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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]

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

Local 10 has a great list of restaurants that are pulling the old bait-and-switch when it comes to fish on the menu. Most offenders that have been cited are using imitation crab meat instead of real crab meat and swai for grouper.

Like Wreck in Marathon, which has grouper on the menu although invoices showed that the restaurant hadn't bought any grouper. Or Thai Sushi Express in Deerfield Beach, which admitted to using tilapia instead of red snapper because "it is the same kind of fish." F&M Cafeteria in Hialeah Gardens is the only one mentioned that used basa instead of grouper; you definitely do not want to eat that, since most basa comes from some very polluted rivers in Southeast Asia.

If you're having trouble figuring out if your fish is actually the fish you ordered, check out an old MP post about telling grouper apart from the fakes.

Restaurants Cited For Switching Fish [Local10]
Grouper, And The Fish That Want To Emulate It [MP: South Florida]

It seems there was no fanfare, press releases or anything. Disney World just removed any foie gras from the menus at the four restaurants in the theme park that offer it, according to the Orlando Sentinel:

On Oct. 1, Disney dumped the traditional French appetizer, made of fattened duck or goose liver, at the last four Disney World restaurants to offer it -- Victoria & Albert's, California Grill, Citricos and Les Chefs de France.

Disney insisted Friday that this was no political statement. Officials wouldn't even comment on the international animal-rights campaign that calls foie gras production cruel and inhumane and seeks to persuade restaurants to drop the dish.

"It's really just about making adjustments to the menu," Disney World spokeswoman Andrea Finger said.

That said, let's just hope neighboring Florida municipalities don't follow suit.

Disney's menu change is good for the goose, not the gourmet [Orlando Sentinel]

Photo, of foie gras at Victoria & Albert's: ninjapoodles/flickr

Dwyane Wade has a hefty lawsuit ready to greet him when he returns from Beijing, according to the Palm Beach Post:

By the time he returns stateside, the high-flying dunk artist could be told they want him to pony up $25 million, a source close to the case told Page Two.

Wade, 26, is accused of not fulfilling his marketing obligations in what was supposed to become a national chain of sports bars named D. Wade's Place.

"That's ridiculous," said his Miami lawyer, Steven Peretz. "Their company hasn't been a model of success."

Florida was to be a showcase for future investors, the source tells me, with as many as 13 pilot restaurants in West Palm Beach, Daytona Beach, Tampa and other cities. But the first two grills, in Boca and Fort Lauderdale, were shut down after just weeks in business. The others have yet to open.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo: OPBuzz/flickr

Looks like Bacardi is bringing back Hatuey beer. It'll be brewed and bottled in Wisconsin, and we imagine the recipe will be the same:

"It's been inaccessible for so long, the brand has a strong emotional tie with Cuban Americans," he said. "It's not just your father's beer. If you're Cuban, it's the beer your father would drink, if he could. He just hasn't had access to it. It has that cachet to it."

Bacardi relaunched the beer several times throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Each time, "they weren't happy with the direction at that time," Shaifer said.

With the reformulation and new marketing initiative, executives are hopeful the brand will find favor beyond Miami-Dade County and move throughout South Florida.

Admittedly, the brand has a rough road ahead, Hoyos said. As a "niche beer" focusing on the very slim audience of Cuban exiles and Cuban Americans, the key will be to tap those "assimilated Hispanics" who recognize the beer from their parents' consumption back on the island.

"There's a folklore to it. They know it might not be the same, but they can at least relate to it through the logo," Hoyos said. "They recognize it from when they were there or when their parents spoke about it. The goal should be to try to get that old consumer and second- or third-generation American to associate with it."

Cuban beer enjoys tasty relaunch [MSNBC]
Hatuey [Official Site]

Photo: willceau/flickr

It seems that restaurant grease, which used to be thought of mostly as trash, is now a hot commodity because of rising gas prices, according to the St Pete Times. Griffin Industries, a Kentucky-based company that collects restaurant grease in 21 different states, has complained that the drums of grease are gone by the time its workers come by to collect them.

The competition for Florida grease has become so heated that several grease collection companies are suing each other, claiming everything from theft to unfair competition. One company official from Boca Raton said he has bought $50,000 in surveillance equipment, including night-vision goggles, to try to stop all the stealing.

"I tell people every day, I'm in a war," said Pat Cassese, operations manager of Universal Grease.

How did grease get so hot? Blame it on the increase in gasoline prices.

Restaurant grease can be turned into biodiesel fuel, which produces far less air pollution than regular diesel. It has slowly gained in popularity as an alternative fuel for powering trucks, farm equipment, boats, anything with a diesel engine. Pinellas County's dump trucks burn biodiesel, as do fire trucks on Sanibel Island and military vehicles at Eglin Air Force Base in the Panhandle.

Griffin Industries has been handling restaurant grease for decades, filtering it to make "yellow grease," the basic ingredient for biodiesel.

In the past year, the price of yellow grease has climbed from just over $2 a gallon to nearly $3.50 a gallon in the Southeast, according to the Jacobsen, a Chicago agency that tracks renewable fuels. That's still below the cost of a gallon of gas.

Restaurants used to pay Griffin to pick up the grease. Now Griffin often pays them.

"Grease is no different from diamonds," Chris Griffin said. "They both have value, they're both a commodity. Right now it's the highest market I've ever seen."

Slick Florida thieves haul off grease [St Petersburg Times]

Photo: mikeysklar/flickr

When three of the James Beard Award nominees in the Best Chef: South category were from South Florida, one of them was bound to bring home the prize. And last night, that's exactly what Michelle Bernstein of Michy's did. She beat out Zach Bell of Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach, Douglas Rodriguez of Ola in Miami Beach, John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Miss., and Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Ala.

Congratulations Chef Bernstein!

James Beard Award nominees and winners [Official Site]
Michy's [MenuPages]
Cafe Boulud [Official Site]
Ola [Official Site]
City Grocery[Official Site]
Hot and Hot Fish Club [Official Site]

Photo, of Bernstein on Check Please!: Channel 2

The legal status of absinthe in this country is still kind of up in the air, but we now have two producers of the spirit: St. George's Distillery in Alameda, Calif., which began selling it last December, and now the newcomer Sirene Absinthe Verte from North Shore Distillery just north of Chicago. The latter hit the market just this month after debuting at WhiskyFest. Chicagoist has some tasting notes from the event:

The 110 proof white absinthe has a sharp, herbal bite to it. the 124 proof green absinthe is, oddly, smoother than the white. It also has an amazing mouthfeel. With absinthe shaping up as the year's new hot spirit, this should sell well.

Until just last year, the importation of absinthe was prohibited, and the only way to get it was to very carefully hide it away in your luggage and hope that no one in customs felt the need to verify your declaration. In 2007, a few brands were approved for sale, but they had to meet the FDA's ban of thujone in consumable products.

Thujone's the bad guy here, the one that's been blamed for all of the evils supposedly brought about by absinthe consumption. It can wreak havoc on your brain and nervous system if consumed in large quantities. But by the time you've drunk enough absinthe, which can be up to 75 percent alcohol, to experience any effects from the thujone, you're dead from alcohol poisoning.

We're not exactly running out immediately to try absinthe — we've never been particularly fond of anise-flavored foods — but we love the ceremony involved with drinking absinthe. The special spoons, the cube of sugar, and the precise way of pouring the ice cold water over it.

Introducing Sirene Absinthe Verte [North Shore Distillery]
St. George Spirits [Official Site]
Absinthe [Wikipedia]
Sorry, Absinthe Trippers: Scientists Say You're Just Really Drunk [Wired]
Chicagoist at WhiskeyFest [Chicagoist]

This kind of stuff just strikes us as so silly:

Troubled by restaurants that don't disclose the price of their specials, Aventura Commissioner Bob Diamond is pushing the county to adopt a law requiring eateries to, at the very least, tell diners how much each special costs.

That'll end the nasty billing surprises for consumers who are too embarrassed to ask for a price, Diamond said.

''Many people, particularly seniors, are often hesitant to ask,'' he said. ``I've continued to receive complaints.''

At a Thursday workshop, the city commission agreed to draft a resolution asking the county's Consumer Services Department, which enforces consumer protection laws and business regulations and investigates complaints, to come up with a law.

Diamond said he has received complaints from many Aventura residents. In fact, he has had some personal experience -- like the time a server recommended a bottle of wine to him and some friends, he said. Someone in the group asked for the price: $280.

''I've been fooled a couple of times, I don't want to be fooled again,'' said Diamond.

If the county was to adopt such a regulation, it would be effective in every restaurant countywide, he said.

We've never really had a problem asking for prices of specials — no embarrassment, and waiters have always readily offered them up sans sneer. But we can see how it might get embarrassing if you're, say, treating a large group of people to dinner in a nice restaurant. A good rule is to assume that any specials are about the same price as the most expensive entrees on the menu.

On the menu: Disclosure of daily restaurant specials [Miami Herald]
Fla Legislators Wasting Time On Toilet Paper [MP: South Florida]

Photo of the specials board at the now-departed Rascal House: ponceypix [Flickr]

The former owner of the Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurants in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Lake Worth pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing $177,390 in sales taxes, according to the Sun-Sentinel:

Paul Darrow, 52, must perform 480 hours of community service and spend the next 20 years on probation, according to court records. He also must repay $177,390.

Darrow owned three Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurants — in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Lake Worth — when in 2006 authorities charged him with failing to file tax returns and pay taxes. The Florida Department of Revenue said that between 2003 and 2005 Darrow failed to send the state all of the sales tax he had collected.

Former restaurant owner owes state $177,000 [Sun-Sentinel]
Cheeburger Cheeburger [MenuPages]
Cheeburger Cheeburger [Official Site]

Photo: dgphilli [Flickr]

The New York Times reports that Quattro Gastronomia Italiana might have a Manhattan location soon:

QUATTRO GASTRONOMIA ITALIANA The Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium, which is to open early next year, has asked Nicola and Fabrizio Carro, twin chefs from Piedmont in Italy, to install a branch of their Miami Beach restaurant, with 150 seats. Diners may never know which brother is cooking in Manhattan and which in Miami Beach: 246 Spring Street (Varick Street).

Off the Menu [New York Times]
Quattro Gastronomia Italiana [MenuPages]
Quattro Gastronomia Italiana [Official Site]

Soon you'll be able to get your Whopper in some fancy new digs. Burger King is unveiling the Whopper Bar, which will offer more Whoppers but fewer of the other typical BK menu items:

The menu and size of the Whopper Bars will be smaller than a typical Burger King, but they will sell Whoppers not typically available at all times in the chain's traditional restaurants. Executives say they haven't finalized the menu, though it could include as many as 10 types of Whoppers, such as the Western Whopper, the Texas Double Whopper and the Angry Whopper, a version topped with spicy onions. One menu sketch has a section called "Pimp Your Whopper," where patrons can chose from additional toppings like jalapeno peppers, bacon and barbecue sauce.
Russ Klein, Burger King's president, global marketing, strategy and innovation, said he began thinking about the concept about four years ago when he visited a Burger King in Germany that had knocked out the back of the restaurant and created a bar section. Mr. Klein said the Whopper Bar is akin to McDonald's Corp.'s creation of McCafe coffee bars, except that it is built around the chain's signature sandwich.

Burger King Whopper To Be Feted [Wall Street Journal]
Burger King [Official Site]

Remember all of those possible James Beard nominees we wrote about last month? That list has been whittled down to the official nominee list, which includes just three area chefs, all competing against each other in the Best Chef: South division:

• Zach Bell of Cafe Boulud
• Michelle Bernstein of Michy's
• Douglas Rodriguez of Ola

There are only five nominees in the division, so the chances are pretty good that one of these three will bring the award home. We'll have to wait until June to find out.

2008 Nominees for the James Beard Foundation Awards [Official Site]
Your List Of Possible SoFla James Beard Award Nominees [MP: South Florida]
Cafe Boulud [MenuPages]
Michy's [MenuPages]
Ola [MenuPages]

The state is expected to face a $3.5 billion budget shortfall, so Stuart Blumberg, president and CEO of the Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association, suggested that restaurants pick up the slack with a two percent tax on all food and beverage sales.

It also resolves an inequity between hotels and restaurants, he says. "By agreeing to a bed tax, the hotels have been carrying the burden for 30-plus years. Our partners in the restaurant industry haven't contributed anything except sales tax."

Not so fast, argues Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association President and CEO Carol Dover. In 2007, restaurants paid $3.9 billion in taxes. Furthermore, bed tax revenue must be used for tourism-related activities, such as ad campaigns and convention center expansions, not budget shortfalls, Dover says.

And unlike hotels, where the customer base is mostly from out of state, it's locals who fuel the restaurant industry. "Stu's contention that this will only affect tourists is just wrong," says Dover.

And in other news, remember that toilet paper bill the Florida legislature was considering? The state House of Representatives decided to drop the bill, since state regulators already include bathrooms in restaurant inspections.

Hotel lobbyist proposes 2% restaurant tax [Orlando Business Journal]
House discards toilet-paper bill aimed at restaurants [Orlando Sentinel]
Fla Legislators Wasting Time On Toilet Paper [MP: South Florida]

Yes, it's true. Our jaw just dropped while reading the press release. Norman Van Aken was at Tavern-n-Town what, three months? Here's what Beachside Resort developer Robert Spottswood had to say about it:

I have the utmost respect and admiration for Norman; however, his creative vision doesn’t coincide with what we feel Beachside Resort needs at this time. Our parting is amicable, and Norman is remaining on as a consulting corporate chef for Spottswood Hotels. In that position, he will be exploring our participation in high end food and wine events and other culinary projects we have slated for the Florida Keys.

We’ve created a simple steak and fish house menu for Beachside that adheres to the high standards of quality that Van Aken instilled in the project. The new menu at Tavern N Town focuses on wood-grilled local fish, prime steaks, poultry and savory daily specials, along with steakhouse-style side dishes and a menu of small plates, served in a beautiful but laid back atmosphere.

Ask The Chef: Norman Van Aken [MP: South Florida]
Tavern-n-Town [MenuPages]
Tavern-n-Town [Official Site]

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

• Far more energy goes into food production than food transport [CNN]
• Non-horrible Canada does food aid by the ton, not by the dollar [Leader-Post]
• Manila to fast food chains: serve half-portions of rice, please [Reuters]
• 3rd year in a row of bumper grape crop boosts Oregon wine industry [Tribune]
• Sbux, briefly a music tastemaker, now mainstream profit whore again [NYTimes]
• ZOMG, corn flake shaped like Illinois for sale on eBay (now $182.50) [AP]

Today's South Florida Business Journal has a good story on how the sputtering economy is affecting the restaurant industry; it's worth reading if you've got a few minutes. Restaurateurs, like everyone else, are taking a hit, and it all goes back to the housing market (doesn't everything?):

And the slump at the dining table is also starting to take a bite out of state coffers at a time when lawmakers face huge budget cuts due to the housing bust.

Sales tax revenue collected on restaurants, bars, motels and entertainment activities is declining, according to Amy Baker, chief economist for the state House and Senate. "By the time we finish our estimates [for the year], we could probably be below last year's level. We believe that although it isn't officially called a recession yet, we will be in one. That affects all the other industries."

She said the real estate downturn is now leaking into other sectors.

"For most people, their home is their biggest asset, and when the market was doing well, people spent more and ate out more," Baker said. "When the housing market came out of the bubble and the national economy took a downturn, they didn't feel as wealthy and weren't as confident in spending."

Baker said she expects sales tax collections to fall even further.

This basically means that mediocre and bad restaurants are going to get weeded out. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. The good ones should be able to ride out the storm.

Restaurants starved for customers [South Florida Business Journal]

• India farmer suicides peaking despite food prices and country's prosperity [Reuters]
• Pepsi aiming its new no-cal carbonated fruity "Tava" at the "reborn digital" [NYTimes]
• Frightened parents switching in droves from chemical-y plastic to glass bottles [AP]
• Five food additives that ought to scare the crap out of you! Or not really [Newsweek]
• Chinese really hammering home their contention that Olympic food will be safe [ChinaDaily]
• FAO identifies three dozen "crisis" countries facing food shortage crunches [WaPo]
• Never fear: Clooney and pals donate cash to keep Darfur food heli-delivery aloft [AFP]

• Biofuels "2.0," i.e. cellulosic ethanol, to ease food crop demand [FoodNav]
• Can you grow fruit trees in your urban backyard? Sure, why not [NYTimes]
• Beef recall co. CEO somewhat unrepentant under Congressional scrutiny [Tribune]
• FDA discloses dozens of spinach sanitary violations it ignored [WaPo]
• CT school punishes, unpunishes star 8th grader for buying candy [AP]
• USDA kind of dicking Guam over on food stamps for admin. reasons [PNC]

• Kroger, nation's largest grocery chain, stymied by food inflation [Tribune]
• Viral videos the new gold standard for animal rights activists [NYTimes]
• Did you know: high alcohol beers illegal through much of the South? [LATimes]
• The newest thing in wines is pairing to your taste bud profile [WaPo]
• Vietnam, bereft of McD's & Sbux, charts its own fast food course [WSJ]

• McDonald's sales up 12% over last February (paging Dr. Leap Day?) [Tribune]
• Nestle, smelling profits, to open Swiss chocolate research center [Bloomberg]
• Bandits now plundering half of WFP food deliveries in Darfur [AFP]
• Gorton's fish fillets recalled as pills found in ths sticks! [USAToday]
• We don't really know diddly-squat about the nanotech we're eating [The Age]
• 4oz wine and beer samples in supermarkets? Wa. state says, "sure"! [AP]

A group of friends were a little annoyed that their 8 p.m. reservation actually became a 10:15 meal, which is when their food finally arrived. They complained, and in return received a "Suck My D--- F--- Face" (free of charge!) on their bill. Classy, no?

Joe Delucci's owner Mr Langsdon said the message had been meant to be seen only by kitchen staff and he did not know how it ended up as an item on the receipt.

He said: "That shouldn't come out on the bill, so we've got to find out what's gone wrong there.

"But we have apologised unreservedly to the girls concerned and said that they're very welcome to come back and have a free meal and we'd like them to."

He has also offered to donate the bill for their meal to charity.

The cost of the meal came to £284.68, including a 10% service charge.

Restaurant owner sorry over F word bill [BBC]

Via Chow

The restaurant industry is a tough one. Something like 90 percent fail, and the profit margins often are very small. And then they have to deal with small-time crooks trying to get a free buck or two. Take the following case from Manatee County, where a man managed to get $410.09 from two different restaurants using fraudulent checks.

At a restaurant in the 7100 block of Cortez Road at 6:20 p.m. Saturday, a suspect, who represented himself as being from a national insurance company, ordered food for 200 people, according to a Manatee County Sheriff's Office report.

The food bill came to $1,718.91 plus $100 for a tip. The suspect paid with a business check made out for $2,000, the report stated. A restaurant employee then gave the suspect back $181.09. Later, it was discovered that the check was not issued by the insurance company and was fraudulent.

The sheriff's report said a second business in the 3600 block of Cortez Road was victimized the same way three days earlier on Wednesday, a report stated. That incident was reported to the sheriff's office on Friday.

In the second restaurant, the suspect ordered $1,771 worth of food and paid with a business check for $2,000. The victim gave the man the difference, $229.

The man never returned to get the food, and it was found that the check was fraudulent, the report stated.

We know there are some of you out there who cannot function without a Starbucks coffee at various times of the day, so we thought we'd give you advance warning that 7,100 Starbucks stores will be closing for a three-hour training period on Tuesday, February 26. They're wisely doing it in the evening, from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.; we imagine a morning closure would lead to riotous behavior from the severely caffeine deprived. Why the nationwide shutdown? There are going to be some changes in Starbucks everywhere:

"We will have all new standards for how we create the drinks," said spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil. "They will be trained in creating the perfect shot, steaming the milk and all the pieces that come together in a drink."

Some people have speculated Starbucks will return to manual espresso machines, but O'Neil said the espresso-making equipment will be the same. "It's really about ensuring that the customer experience that we provide is the best that it can be."

. . .

The retraining is part of Starbucks' plan to revive its brand and sales growth, which by one measure sank to an all-time low last quarter. Chairman Howard Schultz last month returned as chief executive to oversee the turnaround.

Starbucks already has said it will slow U.S. expansion, grow faster in foreign countries and stop selling warmed sandwiches.

Monday, it announced a switch in wireless Internet providers and said it will offer two hours a day of free Wi-Fi to certain customers.

Starbucks stores to shut 3 hours on Feb. 26 for retraining baristas [The Seattle Times]

The federal government has already instituted some strict restrictions on red snapper fishing, and today Florida legislators vote on whether or not to mirror the federal legislation for state waters, which extend about nine miles out from shore:

Under the rules, commercial fishermen would be allowed to catch up to 2.55 million pounds of snapper, while recreational anglers would be limited to 2.45 million pounds per year. In previous years, officials have allowed up to 9.1 million pounds to be caught.

The state's charter industry is already hurting from rising gas prices and a downturn in vacation spending, the fishermen say. And cutting the snapper season, which runs from April 15 through Oct. 31, to June 1 through Sept. 30, would be devastating, they argue.

''School ends in May and families start coming and a lot of them won't go out if they cannot catch snapper,'' Graef said.

But Chris Dorsett of The Ocean Conservancy said it is crucial Florida follow the federal guidelines. That's because 76 percent of red snapper caught throughout the entire Gulf in states' waters from 2004 to 2006 came from Florida.

Short-term sacrifices from the charter boat industry will pay off with the long-term health of the species, he said.

''We believe they will pass the regulations, but they will hear from a lot of angry charter boat captains,'' Dorsett said.

Red snapper, valued for their flaky white meat and unique taste, have been overfished since the mid-1980s by recreational and commercial fishermen, who ship their catch to restaurants worldwide, Dorsett said.

Years of ineffective regulations created by compromises among the industry and regulators have depleted the species and the new restrictions are the last, best hope for recovery, Dorsett said.

Continue reading "Not Just Grouper; We've Got Snapper Problems Too" »

Stories like this one make us thankful that we toted our own lunch to school and rarely ever had to eat whatever the cafeteria was providing. (And especially thankful to our dad, who made excellent lunches for us every morning for many, many years.) It seems there was a bit of a problem with one of the beef suppliers for a good number of Broward schools:

Students at Fort Lauderdale High School were mostly shocked to learn Thursday morning that their cafeteria beef will not be served because the meat had come from a company where food inspectors found "egregious violations of humane handling regulations."

In response to those reports of extreme animal abuse, the federal government closed a California slaughterhouse that supplies meat to many of the nation's schools, including hundreds across South Florida. The suspect beef was pulled this week from the schools' cafeteria menus.

"That's kind of nasty," said Neville Smith, 18. Students enjoy burritos, double cheeseburgers, and tacos on a daily basis, he said.

"I wish they let us know what exactly we're eating," he said. "Maybe we would try to eat healthier, like a salad."

...

Investigators say they have yet to uncover evidence that shows tainted meat has entered the country's food supply. But because the investigation is ongoing, federal authorities told school officials to yank Westland's products just in case.

"It's strictly precautionary," said Lori Dornbusch, operations manager for Palm Beach County food services. "The meat has not been declared dangerous."

Dornbusch and her counterparts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties were told to place beef "on hold," immediately after the federal government started its investigation on Jan. 30. That set off a flurry of e-mails to food managers with product codes and packing numbers.

"We told everybody not to serve them. But have we? Yes," said Broward's nutrition manager Barbara Leslie. "We've been receiving these products for over a year."

Broward has received more than 40,000 pounds of Westland beef since January 2007. The most recent delivery arrived a week before the federal investigation began, Leslie said, adding that no students or employees have reported any illnesses as a result of their meals.

And now her staff, along with campuses in all three districts are scrambling to rewrite lunch menus, replacing meatballs with chicken tenders and cheeseburgers with ham and cheese sandwiches. Principals will post the substitutions in classrooms and mentioned during morning announcements.

Last year, more than 27 million pounds of Westland's beef found its way to lunch trays in 36 states, including Florida, through the National School Lunch Program, according to the Humane Society of United States. The group released a video on Jan. 30 showing workers dragging and pushing cows with bulldozers as the animals squeal in pain.

At least four sick animals were slaughtered for food, the organization said.

...

Slaughterhouses are prohibited from butchering "downer" cows, or those that can't walk because their leges are broken, tendons severed or nerves paralyzed because they tend to have a higher incidence of what's known as mad cow disease, an illness that devastates the brains and nervous system of the animals.

Suspect beef pulled from South Florida schools [Sun-Sentinel]

We just came across some unpleasant news concerning the food court at a certain South Dade mall:

MIAMI (AP) - Health inspectors say several food court restaurants in a Miami mall were temporarily shut down because of unsanitary conditions.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation found health violations in several restaurants at Dadeland Mall.

Inspectors say they found about 30 roaches crawling on walls, shelves, over bags of croutons and under food prep counters at a Chicken Kitchen.

At a Sarku Japan restaurant, inspectors say they found rodent droppings on top of a walk-in cooler.

Other restaurants had minor violations.

Mall officials say all the restaurants have reopened following a successful inspection by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants.

Health inspectors shut down food court restaurants in Miami mall [ABC7]

We're sure you've all heard about the proposed Mississippi bill that would force restaurants to turn obese people away from restaurants with more than five seats. (Small cafes are exempt?) Basically, the state's department of health would set a definition for obese, and restaurant owners would have to refuse to serve food to people who fit the definition. If they didn't, they'd risk losing their permits. The interesting thing is that the representative who proposed the bill, Rep. John Read, is 5'11'' and 230 lbs., so he might run into some problems with the bill himself. Thankfully, another lawmaker has vowed to prevent the bill from ever getting to the floor:

A state lawmaker on Monday promised a quick death for a bill that would prohibit Mississippi restaurants from serving obese people.

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House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Steve Holland announced his intention to kill House Bill 282. The proposed legislation has outraged advocacy groups critical of the legislation and intrigued the national media.

"It's dead on arrival at my desk," Holland, D-Plantersville, said in a news release. "While I appreciate the efforts of my fellow House members to help curb the obesity problem in Mississippi, this is totally the wrong approach."

The bill filed by State Reps. Ted Mayhall, R-Southaven, John Read, R-Gautier, and Bobby Shows, D-Ellisville, would make it illegal for restaurants with more than five seats to serve people who are obese. The criteria for obesity would be set by the state Department of Health, and restaurants that do not comply would have their permits revoked.

The legislation has been referred to a subcommittee, where Holland said he will use a "pocket veto" to kill it. It would have advanced to his committee if it had survived.

The complete boneheadedness surrounding this whole situation boggles the mind. Obesity is a big problem, and it is putting a strain on the state's Medicaid system, but the notion of banning obese people from restaurants .... unbelievable. Can you imagine some poor restaurateur trying to figure out who is obese and who isn't? Would health restaurants be exempt from the law? How would the state even go about enforcing this thing? And yes, there are lots of calories in restaurant meals, but there are also lots of calories in homemade meals and things that can be bought in grocery or convenience stores. This is just not the way to go about it.

At any rate, we're thankful that the bill will soon be dead, and we're hoping that no Florida lawmakers get any crazy ideas in their heads.

Miss. Law Would Ban Serving Obese Diners [New York Times]
Lawmaker: Obesity bill won't make it to floor [Clarion Ledger]

Leila over at MP: Boston alerted us today that TableXChange, which operates in New York City, the Hamptons and San Francisco, has expanded to Boston and will moving to Miami next. It's a genius idea, really. If you have a reservation to a hard-to-get-into restaurant but can't make it, you can sell it on TableXChange for up to $40 to some poor guy looking to make a great impression by taking his date to the aforementioned restaurant. It seems to be fairly popular in New York, but we wonder how well it will work in South Florida. For one thing, how many restaurants down here are that difficult to get into? Sure, for a few places you have to call a couple days in advance to get the time you want, but we just don't see the fuel to start reservations bidding wars. But hey, we could be wrong.

What do you think of this service? Would you use it?

TableXChange [Official Site]
TableXChange Comes To Boston [MP: Boston]

As we know, fishermen aren't happy about the proposed gag grouper fishing restrictions. We just thought we'd add a few more quotes from an article we found today:

Madeira Beach, Florida - The commercial fishing boat Martiza is just back after 10 days in the Gulf. The crew caught 5,000 pounds of fish, mostly brown grouper.

"That will go to the restaurants, the local restaurants," said Dean Pruitt who owns the Martiza.

Pruitt also owns three other commercial fishing boats. He's against federal regulators proposals to reduce gag grouper fishing in the Gulf by 45 percent, which would shut down the grouper fleet the last three months of the year.

"It's going to be a big impact on the restaurants, the people that work in the restaurants, the commercial fishery, the fish house, just anybody that want to eat the grouper," said Pruitt.

Fishermen speak out against proposed gag grouper restrictions [Tampa Bay 10]
And The Grouper Saga Continues [MP: South Florida]

Florida grouper prices are on the rise, as everyone knows, for a number of reasons, one of which is the dwindling supply of the fish in the Gulf. Studies show that gag grouper (also called black grouper on some menus) are being fished at unsustainable levels, so the feds are stepping in to curb that:

Federal regulators took preliminary steps Tuesday to reduce gag grouper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico by 45 percent, a severe cutback that could cripple commercial fisherman and the charter boat industry.

The proposed restrictions would close down recreational grouper fishing for three months in the winter, just when tourists arrive.

Commercial fisherman would face a quota on gag for the first time, with limits tight enough to shut down the entire grouper fleet every year by October or so -- forcing restaurants and consumers to rely on imports.

The cuts would spill over to other grouper species as well, because grouper swim together, and it's impossible to protect one species without inadvertently cracking down on others.

"This will cost the state of Florida $300-million in direct expenditures,'" said Dennis O'Hern, director of a recreational advocacy group called the Fishermen's Rights Alliance.

With a bag limit of only one gag and only nine months to fish for any kind of grouper, anglers will not sink $20,000 or $30,000 into offshore boats and spend hundreds of dollars in fuel to go bottom fishing, O'Hern said. Tourists will not spend $1,000 to hire a charter boat.

"This is going to kill us," said Tarpon Springs charter boat captain Ed Walker. Migratory fish like king mackerel, cobia and tarpon hang out in warmer southern waters during the winter, he said. Red snapper, another popular offshore bottom fish, is already under tight restriction because of dwindling stocks.

"Essentially they have left us nothing to fish for during the peak tourist season," Walker said.

Continue reading "And The Grouper Saga Continues" »

Well, five-star service according to Mobil, which released its annual hotel and restaurant rankings today. The only five-star hotel is the Ritz-Carlton in Palm Beach, and no restaurants received the highest rating. According to Mobil inspectors, while a lot of restaurants and hotels have the facilities to provide a five-star experience, the service isn't quite up to par. Which isn't exactly news around here. The good news is that there are a few four-star restaurants in the area: Blue Door, Wish, Azul and Palme D'Or.

Five stars elusive for S. Florida hot spots [Miami Herald]

We all know that tuna has lots of mercury, but wow, these reports that recently emerged list some scary-high levels of the stuff in tuna. The New York Times wrote about it recently, comparing the mercury levels of tuna in a number of Manhattan restaurants. Today, the Miami Herald lists the levels for a few restaurants in our neck of the woods:

At Su-Shin Izakaya in Coral Gables, the level of mercury in a piece of tuna sashimi was 1.2 parts per million. At 1.0 parts per million, the FDA can take action to remove the fish from the market.

A sample taken from a Publix in Coral Gables registered mercury levels at .93 parts per million, just under the FDA limit. A Publix in St. Petersburg had the highest levels of all grocery store samples -- 1.8 parts mercury per million.

Samples from Publix stores registered seven of the 10 highest mercury levels in the grocery store group.

Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said the company needed to review the study with its suppliers before determining what action it might take.

''We work with our suppliers to ensure the quality of our fish,'' Brous said. ``We have very high standards for the freshness and quality of our products throughout our store.''

Kazuhime Abe, whose family owns Su-Shin Izakaya, found the study results ``very disappointing and upsetting.''

''We'll definitely press our purveyors to check their sources and see if there is a better way,'' Abe said.

Though tuna is one of the restaurant's top sellers, Abe says she already tries to persuade regular customers to try other fish.

''This is a call to consumers to open up their palates and try different things,'' said Abe, whose family also owns Lan Pan Asian Cafe in South Miami and Yuga Restaurant in Coral Gables.

Oceana's findings reinforce other studies that show more expensive tuna usually contains higher levels of mercury because it comes from bigger fish, which accumulate mercury from the smaller fish they eat.

High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi [New York Times]
Mercury danger found in fresh tuna [Miami Herald]

The party will be shutting down early in Sunrise from now on. In order to keep alcohol-related violence in check, the city has decided to require that bars shut down by midnight, effective immediately. But businesses will have six months to apply for permits that would allow them to stay open a few hours more:

SUNRISE - Hoping to curb alcohol-related violence, the city's bars and nightclubs are now required to shut by midnight unless they receive a special city permit to close later, according to new rules.

Sunrise Commissioners on Tuesday Jan. 22 gave final approval to an ordinance that will require businesses serving alcohol to close by 12 a.m.

Businesses wishing to stay open later may apply for a special exception from the city to close at 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 3 a.m. on weekends-the last calls permitted prior to the new rules.

...

Among the factors city officials will consider in granting special exception permits are how often police responded to emergency calls at a given business.

Bars and nightclubs where police have responded three times in a given year will be required to hire off-duty police detail to patrol their property.

"It gives the city the leverage to offer the special exception," said Commissioner Joseph Scuotto. "If we do have someone that had a lot of police calls responding to fighting and violence, now we have the ability to pull their special exception license.

New rules require bars in Sunrise to close by midnight [Sun-Sentinel]

If you bought some of Santa Rosa Cheese's Naturally Aged White Cheese recently, throw it out; it might be infected with a weak form of E. coli. The cheese was imported from Nicaragua to Miami.

The possibility of the contamination was discovered after recent testing performed by the department revealed the presence of a generic E. coli bacteria in samples of the cheese collected in the Miami warehouse of the product's local importer. That bacteria is weaker than the more dangerous and sometimes deadly E. coli O157:H7 strain.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this product, Bronson said in the release. The affected codes for Naturally Aged White Cheese are 565 and 589 in various package sizes.

Cheese brought into Miami may contain E. coli [Miami Herald]

For some reason or another -- corporate stinginess, or a simple inability to control the wages its suppliers pay to their workers -- Burger King won't pay an extra penny per pound of tomatoes picked by workers in Immokalee. So now, the company is exploring some options that don't involve Immokalee at all:

The Dec. 18 letter to suppliers came just a few weeks after Burger King was the target of a major march in Miami organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which hopes to expose what it calls unfair wages and working conditions in the fields where Burger King's tomatoes are picked by migrant workers. The group wants Burger King to agree to pay a penny more per pound for its tomatoes to improve wages, similar to deals signed by McDonald's and Taco Bell.

But Burger King and the tomato growers have argued that those deals violate federal anti-trust and labor laws. Burger King has remained adamant it won't sign on to the deal because the chain buys its tomatoes from repackers, not from growers, so it has no way to get money to the workers. The extra penny per pound would cost the firm about $250,000 a year.

In the letter to suppliers, Grover wrote: ''In an effort to protect the BKC brand and supply system from disruption, we are developing contingency plans to assure our long-term supply of tomatoes.'' He went on to ask the suppliers to ``submit contingency plans for the possibility that we would choose not to purchase tomatoes grown on farms in the Immokalee, Florida region.''

Burger King executives tried to downplay that the ''contingency plan'' is a direct result of the coalition's activities. Any move would be a ''phased implementation,'' starting with the 2008-2009 growing season.

''If they won't work with us, we've only got one other option: to move,'' Grover said. ``It's a distraction to our business. They're trying to get a lot of groups turned against us.''

Burger King eyes new tomato sources [Miami Herald]
Coalition Of Immokalee Workers March Today On BK Headquarters [MP: South Florida]

Remember that story about a man finding a rare pearl in his steamers at a Lake Worth restaurant? Now, just two weeks later, someone else has found a pearl in his fried oysters in New Jersey:

WASHINGTON BOROUGH, N.J. — Two weeks after a Florida man found a rare pearl in his seafood, it's happened again — this time to a New Jersey man who was eating fried oysters.

Mike McHenry thought he had chomped down on a piece of shell Wednesday night and instead spit out a pea-sized pearl.

"You might break your teeth on it if you crunch down too hard," the 60-year-old Washington Township man said of his discovery at Russo's Ristorante in Washington Borough.

McHenry's find was rare, according to Gef Flimlin, a marine extension agent with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, who said 95 percent of pearls are cultured for production, unlike the naturally formed pearl McHenry found.

"It's unusual to find one in this type of oyster," McHenry said. "Like one in a million."

...

Russo's owner, Rick Giacobbe, said McHenry's discovery marked the first time in his 33 years in the restaurant business that a customer found a pearl in an order of oysters. He said the guy he orders seafood from is flummoxed, too.

"He said maybe once in a couple of years his girls will find something and it's a teeny tiny thing," Giacobbe said. "This was half the size of a jellybean."

Yes, it's here, the Spanish cured ham made from a black pig that eats only acorns. Until recently, it was banned in the United States, but the USDA finally decided in favor of deliciousness, and the first shipments arrived on this side of the Atlantic just last month. Delicias de España just received its first batch of ham four days ago; it took them a bit longer as a restaurant to be approved as a jamón ibérico retailer. They're selling the hams for $52 to $95 per pound, and it comes either whole (7-10 pounds) or sliced as thinly as you like.

Delicias was the first place we thought of to call, although if you know of any other Spanish restaurants or markets carrying it, let us know. We've never tried it, and we can't wait to do so!

Delicias de Espana [MenuPages]
Delicias de Espana [Official Site]
What's Up With Jamón Ibérico? [MP: Boston]

Photo: Flickr

We love heartwarming, uplifting stories, and this story about an 11-year-old Miami Shores boy who asked state legislators to make it easier for restaurants to donate leftover food to homeless shelters certainly fits the heartwarming/uplifting bill.

The sixth-grader is being credited for inspiring a bill that will allow restaurants and hotels to donate leftover food to places like homeless shelters and not face legal liabilities.

For years, many eateries and other places have simply thrown the food away, rather than face a lawsuit if someone got sick.

''I kind of used my social studies teacher's advice,'' said Jack, a sixth-grader at Ransom Everglades School. ``She told us to make a difference.''

Jack, with the help of his attorney dad, Jeff Davis, got in touch with a friend, Miami attorney Stephen Marino. Marino, a board member of the Florida Justice Association, a statewide association of consumer advocates, brought Jack's idea up a few days later during lunch with State Rep. Ari Porth, the bill's House sponsor.

''I've never been contacted by someone so young about an idea for a bill,'' Porth said. ``I think it's highly unusual and very impressive.''

It all started one summer morning after breakfast as Jack and his family finished eating at a buffet in Chattanooga, Tenn.

He was one of the last at the buffet line -- a typical spread of biscuits, bacon and eggs -- and a manager told the family to eat as much as they could.

Jack asked why? The manager told him the rest would be thrown away.

''He explained to me if they gave the food to a homeless shelter they could be sued for sickness or food poisoning,'' Jack said.

Student, 11, helping to get food to homeless [Miami Herald]

Photo: Marice Cohn Band for The Miami Herald

What a story. A wealthy Russian banker is accused of embezzling, is chased by the KGB, denied asylum in the United States, and wrapped up in a legal battle between the two countries that lasts, if our calculations from the article are correct, 12 years, after which the charges are dropped. So what is a now-freed former mogul to do? Start a business, specifically a delivery business catering to wealthy customers.

''I don't have time to go to the kitchen and cook something myself,'' [Alex Konanykhin] said, savoring some lamb Chalahach from a local Russian restaurant on the balcony of his penthouse at the Trump Palace. 'In New York, I just punch speed dial and say `The usual.' I couldn't believe places were not delivering here.''

Konanykhin's new venture is focused on getting condo-dwellers their caviar, sturgeon or coconut shrimp with the click of a computer key. Delivery4tip.com, which began operating in late November, brings food from eight restaurants to homes in Sunny Isles Beach, Aventura and surrounding areas. The delivery cost: 18 percent of the order total, or about the amount of an average tip.

Now Konanykhin is seeking to expand the service from Fort Lauderdale to South Beach. Though he owns only one van, this month he plans to unleash a dozen more plastered with the company's logo to make his business more visible. He also plans to add more photos and detailed nutritional information to his website, www.delivery4tip.com.

With luxury buildings stacked closely together, Sunny Isles Beach has proven to be the perfect testing ground, he said. Like many of the city's residents, he said, ``We prefer to have a nice dinner here during sunset instead of being in a restaurant in a strip mall.''

Current offerings on the site include Italian, Chinese, Argentine and, of course, Russian cuisine. Even though business hasn't been particularly brisk during the first month -- about 20 orders a day on average -- Konanykhin sees multimillion dollar potential. He takes in 30 percent on every order: 18 percent from the customer and 12 percent from the restaurant.

New delivery service targets luxury food market [Miami Herald]
Delivery4Tip [Official Site]

File this under "things we wish would happen to us at restaurants." A couple, George and Leslie Brock, dining at Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar discovered a rare pearl potentially worth thousands in their plate of steamers:

"Few are round and few are a lovely color, so this is rare," said gemologist Antoinette Matlins. "I think they have found something precious and lovely and valuable."

The gems occur most frequently in large New England quahogs, clams known for violet coloring on the inside of their shells. The clams in the $10 plate came from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle, said restaurant manager Tom Gerry.

The Brocks, of Royal Palm Beach, plan to have the pearl appraised and said they may sell it if it is valuable.

Diners Fine Rare Pearl in Plate of Clams [Palm Beach Post]
Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar [MenuPages]
Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar [Official Site]

No more South Beach Diet products for you! Kraft decided the word 'diet' carried too much of a negative connotation (we tend to agree), so the company is changing all of its South Beach Diet products to 'South Beach Living.'

It's a one-word name change, but "diet" always has had powerful and not necessarily positive connotations among consumers, bringing to mind older folks struggling, and often failing, to lose weight.

"Living" on the other hand suggests vibrant youth pursuing a healthy, natural lifestyle.

...

Coca-Cola Co., for instance, developed its Coke Zero, a no-calorie version of its flagship product, partly because young male consumers responded poorly to beverages labeled "diet."

After all, no one has ever successfully marketed a "diet" beer. The makers of everything from mayonnaise to hot dogs long ago settled on "light" as a healthy, positive-sounding euphemism.

For Kraft, "diet" seemed to limit South Beach to those who wanted to lose weight, not the wider and growing category of consumers who want to eat healthy.

"We think [the name change] is going to broaden the appeal of the brand and fuel its growth trajectory," said Howard Brandeisky, Kraft's vice president for strategic marketing initiatives.

Kraft scraps Diet in favor of South Beach Living [Chicago Tribune]

Miami will soon be home to the largest biodiesel plant in the Southeast. Oilsource Holding and Greenline Industries are working together to open a 60 million-gallon-per-year plant that "is expected to be commissioned by the first quarter of 2009," which we are taking to mean that it will be at least somewhat operational by then.

While biodiesel is great (80 percent fewer emissions! decreased dependence on foreign oil!), we don't like the idea of replacing fields of edible crops with lots of corn or soybeans grown for the express purpose of making ethanol. But these two companies seem to have the right idea:

Biodiesel reduces greenhouse gases emissions by almost 80% and has lower level of emissions of several air pollutants compared to traditional diesel, without compromising engine efficiency or durability. Nevertheless, biofuels made from vegetable oil often competes with food security in some regions; such is the case of biodiesel from soybeans or ethanol from corn. Oilsource will use vegetable oil from non-food crops (like jatropha and waste oil from restaurants) or those with less impact on the food chain (like palm or coconut oil). These true "energy-crops" will enable us to achieve sustainable growth without compromising the wealth of the communities or the environment.

Oilsource Holdings and Greenline Industries to Build Major Florida Biodiesel Production Facility [South Florida Business Journal]
Greenline Industries [Official Site]
Oilsource Holding [Official Site]

Photo: Flickr

You know all of those food displays that crowd the sidewalks outside of restaurants on Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road? Well, take a good look at them now, because after December 22, they'll be gone:

''Nearly everyone that comes here to eat looks at the display,'' manager Marvin Silverman said outside his Lincoln Road eatery. ``The food stops them in their tracks.''

But Silverman has a bad taste in his mouth now, after learning that Miami Beach commissioners decided this week to ban outdoor food displays on sidewalks throughout the city. The kibosh goes into effect Dec. 22, when Christmas tourist season is in full swing.

''I'm very upset,'' Silverman said. ``A lot of restaurants will lose business if they can't show their food. It's like telling clothing boutiques you can't show a mannequin with clothes on it.''

City Manager Jorge Gonzalez, who suggested the change to the city's sidewalk ordinance, said City Hall had heard from many businesses and residents who wanted the food displays gone because they created a tacky image. Now, food displays are limited to restaurant interiors.

We don't usually inspect food displays closely, because as soon as you show even the slightest interest, the hostess outside will begin to tell you about specials and ask how many there are in your party. So we keep away. And we generally stick to the rule that if the restaurant has its food shrink-wrapped on display outside, it's probably best that we look elsewhere for lunch. But really, is it necessary for the city commissioners to ban the food-display practice outright? Seems a bit excessive.

Tasteless? Cafes can't show off the food [Miami Herald]

- Via Critical Miami

Photo: Flickr

When we first read this story, we thought, wow, whatever marketing genius at McDonald's headquarters thought this was a good idea should be fired. There was no way this wouldn't bring about some bad press for the fast food chain. But then we realized that it was a local franchisee who made a deal with the Seminole County school district. It turns out that a dozen large food companies agreed not to run ads that specifically target children under 12, in an effort to curb the obesity epidemic in this country; these limits, however, apparently do not extend to children's report cards.

The Florida flap started after Susan Pagan's daughter, Catherine, a 4th grader at Red Bug Elementary School, recently came home with her report card. "She was so excited because she was on honor roll," Pagan said. "She looked at me and said, 'I'm entitled to a reward.'"

Pagan looked at the envelope and saw that students who got all A's and B's, or who had good attendance or citizenship records, were entitled to one Happy Meal, with either a hamburger, cheeseburger or Chicken McNuggets.

"It kind of shook me," Pagan said. "I had to explain to her, we don't eat at these places. I was placed in the position of being the bad guy." She took her concerns to the Seminole County School District, which includes 27,000 elementary school students in the Orlando area.

Bill Vogel, the district's superintendent, said Pagan's was the first such complaint he's heard, even though a similar report card program had been in place for about 10 years. Pizza Hut, which offered a personal pan pizza for good grades, dropped out this year, replaced by McDonald's.

McDonald's food-for-grades prize criticized [Sun-Sentinel]

Well, ok, not really. But it does seem like it's become far less popular than it used to be. We even notice it in the way we order food now; generally, we prefer to have two or three appetizers instead of a large entree. The latter, in our opinion, can be a bit monotonous. It looks like we're in the majority on that, as diners seem to be requesting tapas-style meals, and menus are reflecting that with more small-plate offerings, according to a recent article in the New York Times. What struck us is the little bit of history in the article, which explains that the entree isn't actually all that traditional or old:

Influences from the global pantry have also had their effect. More exposure to meze, dim sum, sushi and tapas has changed how Americans think of the structure of a meal. As a result, chefs feel free to break out of the traditional French model of restaurant dining by offering small, intense tastes of global flavors, said Eve Felder, an associate dean at the Culinary Institute of America.

“It’s more of a reaching back into the way in which people celebrate the table,” she said.

Although it’s hard to imagine a time when the single-entree meal wasn’t the norm, the concept is only about 75 or 80 years old, and not necessarily something to be cherished, said Paul Freedman, a Yale University history professor and editor of the new book, “Food: The History of Taste” (University of California Press).

...

“What you have in the 20th century is less opulent cuisine, and less time to devote to it,” he said. And, he points out, modern America has always loved multiple tastes of several dishes. Think of the smorgasbord, the cafeteria, the buffet and the ever-changing multiple offerings at fast food restaurants.

“It’s really not so much avant-garde but a look back and a reflection of Americans’ desire to have a lot of choices,” he said.

What do you think? Do you mourn the decline of the entree, or are you cheering its demise?

Is the Entree Heading for Extinction? [New York Times]

This story is just a teensy bit old, as in it came out in late November, but we've been so preoccupied that we forgot to write about it. And it's a fairly big deal, we think. Florida will get its first LEED-certified restaurants when two branches of Pizza Fusion open in Palm Beach Gardens and Weston this month. The Fort-Lauderdale-based eco-friendly company is also planning additional new restaurants in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and northern New Jersey; each of these will also be the first LEED-certified restaurants in their respective states.

For those of you who don't know what all this LEED certification business is all about (don't feel badly; we had to look it up), we'll give you a quick summary: it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The program provides an independent third party verification that the building does, in fact, comply with "green" standards. It all goes hand-in-hand with Pizza Fusion's motto of "Saving the earth, one pizza at a time."

Pizza Fusion Addresses Organic Demand with LEED Expansion into South and Northeast Markets [Franchising.com]
Pizza Fusion [MenuPages]
Pizza Fusion [Official Site]

This is for the ice hockey fans out there in South Florida. All five of you. (We kid, we kid. We know there are way more during the season, with the influx of Canadians.) Every time you buy something at a Dade, Broward or Palm Beach Dunkin' Donuts during Dec. 1-20, you'll receive a special contest code, which you can then register at the Florida Panthers' website for a chance to win a really big prize: a trip for four adults to join the Panthers on their team plane when they go to play the Atlanta Thrashers on January 9. Some more details:

The Fly Away prize package also includes hotel accommodations,transportation to and from the airport, dinner at a select restaurant andlimousine service to and from the game. Although the contest winner must be21 years or older, the three accompanying adults can be 18 years or older.No purchase is necessary.

Pucks & Perks: Dunkin' Donuts Announces Partnership with Florida Panthers [Reuters]
Dunkin' Donuts [Official Site]
Florida Panthers [Official Site]

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is leading a nine-mile march from downtown Miami all the way to Burger King headquarters near the airport. The reason is BK's refusal to demand that its tomato providers pay an extra penny per pound to its workers. (Most tomato pickers in South Florida earn about 45 cents for each 32-pound bucket they pick.) Eric Schlosser (he of Fast Food Nation fame) actually summed up the whole story quite nicely in yesterday's New York Times:

In 2005, Florida tomato pickers gained their first significant pay raise since the late 1970s when Taco Bell ended a consumer boycott by agreeing to pay an extra penny per pound for its tomatoes, with the extra cent going directly to the farm workers. Last April, McDonald’s agreed to a similar arrangement, increasing the wages of its tomato pickers to about 77 cents per bucket. But Burger King, whose headquarters are in Florida, has adamantly refused to pay the extra penny — and its refusal has encouraged tomato growers to cancel the deals already struck with Taco Bell and McDonald’s.

This month the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, representing 90 percent of the state’s growers, announced that it will not allow any of its members to collect the extra penny for farm workers. Reggie Brown, the executive vice president of the group, described the surcharge for poor migrants as “pretty much near un-American.”

The coalition negotiated with Burger King, and three representatives attended the company's annual meeting, which ended yesterday, but no agreement was reached:

"If you're going to pay people for a measure of work, it's important to measure the work and a person accurately," said Steve Grover, head of quality assurance and regulatory affairs for Miami's Burger King Corp. He said he wasn't convinced that could be done under the coalition's proposal.

Burger King said that it based the decision on the fact that it has no direct relationship with the growers. Unlike Taco Bell, it purchases tomatoes from repackaging companies, generally located near the farms where the tomatoes are picked.

We tried to create a map of the route, although it didn't turn out as clear as we'd hoped. But it gives you a good idea of where the marchers will be. They began this morning at the Goldman Sachs offices downtown (Goldman Sachs owns a large stake in BK) and will be at the Burger King headquarters by 3:30 p.m. for a rally.

Penny Foolish [New York Times]
Burger King rejects tomato price hike, but offers job help [St Petersburg Times]
BK protesters march through Miami streets [Miami Herald]
Coalition of Immokalee Workers [Official Site]

The University of Florida is mourning today, after the death yesterday of Dr. J. Robert Cade, the man who in 1965 invented Gatorade, which has subsequently brought the university lots and lots of money. And it all began with a rather, um, interesting question posed in infantile terms:

Now sold in 80 countries in dozens of flavors, Gatorade was born thanks to a question from former Gators Coach Dwayne Douglas, Cade said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.

He asked, "Doctor, why don't football players wee-wee after a game?"

"That question changed our lives," Cade said.

Cade's researchers determined a football player could lose as much as 18 pounds - 90 to 95 percent of it water - during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.

Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.

"It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner," said Dana Shires, one of the researchers.

"I guzzled it and I vomited," Cade said.

UF doc who invented Gatorade dies at 80 [Miami Herald]

Photo: Gainesville Sun

Chinese Restaurant News, the largest monthly publication serving Chinese-American restaurants, recently released its list of top 100 Chinese restaurants in the country. We're not quite sure how they come up with the list out of the tens of thousands of Chinese restaurants (seriously, there are more Chinese restaurants than McDonald's!), but we will report on the South Florida restaurants that made one of their top 100 lists:

Buffets: New China Buffet in Pembroke Pines

Regional cuisine: Takee Outee Restaurant in Miami; Hong Kong Cafe in West Palm Beach

Rising Stars: New China Buffet in Pembroke Pines; King Chef in Plantation; Takee Outee Restaurant in Miami

Signature Dish: King Chef in Plantation; China One in Pembroke Pines; South China in Cooper City; Wong's in Plantation; China Uno in Greenacres; Number One Wok in Davie; Grand View Chinese Restaurant in Miami.

Take Outs: China Sky in Loxahatchee; China A Chinese Restaurant in Oakland Park; Ho Ho Chinese Restaurant in Delray Beach

Asian Fusion: Tokyo Peking Express in Tamarac; Tony Chan's Water Club in Miami; Dragon Gourmet Buffet in Plantation; Jade Garden Restaurant in Plantation

Healthy: No. 1 Chinese Restaurant in Hialeah

Overall Excellence: Coco Palm Beach in Palm Beach

Metro Favorites: Tony Chan's Water Club in Miami; No. 1 Chinese Restaurant in Hialeah; Grand View Chinese Restaurant in Miami

Chinese Restaurant News [Official Site]
Top 100 Chinese Restaurants [Official Site]

Pollo Tropical is going trans-fat free. The chicken never had any trans fats, but some of the sides and baked goods did; trans fats were in the oil used to fry plantains, yuca and french fries and in the key lime pie, tres leches, dinner rolls and the spare rib marinade. But that's all gone now, and Pollo Tropical executives say that customers won't notice any difference in taste.

In other Miami-based fast food chain news, Burger King's profits are up 23 percent for the first quarter (the three months that ended on September 30), thanks to some shrewd marketing campaigns tied in with "The Simpsons Movie" and "Transformers." The article contains lots more boring figures, all of which come to the same conclusion: people are eating at Burger King. A lot.

Pollo Tropical sheds the trans fat [Miami Herald]
Pollo Tropical [Official Site]
Burger King 1Q profit up 23 percent on promotions, strong sales [Herald Tribune]
Burger King [Official Site]

As many of you who surf popular food websites know, Advertising Age ran a story on Monday about how the fact that more moms are opting out of the workforce and choosing to stay home would affect the restaurant and supermarket businesses. Here's a brief excerpt to get you all caught up:

The decades-long rise of women in the work force -- and the related rise of meals bought from restaurants -- has ground to halt and begun to reverse since the turn of the millennium. The numbers have gotten little attention, and they fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but their ramifications are huge for restaurant, supermarket and food marketers.

Women's participation rate in the paid U.S. labor force topped out at just above 60% in 1999 and again in 2001 but has fallen since then, according to the Labor Department. Restaurant meals, fueled for decades by the migration of moms to the work force, also topped out at 211 per person per year in 2001 according to NPD and likewise have been bouncing lower since, hitting 207 this year.

For restaurants, it means an end to a demographic gold mine that fed decades of growth. For supermarkets, it means a reversal of a trend that fueled decades of decline and may even help savvier operators gain an edge in their long-losing battle against Wal-Mart. And for package-food companies, the trends offer a chance to gain ground on restaurants for the first time in decades.

Continue reading "Stay-At-Home Moms And The Restaurant Industry" »

We found an interesting article in Florida Today, farther up the coast, about the state of the shrimping industry in Florida. While most articles about today's fishing industry inevitably mention overfishing and declining populations, there's nothing about that here. The problems seem to be condos replacing fish houses along the coast, increased regulation and security, and higher fuel prices. Plus there are the cheap imports, which are killing the local shrimp industry; wild-caught shrimp can't possibly compete price-wise with the cheap shrimp coming from farms in Southeast Asia:

John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance in Tarpon Springs, just returned from testifying before a House Ways and Means subcommittee on food-safety issues of imported shrimp.

"The United States is like a magnet for garbage," he said. "We're inspecting less than 1 percent of all these imported products, especially seafood."

When the European Union, Japan and Canada clamped down on shrimp imports, importers turned to America, Williams said.

"In 2000, 2001, the European Union, Japan and Canada banned imports from Pakistan, and Pakistan just turned around and shipped them to the United States," Williams said.

The U.S. food-service industry threw down the red carpet for these low-priced imports, now a mainstay at restaurants and grocery stores, he said.

"Check out the boxes in the Dumpsters behind restaurants," McCoy said. "A majority of the shrimp that is served in restaurants, including local restaurants, and that is sold in the local grocery stores, is not always a wild-caught product, but imported."

Shrimping flounders [Florida Today]

We want to have children. Very much so. Not exactly right now, but you know, in a few years. But we also love to cook and experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. And the idea of having to constrain ourselves because of a two-year-old who refuses to eat anything that isn't a chicken nugget is not a happy one to us.

We always thought that the picky eater problem was more nurture over nature, but apparently some researchers in London have found that it's about 78 percent genetic. If the parents were picky eaters, their kids likely will be too. Our only consolation is that we weren't too picky, aside from our severe dislike of carrots and peas.

The reason for the pickiness, which usually begins to manifest itself at around age 2, fascinates us:

Most children eat a wide variety of foods until they are around 2, when they suddenly stop. The phase can last until the child is 4 or 5. It’s an evolutionary response, researchers believe. Toddlers’ taste buds shut down at about the time they start walking, giving them more control over what they eat. “If we just went running out of the cave as little cave babies and stuck anything in our mouths, that would have been potentially very dangerous,” Dr. Cooke said.

Makes perfect sense. So it's a survival mechanism. Remember that the next time your kid makes a face at the sight of broccoli.

Picky Eaters? They Get It From You [New York Times]

The Waterfront Market, one of Key West's best sources for produce, seafood, and high-end food products was supposed to close for good at the end of September, but because of a 90-day lease extension with the city, it's going to stick around until at least the end of 2007.

According to the Key West Citizen, Buco Pantelis, the market's owner, can no longer operate the business on his own. He's got 90 days to find a buyer — it's a good opportunity for a group of investors with good capital backing, he said. If not, he'll liquidate his supply and close the store at the end of the year.

The market's possible closing could cause problems for both local foodies and restaurants; it's got both a retail and wholesale business, and through the latter the market is the main produce and seafood supplier for many Key West restaurants.

Pantelis: I'm open another 90 days [Key West Citizen]
Photo: Flickr

Ever dreamed of buying your favorite watering hole? Two men did just that last week when they bought RJ Gators for $2.02 million to pull it out of bankruptcy. Kevin Dalton and Timothy Jeffrey, two friends who used to be regulars at one of the restaurant's locations, have taken it upon themselves to turn the franchise around.
According to the Palm Beach Post, all of the restaurants currently open will stay that way. The two friends also plan to re-open the Palm Beach Gardens location. They even hope to expand very slowly in a few years, but the priority right now will be updating the menu.

R.J. Gators brings $2 million [Palm Beach Post]
R J Gator's [Official Site]

Burger King's finally getting on the healthy bandwagon. Today the company announced that BK restaurants will be rolling out healthier options for Kids Meals in 2008: flame-broiled (as opposed to fried) chicken tenders, low-fat milk instead of soda, and apple slices cut like fries to replace french fries. Total for the meal: 305 calories, 8.5 grams of fat. Not too bad. The company also said it will not advertise Kids Meals that contain more than 560 calories, more than 30 percent of calories from fat, and more than 10 percent of calories from sugar.

Nutritionists quoted for the AP article said this is good news, of course, but parents are still going to have to teach healthy habits and limit fast food. It's going to be tough convincing children to choose milk over soda at the BK counter, and if dad sits down with a Whopper and fries, the kid's not going to want apple slices.

Burger King Unveils Healthier Kids Menu [Associated Press]

Juan Canales, a waiter at 84 Thai Food in Fort Lauderdale, responded to a woman's call for help, fought a knife-wielding carjacker, and with the help of three other men, restrained him until the police arrived. Here's the story, from the Sun-Sentinel:

At about 11:30 a.m. Monday, Massiel Marquardt, 22, walked out of a Subway restaurant at the Southland Shopping Center in the 900 block of State Road 84. A man approached her from behind and pointed a 4-inch pocketknife at her left side, she said.
"He said, 'Give me your car keys or you're gonna die,'" said Marquardt, who moved to South Florida from Georgia two weeks ago. "Honestly, I don't know where he came from."
Marquardt said she handed over the keys to her 2007 Honda and ran back toward the shops, screaming, "Help me!"
Canales, 42, who was opening up 84 Thai Food for the lunch crowd, sprang into action. He said he caught up to the suspect, Albert Means, 46, and told him, "You're not leaving with this truck."
Canales said the suspect pulled out the knife to stab him but Canales grabbed a two-by-four piece of woodfrom a nearby truck. Canales said he swung at Means and threatened to hit him with the wood if he tried to get into Marquardt's Honda.
The man lowered his knife, and Canales brought him to the ground. Three other men in the crowd that had formed rushed forward to hold Means down until police arrived.

Great story, right? Clearly the guy did something good and should be awarded, or at the very least thanked, for his role in the effort. But his only award was a pink slip right after the lunch service. Yep, it's true. The restaurant's owner wasn't too happy with the hour Canales spent outside being questioned by the police or with the extra attention the incident caused.

But there is a silver lining. Today, the Sun-Sentinel reports that job offers have been pouring in after business owners read about the hero's firing. Canales, a former electrician, has gotten at least two offers from electrical repair businesses and one from a roofing business willing to work with him despite his lack of experience in the field. One door closes, another one opens, right?

Now, the question is what will happen to 84 Thai? There's been no comment from the owner, Sathaporn Yosagrai. Is this story going to turn people away? If Yosagrai thought the attention from a scuffle outside of his restaurant was bad, he's going to really hate the attention he'll get now that he's known as the guy who fired the hero.

UPDATE: As we were writing this post, Alex at Stuck on the Palmetto was covering the same topic. Check the post and the comments; the calls to boycott 84 Thai have already begun. It's beginning to look bleak for the restaurant.

Fort Lauderdale waiter foils carjacking...then gets fired [Sun-Sentinel]
Business owners offer to hire waiter fired after he thwarted carjacking [Sun-Sentinel]
84 Thai Food [MenuPages]

Ever since we topped the list of food poisoning cases in the country, health inspection reports have been on everyone's mind. This weekend, the Orlando Sentinel unveiled a nifty restaurant inspection database that makes it incredibly easy to get inspection reports for restaurants in Central Florida. Just search by restaurant name, zip code, or city name. Of course, the state already runs a pretty good website that does much the same thing, although perhaps not in quite as clear a manner.

Scott Joseph, the Sentinel's restaurant critic, offers some helpful advice for sifting through inspections:

The inspection reports, much like a restaurant review, are snapshots of conditions present at the time of the inspector's visit.

And what the reports don't tell you is that most infractions are corrected on the spot. If they weren't corrected then and there, they would be corrected soon, followed by another inspection. If not, the restaurant would not be allowed to continue operating. As Joe Friedman, spokesman for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, told me, if the restaurant is open, it has been deemed safe for the public to dine in.

And with the safety and sanitary inspections, you don't get the restaurant's side of the story.

For example, the report for a certain restaurant in downtown Orlando, which will remain unnamed because the inspection was nearly a year ago, lists 39 violations, 26 critical. The details for one of those violations states "chef washed hands on top of calamari." The manager, reached at the restaurant last week, said that wasn't really the case. Instead, he said, the calamari was in a sink designated for hand washing but that no one washed his or her hands while the squid was in the sink.

Basically, don't patronize serious repeat offenders, and cut the other restaurants some slack. Although we tend to draw the line at "rodent activity." Yikes.

Restaurant Inspection Database [Orlando Sentinel]
Our critic has tips for sifting through reports [Orlando Sentinel]
Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation
Food Poisoning To Overtake Sharks As Most Popular Irrational Fear About Florida [MP: South Florida]

You no doubt have heard about the dangers of microwave popcorn by now (and if you haven't, read this). It seems that butter-flavored microwaveable popcorn contains something called diacetyl, which, when heated, can cause "bronchiolitis obliterans," a possibly fatal lung disease common among popcorn workers. But now doctors have found a case of the disease in a consumer; granted, it's a consumer who's eaten at least two bags of popcorn each day for the past decade, but it's still raising some alarm among casual microwave popcorn eaters.

The good news is that foodies (who've stayed away from the bagged stuff for years because, well, it just doesn't taste as good) are answering the call to help those who now find themselves yearning for puffed kernels of corn without any added chemicals. First up, Mark Bittman, who guest blogs over at Diner's Journal, gives a clear step-by-step process on how to pop your own corn using some kernels, oil, salt and butter. (We do it much the same way, except after watching an episode of Good Eats, we've now taken to salting the oil and kernels before popping so that the salt is evenly distributed.) And if you absolutely must go the bag-and-microwave route, here's a guide to making popcorn in a brown paper bag. It looks pretty simple: place kernels in bag, add butter to one side of bag if desired, place butter-side up in microwave for four minutes. And that's it.

Doctor Links a Man's Illness to Microwave Popcorn Habit [New York Times]
Popcorn, The Old-Fashioned Way [Diner's Journal]
Brownbag Popcorn [Instructables]
Photo: Flickr

It was brought to our attention today by Joanne Green at the New Times that Michelle Bernstein's specially created airplane dishes will be debuting on certain Delta routes on September 13. We were surprised, because we thought her dishes had already been gracing Business Elite menus for a while; Frank Bruni of The New York Times even blogged about it last month. Maybe they had a trial run?

Regardless, you will definitely see Bernstein's dishes on Delta flights after September 13, if you're lucky enough to get a seat in Business Elite. (It's peanuts for the rest of you!) There will be dishes like pomegranate-glazed lamb with pilaf and cherries, beef tenderloin with chimichurri, polenta and roasted peppers, and grilled fish with sweet corn succotash and ancho lime butter. For now, you'll only be able to get it on flights from JFK to Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle.

Mile High Michy's [Riptide 2.0]
Mile-High Flubs [Diner's Journal]
Clearing the Air [Diner's Journal]
Michy's [MenuPages]

Controversy in the juice aisle! The St. Petersburg Times reports that the Florida Department of Citrus is cracking down on deceptive labeling of orange juice cartons. At issue are HomeMaker Premium cartons that say "100% Pure Florida Squeezed" at the top; on the bottom, in smaller print, is "Blended with Valencia orange juice. From concentrate."

The department has ordered the juice's maker, TWS Marketing, to remove the logo from HomeMaker Premium cartons. Any cartons with the logo that are still on store shelves must be removed by Oct. 1 or the department will seize them.

"That label is a circus," said Kenneth Keck, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. "Between fraud and deception, it's all there, we believe."

We're not sure we'd go to the extent of "fraud" or "deception," since it is still stated on the front of the carton, although it's true that most people wouldn't pay attention to it. The article also mentions that Minute Maid gets its juice from Costa Rica and Brazil and that Tropicana blends Brazilian orange juice with Florida oranges. These are listed in really fine print in the back, just below the nutritional information. (HomeMaker uses only Florida oranges.)

HomeMaker has been given until October to redesign its cartons.

Business: Orange juice labels: pulp fiction? [St. Petersburg Times]
Photo: Flickr

Florida tops the nation in food poisoning outbreaks traced to restaurants, according to the website HealthInspections.com. Not surprisingly, the top five states — Florida, California, Ohio, Michigan and New York — also happen to be the most populous, as this wasn't done on a per-capita basis. We doubt this information will make anyone think twice about where to eat out, as the article suggests, but the numbers are interesting:

Florida restaurants were responsible for making more than 300 people sick in 77 separate outbreaks of "food poisoning" – which is the term most people use for getting sick from food.

Seafood and ethnic foods were the leading culprits for making Florida restaurant customers sick.

The Florida outbreaks also raise questions about the cleanliness of those popular all-you-can-eat buffets. They were the third leading cause of food poisoning in the Sunshine state. And half of the outbreaks traced to buffets were cause by "ethnic buffets" according to the CDC.

This makes sense. We've got a lot of ocean down here, so seafood's a favorite, and if cooked improperly (or served rare improperly), there can be problems. As for "ethnic" foods, we're not sure what to say about that, except that the term casts a very large net. Perhaps we should be dining only at Applebee's?

We wonder if Florida's high percentage of retirees plays a role in this business, as the elderly are more susceptible to disease from improperly prepared food. Mostly though, we think this is just a function of having so many people here; 300 people out of the millions of residents, tourists and snowbirds isn't bad.

EXCLUSIVE: The Most Dangerous States For Eating Out. Florida Tops The List [Health Inspections]

• A 550-pound Central Florida man is arrested for trying to cheat his way out of tabs using the old "there's a hair in my food" or "these 30 bags of beef jerky are moldy" trick one too many times. [Orlando Sentinel]

• UF students are enthusiastic about the prospect of caffeinated doughnuts. [Gainesville Sun]

• Shrimping off the dock on the St. Johns River in Palatka sure sounds like a lot of fun. [Palatka Daily News]

• A useful quick guide to Latin cheeses. [Tampa Tribune]

The owner of 14 Florida TGI Friday's franchises declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for each of the restaurants, including four in Palm Beach, according to the Palm Beach Post:

At issue is $1.2 million in unpaid franchise fees and royalties owed to Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc., the Texas-based corporate parent of T.G.I. Friday's.

The filings, one for each restaurant, came just 24 hours before T.G.I. Friday's said it would sever its franchise agreement unless it was paid. Had that happened, writes Cosentino through his attorney, he would have had to shutter the restaurants and lay off 891 Florida workers.

According to the article, things started going downhill for the Florida restaurants after the busy 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. Add to that the public's decreased appetite for casual dining chains, and you've got yourself one big debt-filled mess.

Creditor shield sought for 18 TGI Friday's [Palm Beach Post]
TGI Friday's [Official Site]

If you worry about how all of those hours laying at the beach are going to affect your skin in later years, then you might be interested to know that a nutritionist in Italy has come up with an anti-wrinkle pizza:

The "primula" pizza is made up of three times the amount of fibre found in a classic pizza and boasts that it contains more magnesium and iron, thanks to its ingredients, including wholemeal flour, La Stampa newspaper reported Monday.

At least eight vegetables or sauces in the pizza allegedly create the anti-oxidant effects against ageing: tomatoes, rocket, garlic, courgettes, basil, mushrooms, carrots and spinach.

(For those who aren't well-versed in British vegetable terms, rocket = arugula and courgettes = zucchini.) So far, the True Neapolitan Pizza Association hates it, the pope loves it, and it's only available at one restaurant in Italy. But we imagine you could recreate the pizza at home. And then in order to get any real effects from it, you'd have to eat it every day, as we doubt this will work in a once-a-week dose.

To the creator of the pizza, we suggest you franchise an anti-wrinkle pizza chain in South Florida. The demand is huge, and we have none of those pesky pizza purists over here.

New 'anti-wrinkle' pizza causes a stir with pie purists in Italy [Yahoo! News]

• Florida has wineries. Did you know that? We sure didn't. The Sunshine State has 800 acres of vineyards. So we're not going to challenge California anytime soon, but given the rain, bugs, humidity, and hurricanes, that's not too shabby. The grapes are ripening just about now. [St Petersburg Times]

• Kosher vending machines, now available at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Expect them at PBI in another year or so. [New York Times]

• Leaked FTC documents detail Whole Foods' plot to take over the world. Well, maybe not the world, but definitely the high-priced organic food market. In these documents is the name used internally to describe the purchase of Wild Oats: "Project Goldmine." [New York Times]

Remember Taste of the Nation, the fancy event at the Ritz that served as a fundraiser for Share Our Strength's South Florida chapter? Well, they raised $1 million to fight children's hunger. Quite impressive, we must say. From BizBash Florida:

Continue reading "Taste Of The Nation Raised $1M For The Hungry" »

Here's a business proposition: how about buying a restaurant chain that's mired in debt? If that sounds like your cup of tea, you should know that RJ Gator's will be up for auction on August 31.

On Thursday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach set the chain restaurant's auction date for Aug. 31, with closing expected for mid-September.

Bidding for the assets of the company's eight restaurants and its Jupiter headquarters will begin at $1.65 million, the amount offered last week by Golden Restaurants Inc.

According to Robert Charbonneau, counsel for the creditor's committee, Gator's has $1.5 million in secured debt, such as bank loans and an additional $3 million to $4 million in unsecured debt, such as bills from vendors and suppliers.

RJ Gator's auction date set: Aug. 31 [TCPalm]

Americans don't much care about bulk cheese or yogurt, but chocolate, well, that's an entirely different matter, certain to incite riots. An AP story today runs down the battle over a petition introduced last October that would alter the standards for production of 300 different foods. The most important, of course, is chocolate; the petition calls for a bit more flexibility in the fats added to chocolate. Instead of cocoa butter, producers could add less expensive fats like shea or palm oil. Of course, producers have been doing this to chocolate already, but then they can't label the food "chocolate." Chocolate purists already lost the battle in Europe a few years ago, when the EU allowed up to five percent vegetable fat added to chocolate, so now they're hoping to win on this side of the Atlantic. (Not likely, we think.) Our advice: read labels for everything, including chocolate if this petition is given the rubber stamp from the FDA.

Sides Square Off in Chocolate Fight [AP via Washington Post]
Photo: Flickr

A Nation's Restaurant News survey of 2,500 people found that 74 percent support mandating restaurants to disclose full nutritional information on menus, and 71 percent want restaurants to list calorie counts.

While we're sure it would be helpful for dieters, this has got to be an absolute nightmare for restaurant owners. Imagine menus that change daily, weekly or seasonally, and having to figure out exact nutritional information for each new item. That could be time-consuming and costly. And we don't know about you, but if we're indulging in molten chocolate lava cake topped with ice cream or some other sinfully delicious dessert, when it comes to calorie counts, ignorance is bliss.

Also, just imagine if each restaurant's menu doubled in size. Twice the number of menus we'd have to read and edit for South Florida MenuPages. We're exhausted just thinking about it.

74% of consumers favor menu-labeling laws, study finds [Nation's Restaurant News]
Menu Labeling: The Consumers Have Spoken (?) [The Grinder]