New York A-Rated Eateries Won't Pay Fines .

Restaurant owners can relax: Those whose establishments earn an A grade at their first or second inspection under the city's letter grading system will no longer pay fines.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the change in his State of the City speech Wednesday, eliciting instant praise from the restaurant industry, which has complained about what it viewed as excessive fines.

"The cost of fines cuts into the tight profit margins that small businesses run," said Mr. Bloomberg during his speech. "So from now on, we will add a new incentive: any restaurant that earns an 'A'—either on its initial inspection or on a re-inspection—will not have to pay one penny in fines for any violations found on that inspection. Not one penny."

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Tucson restaurant to sell African lion tacos

In the six months since it launched Exotic Taco Wednesdays, Boca Tacos y Tequila has served up python, alligator, elk, kangaroo and rattlesnake.

Frog legs, turtle, duck and Rocky Mountain oysters have also made appearances.

"We've done just about anything we can get our hands on," said owner Bryan Mazon. "Every Wednesday we do something a little bit different."

Last week he announced on Boca's Facebook page that the UA-area taco shop was accepting prepaid orders for African lion, to be served on Feb. 16. Orders must be placed by 3 p.m. Feb. 7.

"I've gotten a lot of questions, like if it's legal," said Mazon, adding that a few lion tacos have been reserved so far. "We're still a month out, too."

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New Rules Impose Systems for Sharing of Tips in New York City

Rosemarie Ingleton left a $110.40 tip on a $552 check at Indochine on Wednesday night, after making an ineffable calculation based on ambiance, food and, of course, service. But she did not give a lot of thought to how it would be distributed among the staff.

“At a place like Indochine, where there are so many people attending to you, my assumption is that they’re sharing the tip at the end of the night — I’m hoping,” said Dr. Ingleton, a Manhattan dermatologist. “But I don’t really know.”

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California business owners claim ADA lawsuit is simply extortion

MARYSVILLE, CA - Several local business owners are upset after three different lawsuits accused them of not being in compliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).

But they're not necessarily upset over the compliance issue - they're more upset about what they call extortion.  George Louie, of West Sacramento, filed the lawsuits in Yolo County Court just before the turn of the New Year.  The lawsuits cite the Budget Inn Hotel and Gary's Place Bar & Grill in Marysville as two businesses without handicapped parking. Budget Inn owner Hasmukl Patel immediately added a handicapped space to his parking lot, then called Louie.

"He said that was not all, he said 'You're going to have to pay something'. I said, 'How much' and he said 'I'll give you the holiday special for $5,000,'" according to Patel.

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Law firm is sued after holiday party ends at bikini bar

LOS ANGELES The holiday season at many law firms means year-end bonuses and a nice dinner for employees at an upscale restaurant.
But things were a little different last year at the Los Angeles law firm of Glancy Binkow & Goldberg, according to a recent lawsuit. At the conclusion of the law firm's 2009 holiday party, founding partner Lionel Z. Glancy took staffers to a Los Angeles bikini bar named Fantasy Island, paid for their admissions and bought a lap dance for at least one employee, a former employee alleges in the sexual harassment and wrongful-termination lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that female employees at the firm were subjected to a hostile work environment that included "partners' obsession with discussing sex in the workplace and derogatory comments about women."

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More airport restaurants open closer to gates - and fliers

Airport restaurant operators are testing their latest gambit to sell more food and drink: getting their offerings within closer reach of passengers.

They're working with airports to get space closer to gates — or, in some cases, occupying entire holding rooms at gates — to cater to travelers who are reluctant to wander too far from where they board.

To do it, they're squeezing the size of gates, converting unused ones into food or snack areas and building smaller kitchens in gate restaurants that can function without a lot of equipment

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Struggling restaurateurs sought for new TV show

Local restaurants on the brink of failure -- there may be hope for one of you.
A new Food Network series that debuts this month is looking for prospective candidates from San Diego to be featured in a possible second season of the show.
While there is no guarantee a San Diego County eatery will make it onto "Restaurant:Impossible," or even that the new series will be renewed, the producer says the more applications submitted the better.

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New Hampshire Bill would allow bars, restaurants to advertise happy hour

DOVER — The words, "Happy Hour," could once again be advertised by local restaurants and lounges if a recently elected state senator gets proposed legislation through.

Newly-elected New Hampshire State Senator Nancy Stiles is planning to introduce a bill that would let bars and restaurants advertise a happy hour outside their establishments.
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Police suspect a second case of arson in less than 24 hours

Police are investigating a suspicious fire at an Italian restaurant in Saint-Leonard, the second suspected case of arson at a restaurant in less than 24 hours.
The first floor of a commercial building housing Ristorante Rimi at 8760 Pascal Gagnon St was apparently set ablaze at around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Firefighters found two broken windows in the rear and Montreal police say the back door of the building was broken into.
A resident saw smoke coming from the restaurant and called the fire department, allowing them to quickly get the fire under control before it spread to the second floor of the building.
The incident came one night after another suspected firebombing at Café Calypso in Montreal North just after midnight very early Wednesday morning.

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Michelin Inspectors: Food Industry Spies

A chef's toughest critic isn't the woman at the corner table who sent back her cod, or the man at table five nibbling on a steak tartar appetizer -- unless one of them is a Michelin inspector. Chances are, they'll never know.

The super secret spies of the restaurant industry, Michelin inspectors are the anonymous, incorruptible keepers of the coveted Michelin star rating. They've been writing anonymous reports of restaurants for over 100 years.
"We say it's a little like the CIA," said inspector "M," with a laugh. She asked that her identity not be revealed. "My whole life is staying under the radar, staying away from cameras, using fake names, trying to sneak in and out of restaurants unnoticed."

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Danville man's 'exploding' escargot negligence lawsuit dismissed

Image via Wikipedia

Two men who claimed they were scalded by "exploding" escargot at a San Rafael restaurant have been served a court ruling nearly as scathing.

Judge Roy Chernus dismissed "with prejudice" a negligence lawsuit filed by Chadwick St.-OHarra and Steve Righetti, who claimed their snails ruptured at Seafood Peddler last June, splattering their faces and shirts with hot garlic butter.

St.-OHarra also accused restaurant staff of "indifference" and "friggin' rudeness" in the immediate aftermath.
After the restaurant's insurer rejected their claim, the men sued for a $7,500 judgment for alleged negligence, pain and suffering. The defendants were Richard Mayfield and Manuel Camacho, two supervisors at the restaurant.

Chernus heard the case in a small claims trial on Dec. 3 and mailed his decision to the defendants this week. The two-page decision, laced with legal precedent and Latin jargon, said St.-OHarra and Righetti failed to meet their burden of proof.

See previous article

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Spain votes for tough smoking ban

Spanish lawmakers have voted to approve a tough new anti-smoking law, meaning that from 2 January, bars and restaurants will be no-smoking zones.

Smokers will also not be allowed to light up on television broadcasts, near hospitals or in school playgrounds.

The bill, proposed by PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his governing Socialist Party, was passed in the lower house by 189 votes to 154.

Bar and cafe owners fear the law will adversely affect business.

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New Beer Pouring Technique

Food critic outed and ousted from restaurant

Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila ducked into Red Medicine, a new Beverly Hills restaurant, for some modern Vietnamese food the other night, but got nothing to eat. Instead, she was outed and ousted, her party turned away, her picture snapped and critic's anonymity shredded by the restaurateur himself.

"I always knew at some point a blogger or somebody would take a secret photo. But I never expected that a restaurateur would stick a camera in my face," Virbila said Wednesday.

Virbila was rebuffed, Red Medicine managing partner Noah Ellis said, because "Irene is not the person any of us wanted reviewing our restaurant. … This was not a rash decision."

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Manhattan restaurant owner pleads to tax charge

NEW YORK — An 80-year-old Manhattan restaurant owner has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns by hiding $4.9 million overseas.

Ernest Vogliano entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan Wednesday. He agreed to pay a civil penalty of $940,000. Sentencing was set for March 24.

Vogliano owns Il Vagabondo, a legendary midtown restaurant. He said during his plea that he knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal when he failed to report the money from 2003 through 2007.

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Woman jailed for putting glass in restaurant meals

A woman has been jailed for four years after admitting she sprinkled shards of glass in her restaurant meals and ate them as part of a lucrative insurance swindle.


Mary Evano, 49, claimed $200,000 in compensation after filing the bogus insurance claims. She also incurred more than $100,000 in medical bills after carrying out the dangerous stunts.
After confessing to the deceptions, she was jailed in Boston and ordered to pay more than $340,000 in restitution.

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Chinese restaurant hires robot waiters

The owner, Zhang Yongpei, is hoping that his robots will prove to the world that China is on the global front line of technological development.

Inspired by space exploration and robot technology, each of the seven robots costs nearly four thousand pounds each, and they are wired to perform a specific duty within the restaurant.

As diners enter, they are met by a female robot equipped with batting eyelashes and a mechanical "welcome". They will later encounter receptionists, waiters and even dancing entertainers.

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A Preview Clip of NBC's America's Next Great Restaurant

NBC just released a preview clip of the upcoming series America's Next Great Restaurant in which contestants compete to see who has the best restaurant concept and win "the biggest reality prize in television history, a new restaurant chain." The kicker here, though, is that the four judges — Australian chef Curtis Stone, chef/Food Network host Bobby Flay, Nestle/Splenda spokesperson Lorena Garcia; and Chipotle founder Steve Ells — are actually going to invest in the nationwide launch of the chain. (Or maybe just three cities as a press release announced earlier this year.)


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Here’s Your Menu, Now Decode It

The menu at the Tippling Club says simply “pigeon,” but when the dish arrives at your table, it looks more like a pancake.
You wouldn’t have known from the Singapore restaurant’s menu that the bird would be served off-the-bone, flattened and carved into a circular shape with a layer of crispy skin on top.
Nondescript menus are part of the plan at the Tippling Club, says Ryan Clift, chef and co-owner. “Why should we tell diners everything they’re getting?” he asks, adding that he thinks traditional menus spoil the surprise.
Cryptic menus — with minimal descriptions of each dish, such as a list of ingredients or worse, just adjectives, colors or even emotions — have been in vogue for nearly a decade in the West. The trend was led by the rise of molecular gastronomy, a cooking style where detailed explanations can get complicated.

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Chef’s survey reveals 2011 menu trends

The National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot” survey of more than 1,500 professional chefs has revealed that local and hyper-local sourcing, healthy children’s meals, sustainable seafood and gluten-free cuisine will be among the hottest menu trends in 2011.
“The top trends identified by these culinary professionals for 2011 are reflecting larger societal trends, underscoring that American diners are becoming more and more interested in what’s on their plate. Sustainability and nutrition are becoming key themes in our nation’s nearly one million restaurants.” Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of Research and Knowledge Group for the NRA, said in a survey release.

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