The big news on the international spirits scene today is that the country of Sweden has sold state-owned Absolut Vodka to French conglomérat de boisson Pernod Ricard for $8.9 billion after a competitive auction. From Reuters:

Pernod beat the favourite, Jim Beam bourbon maker Fortune Brands (FO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), to win control of Sweden's Vin & Sprit VSG.UL, owner of the fast-growing Absolut brand, and gain a bigger presence in the U.S.

"The combination of a full price and the amount of debt to be raised definitely seems to have unnerved certain investors," said Stephen Surpless, senior analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

According to a report earlier this month, the three most popular drinks in the United States are martinis (with vodka or gin), mojitos and Red Bull with vodka. The New York Times just ran a big feature on feminine-oriented vodkas in Russia, which might work for Absolut, with its mastery of marketing and its wide variety of infused flavors.

For its part, Pernod Ricard expressed confidence in its new brand's market strength. From its press release:

In the United States, Absolut is the top premium spirits brand, selling more than 5 million 9 litre cases. It has a unique brand image built around values of creativity, innovation and cultural leadership.

In the rest of the world, with close to 6 million cases sold in 2007, Absolut is one of the most global brands in the industry with a significant presence in all the continents and a strong perception as a leader in the premium vodka category.

Pernod buys Absolut vodka [Reuters]
Traditional Martini Ranks Most Popular [Wine and Spirits Daily]
Russian Vodka with a Feminine Kick [NY Times]
Photo: Absolutini [Absolutdrinks.com]

You know it happens, but it's still disturbing to be reminded of it: News came across the wires Friday that a cook and Seahawks fan in the Seattle suburb of Port Orchard, Wash. allegedly spit in a burger ordered by a customer wearing Steelers gear. From the Kitsap Sun:

Deputies said the 37-year-old man in Steelers garb took his daughters to a Mile Hill Drive fast food restaurant Saturday evening, and "began trading friendly barbs about his team and their victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL," reports said.

One employee told the man that he'd "better not say that to the guy that's making your food," but the man thought it was a joke, reports said.

That is, until he opened his "clamshell-style" hamburger container and discovered what he called a "loogie" on his hamburger.

The manager, hilariously, told Kitsap County sheriff's deputies his 24-year-old employee might just have hawked something into the food. What the deputies were hoping to find in the way of evidence of the crime when they searched his home, we couldn't tell you, but they found some marijuana when they got there, and brought the guy in.

The man also confessed to spitting in the 37-year-old's hamburger container to "gross him out ... because he was a Steelers fan," deputies said.

With a new sports season just starting and a lot of old rivalries coming back into the spotlight, we're here to remind diners to keep it civil and maybe wear neutral colors if you're in enemy territory, at least while picking up short-order food. It's not right that a few disgruntled sports fans/kitchen employees play like that, but you'd be naive if you thought they didn't.

Cook Accused of Spitting on Fan's Burger [AP]
Seahawks Fan — and Fast Food Cook — Arrested for Spitting on Steeler Fan's Burger [Kitsap Sun]
Opening Day 2008 [MLB]
Photo: The Hamburger Method Of Criticism [N8tip]

• Lopsided economy drives record nationwide food stamp use [NYTimes]
• Food prices up 9% since last year; pork bellies mostly flat [Forbes]
• Asia's stomach rumbles as rice prices have doubled in the past year [AsiaSentinel]
• Record high profits for egg co. led by record high egg prices [CNBC]
• Absolut, once produced by the Swedish gov't, bought by Pernod for $9b [Guardian]
• Californian megadairy proposal for NW Illinois gets mixed reception [Tribune]
• DC woos Fancy Food Show away from NYC starting in 2011 [WaPo]

We generally try to avoid large chains. Very broadly speaking, the food isn't usually that awesome and the experience results in us giving our money to some sort of mega-corporation that has a ton of policies we find objectionable. The exceptions to the rule? New England based pizzeria Bertucci's, which makes truly solid margherita pizzas, and nationwide burrito chain Chipotle. Chipotle's burritos have often satiated our craving when we find ourself in a Mexican-food wasteland (read: much of New York City) and if you have any self-control (we don't), they can easily comprise two meals. We also love the company's focus on sustainable foods (the company uses rBGH-free sour cream, an ever-increasing amount of organic produce, and meat from green companies like Niman Ranch).

Recently, we learned of a reason to like Chipotle even more when the Washington Post reported that the chain has started using pork from Shenandoah Valley based Polyface Farms in its Charlottesville, VA location. Polyface is, of course, run by Joel Salatin, the man immortalized in Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma. Although Chipotle has faced numerous challenges, including the need to install a new kitchen in Charlottesville, over the seventeen months its taken to bring Polyface products to the restaurant, it hasn't given up. Here's hoping that Chipotle takes this focus on local farms nationwide!

Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria [Official Site]
Chipotle [Official Site]
In Trial Run, Chipotle Heads to the Farm [Washington Post]
Polyface Farms [Official Site]
The Omnivore's Dilemma [Michael Pollan]

[Photo: Carnitas burrito, Flickr: skeptict]

As you probably read in the FYI roundup, the U.S. is sending some health inspectors to Honduras to try to get a handle on a crop of tainted cantaloupes that have given a handful of Americans and Canadians salmonella. The melons, sent over by grower and packer Agropecuaria Montelibano, have of course been recalled, but not before they were distributed pretty widely, with 50 illnesses reported in 16 states.

But Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said the fruit was just fine, according to CNN.

"It's not in our fruit," he said about last week's report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that some Honduran cantaloupes may be contaminated with salmonella. "It's not true what they are saying. Logically, we believe it is an error."

"Permit me to make a demonstration," he said, then cut open the fruit, sliced off a chunk, put it in his mouth and chewed vigorously.

"I eat this fruit without any fear," he said with his mouth full. "It's a delicious fruit. Nothing happens to me!"

The FDA recommends that consumers take the following steps to reduce the risk of contracting Salmonella or other foodborne illnesses from cantaloupes:

* Purchase cantaloupes that are not bruised or damaged. If buying fresh-cut cantaloupe, be sure it is refrigerated or surrounded by ice.

* After purchase, refrigerate cantaloupes promptly.

* Wash hands with hot, soapy water before and after handling fresh cantaloupes.

* Scrub whole cantaloupes by using a clean produce brush and cool tap water immediately before eating. Don't use soap or detergents.

* Use clean cutting surfaces and utensils when cutting cantaloupes. Wash cutting boards, countertops, dishes, and utensils with hot water and soap between the preparation of raw meat, poultry, or seafood and the preparation of cantaloupe.

* If there happens to be a bruised or damaged area on a cantaloupe, cut away those parts before eating it.

* Leftover cut cantaloupe should be discarded if left at room temperature for more than two hours.

* Use a cooler with ice or use ice gel packs when transporting or storing cantaloupes outdoors.

FDA Warns of Salmonella Risk with Cantaloupes from Agropecuaria Montelibano [FDA Press Release]
US Health Inspectors Sent to Honduras [AP]
Honduran president defends melons by eating one [CNN]
FSIS to Host Public Meeting to Discuss Challenges and Solutions for Reducing the Incidence of E. coli O157:H7 in Raw Beef [USDA Press Release]
Photo: Askobac [Flickr]

• Italian mozzarella contaminated with dioxin [BBC]
• Honduran cantaloupes with salmonella [AP]
• New Zealand tahini with salmonella [NZHerald]
• New Zealand honey with toxic tutu nectar (!) [Times]
• North Dakota venison with lead particles [StarTribune]

Hilarious: We have been giggling over these cereal boxes on Serious Eats all day. They got it from xkcd. Thought it was only appropriate to share:

Honey Bunches of Goats? Amazing. Truly.

Meat Cereals [Required Eating]
xkcd [Official Site]

Sad news to report. Herb Peterson, creator of McDonald's uber-popular Egg McMuffin, died on Tuesday of natural causes. He was 89 years old. A longtime advertising reprentative for McDonalds, he actively pushed the restaurant chain into expanding into the breakfast market. He eventually became a McDonald's franchisee. BY the time he passed away, Peterson was co-owner and operator of six McDonald's franchises in Santa Barbara and Goleta. From the International Herald Tribune:

Peterson came up with idea for the signature McDonald's breakfast item in 1972. He "was very partial to eggs Benedict," Fraker said, and worked on creating something similar. The egg sandwich consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, topped with a slice of cheese and grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin. The Egg McMuffin made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Peterson co-owned with his son, David Peterson.

Egg McMuffin inventor Herb Peterson dies in California at 89 [International Herald Tribune]

[Image via McDonald's]

Looks like everyone's favorite socially conscious pop-culture referencing ice cream company is heading our way to join in the Olympic torch protests.

Word comes via Slashfood that Ben and Jerry's is sending a caravan of activist ice-cream-makers out to San Francisco to register protest as the torch passes through its only U.S. destination.

All sorts of people have made all sorts of noise about San Francisco's hosting the torch, based on all sorts of human rights abuses in and related to China. In this case, Ben and Jerry's specifically is calling on the host of August's summer games to do something about killings in Darfur. From the Associated Press:

The convoy, which left Wednesday, consists of three vehicles sporting replicas of the Olympic torch and mobile billboards calling on China to "extinguish the flames of genocide in Darfur."

Wonder if employees at local stores get the day off to protest? The torch is scheduled to hit town on April 9.

Ben and Jerry's is staging a political protest convoy to San Francisco [Slashfood]
Ben and Jerry's Cross-Country Caravan Targets China [AP]
SFist Olympic torch coverage [SFist]
Photo from Vermont Public Radio

• New USDA plan: to tell us less about meat recalls! [AP]
• Apparently, college students have poor food safety habits [Reuters]
• Much of the Asian Brown Cloud caused by cooking-related pollution [NYTimes]
• Chilean salmon factories rife with viruses, poor oversight [IHT]
• Training fish, in Pavlovian fashion, to swim towards a dinner bell? [Tribune]
• Inventor of Egg McMuffin makes it to the reassuring age of 89 [AP]

Okay, welcome to the new, all-encompassing food section roundup. Due to some scheduling changes around MP headquarters, we're lumping all the food sections into one post for you to digest over your afternoon joe. Hope you brewed a big pot.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

This week's lead story looks at the trend of more "adult" restaurants featuring kids' menus. [Kids' menus grow up]

Amanda Gold gives Pacific Catch two stars [Dining Out: San Francisco's Pacific Catch reels in families]

And Michael Bauer gives Baraka two and a half stars [Dining Update: Potrero Hill's Baraka maintains its allure]

From the San Francisco Bay Guardian

Paul Reidinger goes gaga for SPQR [When in Rome ...]

Ailene Sankur really digs Fune Ya [Saved By The Sushi Boat]

And Reidinger meditates on wild fennel [The Republic of Fennel]

Finally, from the San Francisco Weekly

Meredith Brody takes a mini-tour of some of the city's sandwicheries [What Comes Between]

A fantastic read today in Slate got us thinking about this Chez Pim post from a few days ago. Both are about Spanish avant-garde cuisine, but while Slate wonders out loud whether technology-based trends such as foaming will make lasting marks on the food landscape even after their stellar popularity, Pim declares, in no uncertain or complimentary terms, the lasting impression a certain such restaurant left on her.

From Slate's Lisa Abend:

At its best, the Spanish version of "molecular gastronomy" stokes the emotions, shocks the senses, and, in the words (if not exactly the intentions) of that hedonistic gourmand Claude Lévi-Strauss, is "good to think." It's also often delicious.

But, from the beginning, some critics have scorned a mode of cooking that relies, in their opinion, too heavily on technology (as if an oven weren't a machine) and often chooses form over substance.

But Pim's complaint seems to cut to the heart of the matter: At "quite possibly the worst meal of my life" at Miguel Sanchez Romera's L'Esguard, north of Barcelona, she describes a meal that seems almost totally divorced from anything that seems like real food. With most dishes packaged in a gelatinous "Micrifilm," and served with what sounds like more attention to appearance than to taste, Pim pointedly complains about the chef's "grand idea:"

But you know what? Sometimes all we care about is if your grand idea tasted any good. Because if it isn't, then it's just a big pile of crap.

As for Slate's question of whether the 20-odd-year trend in hyper-experimental Spanish cooking will leave a long-lasting mark, well, we'll probably have to stay tuned. Likely, some techniques will become part of the long-term landscape, while others go away to die. What will become of Micrifilm? We'll let Pim cover that one.

Fish Foam and Spherified Mango Juice: Will Spanish Avant-Garde Cuisine Stand The Test Of Time? [Slate]
L'Esguard: Quite possibly the worst meal of my life [Chez Pim]
Photo: Salmon wrapped in Micrifilm at L'Esguard [Chez Pim]

We imagine our parents laughing while reading New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov's article over whether or not to let his 16- and 17-year-old sons drink wine with dinner. He consults experts, some of whom tell him to give them sips, others who advise enforcing a strict no-alcohol policy until 21. (One even wishes the drinking age were 25!)

This was one issue that our parents never thought twice about, which is why, perhaps, Asimov's hand-wringing seems a little silly. Alcohol was never forbidden; if we wanted a sip of something, we could have it. For as long as we can remember, we had our own wine glass at dinnertime — it was just a lot less full than the other glasses. We were never offered beer or cocktails until we were 18 and had returned from college.

The other MenuPages editors had similar stories. MP: Boston's Leila was allowed a glass of wine with dinner throughout her teenaged years. Adam of MP: San Francisco was still in elementary school when he started taking sips from his parents' cups, although he didn't begin drinking wine or beer with dinner until he was 18. Neal of MP: Philadelphia was 14 when he was allowed a glass of wine on holidays and special occasions, and Adam of MP: Chicago wasn't all that interested in wine when he was first offered it at 14 or 15, but by 17 he was drinking wine with dinner and by 20 was sharing scotch with his parents.

So it's not exactly a representative sample, but it's telling that none of us has had any real drinking problems. Sure, we all drank more than we should have in college (didn't everyone?), but there are no stomach-pumping incidents or DUIs to report. Just a few bad hangovers. Which makes us think that Asimov should just chill out and let his kids have a glass of wine.

Can Sips at Home Prevent Binges? [New York Times]
Photo: gakrid [Flickr]

All-you-can-eat isn't really the best way to enjoy food. You wind up over-stuffed, feeling like you only got your money's worth at the expense of your own comfort and waist-line. But occasionally it's fun to gorge, and if it's good it can be a treat, at least until you have to stand up. You should at least know where it can be done.

To that end, Gridskipper has your back. The map-geek Gawker offshoot yesterday ran an excellent--and we do mean fantastic--collection of local all-you-can-eat specials. We've been trying to think of any way to improve on the list for you, but simply can't. They seem to have the bases covered. Check it. Come back here later, though, for the triumphant return of the "over coffee" food-section roundups.

All-You-Can-Eat-SF [Gridskipper]
Photo courtesy of Killing Dinner

• USAID cutting non-emergency food aid as prices soar [AllAfrica]
• Burmese refugees in Thailand going on an unexpected diet! [IHT]
• Illegal garbage dumps poison Italy's buffalo mozzarella industry [NYTimes]
• Ill. ties hunting and fishing licenses to child support payments [Tribune]
• Underground sugar economy taking hold in Calif. schools [Telegraph]
• Honduran president defiantly eats salmonella melon [CNN]

Chowhounds sounded off like crazy on a thread asking which restaurant resonated most with out-of-towners. No surprise that Gary Danko and Chez Panisse got a lot of mentions, but there are some other gems in here as well.

As for us, we always take visitors for a burrito at Taqueria San Francisco on 24th and York for a real, top-of-the-line San Francisco super burrito. Also a drink at the Top of the Mark. Every city has some version of haute cuisine, but none can match the local gem that is the Mission burrito or the views at the Top.

What's your out-of-towner standby?

What restaurant has most impressed visitors? [Chowhound]
Taqueria San Francisco [MenuPages]
Photo: View from the Top of the Mark by Christito [Flickr]

While celebrity chefs and other food personalities don't seem to be hurting for gigs and endorsement deals, actual restaurants are feeling the economic pinch right about now. Does that mean that food porn is more popular than actual food?

Over the weekend the trade magazine Restaurants and Institutions linked on its site an article from the Baltimore Sun that made the case that a faltering economy is leading to scrimping among restaurant customers:

Amid gloomy economic trends - falling real estate values, layoffs and stock market volatility - many consumers are changing their spending habits. And eating out is among the first expenses they look to trim in times of economic uncertainty, economists say. Consumers can adjust "in terms of frequency, spending levels and venues," said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic Inc., a food industry consulting and research firm.

But even as the trade rags paint a bleak economic picture for restaurants, restaurant-related media shows no sign of slowing down. Last month, the Baltimore Sun reported on the continuing popularity of the Food Network:

Now, almost 15 years later, the Food Network is going strong. In 2007, it had 90 million subscribers, which, according to Derek Baine, cable analyst with SNL Kagan, puts it on a par with such cable stalwarts as ESPN, Nickelodeon and MTV.

But for all the public's appetite for food media, where is its appetite for food? Perhaps the glossy pictures, lingo-filled dialogue and industry gossip work as a stand-in for the real experience for those unable to spring for frequent restaurant meals in these lean times.

Frankly, we hope not. Eating out is a good way to make a regular old evening special and can be done on the relative cheap. Part of the fun in eating out comes with discovering that perfect menu for your budget. We happen to know a great website that can help with that. Just saying.

CONSUMERS CUT WHERE THEY CAN; AREA RESTAURANTS, SMALL BUSINESSES SUFFER [Baltimore Sun, via Restaurants and Institutions]
Stagflation [Waiterrant]
From 'dump, stir' to reality, Food Network still cookingFrom 'dump, stir' to reality, Food Network still cooking [Baltimore Sun]
The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party's Over [NY Times]
Abstract: Chef on the Edge [New Yorker]
Photo: Courtesy of Sisudave [Flickr]

The Comoros, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean halfway between Mozambique and Madagascar, recently squashed a coup attempt on one of its three islands in a rather hilarious manner. Reuters reports that no one was injured in the invasion, and the rebel leader "was believed to have dressed up as a woman and to be trying to escape by boat to the nearby French-run island of Mayotte." They always try to escape to Mayotte! We make light of this because Comoros has had bloodless coups and coup attempts on average of once a year since it declared independence from France in the 1970s. National motto in this beautiful but isolated country of 700,000: "there's nothing to do, so let's have a coup!" (Their actual motto is "Unity - Solidarity - Development," but very few of those things have happened.)

This is a perfect opportunity to bring up the country's delightful and virtually unknown cuisine. Its basis is the standard Swahili assortment of coconut-based curries served with grilled meats and fish, fortified with Indian snack food and graced with a dollop of the French sandwich aesthetic. When we visited a few years ago, our very favorite food item was a particular sliced hard-boiled egg and cucumber sandwich, served in shops around the capital on fresh-baked baguettes (France's most laudable colonial legacy) with mayonnaise and spectacularly ripe tomato. We might have been biased toward the sandwich since we had been stuck in Africa for several months without decent bread, but we will say with some surety that it is was an artful combination of simple, fresh ingredients, and thoroughly satisfying to eat with two hands.

Our second favorite dish was tuna sambusas, which are basically like samosas but less flaky:

On mainland Africa, they're usually filled with beef or lentils, but here, it's a lot easier to source tuna than cow or pulses. At four to the dollar or so, one could really go to town on these.

Our third favorite dish was a beverage: tap water. After a few days, we were running low on funds to pay for the incredibly expensive French bottles that were the only available water supply in the marketplaces. Why no local bottled water like in every other country, we wondered? How do the people afford it? Surely they weren't drinking tap water, the septic scourge of the global South! But after several locals told us it was okay, we tried a glass and a light bulb went off: the country is a volcanic island chain, and we were sipping pure volcanic spring water! Don't tell anyone, or the next thing you it'll be crawling with Fiji executives.

Oh yes, they also have crazy-looking lobsters for you to eat:

If you go, avoid: the incredibly sour injera-like sponge cakes they try to serve you with fish curries. Ask for rice instead. Also, manioc; it's just not a very good tuber. Finally, plan your trip around avoiding election day &mdash they close all the roads in the country, and you'll have to hitch a ride with the Army. But it turns out the soldiers are quite friendly!

Comoros Claims Control Of Rebel Island [Reuters]
Comoros [Wikipedia]

[Photos: Lunchtime spread &mdash aidjihad/flickr; tuna sambusas &mdash kaysha/flickr (even though kaysha calls them samosas, they're really sambusas); lobster &mdash hughdoulton/flickr]

• How many times must we say breakfast cures obesity? [NYTimes]
• Portly Wales bans junk food from its hospitals [BBCNews]
• There's some kind of crazy poison honey going around NZ! [NZHerald]
• Note to Jared Diamond: corn's been in S. America 4eva [ScienceDaily]
• Canada's McD's to celebrate Earth Hour by dimming lights [NewsWire]

Since reading this week's New Yorker profile of Momofuku chef David Chang, we've been fascinated with the idea of eating ostrich eggs. Early in the piece, Chang describes trying to cook one, with unappetizing results:

I wanted to pretend I was Fred Flintstone. So I got a big rondeau, put like two inches of oil, and I was gonna deep-fry the motherfucker, but there was so much water content in the white that it just sort of dispersed. It looked like cottage cheese.

We poked around online to see if there are any success stories of ostrich egg eating. After all, people have been trying to make ostriches a commercially viable livestock product for years, so there must be somebody out there promoting the eggs. We found some basic guidelines from the Indian Point Ostrich Ranch in Tehachapi (Kern County), Calif. Also a Chowhound thread on the topic. But our quick search couldn't turn up any in-depth recipes using the massive protein balls.

Meanwhile, the profile on Chang is great. Aside from the ostrich egg thing, he's inspiring both as a chef and a manager of people. The transcript of his speech to his staff is simultaneously riveting and shaming as you realize you don't even come close to understanding the word "dedication" as he does.

Abstract: Chef on the Edge [New Yorker]
Ostrich Eggs Are Edible [Indian Point Ostrich Ranch]
Ostrich Eggs?!? [Chowhound]
Momofuku Noodle Bar [MenuPages]
Momofuku Noodle Bar [Official Site]
Photo credit: Bartly2005 [Flickr]

[Above: First Lady Laura Bush with 2008 state Easter eggs]

The White House has a lot of great food traditions, from the presidential pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey to the traditional cheeseburger pizza enjoyed by George W. Bush. There's also, of course, a great to-do over holiday meals, not the least of which is Easter brunch. Thanks to Time magazine, we're pasting this year's menu below. Don't you wish you'd been invited?

Also, check the link below the menu to the 2008 state Easter eggs.

THE WHITE HOUSE

OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY

MENU FOR

EASTER BRUNCH

Honey Baked Ham with Maple Mustard Sauce

Eggs Benedict

Bacon

Biscuits

Spinach Salad

Waffles

Sautéed Asparagus

Cheese Grits

Fresh Fruit Platter

Double Coconut Layer Cake

Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

2008 State Easter Eggs [White House]
White House Menu for Easter Brunch [Time]
Photo courtesy of the White House

• Popeye's founder dies at 64 of scary saliva gland cancer [LATimes]
• KFC, bowing to healthy eating craze, introduces grilled chicken [USAToday]
• A primer on umami, if you've been living under a culinary rock [Tribune]
• After talking a good game, WFP now really needs emergency $500m [AFP]
• Nestle complaining that biofuels wiping out our food supply, etc. [SwissInfo]

Just in time for happy hour, here's your roundup of the San Francisco Chronicle's Friday wine section.

The lead story on absinthe wonders whether the spirit will catch on as a standard or if it's just a passing fad. [Hawking the Green Fairy]

Selections rates Pacific Northwest Chardonnays. [Selections]

And Pairings likes Korean seafood pancakes to go with those whites. [Pairings]

Sipping News brings word of a naming rights conflict over at Petroni Vinyards [What's in a name?]

Finally, the Cheese Course raves over pepper-coated Tuscan pecorino senese [Cheese Course]

Big news on the labor front from a big chain that's been all up in the headlines: After losing a big huge class-action suit in California, Starbucks has to pay more than $100 million to about 120,000 current and former baristas in that state whose tips it diverted to shift supervisors.

In California, owners, managers or other “agents” of business owners can't share in tips. In the first phase of the class-action suit, [San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia] Cowett ruled that shift supervisors were essentially agents under state labor law, and therefore the company's policy allowing them to share in tips violated that law.

The company argued that shift supervisors were not managers or supervisors, that they performed many of the same tasks as baristas, and should share in the tips.

As the coffee giant clamors to extract itself from its scalding pot of labor trouble, we were just a little delighted to discover that a heating element in that pot is the Industrial Workers of the World. That's right, at least some Starbucks workers are organized with the party of Eugene Debs and Utah Phillips. Wow. Could it be there's power in a union after all? This one's for you, Wobblies! From now on we're taking our coffee red.

Starbucks ruling: Pay $105 million in tips case [San Diego Union Tribune]
Starbucks Union [Main Site]
Starbucks [Main Site]
Industrial Workers of the World [Wikipedia]

It's Friday. We won't keep you. Just wanted to put in a word for one of our favorite courses. And who better to sing it for us than the Mighty Boosh? Nobody, that's who. So here you go: The Soup Song

• Starbucks whacked for $100m in Calif. baristi tip lawsuit [LATimes]
• If you YouTube your taco-related misdemeanors, you go to jail! [AP]
• Seemingly moral Volvo fined $20m in Iraqi oil-for-food schemes [Forbes]
• Newly discovered giant Antarctic marine species probably taste bad [NYTimes]
• Food makers' plan to weather recession: probiotics, i.e. health food [Reuters]

Our warmest wishes go out to Cooking With Amy's Amy Sherman, who has been keeping a vigil at UCSF Medical Center for a sick loved one.

Our warmest thanks go out to Sherman, too. A dedicated food blogger, she has not missed the chance to explore and document a section of the city. We hope things turn out well for you and yours, Amy, and in the meantime we urge readers to check out Cooking With Amy's Irving Street Eats.

Pictured below: Beef Rendang from Lime Tree, courtesy of Cooking With Amy

Irving Street Eats [Cooking With Amy]
Lime Tree [MenuPages]
Lime Tree [Official Site]

It didn't occur to us until seeing the below video that we've actually eaten this creature:

But we have and it was pretty good. On the plate it looked a bit like this (the white ones on the left):

It's called geoduck (pronounced gooey duck), but was listed on the menu as "giant clam," which we pictured looking more like this:

But of course that's something altogether different. Want to know how they turn that phallic mollusk into a pretty piece of sushi or sashimi? Serious Eats pulled this video from the Discovery Channel. We love Mike Rowe:

In Videos: Preparing Geoduck on Dirty Jobs [Required Eating]

Photos:
Geoduck in tank: Bee [Flickr]
Geoduck sushi: Mike Yung [Flickr]
Giant Clam: Barrierreefaustralia.com

Just as you can't keep away from the farmer's market to try out all the produce newly coming into season, it's hard to keep away from the flea market, where that totally cool, vintage cutlery service refuses to let you go home without it. Let this happen a few times and you'll have a fork explosion, and that could hurt. But what to do with the stuff you're not using anymore? Unlike last week's farmer's market goodies it doesn't naturally disappear.

The folks at Boing Boing today showcased artist Osian Batyka-Williams, who is putting all those old forks, knives and spoons to good use elsewhere in the kitchen or dining room by making chairs out of them. Hope the tines are faced the right way!

Chair Made From Old Cutlery [Boing Boing]
Osian Batyka-Williams [Official Site]

• Given the new economic reality, can we start reclaiming farmland? [NYTimes]
• Sbux to grind beans in-store again. Will its coffee finally be drinkable? [USAToday]
• Would you go to Mars if you had to eat silkworm pupae cookies? [NewScientists]
• Homeland's new scare tactic: bioterror in our food supply! (Plausible...) [CQPolitics]
• North Korea cuts food supply during famine; but the people rejoice anyway! [AFP]

Word's been circling the internets today that famed art collector Charles Saatchi, husband of famed British chef Nigella Lawson, lost about 50 pounds in 10 months eating nothing but eggs. Seems like an extreme (and extremely uncomfortable) version of the Atkins diet.

We wrote the feat off as impossible, not just because it's unclear that the diet would be effective, but who in their right mind could stand to live on an all-egg diet for nearly a year? Well, it turns out that just because there's one ingredient in your food, that doesn't mean there's no diversity. A conveniently timed (and beautiful) slideshow ran on Gourmet's website today showcasing a dozen types of eggs. Please check it out. It's great. Click the photo to get there.

A Dozen Eggs [Gourmet]
Out of His Shell [The Grinder]

Does Jordan Mackay have the best job ever? Yes. Yes, he does. The wine and spirits editor for 7x7 wrote in his Buzzed blog about a historic San Francisco cocktail tour. We already knew San Francisco is drenched in alcoholic history, but had no idea of the extent to which our town contributed to the development of the cocktail menu.

From Irish Coffee at the The Buena Vista to Pisco Punch at the old Bank Exchange, our great city by the bay has been the site of a handful of notable cocktail inventions.

Mackay rightly points out that the tour ought to extend to the East Bay for a stop at Trader Vic's, birthplace of the Mai Tai. We think as long as they're crossing the bridge it should go all the way up to Martinez to discuss the inception of the Martini. You'd think tour sponsor Plymouth Gin would want that, but then it is a bit of a trek. Next year?

Historic Cocktails Tour of SF: History in a Glass [7x7]
The Buena Vista [MenuPages]
The Buena Vista [Official Site]
Plymouth Gin [Official Site]

The article on fat foodies in today's New York Times definitely caught the eye of those of us here at Menupages and, we're betting, a good segment of our readership. We're all a bit food-obsessed and all probably not as good at moderation as we'd like to be.

Menupages has a pretty svelte staff &mdash we all work hard to avoid joining what the Times calls the "Fat Pack" &mdash but surely we can all (staff and readers alike) use the reminder to maintain a high vegetable intake and a sharp eye on the fatty meats and bulky breads.

Of course, none of us here at MP has written a whole book on hamburgers like Grubstreet's Josh Ozersky. In a post Monday, he defied the a "lite" future :

...as we told [New York Times reporter Kim Severson, the day we start eating salad she’s welcome to our place at the table. Grub Street may cost us the vitality of our once-springy carcass, but by God the work will go on!

When you've made a profession out of high-fat foods, we imagine it is difficult to switch to salads and lentils. Though many journalists, chefs and bloggers interviewed for the piece have made lifestyle changes, dropping weight and cholesterol counts on doctors' orders, a certain machismo remains, as seen in Ozersky's defiant post.

MP South Florida editor Carolina Bolado pointed out that most of the interviewees were men, and that the attitude of machismo &mdash at least as represented by the Times &mdash seemed a decidedly male one. "I blame television and its constant pairing of fat guys with gorgeous women," Bolado wrote in an instant message.

Whatever the reason for the disregard of health concerns, it would be a wise choice for foodies of all stripes to remember that the cost of incurring diet-related health problems skyrockets once the problems are in place and chronic. This is the most literal version of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound (or 100) of cure.

The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party's Over [NY Times]
New York Times to "Wonder" How Bloggers Stay Alive [Grubstreet]
Photo credit: mono1980 [Flickr]

• USDA admits yet again that our food safety system is in trouble [Reuters]
• Package food bloggers being used as patsies by food companies [AP]
• Amish groceries stores selling expired "salvage" groceries! [ABCNews]
• Mushrooms, mysterious and delicious, are also really healthy [Tribune]
• This just in: many food bloggers and critics are very fat! [NYTimes]

Okay, these weird things have been getting a lot of attention recently, so let's get into them. The warm weather is just a few short weeks away and we know you'll be looking for a cold, refreshing, um, briny treat. Enter: The Picklesickle.

Can a food become a viral phenomenon? We wouldn't have thought so either, but it seems just about every foodie, blogger and collector of weird things has something to say about these, whether it's "eww," or "tempting," and the proof's in the sales.

Chow's Grinder blog highlighted the weird snacks &mdash invented by a Texas roller-rink owner &mdash in a post today, and the Picklesickle website proudly links an article and video from last week's Washington Post. They've been getting little shout-outs for months, which we're sure has to do with the 20,000-per-month sales figure in the Post's article. At that rate, they must be cultivating some real fans, right? Not just novelty collectors? But who would want to eat such a thing? Better order a box and find out.

Closet Pickle Juice Fans Rejoice [The Grinder]
The Texas Treat With a Juicy Tale [Washington Post]
Bob's Pickle Pops [Official Site]
Image courtesy of Picklesickle.com

This piece on the death of local reporters' bars nationwide got our attention, as in a past life we reported city news and were no stranger to the tap-room. But while it's true that the shoe-leather, metro reporter and his or her bar might be looking at, if not extinction, a severe reduction in population, some of what's going on is a simple re-shuffling that Marketwatch seems to have missed. First, the clip:

Now, here's what's missing: We can only speak to our own market of San Francisco, but we're betting that something like the following is happening nationwide: The Washington Square Bar and Grill was, while famously a favorite of types like Herb Caen, a bit out of the price range of your average young reporter making less than $50,000 a year in the second-most expensive real estate market in the country. But that doesn't mean your reporter abstains.

Our after-work hangout, while at the Examiner, was never the Washbag. It was the House of Shields, which was closer to the office, cheaper, and attracted a younger crowd. Though At 100 years old, rumor has it the Shields was also a reporters' bar long before Caen immortalized the Washbag. While it's sad to see those old places disappear, we feel hard-pressed to tear up over a bar where we couldn't afford more than two drinks. We're betting the steady decline in the workforce at print publications had a lot less to do with the Washbag's closure than the romantics would like to believe.

It's entirely possible that the new breed of reporter--who generally writes same-day web copy in a high-pressure newsroom as well as stories for the morning edition, and who is often lean, underpaid and hungry--needs a different kind of bar: One with lower prices, no food (we eat at our desks), popular with the legislative aides and maybe a loose smoking policy (wishful thinking: the Shields was strict).

The Washbag and many bars like it simply didn't evolve as fast as the media. This is sad but, just as the practice of reporting will not disappear simply because news-consumption habits are changing, bars that serve reporters will not disappear simply because the job is changing. They'll just have to change along with their customers.

Whither The Journalist Bar? [Eater]
The Watering Hole: Innocent Victim in Print Publishing's Death March? [SFist]
Journalism Watering Holes Disappearing [MarketWatch]
The House of Shields [Official Site]

This is fun: local ambassador of innards, offal agent and all-around gutsy chef Chris Cosentino ventured outside the kitchen at Incanto to do an all-offal meal in New York City. While there, NYC blogger and Food Network web personality Adam Roberts, the Amateur Gourmet, sat on the receiving end of that dinner and weighed in on the experience of eating raw venison liver:

I'm not grossed out by liver, I'm not grossed out by steak tartare, but, call me crazy, the texture of raw liver is not very appetizing. It feels exactly like you'd expect it to feel like chomping through a raw liver: wet, slimy, tough. Blech. I'm getting sick just writing about it....

Offal Good [Official Site]
On The Street, The FN Library & An Offal Dinner [Amateur Gourmet]
Incanto [MenuPages]
Incanto [Official Site]
Photo: Chef Chris Cosentino with a handful of the good stuff. [Offal Good]

This list published in the UK's Guardian is ambitious, to say the least. In 10 cities worldwide, it attempts to pinpoint the best spot for the most famous cuisine, such as pizza in Naples and sushi in Tokyo. Wow. Seems unlikely they could do it, but they use local experts and seem to have a good handle on the scene in each city.

Our bet is that while most of the places listed are likely not the unanimous choice for the very best in their league, they're probably as good as you can hope for if you're just passing through a city on vacation. However, now that they've made the list, will they stay as good or as fun to visit as they were? Will hordes of British tourists pack L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples any more than they had before?

Maybe, but that doesn't mean you can't explore the city on your own and use that recommendation as a back-up. That's the good thing about guides like this. They're just suggestions. And it's sure fun to read in the meantime.

Globe Troughing [Guardian UK]
Royale [MenuPages]

Photo Credit: Benzamg [Flickr]

• Red Cross food traded for sex at Kenyan refugee camps [AllAfrica]
• America's lazy and fat zoo animals take cues from citizenry [AP]
• Travelocity: 75% consider food when making travel plans [BusinessWire]
• Reuters food conference: food expensive, people poor [Reuters]
• DoD reduced to reporting on chicken farms in rural Iraq [DefenseLink]

East Bay grilled cheese maven Normal is back in blogging action with a post on basic but important details to keep in mind when creating a competitive sandwich.

Pointers like browning both sides of each slice of bread seem, to us, like they might take a perfectly good sandwich into next-level, prize-winning territory. This is prime time to start practicing for April's national Grilled Cheese Invitational. You're going to need all the help you can get if you're going to nail that tricky "missionary" category--that's cheddar on white.

The Missionary Grilled Cheese Sandwich: The TRUE Chef's Category [Grilled Cheese Blog]
The Grilled Cheese Invitational [Official site]
Photo Credit: Keaggy [Flickr)