Not officially, of course.  But servers at restaurants often labor under more rules than a slaughterhouse worker. Well, definitely more than a slaughterhouse worker actually follows.

I mention this because of Bruce Buschel’s latest post on his delightful Start-Up Chronicle blog for The New York Times. (If you haven’t read his posts yet on starting up a seafood restaurant, do yourself the favor, particularly this self-deprecating masterstroke.) In his latest post, Buschel lists 50 of the 100 things that restaurant staffers should never do. It’s a tough list, and I’m not offended by it for one simple reason: He’s the boss. He can make his employees do whatever he wants.

Some of the don’ts on Buschel’s list:

Read More “Servers May Be the Most Regulated Workers in the Country” »

I mean no disrespect to the Lager Heads, who had great coverage today of a beer vs. wine competition — I’ve levied plenty of jokes at wine myself. But NYT’s Eric Asimov wrote a wonderful call to sanity today on his blog The Pour, “A Plea for Peaceful Coexistence” (likely in response to the same event the Lager Heads covered). The crux:

The irony is that great beer and great wine are on the same team. The enemy of beer is not wine and the enemy of wine is not beer, just as the enemy of bread is not fruit and vice versa. But the enemy of good beer and good wine, and good food in general, is bad beer, bad wine and, yes, bad food.

This is exactly the kind of clear, sober (ahem) thinking that informs my philosophy about what beers to review, and how. The enemy of good beer is bad beer, and by far the largest propagators of bad beer are macrobreweries like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors. Hell, they’re the largest propagators of any type of beer — macros make up 96% of the market.

Cheers to Asimov for addressing this topic in a large, mainstream publication. But a wag of a finger for tasting 10 stouts and not including a single entrant from Bell’s or Founders, which are both available in New York and, among widely distributed microbreweries, two of the country’s most dominant stout brewers. Eric, can you help me out here?

Photo by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Well, sort of. At about the 1:56 mark in this segment on restaurant critics and anonymity, CNN captures a screen shot of your beloved Young & Hungry blog. I’m still trying to figure out whether CNN used Young & Hungry because we are a marvel of search-engine optimization or because they were trying to suggest that Y&H was cheap and tawdry — for merely writing about Sam Sifton’s new gig at the Times and rounding-up what others thought about it as well.

Or maybe we just look good on camera.

Suck it, Gawker!

Controversy over Esquire’s selection for Chef of the Year. The passing of Ben Ali. The New York Times‘ investigation into commercial ground beef. All of these have been major subjects on the blog this week.

And yet: The most-read item this week beat out Select 55 by a mere five clicks.

1. Barton Seaver to Be Named Esquire’s Chef of the Year, Controversy Ensues
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. Ben Ali’s Son: “We’re All OK.”
4. The Times’ Shattering Expose of Ground Beef: Where Does It Leave Burger Lovers?
5. Despite Founder’s Death, It Was Business As Usual at Ben’s
   

If you ever doubted the fame of Ben Ali and the tiny chili stand he started in 1958, all you have to do is look at the news coverage detailing his death yesterday. News outlets across the country either ran the AP story or wrote short, tribute-oriented pieces of their own.

Here are a few of them:

• The New York Times‘ Diners Journal: “There is perhaps no better way to end a punk-rock evening in Washington, D.C., than with a brisk walk up from the 9:30 Club to the bright lights of Ben’s Chili Bowl, home of the chili-laden half-smoke sausage, for a snack.”

Read More “The Death of Ben Ali: What Others Had to Say” »

The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial beef industry has consumed much of Y&H’s attention this week. First, I solicited a couple of burger men to give their opinions on the differences between commercial ground beef and gourmet ground beef. Then, I asked those with a less-vested interest in the subject— readers, in other words — for their thoughts.

Y’all had some good thoughts, like Jamie’s:

Read More “Readers Respond to Ground-Beef Gate” »

In the wake of the Times‘ investigation of the ground-beef industry — and its section on how quickly slaughterhouses must break down carcases — Y&H offers up this video on the proper way to butcher a side of beef. Obviously this is an apples-and-oranges comparison. Slaughterhouses must remove hides, organs, and intestines; butcher Tom Mylan is merely breaking down a side of beef.

But forgive me. I’m feeling nostalgic. This video comes from Gourmet, which just got its pink slip yesterday from Condé Nast.

 Michael Landrum, the man who put the meat into the Ray’s mini-empire, has never been shy about telling the world about the superiority of his beef.  The New York Times‘ investigation of the commercial ground-beef industry gave him another chance to do more of the same.

Landrum responded to three of the four questions posed by Y&H in the wake of the investigation. I asked Landrum — and BGR’s Mark Bucher before him — to try to alleviate public fears by explaining the differences between commercial ground beef and their ground beef.

Y&H: What was your overall impression of the Times‘ piece and what do you think it will mean for ground beef and burger sales in the future?

Landrum: Didn’t see the piece, so I can’t comment on question 1.  Read More “Michael Landrum Makes His Case for Gourmet Burgers in the Face of the Times’ Investigation” »

Rumors had been circulating for weeks about pending cutbacks at either Gourmet or Bon Appetit, but Condé Nast’s decision today to ax editor Ruth Reichl’s print baby sent shock waves through the food community (even if Gourmet’s book publishing and TV operations will continue, as will the Web site).

In his business story for the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons contacted included a quote from Reichl for a comment about the closure.  “Like everyone else, I found out this morning,” she told Parsons’ colleague, S. Irene Virbila, the paper’s restaurant critic. “I can’t talk about it now, it’s too raw. I’ve got to pack up my office.”

On her Twitter feed, Reichl added: “Thank you all SO much for this outpouring of support. It means a lot. Sorry not to be posting now, but I’m packing. We’re all stunned, sad.”

Others are equally stunned about the sudden demise of the 68-year-old magazine. More comments after the jump.

Read More “Journalists, Fans Respond to Condé Nast’s Decision to Kill Gourmet Magazine” »

Following the New York Times‘ investigation of the ground-beef industry, and the failed safety systems designed to protect the public from its worst practices, Y&H contacted a number of prominent burger operators to get their take on the situation.

It was a chance for them to refute any information, argue that the safety of gourmet ground beef is better than commercial ground beef, and generally try to calm a nervous public, if possible.

First up to respond: Mark Bucher, founder and co-owner of BGR: The Burger Joint. He e-mailed answers to four questions. (Responses edited for punctuation.)

Y&H: What was your overall impression of the Times‘ piece and what do you think it will mean for ground beef and burger sales in the future?

Bucher: I thought it was extremely well-researched. This certainly wasn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen in the world. Most of it occurs in fast food restaurants, where they struggle each day to produce a burger that can make them a profit at a .99 cent price point. In my opinion, the entire bulk ground beef issue is one borne by a slow economy and chain restaurants forcing suppliers to “reduce costs,” because they need the financial model to work for a return on their restaurants. I don’t think it will have any impact on the sale of ground beef. Humans love to eat beef; eating a succulent, juicy hamburger is one of the great joys of life.

Read More “Burger Joint’s Bucher Weighs In on the Times’ Ground Beef Investigation” »