Hitting the Links

Hey there, everyone. I was traveling last week and couldn’t get connected where I was. So with some luck, I’ll try to make it up this week.

I love the food section of the LA Times, and this is a great piece on the wellspring of chef blogs available these days to peripatetic web surfers. I regularly hit some of the blogs listed, but the truest statement in this piece is Traci’s about chef blogs growing stale when they fail to stay timely.

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A new fine dining survey similar to Zagat's is out. Who needs another one of these?

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The failing American economy is hitting the hospitality industry with a wallop. Look for plenty of local closings if this economic trend continues. Restaurants are leveraged to the max with huge credit burdens. Here is an interesting WSJ article about fewer women in the work force.

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More on Meat Gate 2008 for those that missed it.

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Pete Wells reports on Alan Richman’s retorts to his "Golden Clog" that Michael Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain awarded him a few weeks ago. Also check out the brutal Les Halles review on his blog. The best part of the whole thing is that by knowing the players in the game a little bit, I can assure you that Richman was ticked off he got a clog, and Bourdain couldn’t give a sh*t what anyone thinks of Les Halles.

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Food prices are soaring, and menu prices will grow all over the country throughout the next few months. Here is a great NYT article on the growing global demand for grain, which we all know affects everyone, even if you never dine out at all.

Comments

[geoff]

getting a reservation at Manny's has never been easier. and that, to me, is the surest local sign that restaurants are being hit hard by the recession.

Bourdain can write and cook circles around Richman...not saying Les Halles is above criticism, but clearly food envy and his inflated sense of self-importance is at work in Richman's review.

[davecamaro]

I think all these chefs are jumping on your bandwagon, Andrew. You have been a blogging mad man for a long time. Where you come up with the time or energy is beyond me.
You are absolutely spot on who needs another fine dining survey. I would be curious to know how they selected their criteria or did they just copy their top 100 from other websites. I can't honestly envision a new startup website having the cash to send someone all over Europe and North America to sample all the different restaurants. So I believe they just plagarized and re-hashed what other websites are already reporting.
Finally, sure the grain prices are rising all over the world. But, honestly, isn't about time. For centuries farmers have broken their backs to sell their grain while everyone else reaped the profits. It's about time they get their due. It's just too bad many of these are no longer the small farmer but mega corporations unto themselves. Sure the guy in BFN can only buy 3 loaves instead of 1. Is that all the farmers fault or is it also in part caused by the astronomical price of oil to ship it there?

[Becky]

Andrew,
I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate Bizarre Foods. Not only do we highly enjoy it, but it has actually made a difference in my son's life! My 11 year old is picky to the extreme, but ever since last year, he's been willing and actually wanting to try new foods- all because of Bizarre Foods. You introduced him to cooking and he now loves watching the food network and loves to cook- he wants to be a chef when he grows up. SO, thank you!!

[Kelly Red]

LOL Becky, now there's a new line to try on the kids "What would Chef Andrew do (eat)?"

[Tony]

Andrew,

I just became addicted to Bizarre Foods and until recently I admit I never herd
of you. The funny thing is I live just outside St Paul with my wife who is from Anoka. I'm from Virginia however, we look forward to the MN episode next week. Thanks for a great show and next time your in Trinidad please bring back a Bakein Shark.

[Dee Wayne]

AZ--

Have you hit Heidi's yet? Uncle Stewart Woodman is taking it to another level...

[Anonymous Person You Don't Know]

Alright, I have to relate this very-odd event that happened last night. I work a couple nights a week at a local restaurant (mostly for the discount, but also to kindly take yalls money) and last night Dara came in with a friend to, presumably, sample the new items on our bar menu. The odd part? She was wearing a pregnancy suit, as in, a costume to look pregnant. We all asked each other if anyone knew if she was preggers, but everyone thought not. Odder still, she had a couple glasses of wine with dinner.

So if MN Monthly has a story next month about servers serving pregnant patrons, don't be surprised.

[chef_wannabe87]

Hmmm.. it's interesting that chefs are sharing their thoughts on their professional life. Most of the blogs I've seen are about people's (especially the youngs) daily activities with their friends or their thoughts about life.

From what I see, there aren't many people who are interested in reading blogs about culinary topics. At least there are still some who are interested. It's better than nothing.

[Randy P.]

Andrew, kudos to you, I'm 53 yrs young and I have tried alot of wierd food in my life, as I watch you eat these different types of food I remember the looks I used to get from other people when I would eat some of the wierd food. But it was all very good, I thinnk you have the same theory that I have, no matter what it is if its in a good sauce or stew its bound to taste great.........Love the show, keep it up

[Red Pepper]

Dara is due in May... definitely not a preganancy suit. Pretty funny. Do the critics here in the Twin Cities really go to such extremes to go undercover? I think not but if any of you know otherwise, I would be curious.

Also, I saw that the old Pizza Nea space in Uptown had the paper off the windows. Is the Hector Ruiz venture open?

[davecamaro]

I forgot... a quick comment on Meatgate. I had my friend who is a trucker read the article. He said when he hauled cows for McDonalds they would only get paid for every live cow delivered. Many of the cows were old or sick that McDonalds used, so the truckers would inject anti-biotics in them to keep them alive until delivery. So I find all the accusations totally plausible

[David Foureyes]

Ok, my plausibility alarm is going off like crazy. I would love to see anything that supports a story that cross country truckers are driving around with large quantities of injectable antibiotics to give animals that may or may not be sick from bacterial infections. Just seems a bit far-fetched.

Next thing you know, the McNugget Chicken truckers are feeding chickens steel shot on the way to slaughter.

[davecmaro1994]

Well, I wasn't the one driving the trucks but I know they do not get the best meat. Maybe it is a trucker fable, maybe not, any truckers out there to verify? I do know they don't take the youngest best meat to go into any mega chain fast food burger. that would be too pricy. They are usually the older animals. Also, based on the article AZ referenced, some sick ones as well.

[Kelly Red]

Actually I have a hard time w/ this too but for another reason; McDonald's is a huge buyer for all their raw material. They usually contract a supplier for exclusive use. A farmer is contracted to grow potatoes for fries etc and McDonalds tells them what variety to plant, it's not random. They cut out the middle man at every chance so they would not be buying meat from a public slaughterhouse, they slaughter their own beef. How do I know this? My brother in Iowa contracts for McDonalds and ALL his cattle go to them, not just old or sick. Most beef cattle, to anyone who knows how it works, is the SAME AGE, they are bought as calves, raised and slaughtered on a schedule, usually 2 years or less. Now old dairy cattle (like in the CA video) are a seperate thing, but that type of meat does not go to McDonalds or any other large fast food chain. Almost all of them contract out their suppliers. You can say what you will about fast food, health issues of meat eating or whatever, but passing around stories like truckers injecting cattle to keep them alive is a bunch of crap.

[flasky jameson]

speaking of links, here's a good idea from Seth Godin...
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/the-bad-table.html

[David Foureyes]

In all honesty, I was surprised that McDonalds demands the cows be alive.

I think it's reasonable to assume that anyplace that can sell a burger for less than a dollar is using suspect meat.