Today, the Washington Post published an article discussing the effect of the economy on area restaurants. It's not a pretty story. Not only do ingredients cost more, but people are eating at home more often than they used to. There's no question that fine dining restaurants are suffering, and that they're adjusting their menus and business strategies to cope.
On the flip side, however, the article mentioned that some less expensive restaurants are actually doing well. Personally, I think I'm in the camp of people going out less frequently, but still attending the restaurants that I would ordinarily attend. I'd rather save up for a few nice meals than eat out regularly at places that I don't love. Check out the article if you have a minute, and let us know what you think!
It's so exciting when carry-out pizza arrives at your doorstep, and terribly dissapointing if the pizza became smushed or the cheese slid to one side or some other disaster occurred. The Washington Post tested out various pizza parlors in the area to see which pizzas withstood the delivery process the best, and found seven that fared pretty well. Though the actual list applies mainly to those of us hanging out in the D.C. area, I'm wondering if there are any national chains notorious for delivering pizza that has fallen apart? And similarly, which service provides pizza that looks like it came straight from the oven?
Do you consider yourself a pizza lover? A specialist of sauce? A connoisseur of cheese?
Can you express your love for pie in poem form?
The Washington Post wants your pie-kus, written in - you guessed it - haiku form (which, for those of you who weren't paying attention in fifth grade, is an un-rhyming poem consisting of three lines: The first is five syllables, the second is seven, and the third is five.
Get your creative juices flowing, because the deadline is April 30. E-mail your poem to food@washpost.com with "PIE-KU" in the subject line, or send it to: Pie-Ku Contest, c/o Joe Yonan, Food Section, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Make sure you include your full name, address and telephone number.
We don't usually hear or read too much about food cart vendors. You know the ones - everyone has grabbed lunch from them at some time or another - whether in an unfamiliar city with no immediate restaurant choices, on a quick break from a long meeting, food cart meals are the original "go-to meals," before the term "go-to meal" even existed.
But the anonymity of vendors has changed this week, as articles appeared in both The New York Times and The Washington Post about the food carts and the businesspeople who run them.
In New York, Latin food vendors who have served the players and fans at Brooklyn's Red Hook soccer fields for the past 33 years faced being ousted from their spots if the Department of Parks and Recreation succeeded in "regulating" its permit process. In the end, the vendors were all allowed to stay and were issued a new six-year permit. But despite vendor fees remaining about the same (about $10,500 per year), reps of the vendors worry that the permit's new rule of standardizing equipment will mean vendors paying hefty fees for updated ovens and plumbing.
In D.C., vendors are feeling similar pressure, but for a different reason: instead of cutting back, D.C. wants to expand, but not among the current food options. Instead, citing surveys of citizens who say they want a larger food selection, the city is opening up the market to companies like Zipcar, an electric car company that wants to expand into gourmet and healthy food vending.
A couple of jobs ago, I had a co-worker who had a book that featured images of toy chicks, posed in a variety of ways and in a bunch of different scenarios. The Washington Post recently held a contest with a similar result in mind. Create a diorama in a sideways shoebox (or other appropriately sized vessel) in which Peeps are costumed and and posed in ways that tell a story.
They've put the top 22 dioramas into a slide show on their website and they are all fantastic and hysterical. The winner is a scene entitled, "Peeps are a Girl's Best Friend" and features a yellow Peep dressed up a Marilyn Monroe. Others include a scene featuring Batman and Robin and shower scene in which one Peep is peeping at another Peep.
There's nothing that says "Jewish Holiday!" to me more than a big bowl of chopped liver. While not particularly traditional to Hanukkah, it frequently makes an appearance at my family celebrations. My mom still talks about the version that her Auntie Tunkel used to make, in an old wooden chopping bowl with a red-handled chopper. Sadly, Auntie died in 1957 and no one wrote the recipe down while she was alive so I'll never know how hers tasted.
However, I have filled my own need for chopped liver with a recipe I found in the Washington Post in March of 2004. They were doing a series of recipes for Passover and printed Aron Groer's Chopped Liver. I don't remember who Aron Groer was, but he makes some good chopped liver. It isn't exactly like Auntie's, she used schmaltz (chicken fat) and raw onions, but it makes for some fine eating.
There can never be too may turkey taste tests or suggestions about different methods of cooking turkey before Thanksgiving, whether you are trying to choose the perfect bird, find the perfect temperature or narrow down your list of usefulgadgets. After all, the holiday comes only once a year and anyone motivated enough to cook their own bird is going to want to do it right. In their quest for the perfect turkey, the Washington Post tested out several more expensive local brands against the ubiquitous Butterball. Their food section staff and chef Todd Gray got together and tasted four birds prepared by Chef Bryan Voltaggio of Charlie Palmer Steak (who shoots and plucks his own wild turkeys).
The favorite was the free range, all-natural turkey from Maple Lawn Farms, with moist and full flavored meat. In what came as something of a surprise to everyone, the ordinary Butterball came in second, pleasing taste buds with its familiar flavor even though it was a bit dry. The judges did not like the flavor of the fresh, free-range, organic, certified humanely raised and handled American Bronze heritage breed turkey from Ayrshire Farm or the fresh, natural Shady Brook Farms turkey.
Chef Voltaggio said he could see the difference in textures in the two mass produced birds (Shady Brook and Butterball) and would prefer to serve one of the other two brands. But the taste test here is a good reminder that it doesn't matter what you pay for the bird as long as your guests enjoy what you're serving
We've been waiting for some time now for Fast Food Nation, the theatrical version of Eric Schlosser's popular book from about 5 years ago, to hit theaters. Fortunately, we don't have to wait much longer as the release date is November 17th.
The Washington Post has an interview with Schlosser and director Richard Linklate, who co-wrote the loosely adapted and fictionalized screenplay with Schlosser. Instead of only taking questions from an interviewer, however, they opened the floor to some curious readers from around the country so that they could ask their own questions about what went into making the film and what issues Schlosser has had to deal with since writing the original book. For example, one wants to know how many lawyers they needed to "cover-their-ass," while another wants to know if Schlosser has seen any big changes since the first publication of the book.
The interview doesn't offer as much food for thought as the book, but it's still enough to whet the appetitie for the movie's premier.
A story in yesterday's Washington Post takes a spin through the supermarket and rehashes some of the current moral quandaries faced by the average shopper. Organic? Big organic? Local? Free range? All of these factors are mentioned. The author cites works by Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, and if you've read either of these authors, the WaPo piece will seem like old news. If, however, you're just starting to take an interest in how and where your food is produced, this might be a helpful, albeit brief, overview. In the end, the author consults a bioethics scholar who says that rather than worrying about every single factor involved in every item we eat, we'd be better of picking certain facets-animal cruelty, environmental impact, taste-placing them on a scale of importance, and shopping accordingly.
Today's Washington Post features a pretty interesting piece
about food-related television shows in Japan. Apparently food television takes up 35-40 percent of all domestic
programming there. Of course, Iron Chef is usually the first thing that springs to most of our minds. But, according to
the WaPo piece, the grandeur and zeal that many of us associate with Iron Chef is commonplace on many food-related
shows. Apparently gratuitous food shots (food porn, if you will) are just as popular over there as they are here,
perhaps more so. On the show Which Dish?, one commentator responded to a shot of sizzling salmon fat with "I have
never seen such a beautiful thing before," says the Post. The hosts of that show are pictured here.
This
Wednesday's Washington Post featured a helpful story about how to choose and cook a steak. The piece features 11 tips
from butchers and beef experts. Topics include what to look for in marbling, thickness and grading terminology. Also,
there's talk of how to trim or not trim fat from a steak and what to make of brand names on certain steaks. All in all,
it's a good primer for anyone looking to learn a little more about picking a steak and then getting it on the table.
For years, companies like Starbucks have been asking customers for their name.
Using a name - as opposed to a generic “sir”, “ma’am” or “miss” - gives the
cafe a sense of familiarity, as well as providing a convenient way to match customers with their orders. I find this to
be a good system and would rather have my name called out by a barista than have to match a number on a receipt to my
order or try to explain to an angry looking octogenarian that my caramel macchiato is not the same as her black coffee.
Incidentally, the latter happens quite a lot, since the people who want to fight over drinks are the same people who
hate to give their names to the baristas. Needless paranoia, since your first name is not generally considered to be
classified information.
Today, the Washington Post published an article discussing the effect of the economy on area restaurants. It's not a pretty story. Not only do ingredients cost more, but people are eating at home more often than they used to. There's no question that fine dining restaurants are suffering, and that they're adjusting their menus and business strategies to cope.
It's so exciting when carry-out pizza arrives at your doorstep, and terribly dissapointing if the pizza became smushed or the cheese slid to one side or some other disaster occurred. The 
There can never be too may turkey taste tests or suggestions about different methods of cooking turkey before Thanksgiving, whether you are trying to choose 
We've been 
A 
Today's Washington Post features a pretty interesting 
This
Wednesday's Washington Post featured a helpful story about how to choose and cook a steak. The piece features 11 tips
from butchers and beef experts. Topics include what to look for in marbling, thickness and grading terminology. Also,
there's talk of how to trim or not trim fat from a steak and what to make of brand names on certain steaks. All in all,
it's a good primer for anyone looking to learn a little more about picking a steak and then getting it on the table.
For years, companies like Starbucks have been asking customers for their name.
Using a name - as opposed to a generic “sir”, “ma’am” or “miss” - gives the
cafe a sense of familiarity, as well as providing a convenient way to match customers with their orders. I find this to
be a good system and would rather have my name called out by a barista than have to match a number on a receipt to my
order or try to explain to an angry looking octogenarian that my caramel macchiato is not the same as her black coffee.
Incidentally, the latter happens quite a lot, since the people who want to fight over drinks are the same people who
hate to give their names to the baristas. Needless paranoia, since your first name is not generally considered to be
classified information. 
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