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100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters
 100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters 
Nov 11, 2009 9:37 AM CST

100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters

Former waiter irked by Bruce Buschel's New York Times list

(Newser) - Along with the rest of the world—or at least, frequenters of the New York Times website—Lauren Bans read restaurateur Bruce Buschel’s recent “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” And the former waiter is pretty annoyed. “No minimum wage job should ever require a...

Biggest Restaurant No-Nos, Part 2
 Biggest Restaurant 
 No-Nos, Part 2 
CHECK, PLEASE
Nov 5, 2009 1:30 PM CST

Biggest Restaurant No-Nos, Part 2

Owner offers another 50 ways to please guests, keep job

(Newser) - Bruce Buschel isn't out of touch. "I realize that every deli needs a wisecracking waiter," he writes in the New York Times, "and burgers always taste better when delivered by a server with tattoos and tongue piercing(s)." But at his soon-to-open restaurant, these rules (coupled...

The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos
 The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos 
check, please
Oct 29, 2009 3:30 PM CDT

The Biggest Restaurant No-Nos

Owner lays down the law with these rules for staff

(Newser) - The seafood restaurant Bruce Buschel is building will have excellent service—or else. Some staff members, he acknowledges, "will no doubt protest some or most of what follows," but he's the boss, and he presents 50 rules in his New York Times blog. A tasting menu:
  • "Do
...

Worst Food Trends of the Decade
 Worst Food Trends 
 of the Decade 
check, please
Oct 22, 2009 2:40 PM CDT

Worst Food Trends of the Decade

From onion blossoms to overhyped chefs, these things need to go away

(Newser) - Asked to name the decade's worst dining trends, chefs and other food experts couldn't shut up. There were too many (including "mache, water sommeliers, organ-meat entrees, unisex bathrooms, bacon tattoos on chefs, over-flaunted kitchen burns, chefs tables") for Christopher Borrelli to list them all, but he...

10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks
 10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks 
Sep 23, 2009 12:09 PM CDT

10 Dirty Restaurant Tricks

Eateries cut corners and assume you won't notice

(Newser) - Restaurants are known to cut a few corners for the sake of their bottom lines. Slashfood sheds some light on dirty little industry secrets, including:
  • Using cabbage instead of seaweed: An ex-maître d’ at an upscale Chinese joint says the chef assumed his celebrity clientele wouldn’t know the
...

Subway Will Soon Have More Stores Than McDonald's

But sandwich chain still lags behind McD's in sales

(Newser) - Subway is nearing a milestone: the sandwich chain will soon have more global locations than McDonald’s, Ad Age reports. The chain is expanding so quickly that it's expected to have 31,800 stores by the end of the week. It's probably just a matter of months before it surpasses...

DNA Testing Snags Fish Imposters
DNA Testing Snags Fish Imposters
Aug 24, 2009 8:38 AM CDT

DNA Testing Snags Fish Imposters

Restaurants often swap cheap fish for pricey ones on menu

(Newser) - If you ordered grouper ($12 per pound) at a restaurant, and the chef slipped you catfish ($2.50 per pound) instead, could you tell the difference? Most diners can’t, which is where Mahmood Shivji comes in. Shivji’s a DNA researcher, who’s developed a method of testing the...

Denny's Sued Over Salty Food

(Newser) - A consumer activist group is taking Denny's to court over the "dangerously high" salt levels in the restaurant chain's food, Reuters reports. The suit, filed on behalf of a New Jersey man with high blood pressure, seeks to require Denny's to list the sodium content of its food on...

In Recession, Vegas Eateries Can't Beat Odds

(Newser) - Just a year ago, 25% of the country's highest-grossing restaurants were in Las Vegas—where diners ran up $15,000 checks and tipped waiters with wads of C-notes. But now restaurants are closing, new construction languishes half-finished, and more than 5,000 food industry workers have lost their jobs. "...

Pranksters Get Guests to Trash Hotels Like Rock Stars

(Newser) - A dastardly online organization has taken prank-calling to nefarious highs and is being investigated by the FBI, Fox News reports. PrankNET and its leader, “Dex,” have used untraceable Internet phone calls to:
  • impersonate a corporate honcho and make KFC employees spray down their entire restaurant with fire suppressants,
...

Prepared Food Aisle Is the New Restaurant

Restaurants take hit as customers opt for cheaper grub

(Newser) - Cash-conscious consumers who’d rather not cook are increasingly ditching restaurant dinners in favor of grocery stores’ prepared meals, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. At some stores, prepared-food sales have jumped 7% to 10%, says an industry consultant. For their part, supermarkets are hawking a bigger and better selection of...

Restaurant Boots Gay Men After Kiss
Restaurant Boots Gay Men After Kiss
Jul 10, 2009 11:31 AM CDT

Restaurant Boots Gay Men After Kiss

Police cite 'right to refuse service'; others blast discrimination

(Newser) - Five gay men were ordered to leave a Texas restaurant after two of them kissed, the El Paso Times reports. One called police to lodge a discrimination complaint—but an officer backed the restaurant guards’ decision because same-sex public kissing was illegal, said one of the men. In fact, a...

Trend Alert: Gourmet Pizza Heats Up

Pies in new 'stratosphere of respect'

(Newser) - In recent years, a new culture has developed around pizza: “It’s scrutinized and fetishized, with a Palin-esque power to polarize,” writes Frank Bruni in the New York Times. That means debates over oven types, varieties of flour, the virtues of buffalo mozzarella. The new “stratosphere of...

The Most Overused Menu Descriptions

From 'grilled to perfection' to 'garden fresh'

(Newser) - Tired of menus that use the same old phrases over and over? So are the food critics at the Chicago Tribune. They nominated nine menu clichés for the compost pile:
  • "Grilled to perfection": Subjective to the point of meaninglessness. And why always grilled, and not “boiled” or
...

Hell's Kitchen Chef Sees Profits Fry

Ramsay pours millions into failing biz, admits 'ambition overtook me'

(Newser) - Burned by plunging profits after a year of dizzying expansion, Hell’s Kitchen star Gordon Ramsay admits he bit off more than he could chew. Profits at Gordon Ramsay Holdings, which the fiery chef co-owns with his father-in-law, have dropped 90%, forcing the pair to pour more than $8 million...

Twitter a Delicious Marketing Tool, Restaurants Find

Microblogging website allows for quick communication with customers

(Newser) - Restaurants are finding Twitter a highly useful marketing tool, allowing for direct communication with customers other forms of advertising can’t provide, the Boston Globe reports. Boston’s Tupelo (@tupelo02139), for example, used a Twitter feed to post updates as the restaurant passed inspections, set the décor and decided...

Designer Cocktails Call for Designer Ice

(Newser) - Innovation in cocktails has spread to their simplest component, the Globe and Mail reports—ice. “Ice is the equivalent to a stove for a chef,” says one bartender whose watering hole boasts three kinds of frozen water. Another Canadian bar produces seven varieties for different drinks. Mixologists use...

8 Funky Boozing Trends
 8 Funky Boozing Trends 
May 30, 2009 5:40 PM CDT

8 Funky Boozing Trends

Esquire lists the hottest trends you'll be seeing at a bar near you

(Newser) - If you’re going to consume conspicuously, you may as well imbibe in style. Esquire distills eight drinking trends coming to a bar near you:
  • The Enomatic, a high-end wine vending machine. This auto-sommelier pours a perfect glass every time, leading some bars to cut out the middleman (in this
...

Starbucks Looks to Cut Back on Rent
Starbucks
Looks to Cut Back on Rent
May 29, 2009 2:42 PM CDT

Starbucks Looks to Cut Back on Rent

Coffee chain presses landlords for 20%-25% reductions

(Newser) - Starbucks is asking some of its landlords for a venti favor: lower lease rates by as much as 25%, Bloomberg reports. With the real-estate market in decline, a rep says, “We’re taking advantage of the opportunity,” adding that most landlords foresee a “mutually beneficial situation.”...

'Housemade' the Latest Word in Fine Dining

Artisanal flavor sets cuisine apart from mom's 'homemade'

(Newser) - A word that isn’t yet in the dictionary has been cropping up on menus across America: “housemade” is the new trend. Don’t confuse it with “homemade,” which has lost its buzz and now suggests an unprofessional cook or a hokey menu-writer. “Housemade has more...

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