• Peace O' Pie's vegan pizza is so good it might make you forget you're eating fake cheese. [Globe]
• Three stars for Jade Garden, where the trick is to point out your protein while it's still swimming in the tank. [Phoenix]
• The portions are huge and the prices reasonable at Stork Club, but the New Orleans-inspired food gets only a C+ from the Herald. [Herald]
Thomas Keller showed up on the Today show this morning to promote Ad Hoc at Home, All-Clad cookware, and, naturally, teach Al Roker and the team how to make his famous fried chicken. Ann Curry is visibly horrified by Keller's direct handling of the scorchingly hot fresh-from-the-oil chicken, and he reassures her by pointing out that after years in the kitchen, he's got "asbestos fingers." Watch the video for that, plus plenty more hijinx.
A new startup called tweservations launched in San Francisco today, getting Twitter into the reservations game at 14 local restaurants. Mobile application? Check. Ridiculous name? Check. Only surprise here is that this didn't happen earlier. [tweservation]
Ryan Sutton may have shown compassion for a 70-year-old lobster, but another critic, A.A. Gill of the London Sunday Times, has gone off in the opposite direction — and possibly off the deep end, say some of his critics. Gill has always been an unconventional reviewer (he was once booted from a Gordon Ramsay restaurant after penning a review in which he called Gordo a wonderful chef but a “second-rate human being”), however, he’s really gone and done it this time, having started a recent review with, “I shot a baboon in Africa, last Wednesday, just after lunch. Shot it dead.”
So says Brighton-native John Krasinski, best known as Jim Halpert from The Office. Krasinski talked to UrbanDaddy about his favorite Boston-area haunts, like Bill's Pizzeria in Newton Centre and Sullivan's in Castle Island. If he were returning home as Jim with a pregnant Pam on his arm, he'd try to take her to show her a good time at Sonsieor Match. And his best Boston meal? That award goes to Anthony's Pier 4, where the Krasinski family celebrates each Christmas Eve with clam chowder. [UrbanDaddy]
After San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera challenged Kellogg's to back up claims on boxes of Cocoa Crispies that the cereal "helps support your child's immunity" the company dropped the label from its packages. Boxes already on store shelves won't be pulled, but new ones with unadorned Snap, Crackle, and Pop will gradually replace them. [SF City Attorney]
As the Obamas prepare for their first state dinner on November 24, White House chef Cristeta Comerford faces the challenge of her career. From the sidelines, San Francisco's Rene Verdon, who cooked for the Kennedys, notes that the Obamas have similar palettes and values to the first family of 1961. “Mrs. Kennedy was very concerned about the health of the children,” he told the New YorkTimes. “She wanted them to eat meals of the freshest ingredients, and she wanted them to taste everything.” Verdon grew vegetables in the White House garden and used them in state dinners. "It’s a good thing she is doing, a very important thing," the 85-year-old farmers' market devotee said of the First Lady's garden. Comerford and assistant chef Sam Kass are still working with the Obamas to set the menu for the state dinner, when the White House hosts a delegation from India.
Heavy is the Toque at a State Dinner [New York Times]
Hold the mustard! The recently announced merger between Pennsylvania-based snack food makers Snyder's of Hanover and Utz is not going forward. The companies blame a "protracted revew" by the Federal Trade Commission for ending the deal. [Baltimore Sun]
Gordon Ramsay’s ratings are sinking in the U.K., according to the Daily Mail, but that isn’t stopping him from bringing more of his bluster to the States. According to a casting call we’ve obtained, December 15 will be the airdate of that cooking special Fox bought from him along with “Man Camp,” the show that promises to be a boot camp for men whose “ladies are slightly concerned about how feminine they’re becoming” (no word on when that gem will premiere). The cooking special will allow viewers to cook along at home with Ramsay, and some lucky home cooks will also be featured on air. Want your crack at being one of them? Read on!
The Mayor's Holiday Special is underway and, from now until January 18, printing a voucher entitles you to savings at more than 40 Boston restaurants. The deals vary from place to place: a free appetizer at some, free desserts at others, but with everywhere from Bina Osteria to Pops getting in on the action, printing out a coupon is well worth the ink.
Mayor's Holiday Special [Official Site]
“Some of the best Mexican food in Boston”
Everything here is worth trying.
“The food is awesome”
You will never be sorry for going to this place.
“Great quality food, just not my style”
They're using really good product here.
