"usa" news and stories

We already took a look at the world's most expensive restaurants for this year, but Forbes has added to their compilation of the priciest restaurants with a list of those located in the US. Unlike the global list, which takes into account the price for only a main course, drink and tip, the US list includes the prices for fixed-price tasting menus, which are definitely the most popular way to eat at top eateries. And those prices are going up. There are new and better ingredients to be used and higher expectations that must be met by these restaurants. "We're seeking out smaller producers with better products, and with that comes a higher expense of preparing them in the kitchen. It creates an upward pressure on menu prices," said one restaurant owner, who also noted that it was fortunate the economy is strong enough to sustain restaurants that serve the such high-priced meals.

At the top of the list is New York City's Masa at $446, followed by California's The French Laundry at $254 and Chicago's Alinea at $168.

The rest of the top ten are after the jump.

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All-American Desserts seems to contain at least one example of every single dessert that could be considered to be American. Some are inherently American, notable the cookies and many regional desserts, but all are unquestionably loved by Americans - as well as by other dessert-lovers, too! The recipes are all straight-forward and easy to follow, with iconic recipes such as Grits Pudding with Roasted Apples, Shoofly Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Berry Cobblers, to updated takes on favorites, like Persimmon and Apple "Pot Pie" and Lemon Blackberry Crumble Ice Cream.

The only drawback to the book is that there are no pictures of the recipes inside to tempt you. The book more than makes up for this by incorporating the histories of almost all the recipes, as well as spotlights on ingredients, cooking tips and assorted other trivia. The writing is actually a better feature than photographs because, with 400 recipes, a second volume would have been required to hold them all. Besides, with so many recipes to choose from, reading the table of contents should be more than enough to inspire you.

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A group of Swedish university students is taking part in a study that is recreating Morgan Spurlock's fast food experiment, Super Size Me, in laboratory conditions. Under the supervision of professor Fredrik Nyström, two groups of young medical school students are stuffing themselves with fast foods and avoiding exercise. All of the calories they eat must come from fast food, although they are allowed to make breakfast at home so long as it was "bacon-and-eggs based".

Nyström thought it would have been more difficult to find people willing to participate, but the students were more than eager. More men than women applied and the chosen were the most highly motivated, who were likely to stick to the 6,000 calories-a-day diet. All their food throughout the study would be paid for and they were provided with bus passes so they would not have to walk any more than necessary. The only control on the study was that the Swedish ethics board said the participants must be removed from the study if they increased their bodyweight by more than 15%.

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KitKats have long been one of the top-selling candy bars in Britain since their inception in 1935 by Rowntree LTD. The brand has been owned by Nestle since 1988, and Nestle increased its global distribution, making it one of the most popular candies in the world. To appeal to different tastes in different markets, Nestle has been producing flavored KitKats for many years now. These have enjoyed great success, particularly in Asian and Australian markets. The Wikipedia entry lists more than 65 different flavors of KitKat.

After having success elsewhere, Nestle turned to these limited edition and exotic flavors in the UK, with releases that ranged from strawberries and cream to mango to "Christmas pudding" all over the course of one year. They flopped. And not only did the flavors not sell, but KitKat sales in general fell by almost 17%. Galaxy bars saw an 11% increase in the same time period, largely making up the deficit in the number of bars sold.

The problem was that the bars were "not what [people] expected" from KitKats and the novelty wasn't enough to sustain sales. People purchased the flavored bars and lost interest in them, as well as being slightly turned off the original because the market was so saturated with KitKats. The flavors have been discontinued and the company is going to refocus on making up lost ground.

Hershey's, which owns the rights to the candy bar in the US, has released very few limited edition flavors, sticking primarily to white chocolate and dark chocolate. The company is unlikely to try a wide variety of flavors in the US because candy bar sales are not nearly as strong as in the UK. The company is, however, planning a caramel KitKat towards the end of this year.

[via WSJ]

Ostensibly collected with reader input, MSN has put forth a list of 10 foods that make America great. This list is a step up from last year's, which included a wide variety of regional foods, but not necessarily ones that were "great" outside of their region. Shoofly pie, for example, might actually be considered to be declining in popularity, rather than standing up as an American icon.

This list left off foods like barbecue and pizza, which were deemed to be too broad, but included both regional and national favorites that are more recognizable than previous selections. Maple syrup and Philly cheesesteak are excellent choices, but what about Frito pie? Is that really a dish that makes America great? And isn't a Mission burrito a little specific? It's hard to narrow down the list of great foods to only a handful, but certainly there are things that should be added to the list, like apple pie. Any other suggestions?

1. Lobster Rolls
2. Maple Syrup
3. Philly Cheesesteak
4. Gumbo
5. Shrimp and grits
6. Frito pie
7. Wisconsin bratwursts
8. Hawaiian plate lunch
9. Banana splits
10. San Francisco's Mission Burrito

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