Dieting should be fun
Filed under: On the Blogs Photo: Carl's Jr. The thing with endorsements is that the featured celebrities are actually supposed to use the products -- that's what makes the public flock to buy it. Slashfood couldn't agree more with the editors over at The Stir , who said "I have a really hard time believing that these super-skinny celebrities chow down on the greasy fast food.....makes me want to scream false advertising." Head over to The Stir to find out which seven celebrities set off the BS alarm, and watch their endorsements.
Filed under: Drinks , Features Photo: The Avenue Pub A weekly look at the draft selections in beer-friendly bars across the country. New Orleans is a city that is known for its parties and its drinking. But for a place that loves alcoholic beverages, craft beer has been conspicuously underrepresented in their landscape of libations. Polly Watts, owner of New Orleans' The Avenue Pub , pointed to people's preference for other drinks. "Louisiana is a big liquor consumer," she explains. "Lots of vodka and rum." It makes sense: Bourbon Street is more than just a catchy name. And The Big Easy's penchant for fine dining plays a role as well. "We're a really big wine state too," she told us. Not to say that beer didn't exist. It just wasn't always the drink of choice. And it was rarely ever craft. "For decades, the only beer you'd see was generic macrobrews," said Watts, before adding, "maybe an occasional Abita," referencing one of Louisiana's few well-known craft breweries. Continue reading The Avenue Pub, New Orleans - What's On Tap?
Filed under: Fast Food Photo: julien, Flickr Anyone who's cleaned out a minivan can attest that McDonald's food just...doesn't...age. A fresh-looking burger lies stiffly next to a completely rotted apple core. The fries scattered in the backseat are hard and cold, to be sure, but there's not a spot of mold on them. And it's been weeks since the kids had those Happy Meals! What gives? There's long been speculation that this food fountain of youth is due to a massive amount of preservatives. But McDonald's maintains that their burgers, at least, are completely preservative-free. The answer may not be quite as sinister as suspected. Although McDonald's hasn't actually fessed up to whether preservatives lurk in anything other than its burgers, there are scientific explanations for what Salon calls this "shelf life of the undead," and while they're not exactly scary, they're not exactly healthy, either. Rather than huge levels of chemicals, we're talking hefty servings of fat and salt. Continue reading A Clue to the McDonald's Fountain of Youth
Filed under: Chain Stores / Restaurants Photo: White Castle What's going on behind the venerable ramparts of White Castle ? As Nation's Restaurant News reports , it appears that the chain is looking to be home to more than just its oddly addictive little sliders. It's testing three different restaurant-within-a-restaurant concepts, trying its hand at a strangely diverse mix of fast-food fare: barbecue, pressed club sandwiches, and "Americanized Asian noodles." Taken together, it kind of looks like company executive simply headed down to the food court at their local mall and had an epiphany: "Hey, we could do all this!" Inside one of its restaurants in Lafayette, Indiana, White Castle recently opened Blaze, which it bills as "modern barbecue." (We have no clue what they mean by "modern" here; presumably they won't be serving mastodons on a spit.) According to the online menu, Blaze offers a range of barbecue staples, from pulled chicken to brisket, and traditional sides (baked beans, mashed potatoes, etc.). Continue reading White Castle Looks to Grow Its Domain
Filed under: On the Blogs Photo: mio-spr, Flickr Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar . Here's what they've got cooking this week:
Filed under: News Photo: sunjaec, Flickr Stroll the aisles at your local natural foods store. Notice anything? Along with the sandalwood scent and fair-trade coffee comes higher prices, especially for organic produce. When you stop to think about it, it might seem kind of odd; after all, organic farmers don't use all those conventional chemicals and fertilizers, so there would seem to be a lower overhead. Right? Turns out it's not that simple. Citing a University of Wisconsin study , The Seattle Times points out that there are many factors contributing to the higher price of organic produce -- including start-up costs (converting land from conventional farming to certified organic takes three full years), rotation farming (to maximize natural fertilization), and hands-on cultivation (as a means of pest control). It all results in more work for a lower yield, meaning lower profits for the farmer -- and higher prices in the natural foods aisle. So why bother eating organic? The two biggest reasons: fewer pesticides and (potentially) more nutrients . A 2007 study funded by the European Union showed that organic fruits and vegetables can contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants than their conventionally grown brethren. (Even more astounding, organic milk had a whopping 60 percent more antioxidants and essential fatty acids than conventional milk.) In some cases organic foods don't show any extra nutritional benefit (as Time recently reported), but the environmental benefit still remains. Continue reading What's the Deal with Organic Pricing?
Filed under: Television/Film Photo: David Giesbrecht / Bravo We're winding down on Top Chef . With five contestants and still no clear front-runner, anyone could go home. The tension is high. The challenges are ever-more bizarre. Padma is wearing a weird tuxedo-jacket-and-men's-necktie combo. And the need to get the hell away from the stifling thematic confines of Washington, D.C., are more apparent than ever. The second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin ? NASA food scientists? Entrees meant to be freeze-dried and served in zero gravity? Really? With just one elimination to go before a change of scenery, we were anxiously awaiting the announcement of the exotic locale. Apparently, we weren't the only ones. Continue reading Not a Dry Eye in the Space Station - 'Top Chef D.C.'
Filed under: Feast Your Eyes Photo: sweetbeetandgreenbean, Flickr Onion rings are the fried-food lover's way to banish remorse. It's a vegetable, and it has anti-inflammatory properties; maybe it even helps fight cholesterol. So what's a little oil among friends? Works for me. Blogger sweetbeetandgreenbean coats the rings with corn meal and herbs instead of flour, which makes for a crisp batter. (Get the recipe here. ) And instead of a big pool of ketchup she spices it up with a curried tomato sauce. (Of course, if you want to cut down on the fat, oven-fry the onions, as in this recipe .) Serving them on a bed of red cabbage adds color and fiber, and, for those of us who live in world where onion rings trump the rings of Saturn, that means it's practically a balanced meal. Or so I say as I reach for another crunchy ring. Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.
Filed under: Restaurants http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=928602&pid=928601&uts=1283375462 http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf Mario Batalis Eataly Outside the 23rd Street entrance to Eataly and Eataly Vino.
Filed under: Drinks Photo: Demián Camacho Santa Ana With the renewed interest in classic cocktails over the past decade, it wasn't uncommon to get a little attitude from some bartenders -- whether in hip urban establishments or honky tonk bars -- if you ordered piña colada ("the blender is broken"), a Mai Tai, or any other foofy drink that traditionally comes in a funky mug with a fruit salad garnish. Not anymore. Tiki drinks and all their gewgaw are back in full swing. In the early 30's, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt figured out how to make some money with his interest in Polynesian culture. He named his place Don the Beachcomber (and later even changed his own name to Donn Beach), becoming quite the entertainer and host at his restaurant bar. Legend has it that he ran a water hose on top of his tin roof to mimic the sound of rain so customers would keep chatting and drinking. With over 80 drinks to his credit, he is the father of the tiki cocktail craze that lasted for decades. With copy cats galore attempting to make a profit off his concept, many of the liquor bottles at the Beachcomber bar were replaced with ones labeled with cryptic letters and numbers to keep the recipes as secret as possible. California's Victor Bergeron built on the Beachcomber's success. His tiki entertainment empire became known as Trader Vic's. His books Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (1946) and the Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic (1947) are worth adding to your library. Continue reading Tiki Time -- LeNell it All