boston, I'm only slowly starting to get a sense of the Phantom Gourmet phenomenon and the surrounding Cult of Purple. Food festivals usually center around a particular food item (lobster, strawberries, pickles), an ethnicity (Italian, Caribbean) or a city's restaurants (Taste of Chicago, for example). But the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, held in Fenway last Saturday, is a celebration of one person's favorite foods, and an apocryphal person at that.

This is worth an aside. Aren't food critics already anonymous? Yes, but the trouble with having a name is you can often attach a face, since most food critics had at least semi-visible prior lives (the New York Times's Frank Bruni, formerly the Rome bureau chief, famously has a grainy photo of his mug splashed on the walls of every major kitchen in the city, thwarting his attempts to critize in secret under fictional aliases).

What do we know about the Phantom Gourmet? And by "we," I mean Wikipedia. It seems that the PG is a real person, gender unknown, who resides in neither Boston nor Providence and has a penchant for pizza. Meanwhile, the Phantom Gourmet qua corporation is owned by David Andelman, who occasionally narrates for the TV show that's hosted by his brother, Dan. Neither brother is purported to be the Phantom Gourmet; however, one can surmise that the image of the Phantom Gourmet, swaddled as he or she is in purple cape and top hat, is entirely their invention.

So I suppose I can...thank them for the purple beads that were thrown around my neck as I turned onto Lansdowne Street to collect my forty dollar will-call ticket for the Festival (kind of a lot considering that even water was a la carte). I was unprepared for the number of people dressed in purple — some in a whole hell of a lot of purple — but I was prepared to eat.

Doesn't this look great? It wasn't. The chocolate cupake from Kickass Cupcakes in Somerville certainly kicked something, namely my teeth when I tried to bite into it. Stale as a Mitt Romney joke! And the chocolate ribbons on top were just as hard, making it an extremely challenging and disappointing bite.

This Cheesesteak from the suburban Cheesesteak Guys had a pleasing texture, but was salty, a little flavorless, and most puzzling of all, lacked cheese. Isn't that disqualifying?

More uncomfortable comfort food after the jump...

Chicken pot pie in a little cup is kind of adorable! Harrow's in Reading is famous for them (famous enough to have www.chickenpie.com as their URL), but one of the best parts of CPP is a crispy, flaky crust, and this sample was very soggy. Certainly a hazard of serving food like this en masse outside, but that ought to be considered when signing up to participate. Also, it was a tad bland.

Redbones in Somerville does a brisk business, and this tender pulled pork with spicy sauce stacks up well against New England barbecue. None of this was consolation to a Texan I was with, who took a bite and simply looked sad. However, everyone liked the lightly curried pickle that came with the set.

Wholly Cannoli out of Worcester certainly has a unique interpretation of the Italian dessert. This is basically a cube of whipped cream, surrounded by a chocolate shell covered with chopped nuts. I'm not really sure what the discoloration is on the right — sugar drip? — but I ate it and it didn't make me sick. Actually, the confection was pretty tasty, even if I'd be hard-pressed to call it a cannoli.

These broccoli rabe spring rolls from Exchange Street Bistro in Malden were a big oily fail. Whereas the soggyness of the chicken pot pie crust was a disappointment, the greasy, flaccid coverings of these spring rolls were an unmitigated disaster. The broccoli rabe itself was undercooked and bitter, and the horseradish mustard sauce, dribbled over the rolls like so much misdirected semen, was unhelpfully sharp and one-dimensional.

Gee, could someone explain to me the logo for The Sausage Guy, who you may have seen around Fenway on game day? This lady riding the rocket imagery is TOO SUBTLE. I think it has something to do with green cheese, like on the Moon where she's probably headed?

Okay but seriously, the sausage was truly disappointing. To be fair, when it got to my turn, the Sausage Guy had just served his last queued-up tube and had to reload, meaning I didn't get the benefit of all those extra minutes of sausage and pepper searing on the filthy griddle. But that doesn't excuse the fact that the meat was only half the length of the bun (which was terrible on the merits), or that half the meat was actually onion, and the whole package tasted like the color gray even after the addition of mustard. I threw almost the whole thing out. On the other hand, the guy was a good enough sport to pose for this picture, which is currently my desktop background. So not a total loss!

There were things that I actually liked: Spike's Junkyard Dogs was doing something right with their Texas Barbecue 100% beef frank; Black Cow Ice Cream of Millis and Natick made a good choice in serving cake batter ice cream, a smart substitute for vanilla; Finz Seafood in Salem and Dedham bucked the trend by producing an genuinely crispy calamari, served with a well-considered tangy Buffalo sauce.

Otherwise, the generally middling fare from suburban chain restaurants did not speak well to the Phantom Gourmet's taste level. If these are the PG's favorite dishes in the Boston area, I'd shudder to think what didn't make the cut.

The crowd, however, made it all worthwhile:

Pirouetting plump purple people pageant!

Chicago put itself on the front burner this past weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, were on the scene. From Sunday: Tasting California.

In the tasting tent.

Stefen Soltysaik from Rodney Strong Vineyards was my guide; his wine seminar at Chicago Gourmet, called "Examination of Cool to Warm Climate Cabernet Sauvignon," was excellent. We were each given four glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon. The first three glasses were from different Rodney Strong wineries in the valley, and the fourth glass was the vineyard's current pride and joy, the 2005 Rockaway blend.

Then the geography lesson began, and Soltysaik explained how climate impacts wine. Each glass was incredibly different because of the location of the winery where it was produced.

As we tasted and learned more, Soltysaik also detailed how the wine we were drinking was made.

It was a fascinating and well-put-together presentation. I've taken a variety of wine tours and have gone to a number of tastings. This one was far-and- away the most educational and entertaining I've attended.

The wine was spectacular too… especially the Rockaway 2005! I sought out that wine and sipped some more at the Grand Cru Tasting later in the day. It just might inspire me to go to Sonoma one day. (As if I really needed an excuse!)

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

• Uh-oh, Jack-o-Lantern (and pumpkin baked good) enthusiasts! Too much rain this summer = poor pumpkin harvest this fall. [Boston Globe]

• The poisoned milk disaster spreads its melamine tainted tentacles even further, with news that White Rabbit candies, the inexplicably tasty vanilla-flavored chews, are NSFE (not safe for eating). [LA Times]

• The North Dakota Farmer's Union is opening a restaurant in Washington, D.C., and they're shooting for making it the "greenest" in the city. Ironically, since this demands an emphasis on local crops, most of the food will not come from North Dakota farms. [AP]

• Would you like Starbucks in exchange for your empty milk carton? RecycleBank awards per pounds recycled, and those points can be redeemed for Starbucks, groceries, Coca-Cola products and more. Filling your tummy by emptying your bottles and cans? Pretty sweet deal. [Newsweek]

• 103,000 pounds. Sound heavy? That is how much meat the Utah Food Bank got from 4-H members across the state, in an incredibly weighty donation. [The Salt Lake Tribune]

Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: How to taste wine.

Lined up and ready to pour.

"Food is full of fat, and wine is acidic," he explained Saturday during a wine seminar at Chicago Gourmet. "Think about eating steak. You're essentially coating your palate with fat. As you sip wine, it cleans your palate so you can taste the next bite."

The first bite is always the best, he continued, and when you pair food with wine you get 30 first bites.

That's a good reason to become a wine lover, and once you start tasting a variety of wine it's a whole new world.

In the seminar "Tasting the Masters' Way," Dame walked us through that world a bit with a blind tasting. He detailed techniques sommeliers use to identify and appreciate wine and discussed what it takes to become a sommelier. Some of his best tips:

• Identify the scents in the wine you're about to taste. What fruits do you smell?
• Look at the color of the wine. Is it bright? Clear?
• Keep in mind that white wines grow darker with age and red wines grow lighter.
• Swish your wine around. Look at the legs. Wines with a lot of tannins are fuller-bodied wines.
• Taste a variety of wine. It will surprise you.
• Take notes whenever practical.
• Enhance your skill with taste tests — especially blind ones.

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: Food demos!

Jose Garces, head chef at Chicago's Mercat a la Planxa, prepares octopus.

No joke. This simple technique, known as scaring, tenderizes the octopus, making it more succulent to eat.

Jose Garces, the head chef at Chicago's Mercat a la Planxa, explained this to a captive audience yesterday during a Best of Spain and Mexico cooking demonstration at Chicago Gourmet.

Sharing the stage with Rick Bayless, Garces got everyone's attention before he even started cooking, simply by holding up the octopus. Then he showed us how to cook it. I know I'm not ready to give this a shot myself, but it was utterly fascinating to watch. Until yesterday, I had absolutely no idea how to "scare" an octopus.

You know what else? Start saving the corks from the red wine you drink. When you throw them in the boiling water with the octopus it adds to the flavor. Cool, huh?

Watching a cooking demo at Chicago Gourmet is what I imagine it would be like to be on the set of a cooking show that airs on the Food Network. The stage at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park is currently the home of a snazzy looking kitchen set, complete with professional appliances and cookware. Large mirrors hang over the prep tables so that you can watch the chefs work.

And it's really fun to watch a great chef cook. They make it look easy. Cooking and plating well is an art… and I like to see it as it happens.

Having said that, I must admit that I don't watch cooking demos often. That's because I find it very dissatisfying not to be able to taste the food I'm watching people prepare. I know for a fact that if I were to make the same dish myself it wouldn't taste as good. So I was really hoping to get to taste the food after watching live cooking demos.

No such luck. In some cases, I could find samples of the dish made in a demo at a tasting table later in the day, but not always.

Still, the demos were great to watch and they may even inspire me to cook! Garces certainly inspired me to eat: Tammy and I made our way Mercat a la Planxa for dinner last night and splurged on not one, but two orders of octopus.

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

After the jump, photos of Rick Bayless's two demo dishes, plus salted cactus!

Rick Bayless' demo dish: Stewed ribeye.

A sample portion of the ribeye, served up at a tasting table later.

Salted cactus from another demo, "The Best of Latin Flavors."

[All photos by Tammy Green. All rights reserved.]

Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. Today: Where's the food?

Dried fruit display at Pastoral Artisan Cheese

My tummy was rumbling when I arrived at the main entrance Saturday morning, primed to sample everything Chicago's best chefs had to throw at me. It turns out that wasn't much.

The majority of the booths at the main event, located on the lawn of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, offered wine, not food.

"Isn't there supposed to be a Grand Cru Wine Tasting later today?" I asked Tammy, my Chicago Bites co-host, as she photographed the scene.

"Yeah."

"So what's with all the wine?" I asked, baffled. "Where's the food?"

So we set out on a tireless quest to find something to eat, relentlessly foraging from booth to booth.

The booths themselves were lovely. Many looked professionally designed, and were decorated with phenomenal flower arrangements and tempting pictures of food or large reproductions of restaurant menus. But time after time, we walked away with brochures and nothing to eat.

Then we saw a line stretching out of the Chaise Lounge booth… they were serving crab cake and salad! Victory!

"Have another plate," the owner said, after I'd devoured my first. "I've never been to a food fest with so little food."

True. And here's the kicker: I'd venture a guess that all that wine drove up ticket prices. So folks paid $100 to get in and drink on empty stomachs because they thought they were paying to eat.

Tammy and I were able to ferret out a few more food tastings throughout the day. But they was sparse and meat-heavy. Tammy is a "fussitarian": She eats fish but no meat. So she sat by patiently while I tried things like chicken salad wraps and bacon-and-onion tartlets.

She did get to sample A Mano's olive oil gelato though, which was one of the food highlights of my day. We both enjoyed Kefir smoothies from Star Fruit café in the Whole Foods kids' area, and there were a couple of booths with dried fruits and excellent cheese. I loved Rick Bayless' rib eye steak dish. But of course Tammy couldn't eat that.

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

The crab cake at the Chaise Lounge booth was a saving grace.

[All photos by Tammy Green. All rights reserved.]

Chicago puts itself on the front burner this weekend with the inaugural Chicago Gourmet, a weekend-long festival of food and wine attended by chefs and sommeliers near and far. Special MenuPages correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green, of the dining podcast Chicago Bites, are on the scene. First up: The opening night reception.

When you know the bartender, the headwaiter, or the bus boy, you're in for a better dining experience. These are the folks whose service can make or break an evening.

So, when I spotted Carol, an acquaintance I met years ago through work, behind the bar last night at Chicago Gourmet's kickoff in Millennium Park, I had an inkling it was going to be an amazing night.

"I didn't even know you were a bartender!" I said, wandering over to say hello, while the press photographers were busy snapping shots of Mayor Daley.

"One of my four jobs," she replied with a smile. "This is such a cool event, isn't it?" she said, pouring me a glass of wine. "You've got to try the Seven Daughters white, it a blend of seven grapes. You'll love it!"

Chicago Gourmet aims to solidify the city's place as an international food contender through a series of cooking demos, seminars, and tastings this weekend. And the food I sampled last night was great, but it wasn't the most striking part of the launch.

The most striking part was a prevailing sense of excitement. Every chef and attendee I chatted with shared Carol's enthusiasm for the event and seemed genuinely thrilled that Chicago is finally flexing some culinary muscle. Last night's reception was attended mostly by presenting chefs, the media, and corporate sponsors, but it was anything but stuffy. It was more like a jolly convention of foodies.

I still have to wonder though if Chicago Gourmet will resonate with the general public. In Chicago, we're used to having a street fair every 15 minutes during the summer, so a weekend of food is nothing new. And as a result, we're also pros at eating food on a stick in a tent.

Ticket prices, chocolate pepper macaroons, and worries for the future, after the jump!

John Penn's salad gives me hope that the British won't starve!

The local lineup showcases Chicago's best, but just as impressive is the event's international flavor. Chefs from Chicago's sister cities throughout the world have flown in to participate, and last night there was much buzz about the 2016 Olympic bid.

In between chats with fellow foodies, I did manage to taste everything. The standouts for me were the tuna tartar starters, and the desserts – especially the chocolate pepper macaroons. Many of the main dish tastings were game heavy – featuring veal and ostrich. I didn't really like them, but appreciated what they were going for.

My favorite dish of the evening was John Penn's Haricot Vert Salad, a refreshing medley with some of the tastiest tomato and olive garnish I've ever had.

Penn is visiting from England, and when I lived there, I ate to live, not because I wanted to eat. If Penn's salad is any indication, he has the potential to greatly improve the food scene on the other side of the pond. He's a culinary teacher too… so he's passing his knowledge to others! There's hope!

The Risotto with Veal Sweatbread & Crawfish Moussaka was rich and flavorful, but not my thing.

My initial impression of Chicago Gourmet is good. But I do wish the price tag wasn't so high (although I'm told that it is much less expensive than similar events in New York) because everyone should have the opportunity to taste the best Chicago has to offer.

Will folks pay the price and show up for events today? Or will corporate sponsors make up the majority again? I'll keep you posted! No matter what, I'm looking forward to good eats. And I'd better get to it.

—BRIDGET HOULIHAN

[All photos by Tammy Green. All rights reserved.]

• Bostonians are dumbstruck with grief after a grease fires one of the area's best burger joints. [MP: Boston]

• Graham Elliot Bowles is misinformed about a lot. [MP: Chicago]

• Business Week is approximately fifteen years behind the times in its list of up and coming neighborhoods. [MP: Philadelphia]

• Resolved: there's no good reason to prevent a taco truck from parking outside a high school. [MP: San Francisco]

• A Floridian chain has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in one year. [MP: South Florida]

Grimy sub and pizza shops are a dime a dozen in Allston. Trust us, we've seen a few too many of them on weekend afternoons, attempting to curb our hangover appetites. A lot of these dives - because they are just that - leave us feeling uninspired and sort of gross. So why write up one more diner-esque spot full of pajama-clad undergrads?

Because the Cookin' Cafe & Grill does a few things better than its contemporaries. For starters, they serve breakfast all day. None of this "we stop brunch at 3pm" crap, they're still rolling out the pancakes at 5pm. So maybe nobody is still hungover at 5pm. That isn't the point. The point is that the option exists. Cookin Cafe fills this weird little niche, and we love it.

The other thing that keeps us coming back? It's more like they come back, over and over, with their fast breakfast delivery service. Who else brings fresh OJ and an egg sandwich to your door? And for well under $10 for a hearty breakfast? Sign us up. It's better than a bowl of Cheerios.

Cookin' Cafe & Grill [MenuPages]

[Photo: Kapungo/Flickr]

While much of the talent is homegrown — Frontera's Rick Bayless, Top Chef's Stephanie Izard, Gale Gand of Tru and PBS — the festival's got global reach, with chefs and wine experts flying in from all over: from Terrance Brennan of New York's Picholine and Maricel Presilla of Hoboken, NJ's criminally delicious Cucharamama and Zafra, to Mpuhe Dhlomo of Africa Meets Europe in Durban, South Africa and Francesca Marsetti from Milan's Brasserie Iseo Brescia.

Of course, MenuPages will be on the scene as well: special correspondents Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green (of the can't-miss dining podcast Chicago Bites) will be bringing their formidable skills to the table, filing regular reports throughout the weekend, starting with tonight's opening night gala.

For cop-out Friday, check out this classic Sesame Street video with Grover doing his best impression of yours truly as a waiter. No, not really. But seriously? If we're ever called upon to take up the mantle of the service industry once more, we're totally going to forgo a notebook in favor of Grover's rhyming memory technique. "Round and tasty on a bun..."

So much Thai, so little time. We know - we feel your pain. So we do what works for us: have a standby list for every neighborhood. You never know where you're gonna be when a craving strikes.

House of Siam is one of the better bets in the South End when we get a hankering for Thai goodness. Their enormous menu covers such a range of options, we have the unending dilemma of big selection restaurants: try something new or choose the old standby. Our fallback favorites like the crispy duck or pad Thai are easy to select, but didn't we want to try to branch out, try the mango fried rice? Like we said, so much Thai, so little time.

HoS is also a particularly nice spot for a quiet dinner. Their small but not teeny and crowded dining room might fill up, but somehow, the noise in here never becomes an issue. A perfect location for a meeting or dinner date, you know, if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

House of Siam [MenuPages]

[Photo: Frenkieb/Flickr]

• Europe is concerned that their condensed milk could be of the tainted Chinese variety. [New York Times]

• People in Japan and Taiwan have already become sickened by the melamine-tainted milk. [Washington Post]

• Hong Kong residents are staying as far away from food imported from China as possible. [Bloomberg]

• Here in the U.S., we don't need to worry about tainted food because the FDA has the resources to stay on top of it. Oh wait. They totally don't. [Chicago Tribune]

• Even amidst the financial meltdown, there's good news for at least one group of rich people: McDonald's shareholders. [LA Times]

We wrote about the delightfully eccentric Kenny Shopsin, of New York's Shopsin's, but a couple days ago and that same night, he appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. For those readers who have never been to Shopsin's, and perhaps may never go, this clip is a pretty stellar example (minus a lot of cursing) of what to expect from Mr. Shopsin. For those who have, he's in fine form, no?

The video is a fun watch, not only for the way these two banter (seriously, have two people ever looked more perplexed and befuddled by the other?), but also, because of what they cook up. Mac and cheese pancakes? A pancake with a tiny little burger in it? S'MORES PANCAKES? Kenny Shopsin is truly blowing our mind with all of these reinventions!

What's more, this video &mdash plus all of the Shopsin-mania swirling around the release of his cookbook &mdash just happens to fall during the same week as National Pancake Day, which is tomorrow. As far as coincidences go, this one could hardly get better: Shopsin has whet pancake appetites nationwide + you basically have no recourse but to stuff your face with pancakes tomorrow.

We can't all rush to Shopsin's for mac and cheese pancakes, but that doesn't mean that there aren't mighty fine pancakes to be found elsewhere in the country. So run on down to Martin's Coffee Shop tomorrow and remind yourself what a real short stack tastes like. Hell, order yourself a side of macaroni and see what happens.

Shopsin's [MenuPages]
Shopsin's [Official Site]

Much more than its name suggests, IQ is a complexly wonderful, just-below-ground-level bistro with an overly attentive staff, delicious options at any time of the day, and those crazy little curried sauces we love. What makes India Quality the stuff of dreams is their consistency: not once over the years have they served us a single mediocre meal. It's the place where you can guarantee to draw a smile from a hostile date, your overbearing parents, a scorned lover.

There are far too many favorites to list them all, but we recommend the garlic naan, pakoras, Malai Kofta, and kheer (you know, rice pudding) to get you started. Not familiar with Indian food? What an unassuming place to start. Despite all the accolades this place receives - ours part of a long history of IQ love - this place remains humble to the eye and happy to help new customers get comfortable. Next time you walk through the door, don't be surprised if they remember you.

India Quality [MenuPages]
India Quality [Official Site]

[Photo: Moe_/Flickr]

So, um, remember that Swiss Chef we reported on, who was playing with the idea of using human milk in his restaurant dishes? Yeah, well guess who lurrrrved that story? PETA, of course.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals hopped right on the human milk bandwagon, sending a letter to Ben and Jerry's co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield asking them to replace cow milk with human milk in their famously counterculture-embracing ice cream.

The ice cream mavens politely declined, PETA reported in its blog:

In response to our letter, Ben and Jerry's issued the following statement: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child." Hey, guys, that's our point: Cow's milk is for baby cows.

The Breast Is Best! PETA Asks Ben & Jerry's to Dump Dairy and Go With Human Milk Instead [PETA Media Center]
Update: PETA to Ben and Jerry's: Breast Is Best! [The PETA Files]
Find-A-food Search [MenuPages]

[Photo: Via Cherry Hill Drive-In]

Okay, to be fair, none of us have a sibling quite like that. But it's nice to dream, right? But siblings come to mind when we traverse the South End. In addition to Tremont Street's more obviously named Sibling Rivalry, Sister Sorel down the block conjures memories of shared holiday presents, racing our bikes...you know, kid stuff. But Sorel's, the - yes, we'll go there - sister bar to Tremont 647 isn't for tikes. It is, however, sort of like it's neighboring restaurant took off the training wheels. Too many metaphors? Then let's get down to what matters.

Drinks! Mixed drinks of all shapes and sizes are served ridiculously fast in this tiny bar, and many an option is on tap, as well. And while we know that size doesn't matter, this square footage of this bar alone may make one question just how social they feel. No worries - grab another mojito from your friendly server and you'll be chatting up new folks in no time. One tip though: Sister Sorel is often filled to the brim with good lookin' fellas, though ladies be warned, they may not swing your way. Go to relax and come home feeling refreshed. And maybe a little hungover. Don't worry - we won't tattle.

Tremont 647 [MenuPages]
Tremont 647 [Official Site]

[Photo: adactio/Flickr]

• If it weren't for that pesky financial crash, this Chinese food safety thing would be really big news. As it is, you may not have heard that all sorts of potentially contaminated products are being yanked in all sorts of countries. [CNN]

• When San Francisco passed a health-care mandate, some restaurants tacked on a surcharge. Now a New York City grocery store is doing the same and blaming the high cost of energy. [Newsday]

• A London restaurant is offering a meal meant to replicate the diet of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. It contains 6,000 calories, but no penguin. [Times Online]

• Pity the French. Really. They had a good thing going with the long lunch, and now they're not only cutting that short, their options are shrinking as restaurants across France shutter in these tough times. [Business Week]

I've known quite a few picky eaters. A roommate once dated a guy for a year who would only eat in chain restaurants. (My reaction: "And you went on more than one date with him?") A friend is terrified of mayonnaise and begins to hyperventilate at the mere thought of mayo being in anything she's already ingested.* And I once dated a guy who wouldn't eat eggs or anything with even a hint of spice. (That relationship ended very, very quickly.)

But that was nothing compared to some of the people interviewed for this Globe and Mail article. One guy will only eat dry chicken, well-done steak and sauce-free veggies. (That's him in the video, attempting to eat pizza, which he did not like. Who doesn't like pizza?!) Then there's the other guy who has eaten the same thing for lunch for the past decade: peanut butter on crackers with a glass of milk.

The first inclination is to label them spoiled brats — which they are, to the same extent we all are; none of us is threatened with starvation, so we have the luxury of picking and choosing what we eat — but after reading through the comments too, I'm beginning to think that this isn't just some childish thing. These people have a serious disorder. Imagine how socially crippling it would be to not be able to hold down most foods. It made me feel a bit sympathetic towards these ridiculously picky eaters.

That said, God help me if I ever give birth to a picky eater. I love food too much, and I just don't have that kind of patience.

Burgers make me gag [Globe and Mail]
TJ vs pizza [YouTube]

We're pretty much obsessed with fish. Grilled, baked, pan-seared, we love it all. So on our quest for a Boston restaurant that has an endless list of formerly-swimming food, we came across the famous New England restaurant McCormick & Schmick's. While maintaining an upscale atmosphere with its superior service and sea-inspired decor, the menu remains affordable. Despite debating over around five dishes from the menu that lists the exact location where the fish is flown in from, we decided to go for the sesame crusted halibut served over lo mein. Needless to say, there was nothing left on the plate by the end of our meal.

While we revel in our fish obsession, we're well aware that many people have an equally intense opinion, except its one of disgust. That's where M & C's diverse menu of beef options comes into play. If you're looking for a steak matched with creamy mashed potatoes that taste better than Thanksgiving at your momma's, McCormick & Schmick's is the place to be.

Also deserving of a shoutout is the dessert menu, which features everything from cheesecake dripping with blueberry sauce to a chocolate mousse sundae our waitress described as "a bowl of fudge." Paired with a pinot grigio from the wine list that's thicker than an issue of Vogue, you've got the ideal meal. So no matter whether you're a fish-lover or hater, be sure to have a meal at McCormick & Schmick's. You'll find the evening will go over swimmingly.

McCormick & Schmick's [MenuPages]
McCormick & Schmick's [Official Site]

[Photo: Riroads]

Wow, talk about a clash of the food-politics titans. Check out this debate between sustainable food guru Michael Pollan and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant, held at a Google-sponsored forum.

They're talking about pretty important issues, and in a way, each seems like something of a caricature of his side. Grant wants to solve the world's hunger problems through the magic of (Monsanto) technology, while Pollan argues for many local, sustainable solutions, developed at a grass-roots level, by people so hungry they can barely keep themselves alive. There's an element of evil corporate suit vs. idealist college professor, but that's as much a pre-existing stereotype as it is a reality. They're both pretty astute and articulate.

It's good viewing, even if few of the world's problems are solved by the end. Most people don't want to eat crops that were developed in a lab, nor can they afford grass-fed steaks from New York's Blue Hill. But at least debates like this get companies like Monsanto out of the backrooms of government, and idealists like Pollan out of the ivory tower.

Slow Food Vs. Monsanto [Grist Mill]
Blue Hill [MenuPages]
Blue Hill [Official Site]

Walking into Banq is truly a feast for the eyes. The ceiling is more like a piece of installation art than something to keep the roof in place. It resembles the insides of a grand piano flipped upside down. The bar area is perfect for grabbing a cocktail with friends. For a twist on a classic drink, order the sangria. It's a fruity mix of white wine, peach puree, nectarines with apricot brandy, and orange blossom water. However, Banq isn't simply for drinkers. The restaurant describes its cuisine as contemporary French with Southeast Asian flair. An example would be the luscious pan-seared yellow back flounder served over jasmine rice and ginger pilaf, accompanied by coconut brie fondue. If that's not a French-Asian fusion, we don't know what is.

So while you won't find any tellers at Banq (or robbers, for that matter), you will find delicious food and cocktails to unwind with. You can surely bank on that.

Banq [MenuPages]
Banq [Official Site]

[Photo: Archpaper]

• The French are moving away from long, lazy lunches to sandwiches eaten at their desks, and cafes in Paris are suffering. Naturally, this is really big news over there, lots of hand-wringing involved. [The Independent]

• And now fast food is making serious inroads in the Mediterranean, and the kids are getting much fatter because of it. [NYT]

• Hot oatmeal is the top seller among the new food items at Starbucks. It's great news for the company since profit margins for the oatmeal are among the highest. Which is usually a good indication that it's so cheap and easy you should be making it at home. [Reuters]

• Scandal in the food industry: it seems there may have been some price fixing among California tomato processors. [SFGate]

• Kolkata (aka Calcutta) in India has banned smoking in restaurants after October 2. [Times of India]

If you don't know this restaurant, you should: New York's Shopsin's, perhaps one of the quirkiest, oddest, most delightful, most infuriating restaurants in the world, which is presided over by Kenny Shopsin, who is himself one of the quirkiest, oddest, most delightful, most infuriating restaurateurs in the world.

Shopsin's is famous for any number of reasons: the 900-plus-item menu, the draconian dining room rules (no parties greater than 4, no two people at the same table ordering the same dish), the seeming infinity of Kenny's cantankerousness, the Calvin Trillin treatment in The New Yorker, the sign reading "All our cooks wear condoms."

And then, of course, there is the food: Blisters on my Sisters (sort of like huevos rancheros), Egg Nachos (exactly what it sounds like), Slutty Cakes (pancakes filled with pumpkin and peanut butter), Mac n Chees