The woman, an employee of a Tim Hortons coffee and donut chain in Toronto, gave a fussy toddler the tiny, 16-cent donut (called a "Timbit") to eat, and was promptly fired by her overzealous manager.

The woman said she would have paid for the donut, but the store was busy and she had to work.

As soon as Tim Hortons' corporate offices heard of the firing, they quickly issued a statement that the firing was a mistake (it was implied that the woman was re-hired).

Seriously, though: who would want to go back and work for that maniac? Whatever happened to the customer coming first?

Hopefully, the woman will be able to get away from the boss with the anger management issues, and get a better job. Like at the local IHOP.

Get ready to laugh: among Health magazine's top healthiest restaurants are - drum roll, please - Denny's, Bob Evans, and Romano's Macaroni Grill.

Hmm - the kings of maple syrup-drenched sausage and carb-heavy pasta dishes, respectively, are also the healthiest?

Granted, I don't go out to eat very often. But - are these places actually healthy? I find it hard to believe.

The magazine's other choices are equally as confusing: Olive Garden? Uno Chicago Grill? Last time I checked, phrases like "extra cheese" and "more breadsticks" were the norm at these haunts.

This month, Good Magazine - which donates its readers' subscriptions to the nonprofit org of their choice - let us all in on a little secret. Actually, several little secrets. They're called "speakeasy restaurants," a catchy term for underground eateries and "supper clubs" that aren't sanctioned by their city's health departments and are frequented only by a small, specific clientele who are privy to the information. This usually occurs virally, because even posting about them online increases the chance that the speakeasies will be closed down.

These "restaurants" are primarily run out of people's homes, and actually aren't all about the food. Instead, the point of going to one is the people you'll meet and the comfortable atmosphere you'll enjoy. In fact, from the sound things, the only clandestine quality about these top-secret eateries is exactly that: the fact that they're operated in the shadows and that they are choosy about their diners. And except for a few suspect experiments in molecular gastronomy here and there, the get togethers sound relatively tame, and feature mainly traditional, home-cooked meals.

Racing to get your taxes done and need a quick caffeine boost? Denny's Restaurants want you to know that they have come out with a new "Special Blend" of coffee, and will be offering free samples on Tax Day which is tomorrow, April 17th. If you are unable to make it on that specific date, they will also be offering free samples on April 21 & 22, and April 28 & 29 between 8am and 1pm.

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.

About a year and a half ago, I posted about the work of photographer Michael Harlan Turkell, particularly his Back of the House Project, a great series of 25 very candid black and white photos of restaurants and their staff. Turkell recently dropped Slashfood a line, pointing out his photo blog, as well as what appears to be a new photo series called "mise en place". It had been a while since I checked Turkell's site, so the blog was news to me. It appears he's also been commissioned by New York City restaurant blog Eater to photograph the subjects of their "Gatekeepers" series, which profiles "the very folks that stand between you and some of your favorite impossible-to-get-tables." If you've ever worked in the restaurant industry, or if you're just a lover of food, dining and photography, do yourself a favor and check out Turkell's website as well as his blog.

If you have ever flown into LAX, you have seen the Encounter Restaurant. The iconic building - a futuristic, spider-like construction - is one of LA's more famous landmarks because it is so recognizable. The restaurant is situated in the center of the structure, where the arches come together, and it rotates, giving diners a panoramic view as they turn past the building's glass walls. But the only encounter diners are likely to have with this restaurant now is a view from afar. The building that houses the restaurant has been shut down, deemed unstable by inspectors after a half-ton piece of stucco "fell off the underside of one of the arches and smashed into the eatery's roof." The arches don't provide nearly enough support for the restaurant itself and the structure hasn't been renovated in over 50 years. It will be closed for at least six months.

How far would you travel to have your favorite meal? Or rather, how far would you have it sent? Rap star Kanye West, along with 7 other diners, will be enjoying a feast of Indian food this Wednesday from the restaurant British Raj's, located in Wales, though he will be dining in New York City. The bill for this meal is to exceed $3900.

Even with shipping costs, why is it so much? The actual cost of the food, eaten in the restaurant, would run at about $17.50 per person. However the restaurant's Executive Chef will be accompanying the meal to New York, ensuring quality control, customs clearance, and proper service. The $3900 price tag actually reflects the loss the restaurant will experience during the two evenings the chef will be away. His travel and accommodation costs are extra.

Apparently the dinner will include "onion bhajees, chapati breads, biryanis, pappadums, a specially prepared fish dish and vegetables on the side." Kanye isn't the first to receive this kind of service though. The music promotion company that arranged this dining experience previously ordered food to an after-show party for Snoop Dogg from the same Wales restaurant.

The prices at fast food chains are fairly low and, since most people want to make transactions there as fast as possible, cash is probably the most popular mode of payment for the average consumer. In pursuit of even faster service, one of the largest mobile phone operators in Japan, NTT DoCoMo, has teamed up with McDonalds to provide a service where customers can pay for their food with their mobile phones. The phones are equipped with technology that allows them to be swiped over a special handset at the store, where electronic payment information will be recorded and you can waltz out with your food in a matter of seconds. The technoogy, which has been available from DoCoMo under the name "Osaifu-Keitai e-wallet" in the past, will be funded with $2.48 million and, once a core membership has formed around using it, McDonalds plans to offer "enhanced services to strengthen customer loyalty."

Some seem to think that restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow's grudge against NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni runs deeper than just one bad review. Chodorow has, after all, said that he feels his restaurants have always gotten the short stick from the reviewer. A recent piece on Page Six of the NY Post seems to confirm this, as Chodorow has just announce that Bruni is banned from all of his 29 restaurants.

For those of you wondering how the Chodorow plans to ban someone whose looks are supposed to be a secret, just know that restaurant staffs make it their business to unmask restaurant critics whenever possible, many kitchens will have a wall of critics and other notable people to keep an eye out for. Chodorow's employees have an extra reason to look for Bruni because Jeffrey has offered a free trip for two to the Caribbean to the first person to recognize him. As insurance to make sure he is seen, Chodorow plans to post a photo of Bruni on his personal blog sometime soon.

It has long been suggested that the oversized portions offered to diners at many restaurants are responsible for the expanding waistlines of Americans. Now, the health/lifestyle watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is implying that "table-service chain restaurants," such as The Cheesecake Factory, T.G.I. Fridays and Ruby Tuesday, are cramming their dishes full of fattening, unhealthy ingredients on purpose, encouraging "extreme eating." Sometimes described as the "food police," CSPI cites the fact that these restaurants are not entirely forthcoming with the nutritional information on their foods, pointing out that Ruby Tuesday's Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta entree has 2,060 calories and 128 grams of fat, while The Cheesecake Factory's Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake (layers of chocolate cake, brownies, coconut pecan filling and chocolate-chip coconut cheesecake) had 1,380 calories.

However misleading it may seem to call a dish "Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta" and cram it with (mostly) cheese, it doesn't sound like there is any ill intent there, does it? The restaurants say that their menus change so frequently that it would be impractical to put together nutritional stats for individual dishes and change the menus all the time. They cite value-conscious consumers, who view large portion sizes as one of their highest priorities when eating out. Looking at both sides of this issue begs one question: which came first, huge portion sizes or the desire for them?

Restaurateurs have a love-hate relationship with food critics. They love them when they get a good review and hate them when they don't. A lot of seething goes on in the kitchen when the review is bad, but that is usually as far as it gets. Once in a while, however, a restaurant owner will be pushed over the edge, as Jeffrey Chodorow was when he read Frank Bruni's review of his Kobe Club. Chodorow took out a full-page ad (rumored to have cost around $40,000) in this week's NY Times Dining section blasting Bruni ("in crazy-person tiny type") and accusing him of being biased, unqualified and, essentially, of having a personal vendetta against him and/or his restaurants.

The letter was addressed to Pete Wells, who recently came to the NY Times as the editor of the Dining section, possibly in the hopes that Wells would take some sort of action against Bruni. Wells has since said that the Times will take no action and Bruni himself spoke to the NY Post, saying that he has no vendetta against Chodorow. Nor does New York magazine's Adam Platt or The NY Post's Steve Cuozzo - both of whom gave the restaurant less-than-flattering reviews at the same time as Bruni.

[thanks, alanna!]

The concept of a restaurant guidebook is becoming increasingly outdated. The books are rarely up to date and, although they can be carried around by travelers easily, just can't offer the user the same kind of immediate response - and an interactive one, at that - as online, user-driven restaurant guides. Chowhound, Yelp and Citysearch are some of the leaders of this genre, along with similar user-review driven online forums. Zagat, which was unique in the restaurant guide book field in that it based its "reviews" on user commentary, recently decided that it needed to move to a similar online format, where users could offer real-time opinions, in order to remain competitive.

Or, at least, to attempt to remain competitive.

Is there any more room left in the restaurant discussion board field for a newcomer? Given that people have expressed dissatisfaction with the way that Chowhound is run (and they way that the site looks), there just might be.

[via eater la ]

The Cheesecake Factory is known for their enormous portion sizes and high-calorie cheesecakes. The large sizes seem to add value to the meals for diners, while the cheesecakes, depending on who you ask, are a big slice of heaven on a plate. Both of these things, however, are a source of irritation to nutritionists and consumer watchdog groups.

Since fans of the Factory wouldn't tolerate a decrease in the portion size, but the company wanted to offer something a little lighter for those who are watching what they eat (and possibly to placate the groups watching them), they introduced several "weight management" salads. The lower calorie offerings have less than 590 calories each. The Weight Management choices include: Asian Chicken Salad, Spicy Chicken Salad, Pear and Endive Salad (pictured), California Salad and Seafood Salad. Each is slimmed by using low-calorie dressings and cutting back on the amount of cheese, nuts, hard0boiled eggs, avocado and other high-calorie components, although it doesn't seem like they're entirely eliminated in any of the dishes, which is probably why they're just called "weight management" and not "light" or "diet,"

It appears that selling more than 90 million albums and winning ten Grammy awards hasn't been quite enough to make Carlos Santana want to retire in the lap of luxury on a beach somewhere. Instead, the musician (who will be 60 in July if you can believe it) along with his wife, Deborah, plan to convert three existing restaurants in Northern California into a new chain featuring authentic Mexican cuisine. The restaurants will be named Maria Maria, after his Grammy-winning song.

The atmosphere in the restaurants will apparently be inspired by his music, which means that if you are a Santana fan like myself you will probably want to start lining up at the door now. They are planning to open their first location in Walnut Creek, CA in April, followed by Mill Valley in May and Santa Rosa in June.