MenuPages

• It's a Pats-free Super Bowl this year, but that doesn't mean that Boston isn't ready for game day. Drink some beer, eat some wings, and relax. [MP: Boston]

• Sandra Lee parodies are never not funny. [MP: Chicago]

• Be wary of special offers from Restaurant.com! [MP: Philadelphia]

• In these tough economic times, it's good to know how to save $1200 on a $1500 meal. [MP: San Francisco]

• Top Chef gossip: Jeff McInnis (he of Miami's DiLido Beach Club, which we spent the entire season reading as...well, something inappropriate) feels that the judging process that resulted in his elimination was not entirely fair. [MP: South Florida]

Maybe I should make this a regular feature, don't you think? Here's some information on steakhouse that just showed up on my radar and an update on another one:

• Stephen Starr, owner of several restaurants in Philadelphia, New York and Atlantic City including Buddakan and Morimoto, is opening his first South Florida venture in Fort Lauderdale called Steak 954, a "modern boutique steakhouse." A spokesperson for the restaurant said that it's a new concept and won't be modeled after any of the other restaurants in the Starr empire. There's no confirmed opening date, but it should be open by early spring. Oh, and they're currently hiring for every position.

• BLT Steak, which I've written about before, is finally opening in the Betsy Hotel on March 5.

Stop by Cupcakes Nouveau's grand opening party on Miracle Mile tonight for a free cupcake. The festivities begin at 7 p.m. I imagine they'll have their signature cake-filling-frosting combinations available, like Chocolate Chic (chocolate cupcake with a chocolate filling and a vanilla buttercream frosting) and Caramel Bonbon (vanilla cupcake filled with dulce de leche and topped with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting).

Cupcakes Nouveau [MenuPages]
Cupcakes Nouveau [Official Site]

Photo: cupcakesnouveau/flickr

Get ready for some possible craziness in the frozen-foods aisle at Publix (or Albertsons or Winn-Dixie) this Monday — Blue Bell, the iconic ice cream from Texas, is arriving in South Florida for the first time, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Publix has been carrying it in Jacksonville and Orlando for a few years, but South Floridians had to go to Outback Steakhouse or Carrabba's Italian Grill to get a sample of the ice cream. Soon, you'll just be able to go to the supermarket.

I've never tried the ice cream, although a former roommate who'd grown up in Oklahoma and Texas swore by the stuff. And according to the article, the company is testing a new flavor in the South Florida market called Tropical Paradise with coconut ice cream, crushed pineapple and macadamia nuts. That definitely sounds like a winner to me.

Blue Bell ice cream comes to South Florida on Monday [Sun-Sentinel]
Outback Steakhouse [MenuPages]
Outback Steakhouse [Official Site]
Carrabba's Italian Grill [MenuPages]
Carrabba's Italian Grill [Official Site]

Photo: jonny.hunter/flickr

Want to read more about the departure of Chef Jeff McInnis from Top Chef? Check out our sister site Grub Street's interview with him:

Between the three of you, do you have any idea who made the worst dish? Did you get to taste the other ones?
Yeah, we all got to taste everybody’s food. In my opinion, obviously mine was better. I definitely think it was better than Fabio’s. We all looked at Fabio’s and how well-done it was, and there were definitely thoughts that it was going to be him.

Top Chef Exit Interview: Episode Ten [Grub Street]

• The recent peanut butter salmonella outbreak has led to increased concerns about food safety. [New York Times]

• In addition to gross and objectifying, it turns out those PETA ads that were banned from the Super Bowl and claimed that vegetarians have better sex may have been a trifle misleading. [Slate]

• New Yorkers can now order their foot-longs from Subway via text message. [IntoMobile via Consumerist]

• This just in: what you eat is more likely to make you obese than where you eat it. [Chicago Tribune]

• One Illinois family has started a website to encourage the Obamas to hire an official White House farmer and the site has been getting thousands of hits. [Associated Press]

Last night's Top Chef episode was tough to watch. About halfway through, I had a bad feeling that Jeff McInnis, of DiLido Beach Club and this season's sole South Florida representative, was doomed. Sure enough, he was told to pack his knives and go, after he lost to season two's Josie Malave-Smith in a head-to-head football-themed competition. Both had to create a dish that reflected the cuisine of the Dolphins' hometown, and both came up with variations on rock shrimp ceviche.

Chef McInnis was gracious enough to answer a few questions this afternoon about the episode, his life as a minor celebrity and how his cooking has (or hasn't) changed.

MP: What was it like watching last night's episode?
Jeff: It definitely brought back some old feelings. I wasn't happy about the outcome, but what can you do?

MP: You said in your exit interview that you serve that same ceviche dish at your restaurant. Is it still on the menu?
Jeff: Right now, it's not with rock shrimp, but I do it with mango and a sangria sorbet. Right now, I'm making it with hog snapper. It's a line-caught fish with a mild, nice flavor to it.

MP: You also mentioned in the exit interview that you felt you were being held to a higher standard. Can you explain what you meant by that?
Jeff: The critique that was given, it wasn't really a critique. They just said, 'you served a watered down version.' The only critique was that it was watered down and they didn't like it. I didn't have anything to go off of, which was frustrating. Josie served a dish that wasn't ceviche. It would've been more legitimate if she'd called it shrimp enchilado. Obviously those people were brought on the show as flying hitmen, so they weren't really held to the same standards. I think if I had served a hot ceviche to them, they would've called me out on it.

MP: Has the Top Chef experience altered the way you cook, if at all?
Jeff: Just the way I go shopping in the grocery store. I'm always looking at my watch and running around. No, just kidding. I guess I definitely think faster now. It definitely was a positive experience. And cooking for all of those amazing chefs and listening to their critiques definitely was great.

MP: Have you been recognized at all in Miami? Any weird fan stories?
Jeff: Yeah, I've been recognized a few times. I got letters from some people in jail. Some kid in jail thinks he's my long-lost cousin. I'm getting kind of nervous because I think he gets out in October, and he said he wants to come down and see me. It's a legitimate letter too. It's a real person; we looked him up. We have the same last name.

MP: Are you happy with how you were portrayed on TV?
Jeff: Sure, definitely. I think I wasn't portrayed as a bad guy.

MP: No, usually there's one villain a season, and this time it's Stefan.
Jeff: Stefan doesn't mind. He is actually downstairs in my restaurant right now. He doesn't mind at all. He wanted to do the interview with me, but I said it wasn't a good idea. I didn't think I'd get a word in.

MP: So you keep in touch with everyone?
Jeff: Yeah, with pretty much everyone. I definitely made a lot of great friends.

MP: Would you do something like this again?
Jeff: I definitely have no regrets. Would I do it a second time? I don't know about that. It takes a good chunk of your time. I'm married, and it was a long time away from my wife. But I don't regret that I did it.

Jeff McInnis [Official Site]
DiLido Beach Club [MenuPages]
DiLido Beach Club [Official Site]

Photo: Bravo

At the risk of becoming the Pepsi beat, this marks the second time in as many weeks that we have been floored by their advertising/viral marketing strategy. Last time it was on account of the parallel they drew between themselves and Barack Obama, this time it's because of a very funny video with Will Arnett and Andy Richter that we saw on Videogum.

It's a promo for an online Super Bowl party that Will Arnett is hosting at Refresh.com for "all those people out there who have nothing to do on the Super Bowl, i.e. losers. Ha, kidding. I'm a loser. I'm not. You are." An online Super Bowl party sounds terrible, even if you have an amazing spread of Super Bowl food at home, but in a testament to how funny he is, Will Arnett almost makes it appealing.

The real question is, will anyone actually trade in beers, wings, dips, and chips for cans of Pepsi, just because they are "attending" on online Super Bowl party sponsored by Pepsi? Seems unlikely, but thanks for the laughs, Pepsi.

Whoa, Pepsi Figured Out The Internet [Videogum]
National: Pepsi's New Logo Looks Awfully Familiar [MenuPages]

Still need some tickets to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival? Miami.com is giving away a pair of tickets to the Grand Tasting Village on February 21. Value of two tickets: $425. Yes, you should enter this contest. Go do that here.

Win SoBe Food Fest Tix! [All Purpose Dark]
South Beach Wine & Food Festival [Official Site]

"Monkey Ass and Empty Clam Shells — Fabio on Top Chef seems high on the dish. Anyone know where to find it SE Florida."

– Raboi in the Chowhound Florida board Monkey Ass and Empty Clam Shells? [Chowhound]

• Yesterday he's on Top Chef, today he gets four stars in the Herald. Well aren't the media fawning over Scott Conant. Judging by Victoria Pesce Elliott's descriptions of the food at Scarpetta, it's well deserved. The pastas sound heavenly. [Miami Herald]

• More excellent Italian, this time from Joey's at budget-friendly prices. The service leaves a bit to be desired, but it's definitely a great spot for an up-and-coming neighborhood. [Miami New Times]

• The '80s are very much alive at By Word of Mouth, where all those things you miss from restaurant dishes long gone — Gail Shepherd offers examples like sun-dried tomatoes, hoisin sauce and balsamic vinegar — are front and center on the menu. Unfortunately, the prices will jolt you back to 2009. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• The Herald searches for Latin comfort food and winds up in a Spanish restaurant. I'm being unfair; the round-up included a Salvadoran restaurant and a Mexican-Cuban one too. And for many people from Latin America, continental Spanish food is comfort food. Still, it blurs that line that is constantly blurred these days between Spanish and Latin food. (Whenever I hear someone refer to Dominican food as "Spanish" I want to punch someone.) [Miami Herald]

• Deal alert! Get to The Palm Beach Steakhouse between 4 and 6 pm and you can get the three-course meal that's normally $75 for only $35 — with a glass of wine too! Granted, you'll likely be dining with septuagenarians (although, shouldn't they be watching their cholesterol?), but the food is great and the price is right. Check out the steak tartare for the appetizer option. [Palm Beach Post]

Our sister site in Chicago reported yesterday on the possibility that Restaurant.com gift cards that we both wrote about last October might be a scam. It seems someone e-mailed Consumerist about a mysterious $14.95 recurring monthly credit card charge that began appearing shortly after the person bought a few certificates on the website. After writing that post in October, I had bought a few myself as stocking stuffers for family, so I immediately checked my credit card statement. Thankfully, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

The comments in the Consumerist post explain the whole situation; the person in question likely clicked on a special offer of some sort (something like "save $10 on your next purchase") and agreed to the terms, unfortunately not realizing that said terms included a monthly charge from "Shopping Essentials."

So, basically, Restaurant.com is OK to use, although it's probably a good idea to double-check your credit card statement if you've bought certificates there in the past. And if you buy more in the future, make sure to just refuse any offers that may pop up — they could end up being more expensive than you think.

Buy A Gift Certificate From Restaurant.com, Sign Up For A Recurring $14.95 Monthly 'Service" [Consumerist]
Gift Cards From Restaurant.com Are, Sadly, A Scam [MP: Chicago]
How To Turn $2 Into $25 [MP: South Florida]
Restaurant.com [Official Site]

• Criminal charges may be in the pipe for the owners of a Georgia peanut plant, where multiple health infractions seem to have lead to the nation's massive salmonella outbreak. [AP/chicago tribune]

• Meanwhile, we should also be worried about corn syrup, not just because it's nasty, but because it often contains mercury. [SF Chronicle]

• The Obamas kept on executive chef Cristeta Comerford from the Bush White House, but they're also making some new kitchen hires, including private chef, Chicago native and local foods enthusiast Sam Kass. [NY Times]

• The family of a little girl found alone at a Bel Air, Md. Chuck E. Cheese restaurant says it was a mistake that they left her there and didn't come claim her at the Sheriff's office till the next morning. [MSNBC]

• And don't freak out, decaf-junkies. Starbucks, which shook the very foundations of the earth when it announced yesterday it wouldn't continuously brew decaf after noon, will still brew the stuff on request. [Chicago Tribune]

The Tuscan town of Lucca is getting some flack for a ruling earlier this week banning food establishments of other ethnicities from within the city's medieval walls. That means no fast food, no pizza, no kebab stalls and no Chinese takeout in the city center — only traditional fare, things like tortelli lucchese, farro soup and lots of rabbit. The town council, of course, is now being accused of "culinary racism."

While there's probably some xenophobia behind the ruling, there may also be some merit in saving what is, by most accounts, some of the best food in the region and retaining a certain medieval Italian feel in the center of the city. If I'm spending a few days in Lucca as a tourist, that's exactly what I'd want. If I were living there, however, I probably wouldn't mind having a pizza place on the corner and a kebab stall down the street. Even if the local traditional fare is stupendous, a little variety is a good thing, right?

So let's imagine that local city or neighborhood councils decided to curtail which types of restaurants were to open in certain cities/neighborhoods in an effort to freeze an area in a certain time period. No Brazilian restaurants in Pompano Beach, no Indonesian holes in the wall in downtown Miami, no Little Havana. Or, say you wanted to preserve Little Havana's Cuban-ness for posterity and tourism purposes, we'd be deprived of the Central American fare currently on offer on Calle Oche and of one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the city. Scary, huh?

Tuscan Town Accused of Culinary Racism for Kebab Ban [Bloomberg]
The Riches of Lucca [New York Times]

Photo: Cebete/flickr

Had to happen in Florida. A pizzeria owner in Palm Coast (about halfway between Daytona and St. Augustine) pistol whipped a customer who had the nerve to complain about his calzone:

Joseph Milano, the owner of Goomba's Pizzeria, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and released on bail.

According to a police report, security footage from the pizzeria shows that Milano struck Richard Phinney with a gun. He then jumped over a counter and started to assault Phinney and his roommate.

Phinney was at the pizzeria to collect a refund for a calzone, which he said was prepared incorrectly. He was taken to a hospital after the incident with a bloodied head.

Is the economic downturn really affecting the local service sector so much? The shuttered restaurant doors everywhere seem to indicate yes. But this article takes a more upbeat (or, really, less bleak) view of the situation:

In regard to the service sector, the slowdown in consumer spending hasn't really hit the local restaurants as hard as you would think, said Ryan Bialek, assistant manager of a Rotelli's in Boynton Beach.

"Things have slowed the past year, but not as much as you would expect," said Bialek.

"Volume really hasn't fallen much; it's more in the check size. People are still coming out to eat, but they're just not spending as much.

The consensus seems to be that the local public is still enjoying their weekend, it's the weekdays that have slowed down noticeably, said Matt Caso, a bartender at Bar Louie in Boynton Beach.

"The weekends are still my moneymaker, people are still coming out and having a good time," said Caso.

"During the week, there is less casual drinking, so we rely on dinner checks more and those have been less in number and in size over the past few months."

Feature: The Economic Recession And The Local South Florida Economy [All Headline News]
Rotelli's [Official Site]
Bar Louie [MenuPages]
Bar Louie [Official Site]

• So now we're learning that the peanut processor responsible for this latest salmonella outbreak knew that there was bacterial contamination in the factory and shipped the peanut butter anyway. [USA Today]

• Organic food sales haven't declined too much yet, but sales are slowing down a bit as people tighten the purse strings. [Reuters]

• A combination of years of government mismanagement, a recent devastating cyclone and a terrible rat infestation (ick) have left Myanmar in dire need of some food aid. [AP]

• The "Olympics of cooking," the Bocuse d'Or, a two-day culinary contest in Lyon, began yesterday. The photos definitely make it seem like a sporting event; chefs have coaches, and spectators loudly cheer for the home team. Unlike in the real Olympics, however, the Americans have never won a medal in this competition. [NYT]

• Smoking, trans fat, calories — now the commissioner of New York City's health department is focusing on salt. [NYT]

After reading about the seven Japanese diners who went to the hospital after consuming ineptly prepared fugu (blowfish sushi) we immediately wanted to try it for ourselves. After all, even if you get a bad piece, you still have a 50 percent chance of survival, according to Suite 101's Gourmet Food, so how dangerous can it be?

Dangerous enough, apparently, that they make it very hard to get ahold of in the United States. Only a small handful of restaurants serve the stuff, and they get it through an arduous certification process described by Adam Platt, food critic for our parent publication, New York, in a recent article:

Restaurants serving blowfish in this country must buy it from a single Food and Drug Administration–approved supplier, Wako International, which imports all the fugu sold in the United States. The imported fugu is cleaned in a processing plant in Shimonoseki, in southwestern Japan, by workers with a decade or more of experience in this delicate craft. The meat is then inspected and frozen for its flight across the Pacific. By the time it arrives in New York (where it’s inspected again), the fish is probably less toxic than a piece of mercury-saturated tuna sushi at your local Korean deli.

A writer for Seattle's The Stranger expressed ambivalence toward the stuff after eating it at Shiki, Washington State's only licensed Fugu restaurant. "I wanted to try fugu in the first place because, well, I wanted to see if it was worth the gamble. It's not," Min Liao wrote in 2002. Though in light of Platt's description of the Fugu-importing process, it doesn't seem like much of a gamble.

Platt, though, who ate the real, deadly stuff at a Tokyo fugu restaurant, was also less than impressed with the pure taste: "Hashimoto’s fugu indeed has a certain clean sashimi quality to it, and a resilient chewiness, but otherwise it’s a letdown. It tastes flavorless and gummy, like a cross between Reichl’s fluke and day-old squid."

Last May, the New York Times reported on a new project in fugu production: Puffer fish bred to be non-lethal. It's no surprise that fugu purists are fiercely against that idea. And for good reason. If the taste is really as underwhelming as the critics state, then the thrill of the thing is the real attraction. And that's what our seven Japanese friends seem to have been after when they walked into an unlicensed Tsuruoka restaurant, and came out on stretchers. It's unclear from the article whether they knew the chef had no license to prepare fugu, but it's pretty certain the diners were looking for an experience more daring than a normal Tuesday-night dinner. And they got it.

Blowfish poisoning sends 7 to hospital in Japan [Salon/AP]
Fugu - A Dish to Die For [Suite 101/Gourmet Food]
Taste Your Fate: Restaurants That Serve Fugu [NPR]

To Die For [New York]
Shiki: Hooray I'm Not Dead [The Stranger]
If the Fish Liver Can’t Kill, Is It Really a Delicacy? [New York Times]

[Photo: Via jetalone/flickr]

Daniel Vazquez over at the Sun-Sentinel's Consumer Talk blog writes that nine South Florida Chick-fil-A restaurants are giving away free breakfast for the entire month of February. The promotion is for weekdays only (6:30 am-10:30 am), and you can't get more than one free item per day. Here is the list of participating restaurants in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to Vazquez:

• 1341 North University Drive, Coral Springs
• 9409 West Atlantic Boulevard, Coral Springs
• 3211 Southwest 160th Avenue, Miramar
• 8190 West Commercial Boulevard, Lauderhill
• 11401 Pines Boulevard, Pembroke Pines
• 12600 West Sunrise Boulevard, Sunrise
• 8000 West Broward Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale
• 7501 North Kendall Drive, Miami
• 3995 Northwest 107th Avenue, Doral

I tried calling a few Palm Beach county Chick-fil-As, but it seems that they ran a similar promotion this month and are not continuing in February. Still trying to find out some more information; I'll keep you posted.

South Florida Chick-fil-A restaurants to give away free breakfast items [Consumer Talk]
Chick-fil-A [Official Site]

That's kimchi stew with pork and tofu. I never had it while on the trip last summer in Korea — it was way too hot for a warm, spicy stew; we ate a lot of cold noodles instead — but I discovered it during the most recent cold snap, perfect weather for kimchi jigae. It's not difficult to make — I used this recipe — although it did require tracking down some hard-to-find ingredients. But the end result, though, was totally worth it. Not up for making it yourself? Check out one of these Korean restaurants, especially if temperatures dip again this weekend:

• Kyung Ju Restaurant spells it a little differently — kimchi chigae — but it's still the same dish.

• Choice Cafe is a small spot with a limited menu, but kimchi jigae is on it. And it's a good deal too: $7.95.

• Myung Ga Tofu & BBQ has three versions of kimchi stew: with beef and tofu, another with pork and tofu, and another with just tofu.

Pork and Kimchi Stew [My Korean Kitchen]
Kyung Ju Restaurant [MenuPages]
Choice Cafe [MenuPages]
Myung Ga Tofu & BBQ [MenuPages]

Photo: travelingrhinos/flickr

• In the midst of heightened public awareness of recalls and tainted food, the USDA is still finalizing their pick for the chief of the Food Safety Inspection Service, who would be in charge of eggs, dairy, and meat. [WaPo]

• This year's low international crop prices could lead to short supplies and rising prices next year. The UN is worried. [Guardian/Reuters]

• Yet another reason to avoid HFCS: It contains mercury! [WaPo]

• Some fast food restaurants are outsourcing their drive-thru order-taking. Customers don't seem to mind, as long as they get their Oreo milkshakes and value meals. [Monterey Herald]

• Whole Foods CEO John Mackey cut his annual salary to $1 in 2007, but thanks to stock returns his 2008 compensation is valued at a whopping $33,831. [Forbes]

Alice Waters has been taking flack from all sides over the past week, and so far she has been rather quiet about it.

You probably heard about Anthony Bourdain's jab at the sultana of sustainability last week, where he compared her to the Khmer Rouge. Well, that seems to have started a rush of criticism against the Chez Panisse founder and early local/organic foods proponent. Following up on the hype around the inaugural dinners that Waters helped organize, NPR's Monkey See blog Friday called her the "food police." Ouch.

Apparently, Waters and former White House chef Walter Scheib, who have clashed in the past, got into a tiff at the same dinner party where Top Chef host Tom Colicchio gave the Heimlich maneuver to cookbook author (and hostess) Joan Nathan. News of this quietly hostile disagreement seems to have sent Monkey See blogger Todd Kliman over the edge, patience-wise.

In his post, Kliman writes off Waters' "inflexible brand of gastronomical correctness" as an "ism," saying, "Cooking, after all, is not about doing good; it's about tasting good."

While Waters does seem to have gotten a bit preachy and out of touch, the principles of her movement remain sound, and we shouldn't lash back against local, organic, healthy eating, in general, just because one of its proponents annoys us. Some of her critics' offended language smacks of the Rush Limbaugh-era conservative backlash against "political correctness." We should avoid that.

Anyway, Gothamist got wind through its comments section of an upcoming event in which Bourdain and Waters will share a stage, so perhaps sparks will fly. Or they'll kiss and make up (maybe then sparks will fly!).

Anthony Bourdain Talks Alice Watersgate [Gothamist]
Chez Panisse [Official Site]
Meals With a Message [Washington Post]
Alice Waters Was a Foodie Hero. Now She's the Food Police. [Monkey See/NPR]
Another Scene from Joan Nathan’s Party [Diner's Journal/NYT]
Food For Thought [Connecticut Forum]

[Photo: Via Chez Panisse]

Ringing in a new year is fun, so we're always up for doing it twice. Today marks the first day of the Year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar, and a few South Florida restaurants are celebrating in style. (Although, surprisingly, many aren't doing anything.) Head to one of these spots to ring in the new year with some lucky foods:

• China Grill is having a party this evening at 6 pm with Chinese cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres. It's $25 in advance (call now!) or $35 at the door for two hours of eating and drinking. Make sure you go to the Fort Lauderdale location though — the South Beach branch isn't doing anything special for the holiday.

• Rainbow Palace is celebrating later this week with a martial arts presentation and dragon dancing on Friday evening. The menu is the same, and there's no cover charge.

• Tony Chan's Water Club has a special menu for tonight with things like golden shrimp, baby spare ribs and "lucky" rice cakes. Everything is a la carte, and the regular menu will be available too.

• Miss Yip Chinese Cafe is offering a special $28 three-course meal. There are two seatings: one at 7 pm with dragon dancing included (which is booked solid) and another at 9 pm, although there will be no dragons at the later time.

• China Dumpling is celebrating this coming Wednesday with dragon dancing at 6:30 pm. The regular menu will be available.

Photo: Anni Sams/flickr

• Trina is making an effort to waste less food this year. Check out how she's going to do it. [Miami Dish]

• Check out the artwork-on-a-plate at Casa Tua. It looks so cool. [All Purpose Dark]

• A whole deep-fried egg. Also cool. [chadzilla]

• Jan provides a great recipe for a Southern favorite: buttermilk pie. [Jan Norris]

• Gail imagines what might happen if Jack in the Box actually outsources drive-through orders. [Short Order]

• Natalie checks out Smith & Jones on Las Olas and feasts on alligator cakes, a Cuban sandwich and a Philly cheesesteak. [Natalie's Nibbles]

• The Rhode Island oyster industry is ever-growing, and farmers are out gathering oysters everyday. It's worth it (a farmer can sell up to 10,000 oysters per day), but temperatures are low, low, low. [Boston Globe]

• Although Mormon culture doesn't sanction drinking, a healthy brew pub scene has sprouted up in Utah. This is a good thing, if only because the world now has a beer named "Polygamy Porter" (tagline: "why stop at just one?"]. [NYT]

• A Mexican chef made the world's biggest cheesecake this weekend. It won a Guinness World Record, but it should be noted that there has never been competition. [AP/San Francisco Chronicle]

• Ruh-roh! The latest salmonella peanut butter scare has already led to the recall of over 200 products. 2007 bore a similar outbreak, so there are many questions about why no lessons were learned. [Newsday]

• The confluence of the recession, an endless stream of food contamination stories, and the popularity of locavorism mean that more and more people are trying to grow their own food. [Chicago Tribune]

• The best part about Valentine's Day? Obviously, it's the candy. [MP: Boston]

• You're never ever too old for a "your mom" joke. [MP: Chicago]

• Philly restaurateur Stephen Starr gives out burns like an arsonist. [MP: Philadelphia]

• Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah! My burger is better than yours! [MP: San Francisco]

• Oh, just give us some pudding already. [MP: South Florida]

The North Miami Royal Castle that was destroyed in an August 2005 fire is back and open for business, serving up sliders the same way it has been for decades:

The burgers are served just as they were a half-century ago: a pound of beef divided into 12 patties, topped with onions and grilled then sandwiched between soft white buns.

''Just one pickle chip,'' said owner Wayne Arnold, who credits the grilled onions with keeping the patties moist and giving the burgers their distinctive flavor.

''It's simple, but good,'' said Arnold, who acknowledges he wears his two-burger-a-day habit on his waistline.

''I need to make sure they're good,'' he said.

Landmark North Miami Royal Castle Reopens [Miami Herald]

Photo: eclectica miami/flickr

• Julie has a few good pointers for anyone who's ever had to deal with sunken cupcakes. [A Mingling of Tastes]

• They're not afraid to use peanuts in desserts over at Paradigm. Or some cool-looking "noodles." [chadzilla]

• More cupcakes! Sara tells of Cupcakes Nouveau's opening party next Friday. Free cupcakes for everyone! [All Purpose Dark]

• Dan Oliver writes all about the Jupiter Craft Brewers Festival over at Jan's blog. [Jan Norris]

• Some researchers have found that foodies tend to have lesions in their right anterior cerebral hemisphere. It's the "Gourmand Syndrome." Ha! [Short Order]

• The tainted food in Asia is leading to a shortage of products in Asian markets here in the States. [Mercury News]

• The rising cost of ingredients has led to fewer Girl Scout cookies in every package. [Dallas Morning News]

• If you're not sure whether or not something is affected by the peanut butter recall, it probably is. [New York Times]

• Proposing in a restaurant might seem like a great idea, but there are a million ways it could go horribly wrong. [Gourmet]

• Your morning OJ has a huge carbon footprint. [Diner's Journal/New York Times]

This video of Dan Barber at the Taste3 conference is like, a thousand years old in internet years, but it doesn't seem to have made the blog rounds and it's very interesting. The talk he gives is about his oft-discussed and beloved humane foie gras farm in Spain, which we touched on in August in a Slow Food Nation recap.

There's a lot to digest (oh, the wit!) in the 20-minute video, but it's all completely fascinating. For one, you get to hear Dan Barber make many nerdy little Dan Barber/foodie jokes, as well as rhapsodize on his love of foie gras. There are also educational bits about why the color of foie gras matters, the origins of foie gras, and why conventional foie gras is "an insult to history." Even better, there are anecdotes about Eduardo Sousa, the goose farmer, like this one:

And he said to me really from the first moment, "my M.O, y'know, my life's work, is to give the geese what they want. He repeated that about 50 times in the two days I was with him. "I'm just here to give the geese what they want." Actually when I showed up, he was lying down with the geese with his cell phone, taking pictures of them. Like his children. In the grass. Isn't that amazing? He's really just in love with his g--, he's at one--, he's the goose-whisperer.

Oh really, Dan Barber? Really? He's in love with his geese? He wants to give the geese what they want? Like, oh, killing them and feeding us their delicious, delicious livers?

Actually, that sounds just great to us, and not just because we love foie gras as much as Dan Barber does. No. The real reason is because geese are the new terrorists, and frankly, we probably should be eating as many of them as possible. In other words, consider this video nothing more than a briefing on the habits of our enemies. (For more info, you can read about "Why They Hate Us" on sister company New York Magazine's Daily Intel blog.)

Dan Barber: A surprising parable of foie gras [TED]

• The view at Buena Vista Bistro doesn't exactly live up to the restaurant's name. Thankfully, the food is much better. [Miami New Times]

• One doesn't usually equate elegance with the race track, but Christine Lee's at Gulfstream Park somehow manages to do that. [Miami Herald]

• Fifi's Place on Miami Beach employs a former Cuban free-diving champion to spear fresh hog snapper and grouper. Put this place on your "restaurants to check out" list. [Miami Herald]

• Charles Passy checks out the edible goods on offer at the South Florida Fair. Think deep-fried Oreos. [Palm Beach Post]

• Salad does always taste better with a little gravy. And that's how it comes at Cafe Martorano. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

It started with a Jell-O pudding TV ad. Immediately, a pudding craving set in, one that would not be satisfied with a pudding cup. Perhaps it's the chillier-than-usual weather, but I just had to have pudding. It turns out that food editors everywhere seem to have pudding on their minds. The collection of featured recipes on the New York Times' dining page? Pudding. The last page of this month's issue of Gourmet? More pudding recipes. Awesome.

I ended up making one of the Gourmet recipes: vanilla pudding topped with a fig jam. Very tasty. But not everyone enjoys waiting for pudding to set in the fridge. Need pudding now? Try one of these restaurants:

• At Big Pink, you can get warm chocolate pudding cake with sweet cream and cherries. Portions are big, so make sure to bring along a friend to share it with you.

• Try Khoury's for a deviation from the standard pudding: milk pudding topped with pistachios and a delicate syrup.

• The bread pudding is the signature dessert at Michy's. It's made with challah or brioche, egg yolks, raisins, cream, and brandy.

• The Cottage offers just three desserts, one of which is vanilla pudding layered with bananas and vanilla wafers topped with whipped cream. Yum!

Pudding Recipes [New York Times]
Big Pink [MenuPages]
Big Pink [Official Site]
Khoury's [MenuPages]
Michy's [MenuPages]
The Cottage [MenuPages]

Photo, of the bread pudding at Michy's: ulterior epicure/flickr

• A Chinese court sentenced two men to death and a third to life in prison, after determining they were responsible for last year's tainted milk scandal. [Washington Post]

• A Texas man drove his Corvette into the front window of a Corpus Christi taco joint. Hot! [MSNBC]

• One candidate vying for the job of head of FDA says the agency needs more staff to inspect food. [Newsday]

• Meanwhile, federal officials have expanded the list of peanut products that may contain salmonella. [Newsday]

• Times are tough. A man who walked into an Omaha Subway restaurant and started filling out a job application apparently changed plans halfway through and robbed the place instead. [AP/Yahoo]

So by now, you have, of course, heard about the salmonella panic sweeping the nation regarding peanut products. So far, the outbreak has been responsible for making 480 people sick and caused six deaths. The source has been found: a Peanut Corp. of America plant in Blakely, Ga.

The good news? You can still eat peanut butter. The creamy (or chunky) peanut butter in the jar is not the problem, so go ahead and polish off the last of that Jif. The guilty processing plant sells peanut butter only to institutions and food manufacturers, so it's only the foods made with peanut butter — like cookies and ice cream — that you have to worry about. If you're wondering whether the package of peanut butter cookies in your cabinet might be a problem, check the FDA's very handy recall search function.

So now, peanut butter cookies are in the trash, but the craving that urged you to buy them in the first place is still there. Well, you can either get in the kitchen and bake with your salmonella-free jar of the good stuff (try this recipe for some basic peanut butter cookies) or find the nearest bakery. House of Sweets in Delray Beach offers cupcakes of both the peanut butter and chocolate and peanut butter and jelly varieties. And Pastry Heaven in Palm Beach makes some pretty great peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

FDA: 125-plus products recalled in peanut outbreak [AP]
Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak [FDA]
Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe [Joy of Baking]
House of Sweets [MenuPages]
Pastry Heaven [MenuPages]

Photo: lazylikewally/flickr

I have eaten on Ocean Drive exactly three times in the past dozen years. The first time was at a restaurant I cannot remember with some friends in high school. We didn't eat much. Second time: lunch and drinks with a friend at Wet Willie's while home from college. Third time: dinner last year at the ill-fated Smoking Rabbit. So I really don't know what goes on at those restaurants that cater almost exclusively to tourists. Here's one piece of advice from a firsthand account of dinner at Rendezvous on the Beach:

1. Read the signs, ignore the waitress.

This is common sense, right? But when you’re being led to a table and a waiter is using words like “half off everything” and you confirm “half off everything?” you assume that means “half off everything”. In reality, “half off everything” usually means “sit down, eat, we’ll worry about the bill later”.

The actual sale, along with the terms and conditions, are printed on large signs on the sidewalk. Usually what you’ll find is that only drinks and select menu items are on sale. Every restaurant is offering something different, so be sure to read the sign at the cafe you finally sit down at.

Yes. I know. This should be common sense.

South Beach Restaurants: Avoid Getting Ripped Off [Uptake Vacations Blog]
Wet Willie's [Official Site]
Rendezvous on the Beach [MenuPages]

Photo: festivalos/flickr

• It's not just peanut butter you should be avoiding; now the FDA is telling everyone to not eat anything made with peanuts because of the salmonella scare. [Washington Post]

• The US restaurant count was pretty much flat in 2008, but it's expected to decline in 2009. Not surprisingly, fast food restaurants have been doing well in the sluggish economy. [Reuters]

• A new study concludes that it is much more difficult for women to resist their favorite foods than it is for men. [AP]

• A man who helped invent that ever-useful kitchen appliance, the microwave, has died. He apparently used to keep an early-model prototype of the microwave in his basement — it was the size of a refrigerator! [Nashua Telegraph]

• The iPhone — a cook's best friend. [NYT]

Pretty much all we can think about here at MP HQ is this morning's inauguration. Regardless of political affiliation, we were all glued to our new President waxing stentorian about tomorrow and strength and change, and this blogger found herself blinking back totally emo tears on more than one occasion. (Heck of a rendition of 'Simple Gifts,' amirite?)

Still riding that high, we're giving over today's National post to a roundup of ways we can, well, eat Barack Obama. It's quite possible that no other president in history has had so many foodstuffs created in his likeness. In all our intrepid searching, though, we still haven't found a decent Obama pancake or a truly inspired Obama burger.

For that matter, where are all the Michelle homages? Come on, folks, it's not too late to make your own edible, indelible contribution to history!

Right: order an Americano (get it?) at any UK Krispy Kreme, and it'll come decorated with the cocoa-powdery visage of President #44.

Below, via Jezebel: "Shop assistant Chika Shimada holds 'Obama senbei' (rice crackers) in support of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama at the souvenir shop Wakasaya on January 20, 2009 in Obama, Fukui, Japan":

From the Portland, Oregon-based Neapolitan Printing & Company, the Choc-O-Bama: 60 grams of Guittard milk choc, at a wallet-friendly $20:

From the Boulder, Colorado supermarket Alpine Ideal (which is owned by Whole Foods), one of many many examples of Obama cupcakes:

No Obama food roundup is complete without the miraculous hope-Toast:

This pizza from laughingstarfish's Flickr is decorated to look like the Obama logo, obviously:

Last but certainly not least, doesn't this bacon cheeseburger from wastedinthekeys' Flickr totally look like the Obama logo?

Employees who showed up to work at Rancho Luna early this morning got a pretty awful surprise: smoke from an electrical fire. Here's what the Herald article about the fire had to say:

When firefighters arrived at the restaurant, 45 NW 22nd Ave., they discovered a small fire inside the attic that hangs over the restaurant's old-style Cuban ventana, takeout window.

After putting out the fire, they used a heavy, hand-held K-12 saw to cut a three-foot-by-three-foot hole in the roof.

''It was a very good way to stop it from spreading to the attic,'' Carroll said.

Cutting out a section of the roof prevented the fire from destroying several antique paintings and wood carvings from Cuba, Carroll said.

''A lot of stuff in there is definitely priceless and irreplaceable,'' he added.

The restaurant will probably remain closed for the next few days because of the heavy smoke that spread through the restaurant. Rancho Luna's owners will need to clear out all of their food to gain approval from a health department inspector who will visit the restaurant within the next few days.

Electrical fire closes Miami's Rancho Luna Restaurant [Miami Herald]
Rancho Luna [MenuPages]

• Check out the menu for today's inauguration luncheon. There's seafood stew, a "brace of American birds," apple sponge cake, and California wines. Having your own celebratory dinner tonight? Jan provides the Legal Sea Foods clam chowder recipe. [Jan Norris]

• There is a chocolate festival this weekend at Fairchild Tropical Gardens. Seriously, a chocolate festival. Start making plans now. [Coral Gables]

• Sara provides a course-by-course review with photos of her meal at Gotham Steak. [All Purpose Dark]

• The Coral Gables farmers' market is back for the season. [mango&lime]

• The trees around here are filled with carambola these days. Yum! [Miami Every Day Photo]

• A behind-the-scenes look at Joey's in Wynwood. [Short Order]

So you might have noticed that we launched a fancy new redesign this weekend. All of the same menu information is there, just jazzed up in a nicer format. And we've made a few things a bit easier. For example, check out the search box at the top of the page. The incredibly useful "Find a Food" search had been a bit difficult to find; now, it's right there in the search box. And check out how easy it is to use the "Advanced Search." With one click you can search by neighborhood or area, cuisine, zip code and cross streets at the same time.

And it's even easier to browse the listings. Say you want Brazilian food tonight; click on "Brazilian" in the home page. From there, you can narrow down your options by neighborhood and area, as usual, but now you can also filter by features like outdoor dining or online reservations.

This is just one of the many changes we've got in store to make searching for the perfect restaurant that much easier for you.

• Apparently someone's becoming the President today? The Florida Avenue Grill, the oldest African-American-owned restaurant in DC, is gearing up for massive crowds. [MSNBC]

• And of course everyone is still all in a tizzy about what the Obamas will be eating. [WaPo]

• Counterfeit foods — faux fish, honey, olive oil, vanilla — are all over the U.S. Here's how to spot (and avoid) them. {USAToday]

• A Japanese study clears cloned animals for human consumption. [Reuters]

• The FDA, on the other hand, has asked everyone to stop eating peanut butter altogether, until they can find the source of the recent salmonella outbreak. [MSNBC]

• WHICH Beantown neighborhood has seen a spate of recent restaurant shutterings? [MP: Boston]

• WHICH Windy City food critic puts so little stock in anonymity that he appeared as a judge on Throwdown With Bobby Flay? [MP: Chicago]

• WHICH MP editor has a well-documented fondness for liver? [MP: Philadelphia]

• WHICH San Francisco chef is taking his empire national? [MP: San Francisco]

• WHICH unexpected city needs to watch its weight? [MP: South Florida]

• Bonus! WHICH popular menu site will have an awesome big surprise for users tomorrow?

• Check out some first impressions of Anatolia in Boca Raton. [Chowhound]

• Sometimes, these crazy out-there dishes look really amazing, and while this one is intriguing, it just looks so gelatinous. Not my favorite texture. [chadzilla]

• Need a dinner idea for a Wednesday night? Check out the Bourbon and Blues night at Bourbon Steak for upscale comfort food and 25 percent off bourbons. Oh, and blues too! [All Purpose Dark]

• How about a seafood spot in Palm Beach? Here are a few ideas. [Chowhound]

• France is unhappy about the heavy import duties the United States has imposed on Roquefort. Oh France, why so blue? [New York Post]

• The parents of the first child in China to die from melamine-tainted milk have accepted a settlement from the company responsible. [New York Times]

• In order to tackle the country's food emergency, Kenya needs 900,000 tons of corn. [Bloomberg]

• The full text of Alice Waters' November letter to the Obamas regarding the selection of a White House chef is now available online. [Gourmet]

• Coca-Cola is being sued by the Center for Science in the Public Interest because of what they call the deceptive marketing practices of VitaminWater. If the suit is successful, look for that one refrigerator case at your local bodega to get a whole lot emptier. [New York Post]

Well, well, well! Would you look at that? Pepsi's packaging has undergone a complete overhaul, just in time for Barack Obama's inauguration! The resemblance between the former Pepsi logo and the Obama logo was already striking, but this time around, the likeness is positively uncanny.

The similarity does not end with the logo: it turns out that Pepsi has also launched a new website to celebrate the dawn of a new year, a new design for Pepsi, and some might say, a new political era. Don't believe us? Just check out Refresh Everything. It reminds us of Mac ads, which might as well be considered shorthand for saying that it reminds us Obama. What's more, the page is plastered with video clips addressed to "Mr. President," as well as buzz words like 'optimism'. As if that weren't enough to convince the world of what they are going for, Pepsi also released a totally Obama-riffic video on New Year's Eve.

Call us cynics, but our first reaction was to wonder how "for real" Pepsi is about all this. That is to say, is there money where their metaphorical mouth is, or are they simply being opportunistic? We remembered that the New York Times article from this summer about the correlation between food preferences and political leanings said that "Pepsi-Cola and Sprite are Democratic" but that's not much to go on.

The real find was "Obama: the Pepsi Candidate," an August, 2008 piece from Slate. Apparently

when Obama assembled a team of financial heavyweights for a summit to discuss economic issues, one of the most prominent corporate leaders in attendance was Indra Nooyi, the Pepsi CEO whose Indian heritage makes her, like Obama, one of the few nonwhites to reach the highest levels of power in her profession. Although Nooyi hasn't endorsed Obama—few CEOs make explicit endorsements—it's hard to imagine that she doesn't support him; she and her husband gave $27,000 to John Kerry's campaign in 2004.

So, there you have it: although it's true that Pepsi is capitalizing on Obamania, they are also a Democrat-leaning company.

P.S. As a bonus round for the less intellectually lazy, we invite you to construct an elaborate theory connecting the Coke vs. soda vs. pop, Obama, and Pepsi's Refresh Everything campaign.

What’s for Dinner? The Pollster Wants to Know [NYT]
Obama: the Pepsi Candidate [Slate]

Downtown Miami will soon be home to a new pizzeria, although not quite as soon as we all thought. This Herald brief said that Ecco Pizzateca & Lounge would be opening today, but a phone call to the restaurant revealed that a) they don't have a set menu yet, and b) they still don't know when they're going to open. It's sure not going to be anytime this weekend.

A quality pizza place is always welcome, and this one features award-winning pizza maker Massimo Fabio Bruni in the kitchen. And there'll be free Wi-Fi too!

Upscale pizza in downtown Miami [Miami Herald]
Ecco Pizzateca & Lounge [Official Site]

• Gotham Steak gets a ringing endorsement from Lee Klein. The steak sounds amazing, and even the fish is fantastic. [Miami New Times]

• There are quite a few standouts on Da Vittorio's menu, like the spaghetti alla carbonara or the octopus. [Miami Herald]

• You can actually drop $40 on a bottle of water at Bova Prime. The food sounds really great, but be prepared to part with a fair amount of your cash. [Miami Herald]

• Two wrongs apparently can make a right: the owners of not-so-great Taverna Yiasou and Taverna Opa teamed together to create Ouzo Blue, where the Greek fare is great. Also good: Skorpios II. The Greek food scene in South Florida is looking up. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• The lunch fare at Charcuterie Too is a tasty multicultural mix reflecting the homelands of the eatery's crew. And it's in the Broward County Main Library — good food and lots of books? Yes, please. [Miami Herald]

• Need a few new dining options this year? Here are 39. [Palm Beach Post]

• Cold weather-fighting tips from some Chicago doormen: Eat more food. [Chicago Tribune]

• A Long Island restaurant offers its own stimulous plan by randomly comping dinners. That just may work. [Newsday]

• The USDA's regulatioon may not be able to keep pace with genetically modified crops and animals, thus potentially allowing unapproved GMO imports. [Reuters]

• Oh noes! Of all the sushi joints in all the world, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears awkwardly met in this one. But nothing happened. [SF Chronicle]

• Alabama sheriffs are reconsidering the policy allowing them to pocket leftover jail food money after one of them spent the night in the slammer for allegedly starving his inmates. [AP/Opelika-Auburn News]

It seems everyone's hanging their hopes on Obama these days, including Washington, DC restaurateurs who are all jockeying for the president-elect's attention. He's been known to enjoy a meal out on the town, and he's got a far more adventurous palate than the sitting president (who, by all accounts is a bit of a recluse who prefers to eat his comfort food at home), so DC chefs are excited. One restaurateur — José Andrés, owner of Cafe Atlantico and Oyamel — has already called Rick Bayless of Chicago's Topolobampo (an Obama favorite) to ask about the president-elect's preferences, according to this New York Times article. In DC, a visit from a president can translate into quite a few more diners in seats. When dining rooms are half-empty thanks to an economic downturn, a presidential visit can make or break a restaurant.

But it's not just the president, of course; there are also those who come to work in his administration, and they can seriously change the fabric of a restaurant's dining scene:

But Bill Burton, the press secretary for Mr. Obama’s campaign who is following him to the White House, predicted changes in the Washington restaurant scene’s pecking order.

Already, he said, Cork, a relatively new restaurant in the Logan Circle area of town, is becoming a popular spot for young, incoming administration hands, many of whom have moved to the neighborhood in recent weeks.

With several varieties of chardonnay by the glass alone — and with an offering one recent night of Champaign for Change — the place does not scream “Republican.” Nor do its two owners, a former Democratic Congressional lawyer and a union organizer.

Mr. Burton, a self-proclaimed restaurant lover, also predicted a boost for establishments like Hook, in Georgetown, which opened nearly two years ago and was quickly named one of the country’s 10 best “Eco-Friendly Restaurants” by Bon Appétit magazine.

Rearranging the Tables in Washington: Can Obama’s Coattails Reach to Restaurants? [New York Times]
Cafe Atlantico [MenuPages]
Oyamel [MenuPages]
Topolobampo [MenuPages]
Cork [MenuPages]
Hook [MenuPages]

Photo, of the main dining room at Cafe Atlantico: truenotes/flickr

Things I learned from today's tribute to Versailles in the Herald (picked up from the U/Miami News Service):

• The restaurant is "a focal point of Cuban-American dissent, protest or celebration."
• Multiple presidents have eaten there.
• Cuban comfort food is served there.

Groundbreaking stuff, isn't it?

Little Havana's Versailles is more than a restaurant [Miami Herald]
Versailles [MenuPages]

Photo: JimNice/flickr

Hey Miami, you're fat. This might be news to lots of people whose only images of Miami include Art Deco buildings and white-sand beaches, but to those of us who know the area a bit better than that, it isn't that surprising.* (Although, top of the list? Really?) Despite the good weather, we don't walk or ride bikes much. And we've got some of the worst commutes in the country. Here's what the report had to say about our fair city:

So much for the South Beach Diet. While Miami's nightlife and shores don't lack for buff bodies, the majority of residents should probably put a shirt on (61.5% of Miami residents are heavy enough to increase their risk for weight-related health problems). Though Miami has a high number of health-food stores per capita, it also has almost three times the fast-food restaurants as the average city. The area also has 79% more gyms and health clubs than average, but residents are less likely than average to regularly use their memberships.

"Because we have year-round warm weather, many people opt to walk, run, or take part in outdoor activities for their fitness," says Kelly Penton, director of communications for the mayor's office. Actually, they don't. Miamians also scored poorly in motivation due to low participation rates in outdoor activities like biking, running, and fitness walking despite a relatively pleasant climate most of the year. The city's commute (50% more oppressive than average) and air quality (ranked the worst in our survey according to EPA standards) certainly don't help matters either.

The points deductions towards the end of the article are especially ridiculous; apparently, we are all less likely to play golf or use abdominal machines or stairmasters. And for this, we are deemed the fattest city in America. Yeah, not sure I believe that. Still, getting out of the car and onto the bike more often would be a good thing, especially at this time of year when the weather leans more towards perfect than oppressively hot. And picking up lunch from places like Nature's Way Cafe and Last Carrot might be a good start.

2009 Fittest/Fattest Cities [Men's Health]
Nature's Way Cafe [MenuPages]
Nature's Way Cafe [Official Site]
Last Carrot [MenuPages]
Last Carrot [Official Site]

* What is surprising: Miami is so much fatter than Chicago, which came in at 13th. I've lived in both cities, and I do not believe that the latter's residents are significantly thinner than the former's. There is zero incentive to be thin when it's cold for nine months out of the year.

• For those who don't have the time to read nutrition labels at the grocery store, Albertsons is flagging healthful items on its shelves. [LA Times]

• Whole Foods is now asking for its competitors to help the company fight its legal battle. Apparently, some are actually doing it. [Bloomberg]

• China gets to blame its tainted food crisis on another country for once; bags of dog food imported from Australia are being pulled off the shelves. [CNN]

• Miami is the fattest city in America this year, according to Men's Fitness magazine. How do these rankings change so much year-to-year? [USA Today]

• It's not just the administration that's changing; the face of the restaurant scene in Washington, DC might look different a couple years into an Obama presidency. [NYT]

It was a few months ago that MP:SF editor Adam lamented that he wanted oysters but they weren't in season. Well, we've been safely into the R months for a while now, and — if you haven't already — it's high time that you slurp some bivalves.

Oysters are readily available on the menu at old standbys like Old Florida Seafood House — and are cropping up in more and more on-trend iterations on menus like The River Oyster Bar. But for all their ubiquity in winter months, we've always rankled at the idea of shelling out (as it were) for what is essentially a no-prep dish.

It's not that we don't appreciate the labor involved — trust, we've lost too many bits of finger to aggressive avocado-chopping not to balk at the terrifying apparatus required for oyster shucking. It's more that we feel a pervasive sense of wussiness at plonking down at a raw bar and ordering a dozen, extra mignonette, when we haven't felt the cool, rocky slime of an unshucked oyster shell in our own palm.

So three cheers for the Village Voice, whose resident foodie Sarah DiGregorio takes us through the shucking process step-by-step, framing it all in the economically comforting notion that the money you would spend on a half-dozen oysters at a restaurant could instead be redirected towards the purchase of a full dozen home-shucked oysters — plus a bottle of wine. Throw in a couldn't-be-simpler recipe for mignonette sauce from 1964 and some basic cocktail sauce (horseradish to taste), and it's a perfect spread.

Until such time as we completely gash the crap out of our hands, consider us sold.

Recession Special: Eat More Oysters [Fork In The Road]
Old Florida Seafood House [MenuPages]
The River Oyster Bar [MenuPages]
The River Oyster Bar [Official Site]

[Photo via star5112's Flickr]

• A cousin recently had his wedding reception at Heidi's Gasthaus, and it was pretty awesome. The food was good, and the beer was great.

• In Fort Lauderdale, Old Heidelberg's menu is very extensive and in addition to the usual items (bratwurst, knockwurst, schnitzel), it also has a few interesting Bavarian dishes like roast goose and roast suckling pig with dumplings.

• Pair your bratwurst with a cup of goulash and one of the fresh-baked strudels at Old Vienna Bierhaus in Coral Springs, which according to a MP reviewer, has a great selection of beer.

• You've got one option on Miami Beach: Hofbrau Beerhall, which happens to have a pretty great happy hour deal on Wednesdays. Buy one half-liter beer and get another one free. I'll drink to that!

• UN Aid organizations are working doubletime in Gaza, but are still only able to reach a small portion of those in dire need of food, thanks to ongoing fighting. [AP]

• While our current rate of global warming is slightly beneficial to crop production, in the long term we're looking at some serious agricultural meltdown thanks to rising temperatures. [Time]

• Anti-litter activists in the UK are calling on fast food chains to take responsibility for their contribution to the national litter problem — branded litter from McDonalds alone made up 29% of a sample area's trash. [BBC News]

• The FTC has filed an injunction to force Whole Foods to rebrand all former Wild Oats stores back to Wild Oats, and treat those stores as a separate brand. It's weird and makes no sense. [Tennessean]

• Frozen food - it's good for you! And there's a nifty wall of ice to prove it! [WaPo]

There's been a lot of chatter around which celebrity chef might come to work for the Obamas' White House. A bunch of people have suggested Rick Bayless, since the Obamas reportedly like his Chicago restaurant, Topolobampo. Some other pundit-types have suggested Bobby Flay or Emeril Lagasse because, well, who knows? Because they're there, it seems.

But in keeping with their low-key style, the Obamas have elected to keep Cristeta Comerford as executive chef. This is a relief, because, at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, the media microscope on the White House should be focused on affairs of state, the personal habits of the first family, and sex scandals. We don't need reporters in White House press briefings clamoring to know more about Iron Chef.

The other bit of presidential food news today centers on Barack Obama's ignorance as to the nature of a half-smoke. Now, as a native Washingtonian (and proud resident till the ripe age of six), we were born with an innate knowledge of this hot-dog doppelganger, but not all can be so lucky, and apparently Obama asked what he did not know. (lies! our father introduced us to the half-smoke on a return visit to the nation's capital in 2005).

There has been a little hay made of this presidential quasi-gaff, with some decrying our new president's ignorance, and others praising his inquisitiveness and outsider status.

We're here to do neither, but to parse the situation all the same: Yes, it is true that Obama, on a visit to Washington, D.C. staple Ben's Chili Bowl, did not know the regional dog of the capital. He is from Chicago, after all. But he's held federal office for four years, which means he must have lived in D.C. for at least part of that time. On the other hand, Obama eats a famously healthy diet, so he may not have happened onto a half-smoke in the course of his Washington residency.

Whatever the reason for Obama's having to ask the question, "what's a half-smoke," the fact remains that in exactly one second of speech, the president-elect generated about two and a half minutes of discussion on MSNBC, a flurry of blog responses, and the ire of Bill Cosby. Now that's how you cover the first family!

No Change Brewing in the White House Kitchen [NY Times]
Topolobampo [MenuPages]
Topolobampo [Official Site]
In Videos: Barack Obama Doesn't Know What a Half-Smoke Is [Serious Eats/MSNBC]
Obama and the Half-Smoke [Bay Area Bites]
Ben's Chili Bowl [MenuPages]
Ben's Chili Bowl [Official Site]

[Photos: Chef Cristeta via The White House, Ben's Chili Bowl via dbking/flickr]

"The exciting part for us is when people break out their cameras before they eat. Food is the only artform made strictly for consumption. Cooking is the oldest profession in the world, so it's refreshing to have fun with it once in a while, and to watch people's whole perception change in just a mouthful is exciting."

– Chef Jacob Durham from Enso in an interview with the New Times. Nice to see that some chefs don't mind the camera thing. Although — doesn't he have the oldest profession mixed up?

Winter Spice starts today and runs for the next month, so start making reservations! It seems that this time around, few restaurants have put their Spice menus on the website, so I'm having a hard time making up a comprehensive guide like last time. But I'll do my best. Keep in mind that the [lunch] and [dinner] links below go to a .pdf file.

• Chef Allen is offering a $25 wine pairing to go with your $36 dinner, which includes Maine lobster (not bad!), seared diver scallops, or grilled hanger steak. [dinner]

• Ago's lunch menu is pretty lackluster, but the dinner menu sounds pleasant enough: gnocchi a la Sorrentina or half free-range chicken with rosemary potatoes. [dinner]

• The Forge is offering a seafood-heavy menu, with escargot, crab cakes and Scottish salmon. Most intriguing dish: a filet topped with crab meat, asparagus and a black truffle hollandaise. [dinner]

• China Grill Sobe is doing the family-style thing again, which works great for large parties. Take a big group and try everything on the menu! [lunch] [dinner]

• Blue Door's Spice lunch menu? Meh. Dinner, however, sounds more interesting. That red snapper — with fennel and tomato confit, kalamata olives, and lemon preserve vinaigrette — certainly sounds tasty. [dinner]

• Kobe Club is usually a good bet with these prix-fixe deals; even if you add the pricey supplements, it's still a pretty good value when you consider the restaurant's regular prices. [dinner]

• This is all obviously very subjective, and your tastes may differ from mine, but everything on La Marea's lunch and dinner menus sound appetizing. [lunch] [dinner]

• The same can be said of Table 8's Winter Spice dinner menu. Yum. [dinner]

• Oh! Four courses alert! You get a salad, pasta, entree and dessert at Tuscan Steak. There's also an appealing option to upgrade to a grilled Florentine t-bone steak for an extra $8. [dinner]

• There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about the menus at Two Sisters, but it could make for a pretty great lunch. [lunch]

• I'd put Acqua on my list of "must-visit" for this month. The menu is appropriately wintery without being heavy, and it looks like a very good value. Interestingly, two of the starters are marked as vegetarian, but no vegetarian entrees are offered, although I'm assuming they'd accommodate a diner and make a meat-free one. [dinner]

• Andu Restaurant & Lounge's lunch menu doesn't offer many options and seems pretty lackluster, but the dinner menu looks like a good value. [dinner]

• You get lots of choices for both lunch and dinner at Prime Blue Grille, and each meal comes with a glass of wine! [lunch] [dinner]

• Check out behind-the-scenes photos of Enso, where they're pushing the envelope with molecular gastronomy techniques. [Short Order]

• Trina pays tribute to a few restaurants that closed in the past year. [Miami Dish]

• Sarah walks you through dinner at Asia de Cuba course by course, with photos. [All Purpose Dark]

• As delicious as it is, foie gras just does not look appetizing. [Chadzilla]

• There's some funny business going on in the avocado industry in California; the commission that growers pay to advertise and market their products seems to have misappropriated quite a few funds. [Short Order]

• A man in Maine is planning a new "concept" coffee shop &mdash specifically, one where the baristas and waitresses are topless. Hey, anything in this economy, am I right or am I right? [Boston Globe]

• What's named George, weighs 20 pounds, and is anywhere from 80-140 years old? Not Curious George, if that was your guess, but rather, a giant and ancient lobster who got his thousandth chance at living a long, healthy life. He was slated to be served at a NYC restaurant, but was set free in Maine after intervention from PETA. [AP/Chicago Tribune]

• A couple in Illinois got married at a Taco Bell this weekend! They decided to get hitched there because it's where they spend a lot of time. The guests were their closest friends and family as well as normal customers. Decorations included hot sauce packets that said "will you marry me?" [AP/NY Daily News]

• Milk demand (and subsequently, milk prices) have been plummeting. No state has been hit harder than California, and dairy farmers are struggling. [San Francisco Chronicle]

• Is food contamination so 2008? In the wake of all those melamine scandals, China is going forward with a food safety campaign. Here's hoping that it works, and that we are forevermore done with writing the words 'China' and 'melamine' in the same sentence. [Reuters]

"Last names of the big four Design District chef/restaurateurs: Lyon, Eismann, Bernstein and Schwartz. There are so many potentially good jokes to insert here, but every one would get me into the sort of trouble where I'd likely have to contact a law firm -- you know, like Lyon, Eismann, Bernstein & Schwartz."

– Lee Klein in Short Order

Miami Restaurant Musings [Short Order]

• WHICH private Beantown gym makes a mean smoothie? [MP: Boston]

• WHICH MP editor is a total word nerd? [MP: Chicago]

• WHICH MP editor spent Christmas break on a tropical vacation? (Bonus blind item: WHICH other MP editor spent most of her break watching marathons of Jon & Kate Plus Eight and is jealous?) [MP: Philadelphia]

• WHICH Bay Area newspaper misidentified a deadly wild mushroom as a morel? [MP: San Francisco]

• WHICH Miami restaurateur might be taking his restaurant's name a bit too seriously? [MP: South Florida]

• Julie writes about lentils. We're on the same wavelength apparently, because I made a lovely red lentil soup last night. [A Mingling of Tastes]

• Restaurants are closing left and right in Palm Beach County. No good news here. [Chowhound]

• Carrot sorbet? Can't say that would be high on the list of things I'd want to try, but the dish does look pretty tasty. [Chadzilla]

• Jan talks about Capri Blu closing this weekend. [Jan Norris]

• Check out some interesting observations about the restaurant scene these days from Lee Klein. [Short Order]

• In the midst of closing stores, laying off employees, and reconsidering matching 401k plans, Starbucks purchased a $45 million corporate jet. [Seattle Times]

• If you unfriend ten people on Facebook, Burger King will give you a free Whopper as part of their "Whopper Sacrifice" program. The catch? The unfriended will get a message letting them know you ditched them for a burger. [A Hamburger Today]

• 42% of 18-25 year-old females and 35% of males in the same age group said they don't have time to sit and eat a meal. [Bitten/New York Times]

• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering a $10,000 prize to the chef who comes up with the best vegetarian version of foie gras. [Fork In The Road/Village Voice]

• Gaston Lenôtre, who trained chefs like David Bouley and Michel Richard in addition to operating a vast culinary empire, has passed away at 88. [New York Times]

Most people we know seem to have been hit by a dreadful January cold, and we are no exception. The only thing we are interested in eating is an avgolemono-type soup that our mom always made for us when we were sick, but we suspect that most people crave the homey comfort of chicken soup and its alleged curative properties.

This animated version of "Chicken Soup with Rice" is a personal childhood favorite, and the line “in January it’s so nice / while slippin’ on the slidin’ ice / to sip hot chicken soup with rice” seems pretty timely right about now. But what is it about chicken soup (with rice, noodles, or super simple with nothing but broth and veggies)?

Chicken soup as a curative is pretty universal. Just check out the Wikipedia page: there are entries for soup from basically every continent. Apparently, it's been used as a healing soup for cold since Ancient Egypt, although since we're talking about info gleaned from Wikipedia, take this with a few grains of salt. Nevertheless, it's been a home-remedy for colds for a very, very long time, so it's a bit tricky to separate whether it just works as a placebo by way of comfort food or if it has legitimate medicinal properties. On the other hand, there is some real research behind its effectiveness as a cold cure. For example (from the NYT),

Using blood samples from volunteers, [Dr. Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center] showed that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. Dr. Rennard theorizes that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms.

It's also been shown to have respiratory benefits &mdash greater than those from water! &mdash but most importantly, it tastes good and has charming songs written about it. So, if you too are under the weather, we wholeheartedly suggest watching this video, mustering up the will to make chicken soup (or ordering some in from your favorite place), and feeling better one slurp at a time.

The Science of Chicken Soup [NYT]

If you still haven't gotten tickets to this year's South Beach Wine & Food Festival, you've got one more chance; this Monday a second block of tickets will go on sale to the general public. You can even get tickets to some of the sold-out events. But there aren't too many of those — there are still quite a few tickets available for most events.

South Beach Wine & Food Festival [Official Site]

• The gluten-free pizzas at Pizza Fusion earn the approval of Victoria Pesce Elliott's wheat-allergic daughter. And they're eco-friendly too! [Miami Herald]

• For the price of one cocktail in South Beach, you can get a full meal at Mazie's Soul Food Restaurant. The wings sound amazing, but you might want to stay away from the dry mac and cheese. [Miami New Times]

• The best time to visit LJ's Backstage Cafe is on the weekends, when barbecue — brisket, baby back ribs and pulled pork — is on the menu. [Miami Herald]

• The steak comes served up to hipper tunes at Brimstone Woodfire Grill than one would normally find at a steakhouse. [Miami Herald]

• Expectations for the affordable comfort food at Johnny Vincenz's new Smith & Jones were high, but unfortunately the food falls flat. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• So it's Greek culture Disneyfied. Taverna Opa

It's sad to think how few strawberry fields are left these days. I remember annual (sometimes more often, depending on how quickly we ate the berries) trips south to spend a day picking strawberries every winter. We'd leave suburban Miami and be surrounded by fields and nurseries. Now, you pick strawberries at Knaus in the shadow of an enormous house that's been built next door; suburbia just never seems to end. According to this Herald article, fewer than 50 acres of strawberries remain in Miami-Dade County. As for Broward, the last U-Pick stand closed last year.

The berries are ready, so check out the article for places you can still pick your own perfectly ripe red strawberries.

Handful of strawberry growers keeps a South Florida tradition alive [Miami Herald]

Photo: jayzwelling/flickr

• A salmonella outbreak has sickened 388 people across the United States, sending some to the hospital and leaving officials scratching their heads trying to find the source. Sound familiar?. [Reuters]

• An Alabama sheriff has been locked up in his own jail after he allegedly under-fed prisoners and pocketed the surplus food money, a move that may or may not have actually been legal. [AP/Yahoo]

• Are you getting enough vitamin D? If you asked that question of Quest Diagnostics, you'd better ask again. The nation's biggest medical lab seems to have given false results to thousands of patients whose vitamin levels it tested. [NY Times]

• Despite a recent dip, food prices ended the year overall of 7 percent higher than they began it. [Reuters]

• Washington, DC restaurants brace themselves for the onslaught of visitors expected on inauguration weekend, throwing parties, extending hours, and laying in supplies. [DC Examiner]

The story about the UK's efforts to save the red squirrel was already linked in today's FYI, but I can't help but return to it, since I've written about eating invasive species to extinction (in the particular area in which they're invasive, of course) in the past. It warmed my heart to read about Brits making an effort to eat grey squirrel so that it can stop bullying around the native red one.

The next thought was, which animals could we target here? So we all collectively did a bit of research in our MenuPages markets. It's complicated, of course. Rarely is it as straightforward as this squirrel situation — kill and eat one, save the other, more adorable native one. For one thing, squirrel sounds pretty tasty, akin to rabbit. For another, it doesn't swim around in polluted waters, and it's not terribly difficult to catch. These problems often plague the non-natives we deal with, however.

South Florida: The climate is inviting and welcoming not only to snowbirds and retirees but also to all sorts of invasive species. Unfortunately, animals like Burmese pythons and iguanas aren't exactly known for being tasty. But hey, there's lionfish! And there's always wild boar; Florida's got those aplenty. Granted you'll probably have to shoot it yourself (not easy, and pretty dangerous) and get someone to skin/butcher it for you, but the reward would be homemade local prosciutto. Yum.

Boston & Philadelphia: The Asian shore crab and European green crab are all over the place, but unfortunately they're far too small to eat. And Pennsylvania has a number of freshwater invasive fish, but the waters are too polluted for consumption. Not too far away, in the Chesapeake Bay and in southern New Jersey, the Chinese mitten crab has begun to establish a population. In China, these are considered a delicacy. Toss them with some Old Bay seasoning, and Americans will probably like them too.

Chicago: Eat Asian carp! Thanks to an electronic barrier, they have yet to make it to Lake Michigan, but this fish with a voracious appetite is very common in the Illinois River. According to this NPR story, it's sold mostly to Asian-American communities in California, New York and Chicago. A state senator suggested putting it on state prison menus and others think it should be called something else to make it more appealing to non-Asians.

San Francisco: There are 85 invasive species in San Francisco Bay, several of which — Bay mussels, Japanese littleneck clams, Manila clam, and the Chinese mitten crab is there too — would make for tasty eating, if only the Bay weren't so polluted.

Saving a Squirrel by Eating One [New York Times]
Eat Lionfish, Save The Reefs [MP: South Florida]
Hog Huntin' in the Glades [Miami New Times]
Asian Carp: Can't Beat Them? Eat Them [NPR]

Photo: Wikipedia

A Miami restaurateur is causing a bit of a stink in the New York restaurant scene. Let's start last year, when chef Marc Forgione decided to open a restaurant called Forge. It's his nickname, after all. Those of you in South Florida are likely familiar with The Forge; you might not know that the latter restaurant's owner, Shareef Malnick, had the name trademarked in 1996. So last September, Malnick sued Forgione for trademark infringement. And now, Forgione has to change the restaurant's name by February 1, despite the fact that the two restaurants are nothing alike. Here's a great excerpt from The New York Observer's article:

Mr. Malnik’s case was largely predicated on a pile of press describing his restaurant’s long history of catering to the rich and famous: Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Richard Nixon, to name-drop a few. “We submitted, I think, 400 pages of documents and we could get more,” Mr. Malnik said. “I’m sure there are some people, but I would exaggerate to say that there isn’t a person in New York who doesn’t know the Forge.”

Talk about street cred: The New York Times in 2000 described the restaurant as “sort of like Sparks Steak House South,” in reference to “the New York mob landmark” where Gambino boss Paul Castellano was killed in 1986. The article noted that Mr. Malnik’s father, Al Malnik, the restaurant’s prior owner, was also the lawyer for the late mobster Meyer Lansky.

“If one didn’t know that we existed and that I had this trademark, then they would have to be somewhat naïve,” Mr. Malnik told The Observer. “You can’t help but bump into our name anytime you search ‘Forge.’”

Mr. Forgione admitted that he was aware of the Florida eatery prior to opening his own place in New York. “I Googled ‘Forge’ three years ago,” he said. “But I never in a million years thought that a restaurant in Miami would give a shit.”

Forging an Identity [New York Observer]
The Forge [MenuPages]
The Forge [Official Site]
Forge [MenuPages]
Forge [Official Site]

• Squirrel meat appears to be all the rage in the UK. Britons are happily munching away at gray squirrels (a North American invasive species) in order to save their beloved red squirrels, which, we must agree, are much cuter. [NYT]

• A fire completely destroyed six restaurants near Fenway Park that were popular with Red Sox fans for a bite before and after games. [Boston Herald]

• Virginia lawmakers consider whether or not to ban smoking inside restaurants in the state. Fun fact: 67 percent of Virginia restaurants already ban smoking inside. [Washington Post]

• Did you know that "cochineal," which shows up in lipstick and some foods, is actually a crushed bug? Yes, all this time you've been eating insects — they show up in the ingredients as "artificial color." Yum! [Newsday]

• Five years after a maintenance employee died in a Tyson Foods plant, the company has to pay $500,000 for failing to protect its workers from hydrogen sulfide gas. [CNNMoney]

For all its kitsch and national ubiquity, we remain dedicated fans of Buca Di Beppo, the family-style red sauce Italian chain known for their planet-sized meatballs and overwhelming wall decor.

The chain was recently bought by the folks behind Planet Hollywood, and it's like Spiderman says: With new management comes a massive menu overhaul. Out go the vats of corporate red sauce, in comes made-fresh-daily pots of marinara, alfredo, and bolognese.

The one thing we were particularly concerned about when we heard about the Buca menu overhaul was the fate of the garlic bread. This artery bomb of sliced garlic, gooey cheese, and fluffy bread is singularly the thing that keeps us coming back. For all our attempts at a refined palate (pass the salsify) or good health (more quinoa?), this is perhaps the only food we have ever consumed that we have actually had dreams about. Salty, cheesy dreams.

So we got in touch with the folks at Buca, who not only assured us that the garlic bread recipe would not be changing, but as a show of goodwill passed along method to us, for you. Seriously, folks, this came on a PDF that says "Confidential - Do Not Duplicate" in the lower right corner.

It's written for a restaurant kitchen, so we've adapted it for home use. After the jump!

Buca Di Beppo's Garlic Bread with Mozzarella
adapted from the official recipe by MenuPages.com

1 loaf Italian bread, fresh-baked if possible
2oz Garlic Olive Oil (you can buy this at most grocery stores, or make your own)
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or more to taste)
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup grated mozzarella

Preheat oven to 450°. Cut the loaf of bread horizontally so you end up with two pieces—a top and bottom. Place the halves on a sheet or cookie pan and brush the top of each half generously with the garlic olive oil. (Make sure that the edges are well oiled to keep it from burning.)

Spread the sliced garlic evenly over the loaf. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese followed by mozzarella cheese, and bake in the 450° oven until lightly golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and cut into 8 equal pieces. Refrain from consuming it all immediately, yourself, and place in a napkin-lined basket and serve.

Buca Di Beppo [MenuPages]
Buca Di Beppo [Official Site]

Have you tried calling the Rosa Mexicano location in Palm Beach Gardens lately? You get this message:

You have reached Rosa Mexicano Restaurant. We are closed. As of New Year's, Rosa Mexicano has closed. We thank all of our guests and wish you all a happy and healthy new year.

Both Spoto's locations ranked among the top 50 restaurants in the Zagat Palm Beach Restaurants 2008 guide. Spoto moved employees from the West Palm Beach location to his Spoto's Oyster Bar and Oakwood Grill on PGA.

"We tried to hold on as long as we could," Spoto said. "The lunches were still fine, but for whatever reason, we just weren't getting the dinner business."

Rosa Mexicano, Spoto's Oyster Bar close their doors [Palm Beach Post]
Rosa Mexicano [MenuPages]
Rosa Mexicano [Official Site]
Spoto's Oyster Bar [MenuPages]
Spoto's Oyster Bar [Official Site]

The chain invasion of Miracle Mile is continuing; Fatburger is set to take over the location of former furniture store Amalio Russo. The only other Fatburger in the area is the Queen Latifah-owned franchise on South Beach. We're going to assume that it's done well there, given the company's interest in expanding in the area. OneBurger's already established dominance in downtown Coral Gables in the fast quality burger category, so we'll see if Fatburger can make a dent in that. Get ready for the burger showdown!

Sick Of The South Beach Diet? Queen Latifah To The Rescue! [MP: South Florida]
Fatburger [MenuPages]
Fatburger [Official Site]
OneBurger [MenuPages]
OneBurger [Official Site]

• Over Israel's protestations, the UN is qualifying the strike on Gaza as a humanitarian crisis: Not only are food and water supplies dangerously low, but people are scared to go outside to get what little is in stores. [AFP]

• The UK's Oxford Farming Conference focused on enhancing domestic agriculture for "security" reasons.* [BBC News]

• A raging fire in Boston's Fenway neighborhood took out five restaurants; no people were injured. [Boston Globe]

• Recalls! Bacon! Bacon recalls! If you're in Colorado and have recently purchased food containing bacon bits, there's a risk of listeria. [Denver Post]

• A folk-kitchen-science explainer goes head to head with Harold McGee on matters of the Maillard reaction. [NYT]

Bonus quote from this article: After a couple of glasses of wine, farmers here will admit they are an industry prone to whingeing.

www.nataliedee.com

Have you ever worked service? We have. Our tip jar often looked like the one in the picture. Once, a customer left something like a 30 percent tip. That was a big day in the Martin Household.

Then this guy Eric Hawthorne, some ne'er-do-well "father" and "medical student" waiting tables in Kansas City, Mo., gets a $1,100 tip — something like 1,300 percent of the check, while he was having a bad day, the news report said. Here, watch this video.

Did you catch the part about how Hawthorne is going to spend a lot of the money on his kid? And on books? God, who is this guy, right? He should instead buy 1,100 scratchers. Or maybe use the dough to fly to New York and eat at Per Se. Hey, they serve ice cream. It just happens to be licorice flavor, served with candied walnuts, bosc pears, and walnut mousse. Whatever, we missed our chance, apparently, having stowed the white apron. Of course, the trend for us seemed to be toward a lot more bad days and a lot fewer $1,000 tips. Harumph.

Waiter Receives $1,100 Tip After Having a Bad Day [Fox News Kansas City]
Per Se [MenuPages]
Per Se [Official Site]

[Image: Via Natalie Dee]

Things are not looking good for restaurants. For diners, on the other hand, we've got good news: the Miami Spice deals will be offered throughout the winter high season. This according to The Miami Herald:

As the economy batters South Florida's tourism industry, Miami-Dade restaurants will offer the ''Miami Spice'' discounts they've always reserved for the slow summer season. Dubbed ''Winter Miami Spice,'' the promotion will involve more than 30 restaurants offering fixed menus for lunch and dinner. Lunch costs $23 and dinner $36 -- the same as during the summer -- and the promotion runs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 12.

'Miami Spice' discounts to be offered at restaurants [Miami Herald]
Miami Spice [Official Site]

• Baklava always seemed so complicated. This recipe, however, looks pretty straightforward. [A Mingling of Tastes]

• Sara indulged in sufganiyot in Israel. Yum! [All Purpose Dark]

• Lobster rolls are coming to Delray Beach soon, courtesy of a granddaughter of the founder of L.L. Bean. If these rolls will in any way resemble the ones we ate at a beachside shack in Maine, well, we're excited. [Short Order]

• The first reviews for Scarpetta are coming in, and so far so good. [Chowhound]

• Three months into the trans fat ban, the vast majority of Boston restaurants are free of the dreaded substance. However, doughnuts and cakes still have a couple more months before they too must be trans fat free. Get 'em while you can? [Boston Globe]

• Last month, Chan Yan-tak, a chef in Hong Kong, was the first Chinese chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. It turns out that this honor is not free of controversy, as his restaurant is at the Fours Seasons &mdash potentially not the most authentically Chinese of establishments. [NYT]

• Speaking of Michelin controversy in Hong Kong, Bo Innovation, a restaurant with a self-taught chef garnered two stars. What's the drams? Some consider Bo the El Bulli of Asia, others deem it far over-hyped, but most interestingly, it would appear that the real problem is having a French guidebook act as a definitive guide on Hong Kong cuisine. [Wall Street Journal]

• A grocery store burglar in Wisconsin has a mighty refined palate: the $625 worth of groceries that he stole was mostly in lobster and ribeye. [AP/San Francisco Chronicle]

• Chicago-area Whole Foods stores pulled items from the shelves that were mislabeled as gluten-free, in the wake of a Chicago Tribune story about this very matter. Score 1 for journalism! [Chicago Tribune]