• Who’d a thunk? Restaurants with attractive, scantily clad waitresses are the “fastest growing-segment” of the restaurant industry. Restaurants featuring attractive, scantily clad female servers fastest-growing segment of overall US restaurant sector . . .
• The big food corporations are pushing the concept of “second breakfast,” or “breakfast in stages”–insidiously exploiting the advice of many nutritionists and health experts to eat five smaller meals a day. ‘Second Breakfast’ Gains Toehold In America With Encouragement From Big Food
• Not that you care about London city politics, but this little item about Ken Livingstone, the Labor candidate, is pretty amusing. And typical. He accuses his opponent, Boris Johnson, a conservative, of having snobbish tastes–Johnson likes steak tartare–while he, Livingstone, a humble commoner, relishes a good “fry-up.” Funny, too, that Livingstone, a former food critic, struggles to remember the term for chopped and seasoned raw beef. Boris is steak tartare, I’m more fry-up, says Ken Livingstone
Jessica Voelker, online dining editor
• “I wish I could say the same for one of the ‘lions’ of the food writing community–someone who (until this trip) I had always liked and looked up to. Over the course of a few days, he revealed himself to be the most vicious, abusive, misogynistic, back-biting piece of shit I have ever met in my life.” Say what you will about Anthony Bourdain, the guy can tease a television show. RAW
• Once I thought I saw Lewis Black at the Gallery Place Metro station and I was so star-struck I missed my train. (It wasn’t him.) So it was with unbridled delight that I watched him sink his teeth into foodie preciousness. “Snapper, tilapia, who gives a shit? That’s what’s the ketchup for.” Watch Lewis Black Slam the ‘Artisanal’ Food Trend
• Score one for red sauce. Last night the American Society of Magazine Editors held their annual awards gala. Among the winners: Saveur, for this special feature on Italian America. Special Feature: Italian America
• The Onion A/V Club recaps the second episode of HBO’s new Julia Louis-Dreyfus vehicle Veep. Critical commentary tends to center on the show’s portrayal of vice presidential powerlessness–and, generally, the noxious power games that Beltway insiders play–but what I found particularly poignant in this episode was the disrespect suffered by DC’s hardworking online food media. Veep: Frozen Yoghurt
Sophie Gilbert, associate arts editor
• “Every day I have my house manager, Hershey–who I stole from the Mercer Hotel with André Balazs’s blessing–wake me up with a hot washcloth for my face, a leg rub, and a plate of toast soldiers. Then someone always gets chicken pot pie and potato salad from D.D., you know, Dean & Deluca. If I can’t afford D.D., I just don’t eat.” This is the awesomeness that comes from Courtney Love’s NYMag food diary. She also likes to eat cake (of course she does). And sugar from 4 to 5 AM. Courtney Love Is Hooked on Chicken Potpie and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
• Thank you, Tom Scocca, for peeling off the web of lies and deceit that pervades most contemporary cookbooks. At least, as far as browning onions is concerned. Layers of Deceit
• Is anyone out there “new to the hot sauce world,” NPR? I mean, I’m from England, where it doesn’t even exist, and I’m still a slavish devotee to Frank’s and Crystal. How To Tiptoe Into The Hot Sauce Craze
Anna Spiegel, assistant food and wine editor
• Dining world drama is oh so good, so why can’t we have a little more of it in Washington? Content yourself with this for now: The 15 Most Gloriously Dramatic Fights Between Restaurant Owners and Critics
• With the season’s first Chesapeake soft-shell crabs popping up on menus, it’s time to get to the seafood market and start cooking your own. Thank you, Sean Brock: Lowcountry Soft-Shell Crab.
• Alright, so this isn’t technically food-related, but it has the word “tequila” in it. And you should read it. Happy Friday: Airplane Passengers as Explained by their Pants.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
