• 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]

Photo: diana.lundin [Flickr]

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.

Advertisement
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