Restaurants

What Can I Get You Folks? - The Service Game

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Jan 4th 2010 @ 3:00PM

Photo: Robert Banh.

The fast-casual Italian chain Fazoli's recently staged its fourth annual companywide "Pasta Bowl," a trivia contest in which the savviest employees flaunt their knowledge of how many teaspoons of capers belong on the restaurant's chicken piccata.

Fazoli's concept is, admittedly, unique. But restaurant managers have long tried to inspire servers and bump up check averages with a variety of games, most of which are won by whomever sells the most food and drink. The prize – nearly always a bottle of wine left behind by a distributor's rep or a scratch-off instant lotto ticket – goes to the first server to unload a certain number of specials, sell a particular wine or collect a "perfect check" (meaning that guests ordered every course on the menu).

I really like games, since they provide a pleasant distraction from the repetitive nature of restaurant work. Other servers must feel likewise, because when managers don't write the rules, we tend to create our own competitions.

Filed under: Restaurants

Exploding Ketchup Trend Frightens Well-Kempt Diners

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by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 31st 2009 @ 4:00PM

Getty Images

Police in Murfreesboro, Tenn. are calling the recent explosion of a ketchup bottle at a local waffle joint the latest manifestation of a worrisome national trend.

Spokesman Kyle Evans says there's been a proliferation of "video Web sites describing the prank," which entails adding baking soda to a half-emptied bottle of ketchup.

"This could be a class C felony," Evans adds, citing a statute that forbids tampering with food.

According to the police report, the victim's wife called 911 after ketchup ended up "all in his face and hands, even his clothing."

"We were having breakfast, and my husband opened up a ketchup bottle and it exploded everywhere," Bonnie Brewer told the dispatcher. "(The staff) said, 'Don't tell me the ketchup bottle exploded.' It was almost like it had happened before."

Filed under: Restaurants, News

Drew Nieporent on Las Vegas Dining

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by Sara Bonisteel, Posted Dec 30th 2009 @ 6:00PM

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage

Las Vegas has oversaturated its high-end restaurant scene, according to a prominent restaurateur.

Drew Nieporent, president of the Myriad Restaurant Group which owns Nobu, believes Las Vegas' new City Center development and its top restaurants may kill other eateries in this gaming town.

"Las Vegas is a fantastic place now for restaurants except it seems to me they've oversaturated," Nieporent tells Bloomberg. "This new City Center has approximately, I think it's close to two dozen new establishments, all pretty high end, and what that's going to is it's going to -- I think they'll do well because it's new -- but a lot of the other places in Las Vegas are going to feel the impact because they don't have the mass audience like we do in New York."

Nieporent says the current economic crisis hasn't affected New York's high-end dining scene too badly because "New York is 365 days of business."

Filed under: Food News, Restaurants, News

Woman Suing New York Bar After 'Moose' Incident

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by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Dec 30th 2009 @ 4:30PM

A moose head at the White Slab Palace. Photo: Peter Sheik, Flickr

Moose aren't usually something you have to watch out for in New York City.

But one woman is suing a Manhattan bar where she claims she was hit when a stuffed moose head fell from above, the New York Post reported.

Raina Kumra says a moose head "dislodged" and struck her on the head at the White Slab Palace, a Scandanavian-themed bar and lounge on Delancey Street in Manhattan in October, according to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

"The taxidermy moose head weighed approximately 150 pounds, with antlers spanning over 3 feet," the suit says according to the Post.

Filed under: Food News, Restaurants, News

Obama May Have Scooped His Way to Success

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by Sarah LeTrent, Posted Dec 30th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Obama and ice cream Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

President Obama wants to know, "Would you like sprinkles with that?"

On the Obamas' Hawaiian winter vacation, the president's motorcade took a detour past the Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu where a young Barack Obama held his first job. It's a job that has lessons for the aspiring politician, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Filed under: Food News, Celebrities, Restaurants, News

Food Trends for 2010

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by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 30th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Photo: flyzipper, Flickr.

Professional culinary trend spotters may crunch numbers, poll diners and quiz chefs before issuing their predictions for next year's food scene, but their annual pronouncements hardly qualify as hard science. In most cases, food forecasters go with their gut.

In that spirit, Slashfood consulted a few psychics to find out what 2010 holds for the nation's eaters. Surprisingly or not, nearly all their readings jived with prophecies put out by fancy restaurant consulting firms.

Filed under: Trends, Food News, Restaurants, News

Florida Couple Weds Thanks to Chick-fil-A

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by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Dec 29th 2009 @ 2:30PM

At the 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl. Photo: absentmindedprof, Flickr

It was a match made at Chick-fil-A.

After meeting while members of the 50-person "Aerial Assault Team" that released 3,000 miniature Chick-fil-A plush cows at last year's Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year's Eve at the Georgia Dome, Maggie Smyth and Steven Hammond tied the knot, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The gift table was adorned with small plush Chick-fil-A cows dressed up like a bride and groom, and all 250 guests took home stuffed-cow wedding favors.

"I will think the Lord perfectly orchestrated our introduction and put us there to begin our new life together," Smyth told the paper.

Filed under: Fast Food, Food News, Restaurants, News

Tom Colicchio to Close Craftsteak, Reopen It as Colicchio & Sons

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by Slashfood Editor, Posted Dec 29th 2009 @ 1:30PM

tom colicchio Photo: Jemal Countess, Getty Images for Time Inc

"Top Chef" host Tom Colicchio will close one of his New York restaurants, Craftsteak, and reopen it next month as Colicchio & Sons.

Craftsteak, on the city's West Side, had been Colicchio's showcase for "beef sourced from the world's top ranchers and artisanal producers" and dry-aged on the premises. The new restaurant, Colicchio & Sons, will continue a focus on "farm-to-table" food, according to the Village Voice. The front "tap room" will highlight artisanal beers.

The restaurant will close on Friday, the Voice reports. Colicchio & Sons will reopen at some point in January. Reservations are being accepted as of Jan. 11.

Colicchio will help cook along with Craftsteak's chef, Shane McBride, NBCNewYork.com reports.

"With the economy people aren't really coming out for $100 steaks," Colicchio tells New York Magazine. "That aside, it's a space I love, and I wanted to do something just a little personal there."

Colicchio has been doing a special Tuesday Dinner series at Craft.

Filed under: Food News, Restaurants, Chefs, News

The Decade in Restaurant Trends

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by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 29th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Photo: Sifu Renka, Flickr

Woe to the unfortunate eaters who faithfully followed the past decade's dining trends: Smaller portions, rising prices and the unabated craze for comfort food (especially dishes involving pork products) would presumably have left them far fatter and poorer than they were in 1999.

But for diners who enjoyed the last 10 years in small doses, the aughts were downright delicious -- thanks to local sourcing, a vigorous insistence on fresh and seasonal ingredients and, yes, all those pork products.

If there was one trend that defined the first breaths of this millennium, it was a general resistance to trendiness. In years ruled by buzzwords like "authentic," "heritage," "artisanal," "traditional" and "classic," what was deemed cool at the decade's outset pretty much stayed that way: If there's an organic greens and sustainable seafood backlash brewing, it hasn't perked yet.

Still, we're pressing ahead with a restaurant trend-by-year taxonomy. Nitpickers will notice that the assignments are sometimes rather arbitrary: Was 2003 or 2004 the year that celebrity chefdom raged most fiercely? Is it fair to call 2005 the year of foam, considering it was already old hat in big cities and still years away from arriving in small towns? Argue among yourselves.

Filed under: Trends, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants

Coedo Beniaka - Beer of the Week

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by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Dec 28th 2009 @ 5:00PM

coedo beniaka Photo: aki.sato, Flickr.

When it comes to complementing Japanese cuisine (say, wasabi-spiked sushi or some squiggly ramen), the average drinker's gut instinct is to sip sake. But to always reach for fermented rice would deny yourself the pleasures of some of Japan's finest beers.

We're hardly extolling the virtues of Asahi or Sapporo, thirst-quenching beers just like the typical American lager. And sure, Japan's Hitachino Nest White is a superb witbier spiced with coriander and orange peel, but that's a Belgian-style ale. Where's the beer that evokes the Land of the Rising Sun? For that, we look toward Coedo Brewery, situated a shade north of Tokyo.

Filed under: Restaurants, Reviews, Drinks