- DC’s Winter Restaurant Week starts next Monday! Find out what’s on the lunch & dinner menus at participating restaurants: Winter Restaurant Week: Whats on the Menu (Best Bites Blog)
- Which site do some in the restaurant industry consider to be “the most horrendous Web site on earth?” Not BYT of course! Heh, right guys? Area chefs tell us how they really feel about bloggers, Yelpers, and their brethren. (Best Bites Blog)
- The folks at We Love DC asked some of the most prominent figures in DC’s food & drink scene for their outlook on what will be big in 2011. So what does the new year have in store for DC diners? According to our favorite local chefs, food writers, and restaurateurs, we can expect to see “more hip cocktail spots,” “upscale ethnic food,” and “pop-up restaurants,” just to name a few.
- “It’s a dilemma of the computer age: you’re on a zombie killing spree in the virtual world while in the real one your beer mug has run dry? What to do? Do you really have to pause the action to hunt down another beer? Not anymore. At a consumer electronics convention in Las Vegas this week, electronics firm Nvidia unveiled the so-called KEGputer. Yep, it’s a beer keg and a computer rolled into one.” (Young & Hungry)
- With the increasing popularity of the Korean taco movement, local burrito chain California Tortilla has decided to offer a Korean BBQ taco, burrito and burrito bowl on its menu for a limited time. To kick it off, they will be offering free Korean BBQ tacos TODAY Wednesday, January 12. (DCist)
- Speaking of free food, virtually every major fast-food chain — from Burger King to Wendy’s to Taco Bell — is wheeling and dealing with specials, promos, even freebies to combat the slow month of January. You know what that means… Cheap pizzas, free french fries, and a new pair of stretch pants, hurray! (USA Today)
And now for the Round-Up…
- Where can you find fried sandwiches filled with roast pork, corn-flavored ice cream, and the world’s best chocolate? Endless Simmer compiles the Top 10 New Food Travel Destinations for 2011. (The Huffington Post)
- What happens when you try to ban junk food in schools? Surprise! Kids not only find a way to eat it anyway, but they create a black market where underground “dealers” can make up to $200 a week selling candy to students. So what has The Atlantic concluded? Prohibition is the wrong way to improve child nutrition. Uh, DUH. Hasn’t anyone seen Heavyweights??
- Think your 1775 Sherry is something fancy? Think again. Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest known winery and its over 6,000 years old. Archaeologists unearthed a large vat set in a platform for treading grapes, along with the well-preserved remains of crushed grapes, seeds and vine leaves, secreted amid dozens of prehistoric graves in a cavern in Armenia. (WSJ)
- File Austin’s Pizza under “most excellent customer service.” (Or at least the most accommodating to bizarre requests.) After a guy ordered a pizza with the special request that a picture be drawn on the box depicting a unicorn fighting a bear, Assistant Call Center Manager Chad Frierson decided to take matters into his own hands. He wrote:
Dear John,
We received your online order earlier this evening. We saw your note, “Please draw a unicorn fighting a bear on the box.” Unfortunately, our stores are not equipped to fulfill such a request. They simply do not posses the required skill. I, however, took it upon myself to draw out the picture you requested on a post-it note. I hope this suits your needs:
And now, for a mere $5, Frierson will doodle anything you want on a Post-it of your very own. (Eater)
- I think we can all agree that there are far too many restaurants with over-the-top, obnoxious web sites. Though without using photos, images, or music, this hilarious McSweeney’s article has managed to perfectly capture what can go wrong when you look up some restaurants on the Internet:
Welcome! LOOK! Pictures of our wall-sized aquarium!! Check out how all the links spin when you scroll the page!!!!!! DANCE MUSIC! See the bowl of noodles in the corner??? Mouse over it! WHHHHOA! Customer testimonials popped out!!!! Follow us on Twitter!!!!!
Read the full article here: If This Fusion Restaurant’s Website Could Talk.
- Forget cigarettes and heroin, incarcerated criminals love ’em some honey buns! According to the St. Petersburg Times, honey buns sell better than “tobacco, envelopes and cans of Coke” in Florida’s prisons. Though they aren’t just for eating anymore… Inmates in North Carolina have used the buns to “sweeten a wine they fermented from orange juice.” But don’t even think about trying to sneak one from your cellmate; in at least two cases, inmates have reportedly been murdered over the pastry snack. (Gawker)
- Last week, Starbucks introduced its new logo, ditching the “Starbucks” and just leaving the signature green mermaid. Though I have to say, I’d rather sip my latte out of Jimmy Kimmel’s Jersey Shore-inspired version – A Snookier Starbucks Logo. (Eater)
