"menus" news and stories

• A transplant patient has developed an insatiable craving for junk food - after receiving a new heart from a teenager with a taste for fatty snacks.
• A recent inspection of nearly 800 restaurants at 10 airports found dangerous food conditions.
• Pounded by the recession, restaurants are hoping that some menu magic with the right combination of prices, adjectives, fonts, type sizes, ink colors and placement on the page can coax diners into spending a little more money.
• Feeling especially lazy in the morning? Try this coffee mug that stirs itself.
• In Detroit, a man with a 5-inch knife in his chest stunned patrons when he walked into a diner, ordered a coffee and waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Wedding menus of all styles. Photos: Style Me Pretty (far left), Brides.com

If you've spent an enormous amount of time putting together a fabulous menu for your guests, as we did, what's the best way to showcase it?

Written, typed and even painted menus are making their way into many receptions these days; the kind of wedding you have dictates the type of menu you'll use. For example, it would be more appropriate to offer guests a menu card at their seats for a black-tie affair in a ballroom, whether it be a card or the more recent trendy circular card that fits in the inner circle of the charger.

On the casual end of the spectrum, the surfboard pictured above doubled as a menu and a decoration for a beach-side wedding, and at an outdoor and/or country wedding, a chalkboard menu adds a rustic and personal touch. This is the route I'll be taking -- chalkboards will be propped on antique easels at every cocktail station. Even though you may think your menu is straightforward, it's a good idea to name every element of the dish, even down to the sauce (just in case of allergies).

Still hungry? Follow the Hungry Bride on Twitter!

No matter how far I dive into the foodie world, I have one stead-fast rule: You don't mess with Thanksgiving.

Now I don't mean to suggest that you can't do a little experimenting and change up the flavors here and there. It's a waste to not adapt your classic Thanksgiving recipes -- the whole process of cooking is learning the basics and then adapting them to suit your own taste-buds. But we're talking about a classic meal here -- one that is meant to not only evoke stuffed groans of pleasure, but also tap into your memories of the past -- the heaping piles of meat, the creamy mashed potatoes, and the family gathered around the table. Rather than ditching the classics for a whole new approach, perfect the traditional recipes at your disposal.

What follows are recipes for a classic Thanksgiving dinner -- taking the dearly loved basics of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and making them pop without removing the beloved tastes and experiences. This Traditional with a Twist meal includes recipes for brining and giving the bird a good under-the-skin rub, a sausage stuffing, roasting, homemade cranberry sauce amped up with some port, and finally, mashed potatoes flavored with some caramelized shallots.

Bon Appetit!

A few years ago, I had a fleeting desire to create a menu typo business. Living near Chinatown, I was always spotting some sort of bad signage or typo-ridden menu. But since these bringers of the typo were also the same places that were struggling to be successful, I knew there was no money in it and just hoped that the places would make it as is.

Besides, how could we get gems like "Crap Meat with Fish Maw Soup" that popped up over at Serious Eats if someone became the restaurant grammar and spelling police?

And the little flub to the right is far from the only oops moment out there. Just Google "menu typos." But for me, the biggest foodie signage flub was seeing a Ruby Tuesday "Curbside Pick Up" sign DIRECTLY underneath a One Way sign pointing in the other direction.

What's your favorite flub or typo?

Ever wish you could take home more than a doggy-bag from your favorite restaurant? Ask for a menu, and turn it into art.