What happens when several groups of 7-year-olds take over a restaurant to plan, prepare, cook, and serve a meal? If you answered a 5 alarm kitchen fire, you’re surprisingly wrong. Well, at least in this case.

Kinderkookkafe is a restaurant in Amsterdam that’s completely run by children. That’s right, kids. Terrifying? Yes. A little gross? Kind of. But before you get your parent panties in a wad, fear not, because Kinderkookkafe is actually a safe, kid-friendly daycare program and cooking school that’s entirely supervised by adults who really, REALLY don’t want to get sued by you.

According to the official Kinderkookafe website, which I ran through Google Translate, the children will,”…participated delicious and balanced meal boil”. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds a little wonderful, and a little terrifying.

The menu includes healthy main-course meals and deserts that are easy to make, and are low cost for the customers. The students use easy-to-follow picture-recipes while preparing sandwiches, milkshakes, cakes, cookies, pies, and pizza that are all eventually served to the waiting customers… no matter how botched or booger-covered. The kiddos also learn how to take orders, make change, and afterwards are even put to work scrubbing dirty pots and pans in the kitchen.

The cost of Kinderkookkafe is €12.50 per child, but before you get all, “why am I paying for child labor?”, relax, you’re going to get a meal out of this! Will it be good? Who knows? A seven-year-old made it. Will it be adorable? You’re darn-tootin’ it will.

The idea for Kinderkookkafe (translated as Kids’ Kitchen Cafe) was dreamed up in 1981 as a place where kids could cook and serve food to guests all on their own. In 2004, Kinderkookkafe as we know it moved to their new location and has become so successful that foodies have to make reservations way ahead of time just to get a table.

If you are looking for a great daycare/educational event where your kids can learn about responsibility while wearing tiny white chef hats and coats there’s no better place than the Kids’ Kitchen Cafe! If you just want to watch a bunch of kids slaving in the kitchen to serve you meal, that’s okay too, I guess.

If you’re looking to pig out at some of the best dinners and cafes in America look no further! Here’s your guide to the Best Sandwich in America. 

Thank goodness it’s not another steakhouse. A Southern European restaurant called Pinea is moving into the W Hotel this September. It replaces J&G Steakhouse, which closed in June. In charge of the French, Spanish, and Italian–inspired menu is none other than chef Barry Koslow, who was previously the chef at DGS Delicatessen. The restaurant is […]

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — A southwest Florida waitress has dubbed the trio of naked hamburger thieves who broke into a southwest Florida eatery “dumb, dumber and dumbest.”

Waitress Nancy Sansevieri was still laughing after police released surveillance video Wednesday showing the college-aged men — two naked and one clad in underwear — stealing 60 hamburgers from Doc’s Beach House in Bonita Beach. Police say the men broke in early Sunday and left a trail of red peppers on the beach.

Doc’s general manager Lou Bangert told the News-Press of Fort Myers (http://newspr.es/1pevKLk) that he’s never witnessed such a crime in the restaurant’s 27-year history. Thieves have broken in and taken money from the cash register, but he says no one has ever slammed through a door completely naked looking for beef.

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Information from: The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, http://www.news-press.com

BERLIN (AP) — Emergency officials called to check out a suspected gas leak in Germany found a culprit they didn’t expect: a fridge full of rotting food.

Police in the central city of Braunschweig said Thursday that the fire service evacuated an apartment block in the city Wednesday night after being alerted to the smell of gas by a resident. They then searched for the source and traced it to a fridge in the apartment of the 35-year-old woman who had alerted authorities. It wasn’t plugged in and was full of rotting food.

Residents were allowed back into their apartments after half an hour.

This is what every trendy restaurant menu looks like. [Eater] Five amazing burger and shake combos around D.C. [Thrillist] Dave & Busters has 30 days to leave White Flint Mall. [WBJ] Hogo hosting parties before its Aug. 3 closure. [Post] Eat crabs and drink whiskey this weekend. [Zagat] Here’s another supper club: Bespoke Kitchen [Express] […]

SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue

By Maureen Callahan

Nostalgic as the ice cream truck jingle sounds, the high sugar, high-fat treats it dishes up aren’t the best way to keep cool in fiftysomething years.

Smarter strategies for “chilling out” call for lighter, nutrient-packed frozen and liquid treats that don’t pile on the pounds or aggravate good health.

Check out these five easy DIY recipes (and store-bought alternatives for when you don’t have time). Finally, adult treats that let you chill with good health in mind.

1. Chocolate-Dipped Bananas

Fiftysomething benefits: The blood-pressure lowering potassium from the bananas and the health-enhancing antioxidants from the dark chocolate make for a guilt-less treat.

DIY recipe: Microwave 6 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips in a glass bowl on medium power for one minute; stir. Continue microwaving in 15-second increments until chocolate is melted. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Cut two medium bananas in half and insert popsicle sticks into cut ends. Dip banana sections in melted chocolate and freeze on tray for two hours, or until firm. Place in freezer bags and store until ready to eat.

Lazy Cook’s substitute: Choose the dark chocolate version of Diana’s Bananas. Just two ingredients here — bananas and dark chocolate.

2. Fruit-Infused Waters

Fiftysomething benefits: Hydration. Hydration. Hydration. With a less-than-reliable thirst mechanism in later years, it’s common for water reserve to drop too low.

DIY recipe: Clean and slice up to 1 cup of any of your favorite seasonal fruits or veggies and add them, along with a few sprigs of fresh herbs, to a 1-quart pitcher. Fill with water and let steep in the refrigerator for two hours or longer. Serve as is, or strain out fruit mixture. Try, say, a strawberry-lime-cucumber water: Slice 12 large strawberries, one lime and one-fourth of a cucumber; add a few fresh crushed mint leaves along with ice and water and let steep. Note: For stronger flavors, muddle or crush fruits and herbs.

Lazy Cook’s substitute: Hint Water or Hint Fizz. No sugar. No fake sweeteners. This is just good old H20 (sparkling or still) with natural flavors such as apple, blood orange, blackberry or grapefruit.

3. Frozen Fruit Bars

Fiftysomething benefits: Research confirms that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables may reduce risk for heart attack and stroke.

DIY recipe: Combine 1/2 pound of frozen mango chunks with 6 tablespoons light coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 tablespoon lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon lime zest in a blender. Puree until smooth and pour into four juice bar molds. (Popsicle mold sizes are wildly variable so adjust amounts as needed.) Freeze bars for four hours or until firm.

Lazy Cook’s substitute: Fruttare Mango Fruit Bars. At a skinny 60 calories and only 11 grams of sugar, Fruttare Mango packs big flavor yet less sugar than most store-bought frozen fruit bars.

4. Green Smoothies

Fiftysomething benefits: Dark leafy greens are fiber-rich, full of vitamins and sport two potent antioxidants — lutein (healthy eyes & heart) and beta-carotene (healthy immune system, skin and bones).

DIY recipe: Green smoothies typically start with at least one dark leafy green (kale, spinach) and add other vegetables, along with a bit of fruit to keep things sweet. Eating Well magazine’s Green Smoothie or Good Green Tea Smoothie are good choices that use whole fruits and vegetables and so offer plenty of healthy fiber.

Lazy Cook’s substitute: Choices here are abysmal. Supermarket “green” drinks typically list fruit juices as their main ingredients and sadly contain very little of the “green stuff.” So what you’re sipping is a lot of simple fruit sugar — think adult soda pop — that’s absorbed quickly instead of being buffered by the fiber in whole fruits. Don’t believe us? Compare the numbers. An 8-ounce glass of cola sports 93 calories, 26 grams of simple carbs. Eight ounces (about half the bottle) of Naked Green Machine racks up 140 calories and 33 grams of simple carbs. Eight ounces of Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness Fruit Smoothie (again, about half the bottle) weighs in with 140 calories and 30 grams of simple carbs.

5. Fruit Sorbets

Fiftysomething benefits: Filling half the plate with colorful fruits and veggies nets you all kinds of vitamins and disease-fighting chemicals. On that list: anthocyanidins (that help keep blood vessels healthy) in berries, lycopene (good for heart health and cancer prevention) in pink grapefruit and beta-carotene (for immune, skin, and bone health) in aprictos. Whatever you pick, it’s all good.

DIY recipe: The sky’s the limit on flavor combinations with fresh fruits so go ahead and blend your own combos. Or check out these easy recipes from Cooking Light for Double Berry Sorbet or refreshingly tart-sweet Pink Grapefruit Sorbet.

Lazy Cook’s substitute: Haagen-Daz Strawberry Sorbet. One of the lowest sugar supermarket sorbets. More sugar than a homemade light sorbet but just 130 calories in half a cup.

Read more from Next Avenue:
Brain games that could pay off in retirement
10 ways to live longer and better
6 biggest risks to your retirement security