Guy and Gordon
Marilyn Hagerty, of Olive Garden viral review fame, doesn’t see the point of Pete Wells’s takedown of Guy Fieri’s new restaurant. “What is the point of tearing down a restaurant. Could there be some pluses and minuses? If it’s no good at all, why bother reviewing it?” [Gawker] —Sophie Gilbert
Hannah Goldfield and Amelia Lester of the New Yorker pay a visit to Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square to see whether it’s really as bad as Pete Wells said. [New Yorker] —Todd Kliman
This week in shameless rip-offs, Gordon Ramsay attempts to name a British restaurant the Spotted Pig. Mario Batali, whose West Village Spotted Pig is an NYC institution, isn’t thrilled. This pig is causing some beef, yo. [HuffPo] —SG
DI-Why
The Guardian takes a look at which foods we should be making from scratch and which aren’t worth the effort. Pesto, for one, is both incredibly easy to make and yet never comes close (IMHO) to the salty goodness of the Trader Joe’s version. Biscotti? Don’t be a lazybones. [The Guardian] —SG
Season’s Eatings
What makes the greatest holiday ever even better? Having Larry David at the table. [Vulture] —Ann Limpert
Food & Wine gathers holiday gift-giving and entertaining tips from a slew of top chefs and reveals that if you’re a bestie of José Andrés you might receive a Heritage Foods black turkey or a dinner devoted to truffles. Bayou Bakery’s David Guas plays it more casual, doling out Mason jars of honey and Chinese takeout boxes of Heavenly Hash. [F&W] —AL
While most of us are looking forward to a few days out of the office, Grub Street interviews food folk for whom the holidays are the busiest time of year. [Grub Street] —Tanya Pai
Just in time for Thanksgiving, NPR asks why Americans go sooooo crazy for pumpkins. I won’t spoil it for you, but it has not that much to do with taste. And shocker: Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte contains no actual derivation of the fruit. [The Salt] —SG
To Your Health?
Where the eight-glasses-of-water-a-day prescription came from, and why all those earnest young professionals toting gigantoid bottles of Evian and Dasani are fooling themselves. [Mind the Science Gap] —TK
More dubious nutrition advice: this vintage Camel ad suggesting a cig after every course “for digestion’s sake.” Don Draper would, no doubt, be onboard (but with Lucky Strikes, of course). [HuffPo] —TP
The lawyers who took on Big Tobacco have trained their sights on Big Food. [BBC] —TK
Our Great Nation
How very Atlantic online: an exploration of how Obama crushed it in states where a lot of people do Internet searches for the phrase Top Chef. Seriously, this was published. [The Atlantic] —TK
And because this is America, Twinkies are now for sale on eBay; BuzzFeed rounds up the eight best listings. [BuzzFeed] —TP
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
