Good Eats

April 2008

Venice Bar Uses Discount to Lure 'Poor Yanks'

newser | Reuters | Apr 8, 08 10:05 AM CDT

Harry's Bar in Venice has offered hospitality to tourists and expatriates since the days of Ernest Hemingway. But in recent months Harry's has noticed a sharp drop in the number of Americans showing up at the home of the Bellini cocktail. So restaurant owner Arrigo Cipriani has a novel solution: a 20% discount to subprime-stricken Americans for everything on the menu. More »
Top New Chefs: Read 'Em & Eat!

newser | Food & Wine | Apr 7, 08 1:58 PM CDT

Food & Wine has posted its Best New Chef awards for 2008. Look for their profiles in the July issue, but take a peek at the winners here: Jim Burke: owner of James , a modern Italian restaurant in Philadelphia's Bella Vista neighborhood. Gerard Craft: owner and chef at Niche in St. Louis, where bacon and eggs sandwich and braised pork belly top the menu. More »

March 2008

Naked Chef Wants UK Cooking Like It's 1939

newser | Guardian (UK) | Mar 29, 08 12:05 PM CDT

Inspired by WWII food rationing, a British celebrity chef has declared war on the UK’s poor eating habits. Jamie Oliver is encouraging families in one South Yorkshire town to shun takeout and ready-made meals in favor of home-grown food and other healthier alternatives. “People are really busy, they’re on tight budgets, and no one has bothered to teach them how to cook,” Oliver said. More »
Boston Dogs Best in the Land

newser | Wall Street Journal | Mar 29, 08 9:33 AM CDT

America's best hot dog is to be found in Beantown, writes Raymond Sokolov in the Wall Street Journal . On the eve of a new baseball season, Sokolov criss-crossed the country in a quest to find the top dog. Hollywood, New York, and (especially) Chicago offered strong contenders, but perfection in a bun was found at Speed's—a humble hot dog stand in a Boston parking lot. More »
Italy Recalls Famed Mozzarella

newser | Reuters | Mar 28, 08 1:15 PM CDT

Fear of contamination today forced Italy to recall its celebrated mozzarella cheese, Reuters reports. Rome is withdrawing the cheese of 25 companies in the Campania region near Naples, source of the country’s best buffalo mozzarella, after a garbage crisis is thought to have spread cancer-causing dioxin. The European Commission had threatened a trade ban; South Korea and Japan have halted imports. More »
Dollar-Store Dining Possible in Big Apple

newser | New York Times | Mar 27, 08 5:42 PM CDT

Grocery-shopping in New York City takes a hefty toll on one’s pocketbook, Henry Alford writes in the New York Times , but at 99-cent stores, more diamonds in the rough exist than one might expect. Alford embarked on a challenge: to craft a week's worth of meals made mainly from on-the-cheap ingredients, culminating in a 99-cent dinner party. More »
New Methods Help Make Beef Jerky Safer

newser | LiveScience | Mar 27, 08 3:08 PM CDT

Good news for meat lovers in a time of massive beef recalls: Researchers at Kansas State have found a way to make beef jerky safer from E. coli and salmonella, LiveScience reports. They found that a longer drying time would eliminate the pathogens in contaminated beef samples, offering a low-cost way for producers to comply with federal standards. More »
Now Taking Reservations for Sometime Next Year

newser | Portfolio | Mar 22, 08 11:43 AM CDT

Move over, French Laundry. The US' most in-demand dinner seat is in "flyspeck" Kennett Square, Pa., 35 miles from Philadelphia, Portfolio writes. Talula's Table takes reservations for its single, 12-seat table one year in advance. "My parents paid me $30 to stand out here," says one teen angling for a spot on a waiting list that commands an entire wall. More »
Star Chicago Chef's Mouth Cancer in Remission

newser | Chicago Tribune | Mar 18, 08 3:29 PM CDT

Chicago chef Grant Achatz’s oral cancer is in remission, the Chicago Tribune reports. The culinary star endured nearly 6 months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments and says he is “happy to say I've had a clean biopsy.” Foodies can now find Achatz back at Alinea, his award-winning restaurant in downtown Chicago. More »
Pizza Police Pursue Posers

newser | The Smart Set | Mar 12, 08 3:20 PM CDT

Think that pineapple-and ham-concoction is a pizza? Not according to Italian law, Julie Reno writes in the Smart Set. Only hand-kneaded dough, rolled to no more than 14 inches in diameter, topped with San Marzano plum tomatoes and baked in a brick wood-fired oven qualifies. La Pizza Polizia crown such authentic Neapolitan pies with Guaranteed Traditional Specialty status: Only two NYC pizzerias have made the cut. More »
Michelin Guide Knocks Classic Paris Eatery

newser | Bloomberg | Mar 4, 08 11:10 AM CST

Now that the Michelin food critics have declared Tokyo the world's culinary capital, this week's publication of the 2008 guide to France had the feeling of a day of reckoning. Sure enough, the red book reduces Paris' vaunted Le Grand Véfour from three stars to two, citing inconsistency at a restaurant that predates the French Revolution. "No stars are awarded out of kindness," said the guide's director. More »

February 2008

Pairing Leaves Writer Red-Faced

newser | New York Times | Feb 29, 08 5:25 PM CST

Oysters and red wine? "Why not?" asks Eric Asimov in the New York Times . Wine pairing as a science can drain a meal of its pleasure, while instincts and taste-testing add adventure. After Parisian waiters twice recommended red with a foodie blogger's oysters, Asimov traded the usual suspects (muscadet, Chablis, Champagne) for a lineup of non-fruity reds. More »
Only Italians Can Call It Parmesan

newser | Bloomberg | Feb 26, 08 7:36 PM CST

Europe's high court ruled today that only Italians can call their cheese Parmesan, Bloomberg reports. The judges shot down an argument by German cheese-makers that the term is generic. "This is absolutely wonderful news," said the author of an Italian cheese guide. "There is no more risk in Europe of finding Parmesan that isn't Parmesan." More »
Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare

newser | Newsweek | Feb 20, 08 5:53 PM CST

Don't fault slaughterhouse workers for this week's enormous beef recall, author and foodie Michael Pollan tells Newsweek —it's the system. Blinding-fast production lines that expect workers to slaughter up to seven cows per minute do not a safe or ethical steak make. "It's one of those episodes that peels back the curtain on how our food is prepared," Pollan says. More »

January 2008

Japan Sends Out Sushi Squad

newser | AFP | Jan 30, 08 11:50 AM CST

Japan, worried that the globalization of sushi is embarrassing its national cuisine—think California rolls—is about to start certifying which of the estimated 25,000 Japanese restaurants around the world are authentic. Experts based in major cities, including London, Paris, and Los Angeles, will give eateries that pass muster a logo showing chopsticks holding a cherry petal and a rising-sun flag, reports AFP. More »
Top Chefs Meet Their Meat

newser | New York Times | Jan 16, 08 4:08 PM CST

Top chefs are trying to change the way we eat by calling attention to how animals are raised for meat. In Britain, Jamie Oliver killed a chicken on live television, and supermarkets across the UK sold out of free-range chickens and eggs. The New York Times reports it’s part of a movement by some chefs to become more involved with their food—before it’s killed. More »
Family Puts Zagat Empire Up for Sale

newser | New York Times | Jan 14, 08 9:55 AM CST

The founders and publishers of the Zagat guides have hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for their stake in the company, reports the New York Times. The value of the international icon may top $200 million—not bad for a company that grew out of a two-page typed list, but chump change for a media behemoth such as Citysearch parent IAC or a credit card company. More »
Conn. Grade School Kills Dessert

newser | CBS | Jan 11, 08 11:55 AM CST

Hoping to curb the trend toward obesity and diabetes in children, one Connecticut school has taken a drastic measure: It no longer serves sweets. The ice cream and cookies that drew huge cafeteria crowds twice a week have been replaced with fruit and yogurt, reports CBS 2 New York. The move makes parents happy, but many students are less than thrilled. More »
9 Not-So-Good 'Good' Foods

newser | Men's Health | Jan 3, 08 2:23 PM CST

The authors of Eat This, Not That! provided Men's Health with 9 foods that aren't as healthy as they claim. Replace your: Bran muffin (420 calories, 20g fat) with ham, egg, and cheese on an English muffin (300 calories, 12g fat) Chicken Caesar salad (900 calories, 60g fat) with grilled chicken on mixed greens (400 calories, 20g fat) Tuna melt (900 calories, 50g fat) with a roast beef or ham sandwich (500 calories, 15g fat) Chicken wrap (700 calories, 35g fat) with a grilled chicken sandwich (375 calories, 15g fat) Turkey burger (850 calories, 50g fat) with a 7 oz. sirloin steak (350 calories, 20g fat) More »

December 2007

Katrina Spreads Cajun Cookin'

newser | Associated Press | Dec 24, 07 12:14 PM CST

Until recently many residents of Monett, Mo., couldn’t even pronounce muffaletta. “They’d say, ‘I want that big sandwich with the big name,’” says chef Darren Indovina. Thanks to the Gulf's post-Katrina diaspora, small towns like Monett are getting their first taste of real Cajun cooking, the AP reports. Displaced chefs have opened restaurants in locales from Nevada to West Virginia. More »

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Venice Bar Uses Discount to Lure 'Poor Yanks'

Top New Chefs: Read 'Em & Eat!

Naked Chef Wants UK Cooking Like It's 1939

Boston Dogs Best in the Land

Italy Recalls Famed Mozzarella

Dollar-Store Dining Possible in Big Apple

New Methods Help Make Beef Jerky Safer

Now Taking Reservations for Sometime Next Year

Star Chicago Chef's Mouth Cancer in Remission

Pizza Police Pursue Posers

Michelin Guide Knocks Classic Paris Eatery

Pairing Leaves Writer Red-Faced

Only Italians Can Call It Parmesan

Picky Eater Decodes the Beef Scare

Japan Sends Out Sushi Squad

Top Chefs Meet Their Meat

Family Puts Zagat Empire Up for Sale

Conn. Grade School Kills Dessert

9 Not-So-Good 'Good' Foods

Katrina Spreads Cajun Cookin'

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