The NY Times' Pete Wells reports in today's Diner's Journal that spanking new SoHo boite La Cave des Fondus will be a faithful recreation of its namesake Paris outpost, right down to its innovative bottle service. That'd be baby bottle service. Nope, nary a Similac sommelier in sight, but rather an assortment of house vino and brewskis administered via rubber nipple in glass baby bottles. The serving practice began in 1966 when, according to rumor, Parisian restaurateurs realized that wine service in "biberons" was a way to circumvent a city tax on wineglasses -- not to mention a play on the word "biberonner," meaning a bit of tippling.

The titular meat and cheese fondues are the centerpiece of the food menu, but really, who isn't going there to nurse their curiosity 'bout seeing a bunch of grown-ups getting together to have a nip?

Will it be a formula for success or just a big bust? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[via: Diner's Journal]

Did you catch the guy eating toasted cicadas on The Colbert Report last night? David Gracer, a Rhode Island writing teacher, is on a quest to convince chefs to cook with insects, claiming that bugs offer more edible protein per pound than beef cattle.

Lots of cultures eat insects. I've enjoyed tiny grasshoppers, known as chapulines, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Slathered in guacamole and rolled in a tortilla, they were salty and undistinguished-tasting. Toasted and tossed with salt and chili powder, they were like corn nuts with legs. Cicadas, earthworms, crickets - bring 'em on.

Colbert was not convinced though. "I might ask one of my writers to eat a bug," he said. "Let me check their contract."

When a reader directed my attention to this Frico Cheeseburger from Korean fast food restaurant Lotteria's, I was a little afraid of what may be inside - no, not because of where it is from, but because we are often guided towards items that that would umm....definitely fall into our food oddities category. However upon closer inspection, I was pretty relieved surprised to discover that it is a relatively "normal" burger complete with meat, cheese sauce, lettuce, pickles, and tomato.

What makes it different though is the addition of yellow pepper rings, black olives, and the pièce de résistance - a deep fried, breaded patty of Dutch Maasdam cheese. Now I've often had onion rings or the like on a burger, but deep fried cheese? I think that takes this fast food burger to a whole new level of sinfulness.

(Thanks, FriendLee)

Sometimes we run across some pretty strange things, and when it comes to food and restaurant oddities all I can say is I'm glad this one is for viewing rather than eating. A restaurant in Japan apparently has goldfish living beneath their deep-fryer. The oil from the fryer naturally floats on top of the water, allowing the fish to live comfortably survive oblivious to the extreme heat just inches above them. As far as feeding the fish, they dine on the little crispy crumbs that sink to the bottom after each fry. One might wonder if that is actually good for them, but I digress.

I'm fairly certain the question here is why? Really, why would someone come up with this idea in the first place? I could almost understand it if the fryer was in view of the public, but since it isn't, the only people who can actually see the goldfish are those working in the kitchen. To each his own though, I suppose.

Remember when we heard about the woman on the Maury Povich show that had a fear of pickles so intense that it was causing harm to her personal and professional relationships? Meet 29-year-old Dave Nunley, from Wyton in the UK. Nunley is not only afraid of pickles, but of every other food product out there - with the exception of cheddar cheese. He eats about 225 pounds of cheddar cheese, preferably grated, every year and has never eaten a hot meal in his entire life. On the rare occasions when he is able to tolerate other food, he will eat a packet of potato chips or some Ready Brek breakfast cereal. Nunley says that his food phobia is so intense that his "throat closes up, making him feel sick" when he even considers eating things other than cheese.

Doctors say that the cheese is keeping him alive, although it is not the healthiest diet you could subscribe to, as he would quite likely be starving to death if he didn't eat it. He has tried "hypnotherapy, acupuncture and even taken part in a BBC show about people with eating disorders" in attempts to cure the problem that has plagued him since childhood.

It could be worse, though. He could have settled on processed "cheese foods," like Velveeta, instead of mild cheddar.

When people are bored, they come up with all sorts of unusual experiments that, if otherwise occupied, perhaps they wouldn't ordinarily try. There is little doubt that this has led to some great discoveries over the years, but this particular one is probably unlikely to have widespread cultural ramifications. It involves Jello and the question of whether or not it can be nailed to a wall.

I won't keep you in suspense. Jello - or jelly if you're not from the US - cannot be nailed to a wall in its standard form. When prepared according to package directions, the amount of gelatin that gives the food its signature "jiggle" is not enough to hold it together when nailed to a board. If you live somewhere where you can purchase concentrated jelly/Jello cubes, however, you will find that it can easily be nailed to a wall.

Mystery solved.

[via boingboing]

Today (January 26th) is Australia Day and one way that some of our friends down in summery Australia are celebrating is with Vegemite gelato.

The combination sounds slightly horrifying to anyone who doesn't already love Vegemite, the salty brewers' yeast paste that, like Marmite, is popular on toast in many parts of the world, but for those who enjoy its flavor, the combination is proving to be a popular seller for its creator. Gherardo Deflorian is from Italy and has a gelato shop, Gelateria Cremona, in Brisbane. Not a fan of Vegemite himself, he thought that the flavor would be unique, a little controversial and a bit more interesting than the same old flavors that everyone uses. He had to have his customers taste the gelato in progress, as he just couldn't stomach the concoction himself, but it has been met with positive feedback from gelato (and Vegemite) fans who say that "it reminds them of when they were little and they had Vegemite on toast with butter."

I don't honestly think that the KFC Famous Bowl looks appetizing. It is a bowl containing layers of mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, fried chicken pieces and shredded cheese. The idea is that, unlike most fast food meals, it actually has the same components as a real homestyle dinner. Why you would want to have all those things mushed together is clearly a matter of personal taste, but it is safe to say that you are much better off combining your own homemade ingredients than buying KFC's concoction, even if the fast food chain is eliminating trans fats from their recipes. Homemade will taste better and will probably be less fattening. A regular Famous Bowl has 720 calories and 34 grams of fat. The nutritional content of a homemade one will depend on your personal recipes for each of the components, but if you want to go really low-fat, you can always try Hungry Girl's KFC-Ya Later Bowl. At 285 calories and 6.5g of fat, her madeover bowl has less than half the salt and almost half the carbs of the original.

Green eggs and ham is a legend of the children's book world, but I must say that this is the first time I've seen a genuine attempt at producing it. This photo is from a flickr set by user michales and is accompanied by instructions detailing how to recreate the dish in your own home. The ham is painted with food coloring, but there is a trick o getting the egg just right. The egg white has to be separated from the yolk and scrambled with food coloring. The yolk is then (gently!) added back to the white when it is poured into the pan.

The only way in which these eggs differ from the literary eggs is that Dr Seuss imagined his to have green yolks, not whites. But I think that neither Sam-I-am nor any little Seuss fan would have a problem eating these eggs - here, there or anywhere!

[via boingboing]

With the amount of bacon that we have seen on this site this year, 2006 should have been the year of the pig (2007 is actually the year of the pig). It has popped up everywhere from breakfast plates to evening cocktails. Some say that Everything Tastes Better with Bacon, but after checking out our list of the top 8 uses for bacon from the last year, you can decide for yourself if you have been Seduced by Bacon:

• Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, why not start it off with a big bowl of Bacon cereal?
• Cereal isn't the only bacon-infused breakfast option. French toast and bacon sandwich could be a more appetizing choice if you're not the cereal type, or you could simply opt for bacon waffles. Bacon breakfast cookies will give you a bacon fix on the go.
• BLT's have much too small a ratio of bacon-to-nonbacon. The ultimate bacon sandwich or a deep-fried bacon Double Quarter Pounder are both much more meat-oriented.
• Gummy bacon isn't bacon flavored, but if you like the idea of bacon in candy, bacon caramel might be just what you're looking for
• For dessert, a generous serving of bacon ice cream is in order, and this kind actually has chunks of bacon in it, much like the bacon ice cream that Marcel mixed up on Top Chef.
• The bacon martini is not a drink for everyone. You may have to be an addict - not that we condone alcoholism or bacon-aholism - to get it down.
• You can't keep bacon in it, but the bacon wallet will help you bring home the bacon, in addition to looking like it. The only odd thing here is that the wallet is made of faux leather - couldn't they have gone for the real thing?
• Time, bacon and eggs heal all wounds, especially if you use bacon and eggs bandaids to help speed the healing process along.
• We suspect that the bacon trend may continue into next year, since we recently found out about the existence of chicken fried bacon (with gravy), which sounds like it will be an instant hit at the fried-food havens that are county fairs.
• Last, but certainly not least, we have heard that eating bacon and participating in open discussion of the pork product may be the single most important part of achieving world peace. Peace Through Pork makes a good point.

When I see bacon involved in so many non-traditional uses - bacon cereal, huge bacon-only sandwiches,bacon baklava and bacon ice cream, to name just a few - I get the sense that I have missed out on something. This isn't because I really wanted to try a bowl of bacon cereal myself, but because I really don't want to eat some of these foods. Where will it stop? Is there anything that bacon can't be added to?

I would have thought that candy would be immune from the addition of bacon, but this is not the case. Eatin' and Drinkin' blogged a batch of bacon caramel. It is made just like a classic caramel, with sugar, cream and butter, but has some pre-cooked, crispy bacon added at the end. Salted caramel is delicious - but usually chefs opt for sea salt and not salted meats? It seems like it would either be out-of-this world good (for someone who loves bacon) or just a bit much. Anyone willing to try the recipe and find out for themselves?

Gmail got a little inspiration from all of those spam e-mails and created their spam recipe folder, offering up hundreds, perhaps thousands, of span recipes. They don't take into account the content of those e-mails, which as we all know, seems to be about viagra more than half the time. The recipes get a little more inventive if you consider their contents and start making viagra-themed spam recipes. Whether you actually want to attempt any of them is a matter of personal preference, but a giant viagra mousse (above) or some dyed-blue spam tempura in the little blue pill's signature diamond shape would probably be a hit at parties whether people actually opted to taste them or not.

And you might want to pick up some viagra gelato for dessert, too.

Did you know that -

• three new interspecific hybrid grape varieties were launched this week - Noiret and Corot Noir, which are red, and Valvin Muscat, which is a white variety. [details] 
• Mackerel is a common North Atlantic and Mediterranean fish with brilliant 'metallic' green, blue and black colourings. This brazen display accounts for its name being used in the past to describe a dandy gentleman in England, and in French its name 'maquereau' also means a pimp. (from the BBC)
• that the Iberico pig (used for Spanish pata negra ham) puts away 11kg of acorns every day they are in season
• apparently eating a few rounds of Marmite and toast makes your skin emite an odour that acts as an effect mosquito repellant. (Don't actually think this one has been scientifically proved)
• the earlist recorded recipe for a cheese tart (for-runner of cheesecake) appeared in 1390 in the first English cookery book 'Forme of Cury'
• Cury being the Old English word for cooking, derived from the French cuire meaning to cook, boil or grill

We've seen fast food fashions before, but designer Chris March is doing some thing a little different than the familiar french fry dresses we've come to know. He is making haute couture out of vegetables. With what looks like inspiration from Carmen Miranda, as well as a nudge from Wish-Bone salad dressings, which sponsored the creations, March made hats and dresses out of fresh salad greens. He used lettuce, tomatoes, celery and cabbage, among other produce, to decorate his pieces. A few of the veggies in his creations are artificial, like the green onions, so they will withstand the hot runway lights when they debut in a NY fashion show on June 2.

For good-looking produce, March went to a specialty vegetable market to pick up materials. The only question left to ask is whether any of it is organic.

[Image NYT]

Chef Kazuki "Kaz" Yamamoto is on the cutting edge of cuisine. And by "cutting edge," what I mean is that he cooks rare, occasionally immoral, and sometimes outright illegal, foods for those who are willing to pay for them. Based out of Arizona, he travels to homes of rich and/or famous clients and plies them with previously untasted delicacies from his traveling "restaurant, known as "Le Menu". Because his client list includes government officials and gastronomes alike, Yamamoto says he has had few problems in the past obtaining locations, including restaurants, to hold his dinners. When Stephen Lemons, the Phoenix New Times food critic joined in a dinner, he sampled foods such as Saguaro cactus salad, made from the legally protected succulent; tenderloin of Bichon Frise, endangered pygmy owl, roasted and eaten whole, with entrails and bones intact; and nigiri-style seal sushi.

Other items that Yamamoto is famed for include chimpanzee stew (protected), grilled intestines of brown bear (poached from Yosemite), rhino genitals, gila monster, giraffe tongue, monkey tartare and a dozen variations on penguin meat.