Chef Report

In today’s fashionable homes — if appliance makers have their way — everything from refrigerators to faucets will be supersized.

On Saturday at 5 pm, things will really heat up during the Reality Chef Competition. It is the ultimate showdown of reality television, where the Hamptons own Ralph Pagano (Hell’s Kitchen/Iron Chef)  battles it out with Harold Dieterle, the winner of Top Chef. They have honed their skills to razor sharp precision and competed against the best by creating spectacular food under extreme conditions. This competition is live, unedited and not to be missed.

http://hamptonswineandfood.com/cooking.html

With Chicago’s ban on foie gras taking effect in less than two weeks, restaurants are holding farewell feasts and plotting a legal challenge to the law.Some are even planning to flout the spirit — and possibly the letter — of the law by giving away the pricey duck livers and charging an exorbitant price for the accompanying garnishes, the Chicago Tribune reports.

“My guests like it, they expect it to be on my menu and it’s going to continue to be,” said Michael Tsonton of Copperblue Restaurant. “If we’re the first ones to be hauled off to jail, so be it.” more…

NEW YORK, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ — Cat Cora, acclaimed chef, author and UNICEF spokesperson has been named Executive Chef of Bon Appetit magazine. more…

At ~1:30pm EDT, the crew participated in a special interactive PAO TV event with New Orleans Chef Emeril Lagasse, host of the show “Emeril Live” on the Food Network. [Experimental samples of Emeril’s Louisiana cooking had been sent up to the ISS on STS-121 for the crew to evaluate in terms of taste, ease of “work” (dehydration/rehydration), personal preference, etc. Also included in the exchange were to be other samples of American and Russian food, eating utensils, and condiments used by the crew. The interview aired live on NASA TV and was taped for editing and airing on the Food Network in September.] more…

A 21-year-old woman represented by a Newport Beach law firm has won a $3.25-million jury verdict in a food poisoning case against a Dana Point restaurant.

An Orange County Superior Court judge has yet to rule on the verdict, which was handed down July 11.

Alexis Sarti, of San Clemente, suffered a rare form of food poisoning after eating an ahi tuna appetizer at the Salt Creek Grille. Bremer, Whyte, Brown & O’Meara LLP represented Sarti in the lawsuit.

Tim McCune, president and co-founder of Salt Creek Ltd., which runs the restaurant, said he and co-founder Pete Truxaw are appealing the jury’s verdict.

Also…

O.C. restaurant hit with $3.2 million verdict

A San Clemente woman left with permanent nerve damage after eating an Ahi tuna appetizer at Salt Creek Grille was awarded $3.2 million by an Orange County jury.

The Dana Point eatery plans to appeal the July 11 verdict for Alexis Sarti, 22. She sued the 10-year-old Craftsman-style eatery after a near fatal incident stemming from “cross contamination” of her raw fish with campylobacter jejuni, bacteria found in raw poultry.

The bacteria attacked her nervous system, causing temporary double vision and paralysis from head to toe after the April, 2005 incident, according to the lawsuit she filed last year.

A jury ordered Salt Creek to pay her $3.2 million in damages, considered one of the largest punitive fines levied against a California restaurant in a case involving this specific bacteria, said Sarti’s Newport Beach attorneys Keith Bremer and Tyler Offenhauser.

Years ago, when cooking at even the best restaurants was considered menial labor, blacks often worked the stoves. But as employment options opened up for blacks in the 1960’s and 70’s, kitchen work became less attractive. Now, with the restaurant industry booming and chefs becoming celebrities and wealthy entrepreneurs, few blacks are sharing in that success, and as young black men and women enter the profession they are finding few mentors or peers. >>More…

Chef Matthew Raiford

The crew of the International Space Station will indulge next week in the ultimate “take-out” food, a meal delivered by a NASA space shuttle and designed by chef Emeril Lagasse of the Food Network’s “Emeril Live.” After tasting several of Lagasse’s creations, the three-person crew will talk to the chef at 1:30 p.m. EDT Aug. 10 in a special hookup carried live on NASA TV.

Lagasse sent NASA some of his special recipes for potential use in space. After the required testing and processing, five different meals were selected. Emeril’s Mardi Gras jambalaya, mashed potatoes with bacon, green beans with garlic, rice pudding and mixed fruit were delivered to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July. more…

Chattanooga — Krystal Co., the oldest fast-food chain in the South and the second-oldest in the United States, is trying to find a buyer for the restaurant company.

Chattanooga-based Krystal has hired Credit Suisse First Boston Group to help market the 74-year-old privately held company to potential buyers, officials said Tuesday. more…

Inside Charlie Trotter’s, the celebrated restaurant of arguably Chicago’s most well-known chef, everyone is doing something. They’ve been at it since dawn.

The restaurant usually is closed on Sunday. But tonight, it will open its doors to 104 people, many of them flying in from across the country, each of whom has paid $650 to toast the restaurant’s 19th anniversary.

It’s a dream lineup of guest chefs for the night: Andoni Luis Aduriz of the two-Michelin star Mugaritz in Spain; Wylie Dufresne of New York’s WD-50; Paris pastry chef Pierre Herme, and Chicago’s own Grant Achatz of Alinea.

And this is only the warm-up, Trotter says — kind of like how “Dennis Rodman used to celebrate his birthday for two months.” more…

Deep in concentration, chefs work in tandem as they plate Trotter’s wild salmon dish, one of nine courses guests enjoyed at the Sunday dinner. (TOM CRUZE/SUN-TIMES)

I don’t know about you, but when I hire a personal chef, I have three requirements:

They must be friendly. They must whip up bourbon and honey-glazed pork chops to die for. And they must live to pulverize would-be tacklers.

“I’ve got to be honest,” one prospect confided to me the other day. “There are times I can cut the corner and get into the end zone. Instead, I’ll square up and run over somebody - just because I can. And then I’ll smile.”

Um, people? Say hello to my new personal chef, the next time my delicate palate demands a personal chef: Rachelle Pecovsky.

Yes, that Rachelle Pecovsky. N o. 44 for the D.C. Divas. One of the best running backs - yes, running backs - in all of women’s tackle football - yes, women’s tackle football.

Don’t know Pecovsky? Not quite down with the Divas? Allow me.

The 31-year-old Pecovsky is the culinary temptress behind her Traveling Kitchen chef service (www.thetravelingkitchen.com). She lives in Newport News but, as her handle suggests, Pecovsky stands eager and ready to take her Greek Stuffed Chicken on the road. more…

#44 Rachelle Pecovsky, Running Back, Personal Chef

Pamela Anderson, who as a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activist has called out fur-wearers and a fast-food giant, now stands accused of peddling the “delicacy of despair.”

“Pam Anderson is trying to have it both ways,” Andrew Porter, spokesman for the Center of Consumer Freedom said in an email Wednesday.

At issue is vegetarian Anderson’s involvement–or not–in BlackSteel, a Hollywood restaurant run by celebrity-favored chef Jason “Chef J” Harley and replete with non-vegetarian dishes.

Last week, the Center for Consumer Freedom, a PETA adversary and nonprofit group backed by restaurants and food companies, publicly accused “spokes-blonde” Anderson of being in “partnership” with BlackSteel, and “earning a second income with a menu that includes ham-hock ravioli, lamb chops, lobster tails, and the vegetarian sin-of-sins, foie gras.” more…

Also…

Large Meat Selection on the Menu at Pamela Anderson’s Restaurant

Dry ice wisps rise from the center of the stage as “the Chairman” approaches to raise a large cover, dramatically intoning, “and the secret ingredient isŠ” Two chefs await with anticipation: an Iron Chef and a challenger, ready to prepare five dishes in one hour, to be judged by a panel of experts. It’s the opening scene of Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” a TV program that’s attained near-cult status among foodies and chefs across the nation.

Trading the heat of battle for Napa Valley’s scorching temperatures, Cat Cora, the only female Iron Chef among a group that includes culinary luminaries Mario Battali, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto, visited last week to participate in the Festival del Sole culinary lineup at Copia, Beringer and the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone. more…

Students in Rochester will have a tough time finding sugary treats or fatty snacks in their schools this fall.

The Rochester School Board is creating new guidelines for nutrition and physical activity in the schools — one that calls for student vending machines to be loaded only with milk, juice, water and diet soda.

It would also require that 80 percent of food in vending machines be healthy, low-calorie options.

Rochester isn’t the only school that’s going to have to make sure students get healthy choices. A federal law is requiring that all schools that participate in the federally subsidized school lunch program develop some kind of similar policy for the upcoming 2006-2007 school year. more…

Robert De Niro may be looking to cash out his stake in celebrity sushi chain Nobu, according to press reports. The actor teamed up with famed sushi chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa to open 16 locations of the posh eatery in cities such as South Beach, Florida, Malibu, California, Tokyo, Japan and Las Vegas, Nevada. Owners of the celebrity hot spot have been meeting with executives from chain companies such as Starwood Hotels and PF Chang’s to help finance even further expansion. A source tells New York magazine part of the thinking between the partners is, “They’ve had a great run, and it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to cash out.” The company is estimated to be worth $250 million, and De Niro is said to own approximately 30 percent. more…

Harold Dieterle’s new place

http://www.perillanyc.com/ 

LONDON - New York chef Al Yeganeh, who inspired the brusque “Soup Nazi” character on “Seinfeld,” is taking his recipes to Britain.

Yeganeh and his partners plan to open 50 Original SoupMan franchises during the next year, chief executive John Bello said Wednesday. He said the first franchises would be in central London, Manchester and Birmingham. more…

NEW YORK - Rappers have long proclaimed their love for Cristal, frequently mentioning the high-end champagne in songs and popping the corks of the clear, gold-labeled bottles in music videos and at nightclubs.

But the makers of Cristal don’t seem to feel the same way about hip-hop — at least that’s one rapper-turned-record executive Jay-Z sees it.

Now president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Records, the multiplatinum rapper has decided to boycott his once-beloved bubbly over comments from Frederic Rouzaud, managing director of Louis Roederer, the company that produces it.

In The Economist magazine, Rouzaud said the company viewed the affection for his company’s champagne from rappers and their fans with “curiosity and serenity.”

Asked by the magazine if the association between Cristal and the “bling lifestyle” could be detrimental, Rouzaud replied:

“That’s a good question, but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business.”

‘I view his comments as racist’
The comments left a bad taste in Jay-Z’s mouth. The rapper said he would pull Cristal from his small chain of popular sports lounges — where bottles of Cristal sell for $450 and $600 — as well as from his personal flutes. more…

With ban on delicacy set to begin, chefs and diners don’t want to let go

In a few weeks it will be illegal to sell foie gras in Chicago; but fans of the delicacy are not going quietly into the night.

On a recent evening more than 100 of them paid $150 each to dine on grilled foie gras with cherry chutney and peppercorn brioche; salt and herb cured foie gras with lamb prosciutto; ravioli of foie gras, pheasant and apple and other treats as chefs talked of overturning the ban. more…

Cinema’s relationship with food and drink has always been a complicated affair. Sometimes it is abusive, as Mae Clark, with her face full of grapefruit, learned from James Cagney in “The Public Enemy.” Sometimes it is unrequited, as Tony Shalhoub learned from ungrateful customers in “Big Night.” Now and then it amounts to a glorious epiphany, as in “Sideways,” when Paul Giamatti rhapsodized to Virginia Madsen about the delicate, even haunting properties of pinot noir.

A little bit of food can go a long way in the movies: Think of Sue Lyons’s lollipop in “Lolita,” the chicken salad sandwich in “Five Easy Pieces” or Diane Keaton’s pastrami on white with mayo in “Annie Hall.” And occasionally food threatens to steal the show, as in “Babette’s Feast” and “Like Water for Chocolate.”

The eating and drinking in these films are as much a reflection of character as the clothes the actors wear or the manner in which they speak. Such culinary verisimilitude has usually delighted critics but has not always translated into popularity among filmgoers: The roughly $71 million in domestic ticket sales for Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” (2004), which matched that of the Lasse Hallstrom film “Chocolat,” represents the high- water mark for movies that dwell on food and fine wine.

In the coming year, however, a wave of ambitious studio films will try to capitalize on a growing appreciation for all things epicurean. In November, 20th Century Fox is scheduled to release “A Good Year,” in which a London investment banker, played by Russell Crowe, inherits a vineyard in Provence. And Warner Brothers recently finished filming a remake of the German film “Mostly Martha” in New York, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a controlling chef and Aaron Eckhart as her culinary opposite, an earthy Italian-American named Nick. Also on the horizon is “The Food of Love,” based on the novel by Anthony Capella, which reimagines the Cyrano de Bergerac story as a contemporary romance set in Rome with gastronomy as the poetry of seduction. The project will combine two of the director Peter Chelsom’s passions: romance and Italian food. more…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Seven astronauts are in space, and their lives depend on the good work of thousands of people on the ground.The WESH 2 I-Team has investigated a major federal lawsuit questioning whether those NASA employees are at risk.We’re not talking about working conditions at the Kennedy Space Center. We are talking about bad or rotten food.
…Vargas worked at the headquarters cafeteria for three years. She claimed that her superiors would force her and others to put food out on the cafeteria line that was old and past its due date — food that sometimes would be spoiled.

“We have three racks of raw chicken. Two days later it’s still sitting there,” Vargas said. “I said, ‘That chicken is smelling. That chicken is no good.’ It was rank,” she said.WESH 2 I-Team reporter Stephen Stock asked Vargas what they did with the meat and if they served it.”They cooked it,” Vargas said. “Yes. And served it.” more…

Food-loving scammers are hitting up New York restaurants with the old ‘dine and dash’

Several times a month, Bolivar Arias, a dining-room manager at Havana Central in Times Square, nips a “dine and dash” in the bud.Though one might think it’s something only a drunken frat boy might pull, there is no shortage, it seems, of New Yorkers who love feasting on lobster and steak, but don’t much like paying the bill afterward.

“It happens much more than people realize,” says Arias, and “usually, they’ve planned their move before they step foot into the restaurant.” Typically, the “dashers” will head to the bathroom around check time, he says, leaving only one diner at the table, poised to bolt. “One person went so far as to change shirts in the bathroom so we wouldn’t recognize him on his way out.”

“The bill is usually high - a few hundred dollars - but others will try it for just a beer and a sandwich,” he says. “Some people just want to beat the system.”

It’s happened so many times at the Cuban restaurant that staffers now alert Arias at even the slightest suspicion. “I’m built like a wrestler, and I go to the table and give the last person sitting there a look,” he says. more…

When Bill Best began experimenting with radiant heat energy back in the 1950s, he had no idea he would one day change how you and I grill our steaks. The founder of Thermal Engineering Corp. (TEC) of Columbia, S.C., was thinking more of helping auto makers find a faster way to cure the paint on their cars. So in 1961, when he invented a neat technology for generating infrared heat, TEC largely ignored the home market. It was only when the company’s patent expired in 2000 that others jumped at the opportunity to apply Best’s invention to backyard barbecuing.

Infrared grilling is now the fastest growing form of barbecue technology, although it’s still confined to the luxury end of the market. One-third of the high-end grills sold today have at least one infrared burner, industry experts say, and they predict that in 10 years 60% of all barbecues will be exclusively infrared. Why the excitement? Because according to the hype, infrared lets you grill a steak in half the time of an ordinary barbecue. Afficionados say you can prepare an entire barbecue— from the moment you turn the switch to the moment you slide the finished meat onto a platter — in 15 minutes or less. more…

“We are offering fast food consumers what they truly want,” announced Hardee’s last January. That’s when the fast-food chain started switching “to an entirely new menu focused on 1/3-pound, 1/2-pound, and 2/3-pound Angus beef burgers, called Thickburgers.”

“Thick” is right…and it doesn’t apply only to the burgers.

The smallest (1/3-pound) Thickburger has 740 calories and 16 grams of saturated fat. That’s roughly double what you’d get in a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, which is missing the Thickburger’s mayo and cheese (and some of its meat).

But apparently that’s just a snack to those Hardee’s customers who “truly want” the 1,090 calories and 29 grams of sat fat in the 2/3-pound Thickburger. more…

Charles Dickens’ hungry hero, Oliver Twist, wasn’t the only individual to cry “Food, glorious food!” Cruise lines have been pandering to our palates for years. And, just when you think “what possibly could be new about food at sea?” up pops something innovative.

Here is a smorgasbord of recent news in the maritime melting pot:

Oceania Cruises (oceaniacruises.com) touts its menu. According to a spokesman, each of the line’s three small vessels offers 200 different dishes-from fusion and nouvelle cuisines to master chef Jacques Pepin’s signature recipes-that change every day. In an initiative dubbed “The Perfect Table,” Oceania now showcases the talents of its chefs and their creations every evening in each ship’s quartet of open-seating gourmet restaurants. In addition to a reprise of such classics as steak au poivre, lobster thermidor and beef tartar, the line highlights its bread makers.

Executive Corporate Chef Franck Garanger creates exceptional French breads and what the line claims are the only “authentic” baguettes at sea. Garanger uses only the finest Viron flour for the baguettes, which are baked in special ovens, notes an announcement. “Star boulangers know that the quality of your bread is dictated by your flour and ovens,” Garanger says. Oceania’s passengers enjoy the bakery’s cornucopia: poulichette, Normandy bread, brioche, bacon bread, chestnut rolls and olive bread-prepared fresh every day. more…

If you are tired of drinking the same old beverage when you dine out, you might want to try a Coca-Cola Hot Tamale or a Fresca Pomegranate.

Coca-Cola has been working with The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park to develop creative drink recipes that could be offered at restaurants such as Chili’s and T.G.I. Friday’s.

Chili’s, which recently opened a restaurant at 2016 South Road, said it had nothing to announce at this point.

CIA’s Industry Solutions Group has developed “Coca-Cola Specialty Beverage” mixtures such as the Coca-Cola Hot Tamale — a drink made with Coke, lime, black pepper, Worcestershire and hot sauce —and other variations using the foundation beverage.

Ron DeSantis, the director of Industrial Solutions Group, described the partnerships as “two world-class organizations looking toward each other to collaborate to find the best, the newest and the most innovative things for the dining public.”

Photo courtesy of Michael Nelson/CIA
Certified Master Chef Rudy Speckamp of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park develops a recipe using Coca-Cola.

Hot restaurant IPOs served up in the last few months are getting cold, with Burger King giving investors the biggest belly ache.Restaurant operators rushed to spin off companies after the debut by Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which doubled in its opening day on Jan. 26. But after a good start, many of the IPOs are down amid a slowing economy and with rising gas prices pinching consumers.

Shares of Burger King Holdings Inc. (BKC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are down 12.6 percent since its debut and 20.4 percent off its June 2 peak. more…

What’s a well-known chef to do when he feels that a nation’s taste buds and kitchens are under attack? In the case of Robert Gadsby, proprietor of the restaurant Noé in the Omni Los Angeles Hotel, it’s time to stage a so-called Outlaw Dinner.

On Thursday, July 27, Gadsby will preside over a seven-course menu built around foie gras (Chicago has come down against the delicacy because of its impact on geese), hemp seeds, absinthe and sous vide (a process, under fire in New York, that reduces food shrinkage). Gadsby will host a similar dinner at the 676 Restaurant in Houston. more…

If Philadelphia City Councilman Jack Kelly gets his way, the city known for brotherly love will also soon be known for kindness to animals. Councilman Kelly recently proposed a bill to ban the sale of foie gras—a so-called delicacy made from the diseased livers of ducks and geese. If the bill passes, and it should, Philly will become just the second city in the nation to ban a food out of concern for animal welfare.

Chicago was the first. On April 26, the Chicago City Council voted 48 to 1 to outlaw the sale of foie gras. Foie gras production is also prohibited in Israel, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and a number of other European countries. In 2004 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill to ban the production and sale of foie gras in the state, starting in 2012. Politicians in New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Oregon have proposed similar legislation.

Like chickens and turkeys, ducks and geese are not covered by the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the only federal law that offers any sort of protection to farmed animals. Birds raised for foie gras are normally confined to cages and fed a high-protein, high-starch diet that is designed to promote rapid growth. Farmers begin force feeding the birds when they are between 8 and 10 weeks old. For 12 to 21 days, up to 2 pounds of grain and fat is forced down ducks and geese’ throats every day by a feeding tube, a process known as gavage.

The birds’ livers become engorged and can expand as much as 12 times their normal size, so much so that they protrude from the animals’ bellies. The birds have difficulty standing, and become so stressed that they tear out their own feathers. Many suffer from internal hemorrhaging, fungal and bacterial infections, and hepatic encephalopathy, a brain ailment caused when their livers fail. more…

What if the next burger you ate was created in a warm, nutrient-enriched soup swirling within a bioreactor?

Edible, lab-grown ground chuck that smells and tastes just like the real thing might take a place next to Quorn at supermarkets in just a few years, thanks to some determined meat researchers. Scientists routinely grow small quantities of muscle cells in petri dishes for experiments, but now for the first time a concentrated effort is under way to mass-produce meat in this manner.

Henk Haagsman, a professor of meat sciences at Utrecht University, and his Dutch colleagues are working on growing artificial pork meat out of pig stem cells. They hope to grow a form of minced meat suitable for burgers, sausages and pizza toppings within the next few years. more…

A sample of muscle grown without an artificial scaffold.

When a woman claimed to have found a human finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili, Denny Lynch was the point man for the giant fast-food chain.“This was grotesque, gruesome,” Lynch said. An expert at damage control for decades, Lynch went to work. With the help of the local restaurant’s staff and a carefully chronicled record of deliveries from suppliers along the food chain, he was able to prove that the woman was a liar.

Something similar happened when Jim Taylor went after a woman’s claim that she found a mouse drowned in her soup at a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant.

Borrowing a page from what could be a “CSI: Rodents” script, Taylor found scientists who could prove the mouse was dead before it landed in the soup. Clues: No soup in the lungs and a telltale broken skull.

Major fast-food chains have established rapid-response teams that are dispatched at the first hint of such claims. And the chains say they are becoming much more aggressive. more…

Burgers and armadillo eggs?

Ever eat a lizard tail?

How about an armadillo egg?

They’re not delicacies from the reality stunt show “Fear Factor.” They’re served daily at the Empty Bottle in Troy.

Owner Penny Cleveland watches a newcomer making faces after hearing the unappetizing names at the small bar on Illinois 162 west of Interstate 55.

“People will say ‘I don’t like eggs,’” said Penny, with a laugh.

Armadillo eggs aren’t eggs and they don’t come from the well-armored mammals.

“They’re chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon and we grill them,” said Penny, 42, who opened the bar in November with her husband, Brent, also 42.

Each armadillo egg is about the size of a small chicken’s egg. Brent got the idea, as well as the recipe for lizard tails, from a television cooking show.

They’re hollow jalapeno peppers stuffed with garlic cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, then grilled. more…

CHICAGO

HOMARO CANTU’S maki look a lot like the sushi rolls served at other upscale restaurants: pristine, coin-size disks stuffed with lumps of fresh crab and rice and wrapped in shiny nori. They also taste like sushi, deliciously fishy and seaweedy.

But the sushi made by Mr. Cantu, the 28-year-old executive chef at Moto in Chicago, often contains no fish. more…

For the average home cook, the skyrocketing price of lemon grass might not be a problem. But Thai chefs are feeling the pinch.

“It’s gotten worse every month since April,” says Sak Pollert, owner of the restaurants Rice, and Simply Home in Washington. more…

Craft, the upscale restaurant, and Ghostbar, the chic lounge that just opened in the new W Hotel north of downtown, could be the first boulders in an avalanche that remakes the local dining scene. The difference between which spots survive and which get buried may be as simple as the strength of a restaurateur’s personality.

Craft, the restaurant created by New York chef Tom Colicchio, is only the first of several blockbuster names that soon will be serving dinner and drinks in or near the American Airlines Center-Victory Park development. Some industry insiders suggest the ritzy new dining and entertainment district threatens the current crop of independent, local restaurateurs. But others downplay the long-term effect, and some even speculate that Victory will spark better business for many North Texas restaurants. more…

Wildfires are big-time trouble for lots of people, and bad news for taxpayers because of the firefighting expenses. But they are great news for the bottom line of a Utah restaurant owner and his family.

You know how hard it is to plan a menu for a family meal? Imagine doing it for 300 people, and then suddenly cranking it up to a thousand on a few hours notice. That’s what the Houston family of Kanab does every summer.

When firefighters have to pack in the protein and cram those carbs, they know it’s available. Three squares a day. Nobody counting calories.

Beau Jackson/ Firefighter: “I love the food. I think it’s really well done.”

Well, yeah! 400 pounds of steak! And that’s just one breakfast, when you throw in 3600 eggs and 550 pounds of hashbrowns. more…

New Kraft “It’s Pasta Anytime” Loaded With Fat & SodiumYou don’t have to take the time to boil water to prepare Kraft’s new shelf-stable It’s Pasta Anytime pasta. But you should take the time to read the nutrition labels, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which has designated the cheesiest of these microwaveable pasta meals Food Porn for the month of December.

It’s Pasta Anytime’s Rotini with Three Cheese Sauce, Rotini with Mild Cheddar Cheese Sauce, and Fettuccine with Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce average 600 calories, 15 grams of saturated fat, and 2,100 milligrams of sodium. They each consist of a microwave-safe plastic tray of pasta and a plastic pouch of sauce enclosed in a paperboard box. more…

When Black Enterprise Magazine hit the newsstands this week, Denny’s was listed among the nation’s 40 best companies for diversity.

The recognition came as a happy surprise to Denny’s top management, said Ray Hood, chief diversity officer of the company.

Her job is to make sure the Spartanburg-based company is doing all it can to improve its diversity track record — one she readily admits was not always something to boast about. more…

The California Department of Fish and Game fanned out across the state and in Oregon on Thursday, arresting 17 people accused of buying and selling black-market abalone, sturgeon and caviar. The agency called the operation one of the largest poaching busts in state history.

“We have zero tolerance for those who illegally commercialize California’s natural resources,” said Nancy Foley, chief of enforcement for Fish and Game, in a news release. more…

Joe Mello, a warden with the state Department of Fish and Game, carries an abalone shell and shark fins, part of evidence retrieved from Bob’s Sushi restaurant in San Francisco near Fisherman’s Wharf. Associated Press photo by Ben Margot 

OSSIPEE, N.H. –A restaurant has pleaded guilty to charges related to the drunken driving deaths of six people in Wakefield (New Hampshire) five years ago. The Pine River Steak House Corporation, owned by Edward Donnelly of Brookfield (New Hampshire), pleaded guilty today to two charges of reckless conduct and was ordered to pay up to 24-thosand dollars in fines. Prosecutors alleged the restaurant was criminally negligent when it served alcohol to the driver of the car that caused the deaths. more…

In recognition of their outstanding contributions and accomplishments in the hospitality industry, especially at The Venetian’s exclusive Paiza Club, Chef Simon To and Ken Wong were inducted into Les Amis d’Escoffier Society of China. Known for their professionalism and excellent reputation within the Asian and American Hospitality field, the Society selected Chef To as Honorary Chairman for his achievement in the culinary arts and Ken Wong as Honorary Chairman for his outstanding service in hospitality.In a ceremony held at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong on June 21, 2006, Mr. Pascal Escoffier, chairman of the Escoffier Foundation; Sir Henry Schielein, Founder and Chairman; Johnny Yuen, Chairman Asia Pacific and Dr. Christian Rassinoux, Chairman USA, Chef To and Ken Wong were presented with The Society’s Commandeur Membership Medal. more…

The Ravioli with Montrachet and Herbs is finished with cream and chives and costs less than $5. The Stuffed Sole with Red Pepper Coulis and Lime Gremolata gets fewer than a third of its calories from fat. Other selections on any given day could include Moroccan Chicken Tangine or Blackened Salmon with Apple Bourbon Chutney. It’s easy to find these and similar entrees in Clark County for an average of $5.50 per dish. Just head on down to the hospital.

Vancouver’s Ron and Carole Obert say they’ve been eating about twice a week at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital since it opened in August. more…

Lead cook David White, left, consults with corporate chef Paul Bosch in the Southwest Washington Medical Center kitchen. Bosch oversees food production and presentation for the hospital’s patient and retail meals. (JANET L. MATHEWS/The Columbian)

Mimicking Whole Foods might not be a bad idea. Its same-store sales growth averages 11.1% annually for the past five years.

Meanwhile, old-line grocery chains are starving for growth in the stagnant, $480 billion supermarket world. So they’re increasing their focus on specialty, natural and organic products — the kinds of things that fill the aisles at Whole Foods.

“Whole Foods has changed the game,” says Phil Lempert, a supermarket consultant. “Now, the Big Middle (traditional supermarkets) — which is not doing so well — is asking itself: ‘How do we get a Whole Foods aura?’ ” more…

BENNINGTON — Mark Vaughan, editor and publisher of a Bennington-based restaurant trade magazine, Santé, hopes to create a $4 million culinary institute downtown.The proposed Santé Institute would be located between North and Depot streets, along the Walloomsac River. The land is owned by local developer Jack Appelman, with whom Vaughan has been discussing his plans. more…

E.W. Scripps Co. is taking Food Network high-definition and global at the same time.

The media company said it is launching Food Network HD June 30, joining HGTV HD, which went to the high-definition format in April. more…

Can Daniel Boulud cook his enemies in court? The chef has filed suit against the Restaurant Opportunities Center, an advocacy group that has picketed Daniel four times in the past month. The center, which has conducted similar campaigns against Cité, the Redeye Grill, Shelly’s, and Café Fiorello, accuses Boulud of paying at least ten nonwhite employees less than their peers and of not promoting them as quickly. The campaign included having 40 ROC-ers invade his restaurant “during the height of dinner service” to deliver a letter to the manager while telling patrons “shame on you.” Then there was the twelve-foot inflatable roach parked out front, the supposed effort to remove him from the board of Meals on Wheels, and the MR. DANIEL BOULUD—STOP BEING SUCH A RACIST DUDE picket signs. more…

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer

Amanda Nichols

Fast-food chains focus on what people want to eat, not what is healthy

ST. LOUIS - In the past few months, McDonald’s Corp. announced it would push healthy meals like salads while Wendy’s International Inc. said it would fry foods in a healthier oil with less trans fats.

And what did CKE Restaurants Inc. do? The operator of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. unveiled a jumbo-sized cheeseburger smothered in sliced steak. more…
Hardee’s turnaround has pivoted on the Thickburger. The fast-food chain’s strategy has helped it cash in on young male customers who want burgers instead of Asian salads, said analyst Mark Smith.

When I finally talk to Emeril Lagasse at the recent Food & Wine Festival in Aspen, I skip the questions on cooking and opt for the one people have been asking since Katrina: Where was he during the perfect storm? And I don’t mean it in a kindly way.After the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast last summer, Emeril was skewered for being missing in action, notably by his adopted hometown newspaper but by other media as well. One of the most visible faces of New Orleans, he kept a low - almost nonexistent - profile. more…

Newswise — “Food is related to just about every single challenge people have living on this planet,” is the perspective of Alton Brown, television personality and author of the popular book, I’m Just Here For The Food, who spoke Sunday at the opening of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO®, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.

Brown brings the science of food chemistry to a broad audience as host of the Food Network program “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef America,” two food shows that Time magazine named as “worth their salt.” more…

Show host and author Alton Brown signs copies of his book in Orlando after his address at the IFT Annual Meeting Food Expo, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.