Remember that trend, over the last year or so, of restaurants moving away from bottled water because it's bad for the environment with all its packaging, not any better than the tap and sometimes even harmful because it often is subject to more lax regulations? Did you think that was going to stick? Come on, how much money is there in not selling something?

This is more like it, from today's Washington Post:

Desalinated seawater from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "concentrated water" -- at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle. Like any concentrated beverage, it is supposed to be diluted before drinking, except that in this case, that means adding water to . . . water.

And from Tennessee, a company named BlingH2O -- whose marketing imagery features a mostly nude model improbably balancing a bottle of water between her heel and her hip -- is retailing its water at $40 for 750 milliliters, with special-edition bottles going for $480 -- more than a million times the price of the liquid that comes from your tap.

What's Colorless and Tasteless and Smells Like... Money? [Washington Post]
The snob appeal of tap water [Slate]
Water Sommeliers [Fine Waters]

[Photo: Tap via id/flickr]

If it's Monday, it's video time. In the clip above, new PHI food blog Phoodie.info goes backstage at Metropolitan Bakery.

Baking at Metropolitan Bakery [Phoodie.info]
Metropolitan Bakery [Official Site]

We've all heard Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is a beer drinker. He sure likes his Pabst Blue Ribbon, at least on the campaign trail. But now word comes that he's actually going to have his own brew. From Chow's Grinder:

In Kenya, Barack Obama’s father’s homeland, they’ve been drinking Obama beer for months, and now one American brewery is offering its own Obama-inspired suds. Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Craft Ales is now brewing small batches of Hop Obama ale, to be available in bars and restaurants in New York and Massachusetts.

Wouldn't it be hilarious (and harmonious!) if Hensley picked up Six Point's Obama brew as a product? Somehow, though, it doesn't appear McCain would approve. Aside from his obvious political differences with the brew's namesake, he's apparently not so hot, in general, on the nation's favorite sudsy treat:

It's going to be a long, weird election season. Better lay in a stock of cold ones early, whatever your brand or distributer.

Punchy, Straightforward, Totally Obama [Grinder]
The Audacity of Pabst: Barack Obama, PBR Lover?
Is Barack Obama the Messiah [Official Site]
McCain beer ties might brew conflicts

Kaffa Crossing, a small West Philly coffee shop, also happens to serve a whole lot of Ethiopian food. In that, it's like a number of other Philadelphia Ethiopian and Eritrean establishments. Center City's Almaz Cafe is also a coffee shop Ethopian and Brewerytown's Era hides top notch Ethiopian behind a neighborhood bar.

But, boy oh boy, Craig LaBan is crazy for Kaffa Crossing's food. Especially the raw beef:

Tasting the kitfo raw is the ultimate barometer for the level of an Ethiopian kitchen - where the true quality of its meat and the chef's mastery in spicing are put on naked display. And Kaffa's kitfo was an adventure eater's delight. The finely chopped beef, mounded over injera next to some pleasantly bitter steamed collard greens, was so fresh it was almost like an exotic melon. Glossed to a deep ruby hue by clarified butter infused with a musky spice called "mitmita," a complex and traditional seasoning blend, each bite rang with shades of ginger, cloves, cardamom and a finishing snap of chile spice.

It sounds like this coffee shop will have a lot more customers in the future, if the LaBan effect is any indication.

Kaffa Crossing [MenuPages]
crazy for Kaffa Crossing's food [Inky]

• As N. Korea normalizes, food aid flows freely [Reuters]
• Global food export curbs hurt poorest people [UPI]
• Energy efficient milk jugs confound consumers [NYT]
• Artisanal bottled water won't survive peak oil [WaPo]
• What if salmonella wasn't caused by tomatoes? [Bloomberg]

Something old, something new: Recently closed NoLibs resto Azure will be reopening as a brand-spankin'new Mexican restaurant called Cantina Dos Segundos in July. The team behind the restaurant, Dave Frank and Stephen Simons, are also the owners of the Royal Tavern and Cantina Los Caballitos in South Philly. Sweet!

Frank and Simons are promising that they will offer Philadelphia's largest selection of premium and super-premium tequilas. But what about the food, you may ask? Mark McKinney (formerly of Pasion) is serving as chef:

"Cantina Dos Segundos' opening menu includes Robalo a la Plancha - grilled bass fillet with Seville orange juice-serrano chile salsa, amaranth grains salad, and wild Mexican greens (quelite, huauzontle, amaranth) and Mole Amarillo con Pavo y Verduras - Oaxacan yellow mole with Eberly organic free range turkey, green beans, chayote, green and yellow squash, white rice and grilled jalapenos."

In other words, this stuff is genius.

Cantina Dos Segundos [Official Site]

Here's something of interest from the Atlantic City files. Capitalizing on AC's newfound penchant for all things Asian, a new "Modern Japanese pub" just opened over at the Borgata.

Called Izakaya, the resto has hired exec chef Michael Schulson (of Pantry Raid on the Style Network) for their start. From the press release:

"With a menu that will highlight Japan’s rich culinary heritage but also integrate more modern elements of that culture’s pub cuisine, Izakaya will offer a voluminous selection of hot and cold appetizers, a la carte grilled meats and fishes, a sushi bar, tempura selections and heartier entrees. Signature dishes will include: Octopus Salad with jalapeno, cilantro, olives and tomatoes; Red Miso Glazed Eggplant with crispy tofu and Thai basil; Kinki Chicken Wings with pickled cucumbers, chili and ginger; and Shiso Lamb Loin with braised daikon and soy-sake reduction.

There will also be assorted tempuras of everything from maitake mushrooms to soft shell crab to buffalo mozzarella; a traditional Japanese Robatiyaki grill with more than a dozen fresh options; and a sushi menu, including signature rolls such as Baked Rock Shrimp with spicy aioli and soy bean paper alongside more traditional sushi and sashimi choices."

And since it's Friday, here's a freebie: Schulson's recipe for tuna tartare.

Izakaya [Official Site]

Leave it to the Ethicurean to turn one of the world's great comedy props into a serious political issue. Dear me, they increase our carbon footprint! Oh, noes, a banana crisis looms! Okay, they had a little help from the stuffy old New York Times, but still, how can anybody stand reading this about Bananas:

The history of the banana is fascinating, involving technological innovation (it’s not easy to bring bananas from the tropics), oppression (terrible labor conditions), geopolitics (the U.S. sponsored overthrow of the Arbenz government in 1954 at the behest of United Fruit), marketing (bananas were too phallic for polite society in the late 19th century, so attitudes needed to be modified), and more.

Snorezville, right? Yes, yes, there are real issues about bananas and their associated republics and also their environmental impact, but what do we cares? It's all about the comedy, right? So just because it's Friday and we like you, reader, here are some videos that remind us where bananas really fit into the national psyche:

The banana telephone bit ranks right up there with pretending to walk down the stairs behind a counter. It's even got its own song:

More after the jump

Here's a gigantic banana scaring mall customers. Would this be as funny if it were a cucumber? No:

You're writing a comedy bit and you don't have a punchline? Just stick a banana in there. Instant funny:

And, of course, slipping on a banana peel!

Finally, the world gets turned upside down:

The banana situation in Montreal [Ethicurean]
The slippery slope of banana disasters [Ethicurean]
Yes, We Will Have No Bananas [New York Times]

• These tacos will change your life. [MP: Boston]

• Congratulations are in order for our own Adam Peltz, Chicago Reader's food writer of the year! [MP: Chicago]

• French fries are the best sandwich ingredient ever. [MP: Philadelphia]

• Is there any better use of white beans than cassoulet? No. [MP: San Francisco]

• Steak salad with more of the former than the latter? Sign us up! [MP: South Florida]

When viral marketing met liquor advertising, it pissed the community off.

The mural above (via Ubiqlife) was posted on the side of Fishtown bicycle store Jay's Pedal Power to promote Colt 45 malt liquor.

You see, Billy Dee Williams' favorite brew is launching a concerted effort to popularize itself among white, indie music-listening, downwardly mobile urbanites. Say it with us: HIPSTERS.

Except both L&I and neighborhood residents are upset:

Urban community leaders have criticized ads for malt liquor, which are often located in minority neighborhoods. Malt liquor has a higher alcohol content and can be bought for cheap in 40-ounce bottles.

"This is the kind of thing you wouldn't put in a wealthy neighborhood," Tracy said.

She said her group's complaint was focused on the legal issue, not the message. But "when you have alcohol, it kind of stings a little harder than other products," she said.

She also called it an "outrage" for the brewing company to mimic the city's murals for its marketing of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

"They think as long as they paid someone to do their advertising, it's OK - regardless of the laws, regardless of the neighborhood's sentiment," she said.

The murals are part of a national advertising campaign that we've also seen in the New York neighborhoods of Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, as well as in San Francisco's Mission District. But those neighborhoods are far more gentrified than Fishtown — a place where alcohol has caused more than its fair share of harm in the past.

But enough moralizing. Can we all just agree that Colt 45 tastes like crap?

Mural-style alcohol ads anger residents [Inky]

• Hezbollah-dominated Beirut eats at 'Buns and Guns' restaurant [AP]
• New Yorkers discover edible comestibles at Disney World [NYT]
• Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis not going quietly in the night [Trib]
• Legendarily cheap Vegas casino food succumbs to reality [LAT]
• Ice cream among many food products threatened by bee die-off [NBC/DC]

Former pro wrestler Abdullah the Butcher may just run the coolest restaurant of all time.

It's called Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese Food. Located in a converted 7-11 on the outskirts of Atlanta, the menu includes everything from rib tip and chicken combo dinners to almond chicken to some killer fish sandwiches. The sides include some great southern greens and, of course, the sweet tea is free-flowing.

The food isn't bad. However, the highlight is the floor show. Unlike some other celebrity restaurant owners, Abdullah (nee Lawrence Shreve) frequently hangs out at his own restaurant. While he's there, the former wrestler lets guests put quarters into his head. You see, Abdullah has deep grooves in his forehead from self-inflicted wounds he gave himself to bleed more in the ring.

Here's what Atlanta alt-weekly Creative Loafing had to say:

The best attraction is Shreve, who is usually present -- and pleasant. He kindly thanks people for coming and eating, hanging out in the dining area smiling and answering questions in his sweet voice.

Abdullah's culinary split personality represented by two registers for orders -- an African-American woman at one, and an Asian woman at the other. If it's busy, line integrity disintegrates and either cashier will take your order. But the duality is strangely disturbing.

Barbecue selections are kept simple: Ribs, rib tips and chicken. The ribs are smoked in a small building next to the main structure. Thankfully, the rib meat is soft, pink and tender. [...] I wasn't at all tempted by the thought of Chinese food at a rib shack. Finally, though, I bit the bullet and ordered a serving of "Abdullah's Favorite" (6.99) from a list that includes standards like kung pao chicken and lo mein. The mix of miniature shrimp, beef strips, green peppers, baby corn, carrots and mushrooms was sauteed in a sweet sauce and served with a side of fried rice. [...] But honestly, it's generic Chinese for the masses -- and like Abdullah himself, it's not half as scary as you might suspect.

Pro wrestling, barbecue and Chinese food? Sign us up.

Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese Food [WFMU]
Abdullah the Butcher's House of Ribs & Chinese Food [Creative Loafing]

(Photo: Abdullah's House of Ribs via WFMU)

• How to choose wedding gifts.

• Syndicated articles will teach you all you need to know about cheesecakes.

• Some ex-Charlie Trotter's vets are opening a restaurant in ChesCo.

• Here's the official word from CP regarding Ludwig's replacement Time: It's eh.

• Get your new restaurant news.

• University City Indian buffet standby New Delhi is celebrating 20 years. Bless.

• S. Korea to accept U.S. beef again; future of gov't unsure [NYT]
• Japanese/Chinese food row reenacted by Olympics team [Reuters]
• Texas Gov. comes out hard against food-crop ethanol [SETR]
• Mars/DoA/IBM to sequence, manipulate cacao genome [WaPo]
• Frozen chickens stolen from NJ food bank found! [NJ]

• The first Hardee's opened in Greenville, NC near the East Carolina University campus.

• Burgers cost 15 cents at that first Hardee's.

• Hardee lost controlling interest of his company after just one drunken night of cards in the early 1960s. He was playing with his two business partners, and he bet his stock. Hardee obviously wasn't a good card player, because by the end of the night, the other two partners owned 51 percent of the company.

• Hardee's is fourth among the fast-food chains in the US, behind McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's.

• That Thickburger pictured above packs a whopping 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat. Eat enough of those and you likely won't live to see 89.

Founder of Hardee's Dies at 89 [ABC News]
Hardee's [Official Site]

Photo: OPBuzz/flickr

• Liz Petersen of A Full Plate Cafe is opening a new NoLibs pizzeria (right down the street!) called "Home Slice" that will serve vegan cheese and veggie cheesesteaks in addition to the usual mozzarella/pepperoni arsenal. Fans of Gianna's and Gourmet To Go, please note. [The Clog]

• New Old City Greek resto Prive is opening in just a few days. [Food & Drinq]

• Friday is the last day of business for longtimer Twenty21. [Food & Drinq]

(Photo: A "Pennsylvania Hot Dog" from Coney Joe's in Bucks County via Holly Eats)

Eating Philadelphia: The Hour Tour [Epicurious]

(Photo: Fisher's Pretzels via Epicurious)

The British airwaves are no stranger to men kissing one another. Anybody ever heard of a little show called Torchwood? It's strange, then, that the Heinz mayo ad in which a British businessman kisses a New York deli clerk raised such a ruckus that Heinz actually pulled it.

The ad features a stereotypical New York tough guy in the role of "mum," making sandwiches as a family leaves the house in the morning. As the husband rushes out, he plants a kiss on the white-hatted face. Pretty tame stuff, compared to Skins' Maxxie or the "switch-flicking" kiss from Mighty Boosh. It created a huge backlash from hysterical homophobes (including Bill O'Reilly) furious that two men would kiss on the public airwaves. Heinz bowed to the pressure and yanked it.

Then, this morning, the European gay newspaper Pink News reported that 1,300 (more by now) people had signed a petition calling for the ad to be reinstated. Meanwhile, other bloggers are taking (somewhat obviously tongue-in-cheek) pot-shots at the portrayal of the New Yorker in the piece. Phew, this is getting exhausting. Does nobody have a life anywhere?

So what's causing all this commotion? See for yourself:

Lame, eh? Still, if you just can't stand to get back to work yet, and you feel strongly about it, you could sign this pro-"advert" petition.

Heinz pulls mayo ad after complaints [AP]
1,300 sign online petition calling for Heinz gay ad to be reinstated [Pink News]
Heinz Cans Gay Mayonaise Commercial [Epi-Log]

• Food stamps go out to Midwestern flooding victims [Reuters]
• Cashew juice, now for sale, confounds the imagination [NYT]
• Surge of deep-dish pizza to arrive in Iraq for July 4th [AP]
• Monsanto profits soar on yield-bumping weed-killer sales [Bloomberg]
• Florida buys U.S. Sugar to restore 187k acres of Everglades [AFP]

• Can a salad bar be a gourmet eating destination? Ask Union Market.

• Meet the beer lass.

• An outdoor dining guide for Philly.

The big news out of the Everglades today is that the State of Florida has purchased U.S. Sugar and its 187,000 acres of prime wetlands for $1.7 billion (are the workers seeing any of it? Of course not). This is a good thing for the environment, since the sugar cane fields block waterflow, release pollutants and generally take up space.

U.S. Sugar is the largest sugar producer in the United States, responsible for 9% of the nation's sweet white powder supply. That's a pretty big proportion, and includes beet sugar production as well. Beet sugar makes up 55% of the crop, leaving cane sugar with 45%. So 20% of our cane sugar's about to go away! Isn't this going to foul up prices?

Short answer: no.

The government has been subsidizing domestic sugar production and putting quotas on sugar imports for many decades now. If we had no tariffs on sugar, we'd be flooded with South and Central American product, prices would plummet and sugar growers around the country would go bankrupt. A very strong lobby has prevented this from happening, but at the beginning of this year, NAFTA kicked in and ended tariffs against Mexican sugar. So why hasn't the U.S. sugar industry collapsed in a sticky white heap?

The answer lies in the 2008 Farm Bill. The provision concerning sugar sends any excesses (which is to say, any amount of sugar that would cause a price decrease through oversupply) to ethanol plants, just like in Brazil.

Problem solved! What NAFTA giveth (to consumers), the Farm Bill taketh away. When 9% of our sugar production goes offline in six years, the difference will simply be made up by Mexican sugar producers, and the price won't budge a cent. The cost of gasoline may go up a little, but what else is new. Did you really think Charlie Crist would have bought the farm if it meant a nationwide rise in sugar prices? That's so sweet.

Florida to Buy Sugar Maker in Bid to Restore Everglades [NYTimes]
U.S. Sugar [Official Site]
Sugar and Sweeteners: Policy [NYTimes]
Cane and beet share the same chemistry but act differently in the kitchen [TIME]
Cane and beet share the same chemistry but act differently in the kitchen [SFChron]
Sugar and Sweeteners: Policy [USDA]
Farm bill improves sugar program [AG Weekly]
Human cost of Brazil's biofuels boom [LATimes]

[Photo: a sugar pyramid scheme, via VsTrash/flickr]

The good folks at streettalkin.com just caught Good Dog giving their mac & cheese recipe on video. Check it out.

Good Dog [MenuPages]
Good Dog [Official Site]

The latest all-time favorite sci-fi based cake showed up on Boing Boing today, linked from Craftster:

Are you seeing that? It's a Doctor Who TARDIS cake! That's right, a British Craftster member named Umbrolly made this for her little sister because her little sister, a big Doctor Who fan, is the luckiest girl in the world. If you follow the link, you'll get step-by-step photos. It appears this cake suffers from some structural problems incurred by being too moist. According to its maker, "I have learned form making this that randomly shaped things are much easier than square things, and even though moist cake tastes better it does tend to collapse."

Well, this is still a brilliant job, and it's a lot more ambitious than the Torchwood cake we couldn't help searching for after seeing it. It does, however, face some competition from this professionally made Dalek cake.

Just for fun, check out the Timelords/KLF Doctorin' the Tardis music video after the jump.

Dr Who TARDIS Cake [Craftster]
Torchwood cake [Rachaely/Flickr]
Dalek cake [Gallifreyan Embassy]

Primanti Brothers is a Pittsburgh institution. The restaurant is best known for sandwiches topped with cole slaw and french fries (pictured). Yes, french fries.

Up until now there was nowhere to get Primanti-style sandwiches in Philadelphia. However, we just got word that the Memphis Taproom over in Port Richmond is hosting a "Pittsburgh Transplant Happy Hour" on Tuesday, July 1 from 5pm-7pm. The good folks over at Memphis are promising they'll serve up an 'Ode to a Primanti Brothers Sandwich."

From our perspective, this is definitely a good thing.

Memphis Taproom [MenuPages]
Memphis Taproom [Official Site]

[Image: Primanti Brothers via Roadfood]

• Food voucher giveaway sparks mini-riot in Milwaukee [AP]
• 17 states require insurance to cover eating disorders [Trib]
• Youth exposure to alcohol advertising on TV increases [NYT]
• Brazil's biofuel farmhands treated predictably poorly [LAT]
• Chinese fast food market splintered but surging [Reuters]

"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House — with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." -John F. Kennedy, addressing Nobel Prize winners at the White House in 1962

Have you ever had that thing happen where you're listening to your headphones or something and you hear a word and right as you hear the word in the song your eyes happen to fall on that word in print, passing by on a bus ad or something, and you muse to yourself, "it's a living world. What a miracle," and then turn your eyes back ahead and resume standing in line at the bank?

Well, a similar thing just happened with this article in Epicurious. I was just explaining to a friend how pleasant it is to go to the movies alone, and comparing it with the equally unpleasant act of dining out alone, when Heather Tyree's essay on dining alone came across the RSS and chopped my words up, sauteed them lightly in a nice cream sauce, and fed them to me with a side of crow.

Because Tyree is right. Dining out alone can be one of life's true pleasures. It allows you to focus on, well, whatever you want, be it the food, a book, a tough problem you've been trying to crack, or even your server. You certainly don't have to watch where you take the conversation, or hold back from pouring that next glass of wine, or refrain from eating the last bite of something.

And it turns out that many higher-end restaurants (including Daniel, according to Tyree) give solo diners VIP status. It's unclear why, exactly, but my guess is that it has less to do with pity than it does an appreciation of the fact that the customer decided to undertake this socially uncomfortable excursion because he or she wanted the restaurant's food just that badly.

Whatever the reason for the solo meal, or the treatment it incurs, Tyree's article left me with the strong desire to dine alone at an establishment somewhat fancier than the corner deli. It's a challenge, yes, because the practice is stigmatized as pathetic, lonesome and weird. But it's good for you, and not in a broccoli way, either (something you glumly consume because you think you have to). Dining alone should be savored.

I've never done it by choice, but on trips or in other necessary situations, I've always enjoyed the practice. Tyree's article was enough encouragement for me to resolve to take myself out on a proper date. It's an exercise from which we could all stand to benefit, as it encourages being comfortable with one's self, one's surroundings and one's place in the big, living world.

Table for One [Epicurious]

[Photo: The Jefferson Memorial — Thomas Jefferson silhouetted via David Paul Ohmer/flickr]

It's official: The late, lamented Broad Street Diner has been purchased by Stephen Starr. Michael Klein over at Food & Drinq broke the news.

Blogalicious: "Tell you what we’d lovelovelove to see… something like Fatty Crab in New York, a Malaysian hole-in-the-wall with a hipstery backpacking-through-Asia vibe. Far East beers. Colonial Brit cocktails. Whole chili crabs served wayyy late into the evening. Oh yeah, we’d go there so much we’d practically be a stool. Or maybe Starr and David Chang’s Buddakan dinner back in January was more than just a date… Dare to dream."

Foobooz: "As much as we’ve had a love-hate relationship with SRO, Starr’s restaurants are undeniably catalysts for neighborhood change. It wasn’t so long ago that Starr took over another former diner and breathed the sweet, revitalizing breath of the hospitality industry into a neighborhood - and a city - that badly needed it. South Broad Street below Washington is in dire need of a similar strong anchor - and what could be better to encourage other business owners with deep pockets to take notice of what could be on South Broad than a high-profile restaurateur with a proven track record?"

Stay tuned for further developments.

Previous coverage.

Starr into the Broad Street Diner [Food & Drinq]

We're currently in the middle of another one of those five-minute long vegetable seasons that gets foodies' motors running at high RPMs. This time it's scapes you'll find making a cameo at the green market.

According to the Accidental Hedonist, "scapes are those long, smooth, curly green things. They are the tops of garlic and farmers cut them off so that the plant grows the garlic bulb instead of a garlic flower." This is the kind of thing that would, up until people like you started developing a taste for interesting vegetables and plants, have gotten thrown out with the wheat chaff and the corn stalks. New York Times writer Melissa Clark related the following tidbits from her search for scapes:

My urgency amused Bill Maxwell, of Maxwell Farms in Changewater, N.J., who, after telling me to cool my heels until mid-June, offered a pearl of scapes insight.

Although they’ve been gaining a following over the last few years, he said, scapes came to market “when someone figured out they could make money from something they were cutting off the garlic plant and getting rid of.”

Peter Hoffman, the chef at Savoy, added, “At some point someone realized the scapes were tender and delicious.” He suggested that I sauté them with other vegetables or soft-shell crabs, or even grill them whole to show off their curves.

Clark offers a few scape and green-garlic recipes in the Times piece, but almost more informative were her descriptions of how she came to use the short-lived greens. The kind of food writing that includes not just the recipe/prep process, but the thought process that led to the recipe, always makes a project more attractive, and Clark offers plenty such insight.

Of course, not everybody has the time to experiment with weird, hyper-seasonal veggies. It's better to let professionals handle that kind of thing anyway. You could use the MenuPages find-a-food search to see if any restaurants in the area have added scapes to their menus.

However you get ahold of them, you'd better act quickly, because these fleeting greens will be off the shelves in a matter of weeks, not to return till next year.

Scrapes on the bar-b [Accidental Hedonist]
A Garlic Festival Without a Single Clove [NY Times]

[Photo: iLoveButter/flickr]

This week, Northern Liberties' Swallow got the Craig LaBan treatment. However, our man LaBan got a bit snarky. Snark highlights, you ask?

1: "What's left on this menu has been far less reliable, and simplistic to the verge of boring."

2: "I liked the delicate crisp of the fried frog's legs, but they so lacked seasoning that the cool cucumber salad showed them up. They were also so nakedly presented on a white plate, all those little ankles crisscrossed as if doing a jig on their final leap, that they were not for squeamish eaters."

3: "The shrimp risotto with peas and mint was the only total disaster."

Now, here's the thing. We ate at Swallow before... and we liked it. Even if they're still learning the ropes, Swallow's a good addition to the Liberties Walk Bar Ferdinand/A Full Plate Cafe scene. Here's hoping their next review will be a more positive one, because they've got some adventurous chefs in the kitchen and a good setup.

Swallow [Inquirer]

• India losing ability to feed itself [NYT]
• Candy business booming in tough times [AP]
• UK: GMO not necessarily the solution [TPA]
• Corn growers on HFCS charm offensive [WSJ]
• For fast food, a globalized future [BSun]

• Can we interest you in a hot fudge sundae? [MP: Boston]

• What about a lovely cheeseburger dress? [MP: Chicago]

• Maybe some melted cheese curds? [MP: Philadelphia]

• Or some exemplary iced coffee? [MP: San Francisco]

• Eh, let's just have some organic ice cream. [MP: South Florida]

Do you know what today is? Correct, it's Friday. It's also the first day of summer. It's also just about the summer solstice. This is a big day that calls for more than just a video blog post. It calls for several videos, all about ice cream!

First, you're going to need protection: Ali G's got you covered (this video is pretty much safe for work, but don't show it to your kids; here's some language):

Awesome. After the jump: Wu-Tang clan and

Here's what you need protection from. Creepy!

And finally, though not ice-cream-related at all, here's my favorite summer song, complete with dancers who look like they just stepped out of a Baskin Robbin's case:

• Several top aides sacrificed in S. Korea beef row [Bloomberg]
• House might add $1.25B in emergency food aid [Reuters]
• Following floods, agr. stocks in the toilet [CNN]
• Hair in the steak today, gone tomorrow [Tribune]
• McDonald's dieter story finally hit the wires [AP]

Take a look at the above picture. Oklahoma East Central University cartographer Matthew T. Campbell created a huge map of the names people call soft drinks by. Here's what we learned by looking at the map:

• "Pop" is the generic name for soft drinks in most of the country in terms of sheer land mass. The majority of the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states and the Pacific Northwest all call it by that name.

• "Soda" is the preferred moniker for soft drinks in terms of population. Both the Northeastern United States and the state of California call them that.

• "Coke" serves as a generic label for soft drinks throughout much of the South. Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kentucky all serve as fault lines in the Pop/Soda/Coke divide.

But what's truly interesting is the anomalies. Coke is the preferred term for soft drinks not only in the traditional south, but also in Maryland's Eastern Shore. Although most of Florida is in the "Coke Belt" as well, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and other counties with a high percentage of northeastern expats all call it by that name. Meanwhile, a belt of land along the Mississippi River stretching roughly from central Illinois to St. Louis defies the Midwest's "pop" sensibilities by opting to call it soda. Meanwhile, residents of Buffalo and Pittsburgh are more like Midwesterners than Northeasterners in their soft drink naming habits.

As for us, we'll just call it soda.

The Soft Drink Map [Pop Vs. Soda]

Something about this ice cream scoop (a Cuisipro featured on Boing Boing Gadgets) looks familiar:

What is it? Where have we seen that perfect cylinder of ice cream on a cake cone before? Think, think...

Of course! The ice cream counter at Thrifty Drugs! Anybody remember that? At the risk of showing some age here, those of us who did any growing up in Southern California ought to take a minute and celebrate that institution that made mom's stupid trip to the drug store worthwhile. And then when we got old enough to ride our bikes to the store alone, it was the one thing worthwhile we could afford. Even in the 80s, a $0.25 scoop of ice cream was a hell of a deal.

Of course, it went to $0.50, then $0.75, then we moved away, and who knows if Rite Aid, which eventually bought Thrifty, even sells it anymore (actually, according to this Chowhound thread, they do, which is heartening).

Anyway, dang, one of those weird, cheap, fantastic scoops would go down pretty nicely right now. Anybody in LA want to send one express mail? If not, we may have to make do with one of those Cuisipro things.

Cuisipro invents the better ice cream scoop [Boing Boing Gadgets]
Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop And Stack [Wrapables]
Ice Cream At Rite Aid [Chowhound]

[Photo: via Boing Boing]

• Your new pretentious food trend: micro-farming.

• Sansom Street Oyster House, RIP.

• Inside Philly's newest BYOB.

• Know the Cajun goods at Les Bons Temps.

• Melograno's replacement is almost here.

• Hamifgash knows their falafel.

• It's time for the dragon boat festival.

• Many more stricken by TomatoGate, which may never be solved [USAT]
• Can a countertop scanner help with your grocery shopping? [NYT]
• Widespread wheat fungus to wipe out 1-2% of Kansan crop [AP]
• Reeling from 8% food inflation, Mx. locks prices for 6 mos. [BBC]
• Will Canada ban horse slaughter for food production? [CBC]

Have you ever thought, hey, this bottle of soda could use a smiling photo of a presidential candidate? The folks at Jones Soda seemed to think it was a good idea. They're even holding an election of sorts; each bottle you buy goes towards that candidate's totals. So far, Obama is the runaway winner; he's the only candidate with more than 4,000 votes.

It's a fun idea, although we do think Jones Soda missed a great opportunity to make a different soda flavor for each candidate. From the looks of things, the same cola is in each bottle. But just think of the possibilities!

Jones Soda's Campaign Cola [Slashfood]
Campaign Cola 2008 [Official Site]

Photo: Jones Soda

A new study — one of the biggest of its kind ever — out of the Autonomous University of Madrid finds that drinking excessive amounts of coffee can actually help prevent heart disease in large percentages of men and women. In your FACE, yoga!

From New Scientist:

The study tracked 129,000 men and women over two decades. It found that people who consumed several cups of coffee every day were less likely to die of heart disease than those who shied away from the stuff. Heart disease is an umbrella term for conditions including heart attacks, stroke, and arrhythmia.

The researchers found that women who drank four to five cups per day were 34% less likely to die of heart disease, while men who had more than five cups a day were 44% less likely to die.

Other studies have, however, shown just the opposite. In 2007, Sofi analysed more than 20 studies of health and coffee drinking and found little consensus.

One explanation for these conflicting results could be genetic. In 2006, a team of Canadian researchers discovered that people with a mutation in a gene involved in metabolising caffeine had higher rates of heart attack than people without the mutation.

Guzzling coffee may cut heart disease [New Scientist]
Coffee May Prevent Heart Disease [Boing Boing]

[Photo: Buzz!! via [n]/flickr]

• Commercial banana industry to collapse in 5-10 yrs [NYT]
• Why the FDA hasn't solved TomatoGate yet (ever?) [Trib]
• Sen. McCaskill (D-Mo.) to fight InBev takeover of A-B [MW]
• U.S. food inspectors to China; theirs come here [AFP]
• Veganic farming movement employs new adjective [AP]

• It's time to think abuot Time.

• John Grogan, food, something something.

• Goat cheese, Chester County-style.

On Eater this morning, we saw that today is National Cherry Tart Day. This is actually the subject of some controversy: some sources list the holiday as today, while others peg it as tomorrow. Maybe it's a lunar holiday and it begins at sundown or something?

We sniffed around for corroboration, but none of the Unofficial National Cherry Homepage, the National Cherry Growers & Industries Foundation, or even the National Cherry Festival (scheduled for July 5-12) had anything to say on the matter.

Apparently, these fake national holidays are often sponsored by commercial concerns who lobby Congress to have their products reified as a named date (this is sort of how the saint days work, too). Of course, the government doesn't bother to keep an easily accessible record of their assignments, so we tried skulking around the Congressional record a bit. While we discovered some interesting tidbits about how 2002 was a terrible year for Michigan cherry farmers, it does not appear as though Congress has had much to say on National Cherry Tart Day since at least 1993.

It's just as likely that some enterprising cherry marketer simply invented National Cherry Tart Day one afternoon and emailed (or snail mailed, depending on when this occurred) interested parties and one thing led to another and voila, here we are blogging about it. But it ultimately doesn't matter; all this chatter was just an excuse to show you some delicious che