Month: September 2014

OK, but who’s the real criminal here?

A 31-year-old employee at a Fallston, Maryland business is accused of attacking a fellow employee who ate one of his meatballs, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Cops say they were called to the scene at around 11:10 a.m. Thursday, after they say the man stabbed his lunch-pilfering coworker in the arm.

The victim was taken to a hospital but has since been discharged.

Harford County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Cristie told The Baltimore Sun that charges are pending.

It’s starting to seem as if “comfort foods” are horribly misnamed and actually do nothing but incite violence. In January, an Iowa man was accused of pulling a knife on his brother during an argument about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Last year, a Florida man allegedly stabbed his younger brother after his macaroni and cheese went missing.

H/T: Gawker

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Tacos include crispy falafel with tzatziki sauce or crispy oyster with jalapeno-cornichon aioli

I love cereal. Like, love-love it. I eat three to four bowls of cereal a day. Am I proud of that fact? Yes, of course I am. But just eating a lot of it didn’t make me an expert, so I have spent the last few months really digging into all sorts of cer…

Ronald McDonald is having a second helping, and not the good kind.

McDonald’s reported Tuesday that global sales at stores open more than a year dropped 3.7 percent in August. That was the company’s worst month for what are known as “same-store sales,” a key retail metric, since the Spring of 2003, according to Mark Kalinowski, a managing director at Janney Capital Markets. This is the second month in a row that McDonald’s has reported global same-store sales that set 10-year marks for awfulness.

“It is challenging out there,” Kalinowski said. “Even McDonald’s realizes that this is unlikely to be a quick fix here.”

The Golden Arches’ global performance was dragged down largely by what it calls its Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, where same-store sales plunged 14.5 percent. McDonald’s is still recovering after a video surfaced showing workers at one of its meat suppliers in China engaging in unhygienic practices, including picking up meat off the floor and putting it back in a processing machine. McDonald’s was forced to pull meat off menus in many China outlets after the scandal came to light.

McDonald’s “is in the process of undertaking recovery strategies in order to restore customers’ trust and confidence” in the region, the company said in a press release.

McDonald’s is also struggling at home. The economic downturn and slow recovery means that low-income diners aren’t spending as much on fast food. Those who can afford to spend are heading to chains like Chipotle or Shake Shack, which emphasize a commitment to quality, fresh food and treating employees well.

At McDonald’s, U.S. same-store sales fell 2.8 percent. And in August McDonald’s captured its second smallest share of the fast-food market since 2011, according to an analyst note from Kalinowski. The company named a new U.S. president last month, signaling it may be looking for a way to turn around its struggling performance.

Compounding these issues is the fact that McDonald’s has become a focal point in protests demanding higher pay and better working conditions in the fast-food industry. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested last week — some in McDonald’s uniforms — protesting in cities across the country.

For years, Virginia Beach, like many beachfront resort communities, was better known for fun food like burgers, fries, and ice cream than it was for award-winning cuisine. But that’s changing thanks to a thriving culinary scene driven in large part by a serious commitment to locally sourced food.

Rockafeller’s is a Virginia Beach institution located on the marina. Although the menu covers its bases, the emphasis is on fresh, local seafood. Specialties include crab and shrimp hushpuppies and freshly caught fish reeled in that day. And because Virginia Beach is situated at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the kitchen serves a rare treat: lump crab served simply, baked with drawn butter.

Rodney Einhorn, the chef at Terrapin, who did a stint at Le Cirque in New York and who has cooked at the James Beard House in New York, is focused on locally sourced everything to the point that the menu is entirely driven by what’s available on any given day. He relies on New Earth Farm, an organic space in the Pungo farming community just outside town. The farm grows a large variety of small crops from blackberries to sweet tomatoes. There are also free-range hens that lay fresh eggs and goats that produce fresh milk during calving season, which shows up on the menu.

Visitors can tour New Earth Farm or book a cooking class in the onsite classroom where the shelves groan with jars of preserved produce.

Even beachfront burger joints, like the new Lager Heads, are leaning local. Here, the bar features Virginia wine and 16 local brews on tap. Virginia Beach and the surrounding area has become a hotbed of breweries with a half-dozen in the area so far. For instance, Young Veterans Brewing Company was founded last year by two Iraqi War vets and offers beer with names that pay tribute to their military service like Jet Noise (a double IPA) and Pineapple Grenade (a Hefeweizen).

Leaping Lizard Café, which was featured on the Food Network’s “Dives, Diners and Drive-Ins” is a fun, casual space where chickens roam the yard. The kitchen sources eggs and herbs from its own backyard and taps local fruits and vegetables to create everything from the daily flatbread to seafood risotto.

Breakfast doesn’t get better than at Doc Taylor’s. Tucked on a side street in the heart of town, this restaurant, which is only open for breakfast and lunch, is housed within the former home of a 1930s doctor. Quaint rooms with fireplace mantels and creaky doors set the stage for solid home cooking. Massive platters of eggs, thick slabs of smoked Virginia ham and sautéed potatoes fuel the day.

Pleasure House Oysters is a new farm that’s dedicated to cultivating local oysters. After years of depletion, Chesapeake oysters are returning thanks to operations like this one. Visitors can bring a bottle of wine aboard an oyster boat for a tour of the hatchery and sample oysters. Virginia Beach Oysters — called Lynnhaven –are said to be among the sweetest thanks to their unique habitat at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where it opens into the Atlantic Ocean. If you’d rather try these oysters on land, they appear on the menus of area restaurants like Terrapin and A.W. Shucks Raw Bar and Grill in nearby Norfolk.

Oliver Struempfel is the best man to invite to your Oktoberfest.

He is able to hold 27 liters of beers — a total weight of 147 pounds — all at once.