Happy almost-Friday. In today’s food news: Guy Fieri is expanding his Donkey Sauce-slathered restaurant empire; Pharrell gets into the gourmet foods game; the ingredients chefs can’t live without; what Kanye West drinks backstage; and more.
— Your favorite spiky-haired talking head is opening another restaurant: Guy Fieri’s Smokehouse hits downtown Louisville on September 10. No menu has surfaced yet, but in the words of Fieri, expect out-of-bounds barbecue that’ll take you to Flavortown... or something.
— Which ingredients are indispensable for the world’s top chefs? April Bloomfield says anchovies, while Marco Pierre White requires plenty of butter, and Eric Ripert’s got to have black truffles.
— A cafe in Australia serves coffee that will keep you awake for three days. This seems like a Very Bad Idea.
— Fans who manage to get backstage at a Kanye West concert may have a tasty frozen cocktail waiting for them. (It’s not frosé, but it’ll have to do.)
— Giant hat wearer Pharrell is launching a line of specialty foods for Dean & Deluca, for some reason. The "Williams Family Kitchen" line will launch next spring.
— Beyond Burger, the meatless burger that "bleeds" beet juice, is now available at Whole Foods in several more states: Kansas, Maryland, northern Virginia, Utah, Kansas, and Colorado.
— Speaking of plant-based burgers that bleed, here’s a review of Beyond Burger’s biggest competitor, the Impossible Burger: