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- Burning question: Is René Redzepi’s celeriac-and-truffle shawarma the hottest fine dining dish of summer 2018? Perhaps. The chef is now serving this impressive tower of roasted roots and fancy fungus as part of the ”vegetable season” menu at his celebrated Copenhagen restaurant, Noma. Please do take a minute to gaze upon its earthy splendor:
Celeriac and truffle shawarma - our vegetarian main course. Sooo many hours of prep work on this: slicing, marinating, slowly cooking until sweet, golden and caramelized pic.twitter.com/3tNybOnfdO
— Rene Redzepi (@ReneRedzepiNoma) July 2, 2018
- In an effort to curb marine pollution, local authorities in Seattle, Washington just banned all plastic utensils in restaurants and bars throughout the city. Now the five thousand restaurants within city limits will have to offer reusable or compostable utensils, or face steep fines.
- Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled that Yelp does not have to take down user-generated content that could be deemed libelous. In a statement about the 4-3 decision, judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye said that the court protects a law “intended to promote online discourse and industry self-regulation.” The decision was made during a case involving a negative user review for a San Francisco law firm, but of course, this ruling also applies to the thousands of restaurants throughout California that are featured on Yelp, too.
- A controversial opinion, courtesy of the Takeout’s Marnie Shure: Plain hot dogs are the best hot dogs.
- Sales at casual sit-down restaurants are up for the first time in a few years, thanks, in part, to the fact that some of the big chains made revamps to fit the ever-changing tastes of diners, like adding more small plates and offering delivery.
- The weed authorities at High Times magazine have determined that Taco Bell is, in fact, the ultimate stoner restaurant.
- Wine Spectator just released its list of the 91 restaurants around the world with the best bottles. Seven new restaurants make this year’s list, including Ai Fiori in NYC and Borolo Grill in Denver.
- Lufthansa business class travelers flying in and out of Germany this summer can eat food that Heston Blumenthal designed for German astronauts.
- Centerbridge Partners, the private equity firm that purchased P.F. Chang’s six years ago, is looking to unload the Chinese restaurant chain.
- And finally, South Korean locations of Starbucks are now serving a concoction that looks and tastes like an avocado. It’s called the Avocado Blended, and, wow, it has a “pit” made of chocolate:
