"immigration" news and stories

• Here's a roundup of Rosh Hashana recipes, past and present. L'Shana Tova!
• This milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. That's right...it's better than yours.
• Immigration is a political hot button, and restaurants are feeling the heat.
• Want to go someplace new? Behold the Fall Restaurant Preview.
• This Bittman recipe is inspired by, of all things, airline food.

A Texas-based pizza chain, Pizza Patron, is now accepting pesos at all of their 59 nationwide locations. Many of the stores, particularly those in Texas (others are in California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado) are located in primarily Latino neighborhoods and, according to the director of restaurant operations for the company, "many of [the] customers travel back and forth to Mexico regularly, and sometimes they end up with pesos left over... [so] now we also welcome the currency of our homeland. We want to make Pizza Patron a better choice for our customers than any of our competitors." The program is a trial one that will last from now until at least the end of February, although it could be extended if it is met with a positive reaction from the customer base.

Even though it has only been in place for a week, the plan has not met with a warm reception. The company has received "hundreds of e-mails," most of them critical. The fact that 10% of sales this week in the chain's five primary stores were in pesos, however, is probably enough to keep the plan in action for another few weeks.

Maybe you never watch tv, listen to the radio or talk to your neighbors. Maybe you never leave your house and have food delivered to your door. But if you're the least bit aware of current events, then you know that today, May 1, 2006, there were rallies and protests for immigration reform in the US. Many businesses were completely closed to allow employees to attend the rallies. Many of those businesses are food-related.

Here in LA, the biggest impact was the masses of people in the streets, but I did notice that many restaurants in my neighborhood were closed in support.

Did your stomach feel the impact of a day without an immigrant?