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Elevation Burger, the Virginia-based chain that prides itself on making burgers with organic grass-fed beef and other environmentally-friendly ingredients, is coming to South Florida this year. The company has signed a franchise agreement with two entrepreneurs who plan to open at least three units in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

The menu is concise: there are beef or vegetarian patties, which you can even mix together in a double stack burger. Sides are fries (fried in olive oil), salads, mandarin oranges and cookies. Add a shake or malt and that sounds like a good meal.

Elevation Burger to enter South Fla. [Fast Casual]

Welcome to High Five, a new feature where we let you in on some of the most popular restaurant listings on MenuPages in the past month, as determined by what you (yes you!) click on. Today: the most-clicked spots for wings in February.

1. Wings Plus
2. Mineo's
3. Wings Plus
4. Wings 'n Curls
5. Muncheez

• Short Order interviews the guy behind Burger Beast, an all-burgers-all-the-time blog. [Short Order]

• Talk about a surprise combination of flavors: the lobster ravioli at Wish comes with cardamom-yuzu foam, pickled radishes and green peas. [All Purpose Dark]

• Is Michael's Genuine Food & Drink — gasp! — slipping? [Chowhound]

• We had a similar reaction to the hog-slaughtering piece in the New Times — not "how awful!" but more like "hmm, that's not a bad idea for the next pig roast..." [Food For Thought]

The Maritime Museum is pushing for a restaurant on undeveloped Peanut Island, eight years after the last proposal was voted down by coastal towns fearing increased traffic and parking headaches.

Peanut Island, which was created by the sediment dug out to make the Port of Palm Beach, is popular with boaters and has a much-used campground. The Maritime Museum, also on the island, would like to add a restaurant to give boaters a spot for some food and drink. A private company made a similar proposal in 2001 — for a 4,000-square foot restaurant — and promised to give a portion of the earnings to the museum. There's also some concern that one restaurant will lead to more development on the island and completely change Peanut Island.

Unless the museum plans to bring in a great chef and make the island a dining destination, it's probably not going to attract extra people to Peanut Island, which is already very crowded as is. So we can't imagine a small museum restaurant would cause an increase in traffic in coastal towns, and it might be a good way for the museum to make some extra money by feeding the people who are already there.

What do you think? Have you been to Peanut Island, and would a restaurant there be helpful?

Peanut Island restaurant plan revives debate over development [Sun-Sentinel]
Palm Beach County considers restaurant on Peanut Island [Palm Beach Post]

• Dr. Oz shows up for a vegan meal at Sublime. [Sun-Sentinel]

• With Americans cutting back on travel, foreign tourists are keeping South Florida businesses afloat. [Miami Herald]

• In anticipation of the new higher food tariffs set to take effect in April, importers and specialty shops are loading up on gourmet European products now. [Wall Street Journal]

• As restaurant chains go out of business or close locations, competitors are ready to take their old spaces. [Wall Street Journal]

• France will ban rosé wine made from mixing red and white wines, even if the EU decides to allow the practice. [Decanter]

The owners of Quattro Gastronomia Italiana are planning to open a Neapolitan-style pizzeria on Lincoln Road, just across the street from the restaurant. According to a spokesperson for the pizzeria, called Sosta Enoteca, the owners are importing an authentic wood-burning oven from Italy and expect to open May 1.

Here at MenuPages South Florida, we add new restaurants to the site every day, whether they're just-opened or just-acquired-a-fax-machine. Not much new this week, but here are a few newly-updated menus:

• Brasserie Les Halles
• Cafe L'Europe
• Cafe Joley
• Paris in Town

East meets west at the new Tasters Grille Market, which has taken over the old Anthony's spot in Tavernier. It's run by a sommelier who's no stranger to the Keys dining scene — he's also consulted for Braza Leña, Snapper's and Old Tavernier Restaurant — and a kitchen veteran who's mastered South Carolina's low country cooking and South Florida's own brand of Caribbean-style cuisine. The menu is all over the map, although it keeps the focus on locally-caught fish cooked in Caribbean and Asian flavors, like crab rangoon or mahi mahi tacos, which come with pico de gallo. We're actually most intrigued by the "Keys Limeade," made with key limes, fresh ginger and cane sugar. Certainly sounds refreshing.

Tasters offers mix of international flavors [The Citizen]

Good Morning America "visited" Red Light — or so they say:

While in Key Biscane [sic], Fla., Sam Champion visited the Red Light restaurant, which will be a year old in April and the brainchild of South Florida chef Kris Wessel. Wessel is originally from New Orleans, but his grandmother landed in Miami Beach in 1925 and built the restaurant inside of a notorious prostitute- and drug-filled motel on Biscayne Boulevard in the heart of Miami.

The restaurant is also very much NOT on Key Biscayne, although it's pretty clear the segment was shot there, with a beautiful view of the bay in the background. We're assuming GMA was in the area for the Sony Ericsson Open, held on Key Biscayne. (We didn't catch the show, and the video is apparently nowhere to be found on the GMA site.) So it was likely easier, and more picturesque than that Upper East Side stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, to do the segment nearby, although it would seem weird talking about the motel's checkered past and the Little River as an urban haven for manatees while filming Wessel in a neighborhood with a six-figure median family income. (Wessel, by the way, demonstrated how to make Red Light Snapper, with a red lentil salad and tomatoes, conch ceviche with citrus and hot sauce, and a key lime and mulberry parfait on the show.)

In the end, a local guy who's putting out great food is getting national coverage, which is always a good thing.

Sam Visits Florida's Red Light Restaurant [ABC News]

Photo: ABC News

• Your beer might just get more expensive: Florida legislators are going to look into raising the tax on beer in order to help make up part of a $6.5 billion budget shortfall. Fun facts: the state already has the nation's highest tax on wine and the second-highest tax on liquor. [Florida Times-Union]

• Agave 99, a kosher tequila, will launch in early May, but observant lushes needn't worry - it will also be available for Passover. [Crains New York]

• Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols is suing his prison for failing to provide him with "100 percent whole-grain foods, more fresh raw vegetables and fresh fruit, a wheat bran supplement, and digestive bacteria and enzymes." [ABC7 Denver via Eater]

Everyone's trying to take advantage of any dining deals come their way these days, so we thought we'd let you in on two more:

• Palm Restaurant in Bay Harbor Island is extending its steak and lobster tail dinner for two menu through April 12. For $89, you get a complete meal for two: a pair of salads, two steak entrees, two sea entrees, two sides and two desserts.

• Bimini Twist offers 20 percent off all of its menu items if you show up for an early dinner between 5 and 6 p.m.

Edgar Leal, head chef and owner of Cacao Restaurant in Coral Gables, is teaching a cooking class at La Cuisine Gourmet on Saturday. Cost is $80 per person, and you'll have to make a reservation.

On the menu: pumpkin foam, ceviche, risotto and chocolate souffle. Assuming that pumpkin foam is the same as the one that's on the menu, then that recipe alone is worth the $80 class fee. It is that good.

Foodies are in luck this weekend, what with the plethora of food festivals going on around here. Here are the details on food events for Saturday and Sunday:

Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show
The South Florida Fairground's Americraft Expo Center hosts the first-ever Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in West Palm Beach, with cooking demonstrations, workshops, food samples and celebrity appearances. Bobby Flay, Paula Deen and the Neelys will be around to sign cookbooks, entertain the crowds, etc. The event runs Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., respectively. Tickets are $20/$10 adults/children in advance and $25/$12 on site, but if you want to see the big celebrities, you'll have to pay $80 ($30 for kids) for that ticket.

Taste of MiMo
This Miami Modern food festival is back this Saturday. From noon to 5 p.m., walk up and down Biscayne Boulevard between 67th and 78th Streets for food samples from 11 different restaurants, like Che Sopranos Pizza & Pasta, Moshi Moshi, Moonchine Asian Bistro and Red Light, among others. The event is free, but the food samples will cost between $2 and $5 each.

Deering Seafood Festival
Head over to the Deering Estate on Sunday for lots of local seafood: lobster, blue crabs, crawfish, conch, shrimp and dolphin. Chefs from Ortanique on the Mile, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Bizcaya Grill and 3030 Ocean will be on hand for cooking demonstrations and to offer samples of seafood dishes. And when you're done eating, there's a rock climbing wall and a pontoon boat tour. (Come to think of it, those activities are probably best done before lunch.) Entrance to the festival is $15 for adults and $5 for kids ages 4-14, although keep in mind that it doesn't include food, drink, pontoon boat or rock climbing wall. All that will cost you extra.

Backstage secrets of the cooking show celebs [Palm Beach Post]
Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show [Official Site]
A Taste of Mimo [Official Site]
Deering Seafood Festival [Official Site]

The much-anticipated BLT Steak, Miami's first Laurent Tourondel restaurant, is officially open at The Betsy Hotel on South Beach. The restaurant held a grand opening party yesterday evening where the entire menu was served buffet-style.

This is the ninth BLT Steak location; the first one opened in New York in 2004. Rather than offer the same menu at each restaurant, Tourondel seems to tailor it to the area. For example, there's a variation on the Cuban sandwich (pressed pork belly and speck with garlic fries) on the Miami Beach menu, while the New York menu doesn't offer sandwiches at all. The same goes for chimichurri, which is one of the sauces available down here. The Miami menu offers fewer meat options — no Kobe steak, for one thing — and more local seafood, like stone crabs and red snapper. And he's hit the nail on the head with the dessert menu: lots of citrus, tropical fruits, sorbets and mousse, which are sweet, light, and refreshing. Exactly what's needed while on the beach.

Sara at All Purpose Dark has photos from the grand opening party — the meat looks great, but it's the cheese table photo, even with the poor lighting and the grainy quality, that is making us swoon.

BLT Steak Grand Opening @ The Betsy Hotel [All Purpose Dark]

• Afte ronly three episodes, NBC cancels The Chopping Block. [The Live Feed via Eat Me Daily]

• Drinking scalding hot tea can apparently increase your risk of throat cancer eight-fold. [New York Post]

• The Boston Red Sox have announced that food prices won't be going up at Fenway Park this year. Will other teams follow suit? [USA Today]

• Waived corkage fees, pre-fixe deals — upscale restaurants are doing whatever they can to attract customers in these tough times. [CNN]

• Almost no one who dines in a fast-food restaurant looks at the nutritional information. It makes sense, because if they did, they'd probably walk right out. [Reuters]

Welcome to High Five, a new feature where we let you in on some of the most popular restaurant listings on MenuPages in the past month, as determined by what you (yes you!) click on. Today: the most-clicked pizza restaurants in February.

1. Power Pizza
2. Mineo's Pizza Wings & Raw Bar
3. Bellagio
4. Mamma Mia Pizzeria
5. Mamma Mia

The owner of the old 251 Sunrise in Palm Beach is returning to the exact same spot with a new lounge called 251 Palm Beach. It opens tonight with a VIP reception at 9 p.m.; if you're not on the VIP list, you can head over after 11 p.m. For now, it's just a lounge, but owner Gus Renny, who also co-owns Grease Burger Bar in West Palm Beach, expects to add a restaurant in another few weeks, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Renny points out that there's a need on Palm Beach for a swanky place to go. The problem? All of these trendy people are about to fly away home to their summer retreats.

"Is this really the right time, especially on the island that is so seasonal?" asks bartender J.P. Bowles. "You're not really going to have a summer crowd, but we're confident it's the right time, even though it's not the right time."

251 Sunrise lounge transforms into 251 PB, aims for trendy, chic crowd [Palm Beach Post]
New lounge opening in tough times [WPTV]

• After reading about the bread basket at Scarpetta (ciabatta, focaccia, and stromboli), we're thinking some wine and a plate of charcuterie would make a very nice meal. Of course, there are many other incredibly tasty dishes on the menu. [Miami New Times]

• Where can you get good food at a great value? Check out these four Asian buffet restaurants. [Miami Herald]

• Miami Mayor Manny Diaz loved Yiya's Bakery's pan con lechon so much that he gave them a hand when it came time to deal with permits and contractors. [Miami Herald]

• Cafe Centro isn't just dinner — it's a block party. And even on the weeknights, it's booked solid. It's the quintessential neighborhood restaurant. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• Origin Pan Asian & Sushi offers dishes from all over Southeast Asia; branch out from the typical Pad Thai (which isn't great here) and opt for dishes like roti, pork ribs, and Vietnamese ravioli. [Miami Herald]

• The owner of Rocco's Tacos is excited to get a mention from Kelly Ripa on Live with Regis and Kelly. [Palm Beach Post]

• Bernie Madoff's favorite Palm Beach restaurant? Cucina dell'Arte. [Fox 5 New York]

• Seven counties facing drought conditions in Southwest Florida are requiring restaurants to serve water only to customers who specifically ask for it. [Tampa Bay Online]

• Iron Chef Cat Cora is opening a Mediterranean restaurant called Kouzzina on Disney's Boardwalk. [USA Today]

• Commodity prices for restaurants have come down quite a bit, but that hasn't made up for plunging revenues from diners who are opting to stay in. [Reuters]

Our review of the week comes from "Blondie," who left a comment for Extreme Pizza titled "The Best Pizza in Florida." Well, that's quite a claim! Here's the text of the review:

I love this place. I cant say enough, try it and you will see what I mean. Hands down, simply the Best! Going back tonight...

So, the Marlins will finally have a stadium. It comes at a cost to the taxpayer, of course, but at this point, we're just happy there's finally an agreement. Today's Miami Herald has a very pie-in-the-sky take on what 2012, the first season in the new park, will look like for the Marlins: a sellout every game (ha!), a payroll right about in the middle range when compared to other teams, and an assurance from management that at least 1,000 tickets will be $15. Which is interesting, because they couldn't sell tickets even when the Fish Tank was still $3 for a seat; now the cheapest seats will be five times as much?

But we hope we're wrong. When it comes to food, team president David Samson said there will be a large plaza inside the ballpark with "Taste of Miami" food courts offering croquetas, sushi and stone crabs. A little upmarket for a ballpark, but OK. And city manager Pete Hernandez suggested that a restaurant like ESPN Zone might be a possibility for the surrounding area, which is currently dominated, at least in terms of dining options, by small Cuban cafeterias and Nicaraguan fritangas.

Maybe it'll work. That wasn't the case with the other big ballpark in Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays' site in St. Petersburg, where restaurant turnover has been incredibly high.

What would you like to see inside and outside the ballpark in terms of food?

Welcome to Marlins Opening Day 2012 [Miami Herald]

Florida Table magazine and the Delray Downtown Marketing Cooperative are joining forces for Savor the Avenue, an event that will feature 13 restaurants along Atlantic Avenue tomorrow evening. Each restaurant will be offering a four-course prix fixe meal — prices and menus vary by restaurant — and serve diners in a row of tables set up in the middle of Atlantic Avenue. Want to be a part of it? Just make a reservation at one of the participating restaurants, like Boston's on the Beach, Caffe Luna Rosa, or City Oyster. For a full list of restaurants and a pdf of the prix fixe menus, check out Florida Table's event site.

Table Talk: 13 Delray restaurants serve up 'one loooooooong table' [Palm Beach Post]
Savor the Avenue [Florida Table]

Drinks and views of the bay don't come cheap on Miami Beach, unless you've managed to find the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3559 which offers both cheap beer and a spectacular view. It's the definition of a dive, which is why it made Details' Best Dive Bars in America list. There's a juke box, pool table, cheap drinks, and an entertaining cast of characters — what more could one want?

The bar is located at 650 West Avenue, underneath The Floridian condo building. But getting there is a bit more complicated than just finding the address. According to Yelper Maria A.:

You drive up to a condo, park in a private little lot, find a non descript door go up a few stairs, ring a doorbell, get buzzed in, take an elevator one floor up, and when the doors open c'est magic and voila you are at the VFW.

The Best Dive Bars in America [Details]

Sara at All Purpose Dark clues us in to some great wine deals at DeVito South Beach (all wines under $200 are half off on Monday nights) and Bistro One LR, where 75 wines are 60 percent off on Wednesday nights. And at Pizza Fusion, if you order $25 of food on a Tuesday, you get a free bottle of organic house wine. The restaurant has so many deals on different days (check out each one at Short Order) that we imagine the servers must have a hard time keeping them straight.

Miami Wine Deals [All Purpose Dark]
Pizza Fusion's Daily Deals [Short Order]

• Governor Crist unveiled the Florida Backyard Card, through which participating businesses, including restaurants, can give discounts to Florida residents. [Pensacola News Journal]

• If you were planning to eat at the Denny's on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach today, you're going to have to make other plans; the restaurant was robbed at gunpoint by two masked men early this morning and is closed temporarily. [Sun-Sentinel]

• A study finds that people who eat the most red meat have a 20-30 percent chance of dying younger. [The Atlantic]

• And according to an Italian study, one to two glasses of red wine daily can increase the female libido. Dark chocolate has similar effects. [Decanter]

Welcome to High Five, a new feature where we let you in on some of the most popular restaurant listings on MenuPages in the past month, as determined by what you (yes you!) click on. Today: the top Jamaican restaurants in February.

1. Jamaica International Restaurant
2. Sir Winston Jamaican Restaurant
3. B & M Market
4. Islands in the Pines
5. Jamaican Me Hungry

Beard Award-nominee Michael Schwartz, of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, will be on The Early Show on Saturday, March 28 during the show's "Chef on a Shoestring" feature, where chefs make a sophisticated meal for four for under $40. Schwartz will prepare a date and orange salad with toasted almonds and lemon vinaigrette; braised chicken with apricots, green olives and couscous; and homemade doughnuts filled with orange marmalade and anise sugar. The show airs at 9 a.m. on CBS.

Top Chef: The Tour 2 [Official Site]
Photo: courtesy of Bravo

8 Oz Burger Bar has been making quite a buzz this past week. There was the review in the Herald last week, and there have been plenty of opinions on Chowhound. Most seem to agree that while the food is great, the service can be clueless and disorganized when the restaurant is busy. Natalie over at Natalie's Nibbles visited the burger spot recently and had a similar complaint. But the food! We might put up with quite a bit to get deep-fried chorizo-stuffed olives (which, by the way, are also available at Table 8) and fried mozzarella-topped burgers.

In other Govind Armstrong news, the ladies over at FoodTastic! went to Table 8 to sample the Winter Spice menu. More raves for the stuffed olives, in addition to the cilantro margaritas, duck confit and the vanilla panna cotta.

8 Oz. offers posh noshes at budget prices [Miami Herald]
8 oz Burger Bar lands on South Beach [Chowhound]
Burgers in SoBe [Natalie's Nibbles]
Restaurant Review - Table 8 [FoodTastic!]

Photo, of Chef Armstrong's panna cotta: SauceSupreme/flickr

Show up at Mai-Kai between 5 and 7 p.m. and you can get your Shanghai chicken or crab rangoon for half off the regular menu price. That goes for drinks too. This might be a good way to experiment with some of the more interesting drinks — "Shrunken Skull" anyone? — on the long list. Two exceptions to the half-priced deal: the Sidewinder's Fang (which serves two!) and the Mystery Drink.

Half-price appetizers & drinks at Mai-Kai [SUP]

• Maitland-based Tijuana Flats is opening up 12 new locations in the next year, three of which will be in South Florida: Coconut Creek, Miramar, and West Palm Beach. [Orlando Sentinel]

• A new national consumer survey claims that 78 percent of restaurant-goers wouldn't order marlin or other billfish off of a menu. Billfish populations are down up to 80 percent, and the Take Marlin Off The Menu campaign aims to ban the fishing and importation of the fish in the U.S. [Florida Fishing News]

• Tim and Nina Zagat explain that though the economy is bad and people are splurging less, they're still going to eat out. [The Atlantic Monthly]

• Jean-Georges Vongerichten's goal: create a haute cuisine restaurant chain with the reach of McDonald's. [CNNMoney]

Here at MenuPages South Florida, we add new restaurants to the site every day, whether they're just-opened or just-acquired-a-fax-machine. Here's what's new this week.

• Zucchero
• Casa Mia
• Casa Cuba
• El Mariachi
• L'Express Sandwicherie

Think we're missing a menu? Let us know!

After 58 years, the The Olde Lighthouse Restaurant in Jupiter has shut its doors. According to the Palm Beach Post, the restaurant's last day was Saturday. It's tough when a bad economy counts a piece of history among its victims.

Jupiter's landmark Olde Lighthouse Restaurant shuts its doors [Palm Beach Post]

The James Beard Foundation narrowed its long list down to the official nominees for its 2009 awards, and three South Florida chefs are on the short list. In the "Best Chef, South" category, we have Zach Bell of Cafe Boulud, Douglas Rodriguez of Ola and Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink. They're up against John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi and John Harris of Lilette in New Orleans.

Sra Martinez and Palme D'Or were the only two restaurants on the long list in any category aside from "Best Chef, South," but unfortunately they didn't make the official nominee cut.

Check out the full list of nominees here.

The new location of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill opens early next month in Midtown Miami at 3201 N Miami Ave. According to chief operating officer Tom Ingersoll, everything is ready to go, and they're just waiting for the final inspections.

The grand opening is set for April 16, where there will be complimentary hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and Dos XX, in addition to a mariachi band. If the free food doesn't entice you enough, perhaps this will: the company is presenting a $2,000 check to the Humane Society of Greater Miami's Adopt-A-Pet program.

Adopt-A-Taco [Short Order]

• Bice Bistro in Palm Beach Gardens hasn't paid its employees in one month. [WPTV]

• "This year it's like [tourist season] is not happening," according to a waitress at De Napolii in West Palm Beach. The tourists are here; they're just not spending as much on restaurants and gifts. [Palm Beach Post]

• If you need a few ideas for cheap eats on South Beach, check out this list of 10 spots, including David's, 8 Oz Burger Bar, and Front Porch Cafe. [Metromix]

• A study finds that the closer a school is to a fast-food outlet, the more likely its students will be obese. [Los Angeles Times]

• With the Obamas planting their vegetable garden on the White House lawn, organic and local food proponents are wondering if the food revolution has finally arrived. [New York Times]

• It's really very easy to try traditional Irish food in Boston. [MP: Boston]

• This Chicago burger has four pieces of bread buttressing it. [MP: Chicago]

• Only Philly would host an event called "Scrapplefest!". [MP: Philadelphia]

• Wine dinners are even better when you live in the best state for vino. [MP: San Francisco]

• Meanwhile, Miami is just plain wild. [MP: South Florida]

We've had our eyes on a few restaurants opening up in the coming weeks. Here's what we've got on the dining docket:

• The Sports Exchange has set an opening date: April 1. And it's not an April Fool's Day joke. Well, at least we don't think so...

• Fresh Bistro & Nightclub, in the old Swig Bartini spot, has been serving the food on the old menu but will be introducing a new menu next week. Swig's, in the meantime, is on the hunt for a new location.

• The Texas-based Uncle Julio's Fine Mexican Cuisine is opening its first South Florida location in Boca Raton's Mizner Park on March 31.

• Michelle Obama: locavore. The First Lady will plant a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. Everyone, including President Obama, will have to help with the weeding. [NYT]

• In order to better compete with Coors Lite, Miller Lite is launching a new ad campaign as well as redesigned bottles and cans. [WSJ]

• New iPhone app Locavore helps users find nearby farmers markets, as well as what's in season in their area. [Serious Eats]

• It seems likely that norovirus was the culprit for the hundreds sickened after eating at UK Michelin three-star The Fat Duck. [Hospitality]

• Jamie Oliver's support for British pork has made him PETA's latest target. [All Headline News]

• The photo accompanying this review of 8 Oz Burger Bar is making us so hungry. Two important tips we gleaned from the article: the burgers are "good but not great," and if you show up before the end of March, you can ask for a free 12-ounce beer with any burger. [Miami Herald]

• Lee Klein wonders why 1 Bleu hired a big name like Mark Militello to provide what amounts to predictable, mostly satisfying food. [Miami New Times]

• The Russian fare is excellent at La Plage Bistro, right on the Broadwalk in Hollywood. [Miami Herald]

• Don't expect a quiet evening at Acquolina, but you will get heavenly gnocchi and excellent pastas. [Miami Herald]

• The view at Serafina Waterfront Bistro is so great that "the kitchen could send out Spam sprinkled with birdseed and you'd have trouble rousing yourself to complain." Luckily the kitchen sends huge portions of satisfying Italian fare. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• An upscale New York restaurant will offer free, three-course meals to victims of Bernard Madoff's massive fraud scheme. [CNN]

• An Ohio county threatens to ignore food stamps altogether after relatively well-ff people have begun receiving them. [AP/NBC]

• The CEO of Kellogg food company says he will urge Congress to tighten the U.S. food safety system after this year's massive salmonella outbreak. [Chicago Tribune]

• The owner of eight New York restaurants will pay $2.3 million to 813 workers who received less than minimum wage. [NY Times]

• Could we have been in a "restaurant bubble?" More and more highly qualified chefs are finding it hard to get work. [U.S. News]

For this week's wonderful-yet-unpublishable review, we go back a few weeks to a colder, darker time: late January in Chicago. The nights fell early, the snow fell often, and restaurant workers suffering a dip in their income and morale due to the nation's collective holiday hangover, fell for each other.

Or at least that's what one would-be reviewer would have you believe, though we doubt this particular tale. For one thing, nobody's desperate/forgetful enough to do this right in the window. For another, this reviewer, who happens to know the name of the two employees and the identity of the owner, is about 99.9 percent certainly a disgruntled ex-employee of the soul food restaurant that will go unnamed:

[Name redacted], Chicago, 1/30/09
I'm no longer going to this place due to the fact that while walking to work one night I pass by the restaraunt to find the cook (name redacted) having sex with the girl at the front counter (name redacted), right in the kitchen. Huge store window and they were right there. Thats nasty and i wouldnt recommend this place to anyone. Also, they customers and boss are rude and disrespectful. Beware.

Couldn't cough up the money for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival? Check out the smaller, much more affordable Coral Gables version organized by Crown Wine & Spirits. The one-day affair on March 26 takes place on Giralda between Ponce de Leon and Galiano; the street is closed off and crowded with tables offering food, wine and other spirits.

A ticket to this street festival is $50; for $100 more, you can get VIP tickets, which allow early access to this street fair, a gift bag, and a VIP lounge experience, where extra-special wines will be poured and served with hors d'oeuvres. Most of the area restaurants are participating — check out the full list here.

Coral Gables Wine & Food Festival [Official Site]

• Despite falling 20% short of meeting its basic food needs, North Korea is refusing food aid from the U.S. [Reuters]

• A large-scale study of food allergies finds the most common allergens are peanuts and shrimp, and young black males are at the highest risk of having allergies. [USNews]

• The Reuters Food & Agriculture Summit is in Chicago this week; topics of conversation include HFCS and the rise of bartering as currency drops. [Reuters]

• Greenopia has issued ratings to fast-food restaurants based on their eco-friendliness; Pizza Fusion and Le Pain Quotidien ranked four leafs, McDonald's one, most zero. [MSNBC]

• Iron Chef regular Cat Cora is opening her first restaurant, which will be located in Disney World. [Seattle Times]

Patricia Gatti, co-owner of 264 The Grill, won't be charged for attempting to influence an employee's vote in the presidential election. Gatti allegedly threatened to fire all of the restaurant's black employees if Obama won. Turns out that the evidence didn't support beyond a reasonable doubt that she corruptly influenced voting.

So, basically, Gatti threatened to fire employees over something they had little to no control over — a handful of votes would not have changed the results of the election. And she apparently wrote "KKK" on at least one employee's timecard. Isn't this less about influencing voting and more about harassment, and don't the employees have a real case there? And the crazy thing is that the restaurant's co-owner is black. How that business partnership came to be is a mystery.

Election influence charges dropped against Palm Beach restaurateur [Palm Beach Daily News]
264 The Grill [MenuPages]

• Labels on fresh meat, raw nuts and fresh and frozen produce must now list where the food came from. So now you can see exactly how far your food has traveled to get to the supermarket. [MSNBC]

• GoodGuide, which is useful for finding out if your laundry detergent is especially harmful to the environment, for example, has now added food to its database. Each food is rated according to its health/nutrition information, environmental performance, and social performance. [CNET News]

• TableXChange, the site that let you buy and sell restaurant reservations, is a victim of the recession — the site shuts down on April 1. [Wall Street Journal]

• Corned beef and cabbage...on pizza? Apparently it's a popular St. Patrick's Day meal at a Boston restaurant. Make your own with this recipe. [ABC News]

• The food situation in North Korea is desperate, and the government has decided to take such measures as banning small-lot farming (which many families use to keep from starving) and forcing farmers to give what little food they have to the army. [Reuters]

"It's a wild culture down there."

– Chef Alfred Portale, of Gotham Steak, on opening a restaurant on Miami Beach

Industry Insiders: Alfred Portale, Top Chef [BlackBook]

The founder of RJ Gator's is back in the restaurant business. Tim Timoteo is opening a new 125-seat spot called Berry Fresh Cafe in Port St. Lucie later this month. He sold his Palm Beach County house, bought a smaller place in Port St. Lucie, and pumped the rest of the money from the sale into the restaurant. Interestingly enough, the bad economy pushed him back into the restaurant business; he couldn't make enough money as a realtor in this market, so he went back to what he knew best.

In another sign of a bad economy, Timoteo has already received 600 applications for just 30-35 positions at the new restaurant.

R.J. Gator's founder returns with new place to stop for bite [Palm Beach Daily News]

Bernie Madoff, the most hated man in Palm Beach at the moment, not only stole millions from investors, but according to the New York Daily News, he also was a pretty lousy tipper. One waiter says he tipped the standard 15 percent, while another said, "He wasn't just scamming the investors. He was hurting me on my tips." Well, at least they can take comfort in the fact that they fared better than most among those "touched" by Madoff.

Bernie Madoff recalled as a lousy tipper by those who served him [New York Daily News]

• Lawmakers in California are considering the possibility of a checkout alert system for foods that have been recalled. We'd rather see all the contamination scares come to an end, but it seems better than nothing. [LA Times]

• In the wake of a year rife with food contamination scandals, President Obama has promised to improve food safety. [NYT]

• Long before there were peanut product tainting issues, there were peanut allergies. The world has moved one step closer to dealing with the latter, after a study has shown that it's possible to gradually increase tolerance to peanuts. Now let's just hope that Obama and checkout alerts take care of the former. [USA Today]

• North Korea just got its first pizzeria, and it only took 10 years of planning! The question is less "will it be a success?", and more how many "let them eat pie" jokes will be made? [The Guardian]

• The Chicago foie gras ban of 2006 seems to have had much more to do with politics than with the merits of foie gras itself. [Chicago Tribune]

• Local restaurant staff CAN SEE THE FUTURE! [MP:Boston]

• Hot dog and lobster roll produce NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN HYBRID OFFSPRING! [MP:Chicago]

• Foie gras for $5? BELIEVE YOUR EYES! [MP:Philadelphia]

• Do you have fancy mixed cocktails IN YOUR HOME AT THIS VERY MOMENT? [MP:San Francisco]

• Jobless swarm to free meals like ZOMBIES ON ATTACK! [MP:South Florida]

El Gran Inka, which has locations in Key Biscayne and North Miami Beach, is opening up at 947 Brickell Ave in Miami. The 2,800-square-foot space, which will feature a menu similar to the other branches, is scheduled to open in May.

El Gran Inka [MenuPages]
El Gran Inka
El Gran Inka [Official Site]

Our brother was just complaining about the pasty-white spring breakers clogging Collins Avenue, and sure enough, the Miami Herald tells us today that the economic recession has not deterred college students from descending upon South Florida and spending what little money they have on booze. (Well, they also need hotels, cabs, and food, although we know where the bulk of the money goes.) These party-hard types have never been all that popular among local business owners, but this year, after a slow winter season, they're being welcomed with open arms — well, except in Broward County, where the tourism bureau recently issued a statement titled "Bad Economy or Not, Greater Fort Lauderdale Steadfastly Says 'No Thanks' to Spring Break." Yeah, good luck with that.

Over on South Beach, some places are actually giving away free booze, which is just asking for trouble on spring break:

[Catalina Hotel general manager Linsey] Harris tracks the rush by the hotel's nightly free cocktail hour.

''In February, I was looking at a case of vodka a night for all three bars,'' she said. ``Now I'm up to nearly three cases in one night alone. And this is just for one hour.''

Stimulus 101: South Florida businesses welcome spring breakers [Miami Herald]

Photo: adamwells/flickr

• Michelle Obama appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the plight of military families living on food stamps. [ABC]

• Utah has passed legislation to change the state's idiosyncratic liquor laws, in a move to support tourism and "make the state feel a little less odd." [AP]

• Southwest Airlines is taking its cue from JetBlue and others, and is thinking about selling in-flight food in order to boost revenue. [Bloomberg]

• In flagrant violation of the internet's seemingly endless love for bacon, Smithfield Foods is reporting a quarterly loss. [NYT]

• Stephen Bernard, the founder of Cape Cod brand potato chips, has died. His chips are the best things ever. [AP]

• The new Canyon Ranch Grill on Miami Beach isn't as ascetic as the other two locations in Arizona and Massachusetts — there's wine! and beer! — and the food is clean, simple, and flavorful. [Miami Herald]

• The steak is great at Meat Market, but the other options — think crispy crab tail; tuna tartare with ginger, soy, and mango mole; and Florida grouper with a smoky bacon chipotle broth — set it apart from the other steakhouses in town. [Miami New Times]

• The St. Patrick's Day party begins at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Finnegan's on the River, which will serve corned beef and cabbage and shepherd's pie for the festivities. [Miami Herald]

• The decor is adventurous at Teal Bistro Americana, although the filled with familiar standbys that are prepared very well. [Miami Herald]

• Gail Shepherd heads to Miami for a weekend and falls in love with Ola and Michy's. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• The food at The Capital Grille gets a C-. And $13 for a salad with a mealy, unripe tomato &mdash in Florida in tomato season, no less — is unforgivable. [Palm Beach Post]

Add Yogen Früz to the fro-yo craze. The company, which has 1,100 locations in 20 different countries, is opening its first South Florida spot at 100 S Biscayne Blvd in Miami, the beginning of what looks to be an aggressive campaign in the area: 21 stores in the next eight years.

Yogen Früz opens on Tuesday, March 17. To celebrate, the store is offering two-for-one frozen yogurts all day; get a medium or large yogurt, and get your friend's for free.

Yogen Früz [Official Site]

• After Kelloggs dropped Michael Phelps' advertising contract in the wake of his public bong hit debacle, the company donated 3,800 pounds of cereal to a San Francisco food bank. [MSNBC]

• The Fat Duck, Britain's renowned restaurant that closed due to a food poisoning scare, has re-opened. [AP]

• The Acai berry has garnered lots of attention for weight-loss and anti-aging benefits, but the main question still remains: Does it work?. [New York Times]

• Colorado grocery and convenience stores won't be able to sell full-strength beer after liquor store owners protested the change in state law. [Chicago Tribune/AP]

• A man killed another man and himself in the basement of a New Jersey restaurant. [MSNBC]

This week's Review Of The Week comes, once more, from New York. Why do we keep looking to the Big Apple for fodder here? Because it is crazy full of restaurants and people reviewing them on MenuPages. Also because it is crazy.

However, this review, for Wai Lee, holds the distinction of not only being our favorite review to read this week, but also one that we could actually run (it was on point, involved no libel, and actually delivered useful information about the restaurant). Also, it is way funny:

When the delivery man shouted "Chinese food! Open the door!" into my cell phone (the building's intercom system is dead-- maybe this guy's been here before), I felt like he must be bring us something so special and urgently delicious that anything less than my running down five flights of stairs would have been irresponsible to him, me, and my date.

His curt bow of thanks reinforced my feeling that this would be a
no-nonsense meal; the MSG-laden fumes emanating from the plastic bag told me that we could be expect to be pummeled by fists of flavor. Wai Lee was rated 4/5 for value on Menupages yet only $/$$$$ for price, and had a solid 18 reviews. (Note: many reviews doesn't necessitate popularity. The notorious Saigon Grill has been reviewed 127 times, mostly due to its dodgy treatment of deliverypeople). So here’s my attempt quantify and come to a verdict.

Plusses
+ Guy who answers phone speaks great English. Just as important, he's a terrific listener. His laser-like focus on your every order is
undeterred by pots and pans crashing in the background. He makes you feel like you are the only person in his world. He's a Chinese Bill Clinton.
+ Free can of Coke. I don't even like Coke, but come on people, it's
free. Too bad I forgot that Coke + rice = tsunami for your stomach.
+ "Bean curd" not euphemistically, Americanistically referred to as
"tofu," which sounds like a martial art performed only with the tips
of the feet.

Minuses
- No chopsticks. Though I rarely use these ancient implements, their
absence was disappointing on a spiritual level, kind of like going to
the East Village and not seeing any mohawks. Also, how much does bamboo even cost? I recently saw a PBS special on bamboo (I've had many lonely Saturday nights), showing how bamboo grows so quickly and plentifully in Southeast Asia that the field rats feeding off it and breed at algorithmic rates--you can actually hear them break the sound barrier when they mate en masse-- can't quite keep up with the
newly-sprouting shoots of bamboo.
- No fortune cookie. I'm all about cutting back the frills in today's
economy, but again, how costly could this flour-water-sugar treat be? I saw an episode of NOVA on fortune cookies the other night and--just kidding. Thus not knowing my fortune, I cannot say whether it's in my future to order from Wai Lee again, whether or not my hearing ever comes back.

Wai Lee [MenuPages]

The New York Post reports that Michael Psilakis and partner Donatella Arpaia, who own Anthos in New York City, will be managing the The Restaurant at Viceroy Miami beginning sometime next month. There's no name yet, but the Post claims the focus will be on seafood.

A spokesperson for the Viceroy refused to confirm the information, saying that the deal is not yet finalized and that there's no definite date for the restaurant's revamping. (It's currently serving an "interim menu.") Psilakis is a big name, and he'll likely do well, although we wonder at the timing — add that month mentioned above plus another one or two months for standard opening delays, and this restaurant should be launching its new concept right as the summer low season begins.

George Clooney Is Drinking Away the Recession Like the Rest of Us [Daily Intel]
Miami Bound [New York Post]
Anthos [MenuPages]
Anthos [Official Site]
The Restaurant at Viceroy Miami [MenuPages]
Viceroy [Official Site]

• It just became cheaper to eat out in Paris, and everywhere else in the EU — each country can now set value-added tax rates below the 15 percent minimum. [New York Times]

• The Chopping Block, the new show where couples do their best to impress Marco Pierre White in a restaurant wars-like competition, premieres tonight on NBC. [Los Angeles Times]

• It's official — Virginia's restaurants will be smoke-free by Dec. 1. The law was signed by Governor Tim Kaine on Monday. [Roanoke Times]

• Calorie counts may be appearing on Oklahoma menus soon; the state senate voted to set up a task force to examine the issue. [MSNBC]

• It looks like Michelle Obama is taking up the healthful eating cause and encouraging people to eat fresh, unprocessed foods. [New York Times]

Welcome to High Five, a new feature where we let you in on some of the most popular restaurant listings on MenuPages in the past month, as determined by what you (yes you!) click on. Today: the top Indian restaurants in February.

1. Udipi Cafe
2. Bengal
3. Curries & More
4. Woodlands
5. Rajpoot Mehfil

Did you know that the $5-footlong campaign from Subway started in South Florida? We don't really frequent Broward or Palm Beach Subways, so we weren't familiar with the local franchises that started it all:

That’s because the idea for the promotion came from Boynton Beach-based entrepreneur Steve Sager, who owns franchise rights to all Subway restaurants from Indian River through Broward counties. He also owns 10 of those locations.

In 2007, Sager noticed a slowdown in his restaurants because of the economy.

One store in particular, in Broward County, was struggling.

“I came up with the idea of offering $5 foot-longs all day, every day,” Sager said. “My partner said, ‘You’re nuts,’ and threw the banner I made in the back room for about two months.”

But Sager succeeded in getting the promotion going at the store in October 2007. Within a week of putting up the sign, the store saw sales jump 30 percent, he said. By the end of the month, they had skyrocketed 90 percent.

Florida man the hero of Subway promotion [The State]
Subway [Official Site]

• Haagen-Dazs is downsizing their "pint" from 16 to 14 ounces, in a move Ben & Jerry's is calling "downright wrong." [Advertising Age]

• McDonald's has done alright in the financial crisis so far, but company executives are worried about the future. [Wall Street Journal]

• Quaker Oats has launched a new advertising campaign and an optimistic new slogan, "Go, humans, go!" [New York Times]

• Virginia governor Tim Kaine signed a bill prohibiting smoking in the state's bars and restaurants. [Roanoke Times]

• Gordon Ramsay has sold his Los Angeles restaurant Gordon Ramsay at The London. [Daily Dish/Los Angeles Times]

Despite sometimes lagging a behind other large cities in the dining department, South Florida has managed to be well represented in the reality chef TV world, and even if a chef doesn't do well, it can be a huge boost to his or her career:

'I stopped in West Bumble, Texas, on the way back from L.A., and an old lady at a Cracker Barrel said, `I know who you are. I love you,' '' said Josh Wahler, a contestant on the third season of Fox's Hell's Kitchen. ``The show was huge for my career.''

Wahler, 28, went from being a junior sous chef at Nobu in Miami Beach to running the kitchen at 5300 Chop House at the new Blue Resort in Doral. This, even though Hell's Kitchen host Gordon Ramsay berated him for eight weeks running, then declared him ''f---ing useless'' and kicked him off the show. (''Didn't bother me,'' Wahler said.)

Reality TV smiles upon Florida chefs [Miami Herald]
What you should know if you want to be a chef-testant [Miami Herald]
Celebrity Chef Series: Tom Colicchio [Adrienne Arsht Center]

Beef O'Brady's in Sunrise is giving a free meal — and unlimited alcoholic drinks — to anyone who's been laid off recently. Make a reservation, bring your pink slip, and enjoy. Any friends who accompany you get 15 percent off food and non-alcoholic drinks.

What's new in restaurants from Miami Beach to Palm Beach County [Sun-Sentinel]
Beef O'Brady's [MenuPages]
Beef O'Brady's [Official Site]

The roof of The American Royal Arts Gallery at 512 Duval Street caught fire last night, according to the Key West Citizen. Margaritaville Cafe had to be evacuated, but no one was hurt. La Creperie, which is next door to the gallery, sustained heavy damage.

One building damaged in late night Duval Street fire [Key West Citizen]
La Creperie [Official Site]
Margaritaville Cafe [MenuPages]
Margaritaville Cafe [Official Site]

• A California millionaire left his estate to Vanguard University, and it's all because of the school's cafeteria. Known as the "campus grandpa," he ate nearly every meal at Vanguard. [LA Times]

• During more prosperous times, luxury spirits sold like hotcakes, but now that consumers are cutting back on spending, brands like Grey Goose are languishing on the shelves. Meanwhile, liquor sales up are 1% overall, while brands like Popov are up 14%. [NYT]

• Concerned about how your soda habit affects your carbon footprint? Drinkers of Coca-Cola brand beverages can rest a little easier now, as the company just became biggest global brand to have transparency about their carbon footprint. [Guardian]

• A handful of stalwart New York saloons are television-less hold outs, and patrons welcome the respite. [NYT]

• As the recession deepens, foodmakers are being forced to reconsider last year's price hikes. [Chicago Tribune]

Q: Hey, MP: Boston, should you eat the eggs of a chicken right alongside its mother?
A: No. That's gross.

Q: MP: Chicago, who orders the caviar staircase at TRU?
A: Pretty much no one.

Q: Yo, MP: Philadelphia, do you think Philadelphians will buy frozen cheesesteaks?
A: Nope, but the rest of you suckers might!

Q: MP: San Francisco, are younger diners discriminated against in high-end restaurants?
A: Yeah they are!

Q: MP: South Florida, how much butter is in a single serving of butter chicken?
A: One stick.

Check out the New Times' restaurant-themed insert this week, called Taste 2009 if you haven't already. It's mostly ads with a few recipes interspersed between them, but it's the interviews with prominent local chefs that are great. The paper talks to Cindy Hutson of Ortanique on the Mile about being self-taught, Allen Susser of Chef Allen's about reinventing his restaurant, Jonathan Eismann of Pacific Time on how the "pizza-munchers and ice-cream lickers" killed Lincoln Road, Clay Conley of Azul on how Miami compares to other cities where he's worked, Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink on being local and sustainable (he employs a forager!), and Kris Wessel of Red Light about the state of independent chef-owned and -operated restaurants. It's a really great read that gives a good sense of what is happening in the Miami dining scene now, and it makes us feel really good about its future.

Taste 2009 [Miami New Times]

MP: San Francisco writes about a local pizzeria that's taken its bad Yelp reviews and put them on employees' t-shirts. Now, of course, that everyone's heard about it, the fake bad reviews are popping up, as people try to get their words on the shirts.

Delfina Baiting: Fake Bad Yelp Reviews [MP: San Francisco]

• Food stamp usage is at a record high with 31.8 million Americans receiving assistance. [Reuters]

• Private food inspectors don't generally have time to do full inspections and are often paid by the company they're auditing, so their reports are often unreliable. [New York Times]

• It might be a bear market, but McDonald's is feeling decidedly bullish about their new McCafe line of premium coffee beverages. [CNN Money]

• Michelle Obama brought mushroom risotto and broccoli from the White House to a DC soup kitchen and served it up during her lunch hour. [Top of the Ticket/LA Times]

• Americans are pretty much the only people who care about the health benefits of wine. [Slate]

Welcome to High Five, a new feature where we let you in on some of the most popular restaurant listings on MenuPages in the past month, as determined by what you (yes you!) click on. Today: the top tapas restaurants in February.

1. Sra Martinez
2. El Pimiento
3. Rincon Espanol Restaurant
4. El Carajo Tapas & Wine
4. El Carajo International Tapas & Wine

No, that's not a typo — the two El Carajos tied for fourth place with the exact same number of clicks. (We should also note that while they may have been affiliated with each other at the beginning, they most certainly are not anymore.) And as for Sra. Martinez, well that's hardly a surprise; the restaurant received more than four times as many hits as El Pimiento.

The second season of Check Please! South Florida begins on Monday, March 9 with new guests, new restaurants and the same host, Michelle Bernstein. This time around, there's a new IKEA-furnished set, a focus on places that offer good values, and a quick-fix recipe demonstrated by Bernstein. There's also a new contest for gift certificates to featured restaurants — check the show's website each Saturday for a question, watch the show later that week, and e-mail the answer to info@checkpleasefl.com. All correct answers will be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate.

The show airs Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. on WPBT.

Check Please! South Florida [Official Site]

Photo: Courtesy of WPBT

If you too are a fan of the butter chicken at Royal India, now you can make it at home. The Sun-Sentinel asked chef/owner Robert Solomon for the recipe, and he obliged. Check out the recipe here. The dish certainly lives up to its name; the recipe given is supposed to be for one (albeit rather large) serving, and it calls for a whole stick of butter.

Royal India Butter Chicken [Sun-Sentinel]
Royal India [MenuPages]

Photo: Sun-Sentinel

• Mr. Yum brings Thai food to Little Havana, and it's a success. Check out the "hangover soup" and the massaman curry. [Miami Herald]

• If you're looking for a place to get a cheap lunch downtown, check out Lee Klein's guide. [Miami New Times]

• Cafe Boulud "finally hits its stride." After floundering a bit when it opened, the restaurant is finally putting out food worthy of the Boulud name and its price tag. [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]

• Need a place to get a pint on St. Patrick's Day? Check out these spots in today's Broward roundup: Mickey Byrne's, Briny Riverfront, and Shenanigans East Side Pub. [Miami Herald]

• Turkey dumplings with cranberry-chili dipping sauce? Sounds pretty awesome to us. Check it out at Jade, where the food impresses; just stay away from the Panang curry, which was a disappointment (and which Mr. Passy seems to think is an Indian curry). [Palm Beach Post]

• Fans of Chick-fil-A camped out in front of a new store overnight near Tulsa, hoping to win a year's supply of sandwiches by being one of the first 100 people in line. [Tulsa World]

• New Delhi is getting ready to host an enormous international food festival. Aahar India will feature as many as 450 vendors. [China View]

• The iconic Tick Tock restaurant in Los Angeles is for sale on Ebay. Bidding starts at $5.99. [LA Times]

• Chicago police found 300 pounds of marijuana in several rooms of a Chicago restaurant, including behind a false wall in the basement. [Chicago Tribune]

• An Atlanta woman is grossed out after she found the vertebra of a small mammal in her peanut m&ms. [Fox News]

Perhaps we're tipping our hand too much in telling you we can see the IP addresses of those who leave us user reviews. That usually doesn't mean much, except in the case of this week's Review Of The Week, which are actually two that we're pretty sure was left by a disgruntled employee and her boyfriend.

Either that, or one employee at New York's City Gourmet has an extremely dedicated fan base who all live in the same house.

3/2/09 10:27pm from user "Sam"

I just can't take it anymore. I used to eat there in the morning before work. The people who work there just make you want to go somewhere else. It used to be this real sweet girl who used to work there and even she left. I think it time for me to move on also.

10:32pm from user "Tina" — same IP address as Sam above

But it could be awhole lot better. I know the girl your talking about. I think they called her Zee. Yea she was real sweet and good to talk to. I don't know what happen to her. I think they let her go. But anyhow I missed the loved she used to bring to the store. Now it seem cold and it this guy whole works there who think he knows it all. always take my order wrong.

City Gourmet [MenuPages]

TooJay's chocolate cake coupon [Official Site]
Coupon for free chocolate cake slice at Toojay's [Sun-Sentinel]
TooJay's [Official Site]

Cacao Restaurant is offering a four-course wine dinner this Monday featuring the wines of Coturri Winery, a California vineyard that uses organic grapes for its wine. Here's the menu:

• Yellow potato and blue potato chicken causa / 2007 Chardonnay Sonoma Mountain
• Seared Pacific tuna with a mango guacamole and arugula / 2007 Carignane Testa Vineyards Mendocino County
• “Like Water for Chocolate” spicy stuffed quail / 2007 Primitivo Testa Vineyards Mendocino County and a 2007 Zinfandel Testa Vineyards Mendocino County
• “Dark Chocolate Tower” with blueberries and coffee creme anglaise / 2005 Syrah Crane Vineyards Sonoma Valley

At $59, excluding tax and tip, it's not a bad deal, considering the regular tasting menu (seven courses, but still) with a wine pairing at Cacao will set you back $124. The wine dinner begins at 8 p.m. Call the restaurant at 305-445-1001 for a reservation.

Cacao Restaurant [MenuPages]
Cacao Restaurant [Official Site]
Coturri Winery [Official Site]

• This peanut story just keeps getting worse and worse. Now the FDA says inspectors found dead mice and droppings at the Peanut Corporation of America's Texas plant. [Reuters]

• Business in Houston's Asiatown restaurants has taken a nosedive since a string of e-mails detailed how gangs of gunmen have robbed diners in nine different restaurants. Turns out that almost all of the stories are bogus. [Houston Chronicle]

• A bipartisan bill introduced to the Senate would expand funding for the FDA and allow the agency more power to recall food. [Reuters]

• Cube steak is becoming one of the more popular cuts of steak these days. Things you can do with it: make Cuban palomilla or Southern chicken fried steak. [New York Times]

• Panera Bread is the healthiest fast food restaurant, according to Health magazine, because it offers apples or baked chips, half-size portions, and antibiotic- and hormone-free chicken. [MSNBC]

A MenuPages taste test concludes that Starbucks' new instant coffee, called VIA, is not too bad at all. It comes in two varieties: Colombian or Italian roast. Get all the details over at MP: Chicago.

The MenuPages Taste Test: Starbucks VIA Instant Coffee [MP: Chicago]

Coconut Grove Grapevine reports that the new pan-Asian restaurant in the old Señor Frog's location has changed its name from Koi to Sekai in its first month of existence. It seems there was some confusion about the name; people thought it was linked to the Koi restaurants with branches in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and Bangkok. The Coconut Grove restaurant, obviously, is not related. And you can rule out any affiliation with Red Koi in Coral Gables too.

The name game is getting quite confusing [Coconut Grove Grapevine]
Sekai [MenuPages]
Koi [Official Site]
Red Koi [MenuPages]

Photo, of koi: PlanMyGreen/flickr

I Corsini is now offering an early pre-fixe dinner deal every night of the week. Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., you can get three savory courses and a glass of house wine for $33. Options for first course include soups like ribollita and gran farro or pappa al pomodoro. Second course is a caprese salad, panzanella or crepes filled with asparagus and gorgonzola. And for the main course, there's pasta — tortelloni stuffed with pumpkin and sauteed in butter, sage and pistachios or spaghetti with seafood, garlic and parsley — or a small steak with roasted potatoes and vegetables.

I Corsini [MenuPages]
I Corsini [Official Site]

• It's not just big fancy fish like tuna and salmon that suffer from overfishing; bottom-of-the-food-chain species like mackerel and squid are dwindling at a rapid rate, which has an exponential effect on the rest of the ocean's species. [SFGate]

• Organic food is currently only regulated at the production level, but now a German scientist is working on a way to test whether grocery products are organic once they reach retail. [NYT]

• Yet another story on how working professionals are turning to food banks — this time in otherwise affluent Marin County, California. [CNN]

• The 100th annual Michelin Guide was released over the weekend; partially in protest of its rigorous judgment process and make-or-break reputation, two Michelin-starred French chefs have announced that they are pulling their restaurants out of the running. [UK Telegraph]

• Levy Restaurant Group, which owns Obama-family favorite restaurant Spiaggia, flew out chef Tony Mantuano from Chicago to DC to surprise the President with dinner. Obama called Mantuano his "favorite chef." [Tribune]

We add new menus every week, whether it's a new restaurant or one that just acquired a fax machine. Here's what we added last week:

• Milan's
• Mamajuana Cafe
• Havana Grove
• Ferro

Think we're missing a menu? Let us know!

Helen at MP: Chicago posted earlier this morning about banh mi, the Vietnamese sandwich that is becoming increasingly popular in Chicago and New York, which got us thinking about the nonexistent state of this sandwich in South Florida. We expected the find-a-food search to turn up empty, but to our surprise, we got two hits for banh mi:

• Pho Hoa in Tamarac: It's a national Vietnamese chain that focuses, as one might imagine, on pho, not sandwiches. The "banh mi" listed on the menu is a carrot beef stew that you can get with a baguette or noodles.

• Saigon Cuisine in Margate: There's an appetizer of banh mi with pork meatballs and an entree of "bo kho and banh mi," or Vietnamese beef stew with bread.

And that's it. Is the state of the banh mi really so dire in South Florida, or did we miss some place? There's no reason that sandwich couldn't do well down here.

Eating Banh Mi In Vietnam [MP: Chicago]
Pho Hoa [MenuPages]
Pho Hoa [Official Site]
Saigon Cuisine [MenuPages]

[Photo: Stu Spivack/Flickr]

Sara at All Purpose Dark reports that The Food Gang has shut its doors after a two-year stint. Seems like they made a few bad decisions, starting with letting Howie Kleinberg go.

The Food Gang has closed [All Purpose Dark]
The Food Gang [MenuPages]

• A not-so-secret way to feast on lavish gourmet meals? Dinners prepared by students at culinary academies throughout the land. [SF Gate]

• The pages of Gourmet and Food & Wine used to be filled with luxury ingredients and high-end dishes, but not so anymore! In a sign of the times, there's been a marked shift to more economical home cooking in upscale food mags. [NYT]

• Supermarkets and food manufacturers are engaged in a battle of the wills over food prices. To recap: prices went up by as much 15% on some items, but prices on raw food materials has plummeted — by up to 68%. Grocers are retaliating by ramping up their generic brands. Capitalism at work, y'all! [LA Times]

• China has new food safety laws, but consumers are dubious about how effective these regulations will be, citing the lack of oversight at the local level. [USA Today]

• A farm-to-table endeavor in Georgia is utopian food experiment. Not merely a farm and a restaurant, the Inn at Serenebe has spurred an entire hamlet devoted to all that which locavore-foodies hold dear. [NYT]