From Paris to Miami, Restaurants Feel the Pain

Every chance I have, I save time to listen to the Marketplace Morning Report.I had a chance to find out thanks to Eleanor Beardsley report They still eat out in Paris (October 22) that in many dining spots empty tables are the norm. The piece also mentions many, except the...

Kicking the Tires: Bibendum Cookbook: How to Eat Out at Home

Here is some solace if you cannot/will not go to your favorite restaurant due to your new financial circumstances.Terrence Conran or rather Simon Hopkinson and Matthew Harris, the chefs at his Bidendum Restaurant in Michelin House on Fulham Road in London have decided to...

Ringing for Attention at Restaurants?

In Food outshines service at Cetrella (SF Chronicle, October 15), Michael Bauer asks "What is it about empty restaurants that cultivates poor service? It seems like every time I go into a dining room with a sea of open tables, service is erratic". I think there are more...

Beat the Dow Blues in Seattle with Chow Foods Instant Bailout (October 16)

Still wondering if the mega bucks bail outs around the globe will work their magic, here's a cure with guaranteed results. On Thursday, October 16, from 5 to 10 pm all Chow Foods restaurants in Seattle (Coastal Kitchen, Atlas, Endolyne Joe’s, 5 Spot, The Hi-Life, Mioposto)...

To Tip or Not to Tip...Stingy or Over the Top...From Russia to Australia

Since arriving in the US some 18 years ago, I spent a number of years making a living as a waiter so the provocative question Why Tip? in 'Food Fights', the Food Issue of the NY Times Magazine (October 12) got all my attention.Paul Wachter looks at this topic through the...

Do's and Don'ts of Traveling on Traveldodo

Before you step into a viper's nest, a bad spell or more prosaically an hotel, a restaurant you should not have visited in a locale you never experienced before, pay a visit to Traveldodo and save yourself a headache.If you are or were on the receiving end of a sour trip,...

Beretta amongst San Francisco Bay Area Restaurant Robberies (2008)

Should some eateries choose their name more carefully?Amongst the 2 dozen restaurants victim of a robbery in 2008 in the San Francisco Bay Area I found Beretta, a late night spot in San Francisco.Also listed is Pho 84, a Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland.Looking at the San...

Smoking ban: The economics behind it, and more!

"India has imposed a new ban on smoking in public places from October 2, 2008, the 139th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Four years ago too, one such 'ban' was 'imposed.' However, it was royally ignored and people continued to puff away in restaurants, clubs, bars, you...

Bodies of two women found in UK flat after party

In what could prove to be a high-profile tabloid case, the bodies of two women have been found in an apartment in Birmingham, UK after a weekend party. Police are investigating several lines of inquiry, including a possible connection with a local escort agency. This...

The Clerkenwell Kitchen, 'Best Sustainable Restaurant', Time Out London 2008 ...

Restaurants can be very wasteful places.With that in mind, I was glad to see Time Out London add a new category on Best Sustainable Restaurants for the 2008 Edition of their Eating and Drinking Awards which were just announced on September 9. The first winner is The...

Peru Taste: Heading for Lima, the Local Take on Peru's Cantinas and Restaurants

If your Spanish is halting or nonexistent and you are heading south to Lima Peru Taste, defined as an annotated guide to Peruvian Restaurants might be the place to visit. Their most recent entry La Gran Fruta is rated as Inexpensive and described as a "chain of small...