"A great Negroni makes you want to munch like you just smoked a Snoop Dogg's bong worth of hash." What do you get when President Obama's favorite chef (Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia) decides to do a restaurant side project at an art museum? Based on my first visit to Chicago's Terzo Piano in the Art Institute of Chicago's new modern wing, pretty much the usual second-rate food at usually ridiculously marked-up prices ($17 salads anyone?). That said, while my first visit was punctuated by disappearing waitresses and clumpy, grainy-sauced, overcooked pasta with 2.5 morels in it and an uninspired trio of $19 sliders, Chicago food-writing vets like Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune and Penny Pollack of Chicago Magazine were...
Continue reading »
You can't call yourself a true banana lover unless you're a member of the International Banana Club. Ken Bannister, T.B. ("Top Banana"), real estate agent, and creator of the International Banana Club, started collecting banana-related paraphernalia in 1972. He now has "the world's largest collection devoted to any one fruit," located in Hesperia, California. I want to join the club just so I can whip an International Banana Club Card out of my wallet whenever I feel like it. Watch the video after the jump....
Continue reading »
Despite the economic downturn, the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho, is reporting their busiest season ever with no decrease in sales at their gift shop [via VittlesVamp]...
Continue reading »
According to the New York Times, Copia, the food, wine, and art museum in Napa, California, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Julia Moskin is too polite to state the obvious, that Copia was clearly overly ambitious, to say the least, and never quite found its footing or place in the food world. Even 35 million dollars of Robert Mondavi's money wasn't enough to see it through. It's hard to imagine a reorganizational scheme that can work for Copia, particularly in these times. Everyone in the food world rooted from near and far for Copia to succeed, but to me it seemed doomed from the outset. I take no pleasure in saying that, believe me....
Continue reading »
What defines American food? In a compelling examination of the connection between American cultures and the foods they create, Museum on Main Street, a project of the Smithsonian Institution, has put together a collaborative online cookbook featuring recipes and personal anecdotes from across the country for their exhibition, Key Ingredients. The recipe database, searchable by type of food, story, heritage, or region, includes everything from Iowa Fried Pheasant or Squirrel to Armenian Eggplant. The site also provides recommendations for local food events and traditions by region. The physical exhibition, which will have visited over 200 venues across the country by 2013, is currently in Woodbine, New Jersey; Vancouver, Washington; Elloree, South Carolina; Vienna, Georgia; and Honolulu, Hawaii. [via The Village...
Continue reading »
Gourmet profiles the Warther Museum and Knife Factory, a maker of high-carbon steel kitchen knives for 106 years located in Dover, Ohio. They're one of the last companies that still grinds the knives by hand....
Continue reading »
