Fast-food franchise managers have shown a little fast thinking in San Francisco’s Happy Meal toy ban brouhaha. Starting this month, restaurants are banned from putting toy giveaways in kids’ meals that don’t meet nutritional standards. So, no more Happy Meals with a cheap plastic toy in them right? Not exactly. Local McDonald’s franchises no...
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The food revolution met Occupy Wall Street over the weekend when about 30 people protested outside the The French Laundry in Yountville. Napa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Doug Wilkinson told the Napa Valley Register that a SWAT team was called in case they were needed for crowd control. But, in fact, the Friday night protest, believed...
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The new Michelin star ratings for San Francisco Bay area restaurants came out today and in a sign of the times the first word to the dining public came via Twitter. Guide officials decided to notify chefs before making an official announcement, which meant the news trickled out by way of 140-character blurbs...
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Interesting story in the New York Times today about a study showing that beer can help marathoners recover after their exertions … providing the beer is nonalcoholic. As a longtime fan of no-alcohol beer (sorry, wine world, sometimes only a frosty one will do) I was particularly interested in these findings. I am not...
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Like cooking? Like winter? Really, really like winter? I may have just the job for you. NANA Services, which manages operations and food services at the McMurdo research station in Antarctica has posted a job opening for a chef. Evidently researchers are interested in the science of gastronomy along with astrophysics, medicine, etc. The...
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Prince Charles is visiting the U.S. this week, largely to promote his cause of environmental sustainability. Which got me to thinking of the adventures Charles and I have had together over the years. True, he was blissfully unaware of my existence then and now. But that doesn’t make them any less special. Right? Right....
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Do you like to shoot your food before you eat it? As in whip out your nifty digital camera and click off a few photos? FOOD & WINE magazine has a contest for you. The magazine’s first photo contest, “My Favorite Food Moment,” runs from today through June 8. Here is the page where...
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Chef Thomas Keller joined a select group this year when he was named a chevalier by the French Legion of Honor. Only two other Americans who work in food have received that honor, Julia Child and Alice Waters. Keller celebrated the award at a recent ceremony at his Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry...
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I know you’ve all been dying to know what happened with Chef Guy Fieri and his boosted Lamborghini. Well, Fieri’s bright yellow Lambo is still missing. You’ll recall that some thief or thieves nicked it last month by rappelling into the high-end dealership in San Francisco where it was parked, busting a door lock...
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Food and fuel would intersect at a new energy plant being proposed for Sonoma County. The plant would run off chicken waste, which shouldn’t be too hard to come by given the number of egg farms in the area. Not surprisingly, neighbors of the potential plant have big concerns about odor and traffic, so...
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