Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

herbsaint is one of the best restaurants in the us. it's a must-visit.

very good coffee will help carry a lot of your business. i've worked in a few places, and even the ones with fairly odd or unfamiliar offerings got people in the door with coffee, then made steady customers out of them with the quality of the products.

what seems to sell the most - and this is partially conjecture - in the bakeries i've worked in isn't heavy pomp and circumstance. something simple - or even something that looks simple - will draw people in. especially if it's far more decadent than it seems. don't worry about piling on gold leaf or organic marzipan - make it look simple and delicious.

as for the next dessert trends - all i know is that they'll be free of trans fats. unfortunately.

but what do i know.

(and hey, if you want to hire a barista with lots of experience at premium rates, i'm your man)

this is a ridiculous shill. please take this down.

i tried just about everything while i worked in a breakfast restaurant for a few years.

my best solution? half-sprite half-orange juice mixes, and lots and lots of biscuits. it got me through a shift every time.

yeah - the smokie joe sandwich from oklahoma joe's and those fries, with a strawberry soda, in the gas station... oh man.

the peanut blt is the stuff dreams are made of.

since i'm from kansas city, i'm hardly impartial. but:

kansas city for beef and ribs.
carolina for pulled pork.

there's room for both in my world, and my stomach.