from Grub Street Philadelphia

Donald Goerke

Let’s all take a moment to mark the passing of Donald Goerke, the man who dreamed up SpaghettiO’s back in the 1960s. His obituary explains how he came up with the signature shape: “Mr. Goerke was marketing research director for the Franco-American division of Campbell. Hoping to boost sales, his group considered different pasta shapes that would appeal to children, including baseballs and stars. He decided to go with O’s. ‘We wanted to keep it simple,’ he told a reporter.” With the recent death of Quarter-Pounder inventor Al Bernadin, it’s been a rough month for fast food pioneers. [Inquirer]

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Filed Under: obituaries, campbell’s, donald goerke, spaghettios

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, the national trade association for the wholesale tier of the wine and spirits industry, announced that former governor of Alaska, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and noted oenophile Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker at their annual convention in Las Vegas.

Craig Wolf, the president and CEO of the trade association, explains the choice:

“Governor Palin is a great supporter of America’s free enterprise system and understands that industries like the beverage alcohol industry play a key role in driving our national economy.”

Clearly, the newly anointed Fox News contributor is a great supporter of the free enterprise system, considering the $75,000 to $100,000 per speech she enterprisingly charges. But what else does Sarah Palin have to do with wine or spirits? Does she even drink? Is it because listening to her talk drives us to drink? Is it her prior association with Joe Sixpack that makes her seem alcohol-friendly?

Cindy McCain, the wife of her former running mate John McCain, is CEO of a major beer wholesaling operation and seems like a better choice if the WSWA was poking around for a potent Republican personage to regale their members. Another question that remains unanswered: do the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America know about Palin’s sordid past as a scantily-clad endorser of Old Clandathuu’s Best Lager, a popular alien beer?

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Filed Under: food politics, sarah palin, scandals, wine and spirits wholesalers

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

After filing his picks for 10 best restaurants, Alan Richman finishes up his assessment of last year by selecting the top five “mouthwatering meal-enders” of 2009. Desserts from New York, San Fran, L.A. Philly and Chicago restaurants all made the short list, which runs the gamut from the tame (upscale cannoli at Philly’s Osteria) to the slightly terrifying (caramelized sweetbreads with vanilla-bean-parsnip custard at Schwa in Chicago). [GQ]

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Filed Under: lists, alan richman, desserts, gq magazine, sweet news, the other magazines

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

The Soda Phone

Been wondering what to do with those empty calories from soda? Someday you can use them to power your phone, if this Coke-powered cell phone prototype ever makes it to market. Created by 24-year-old designer Daizi Zheng for Nokia, its battery “makes use of enzymes to generate electricity from carbohydrates… found in sugary drinks.” You just pour the pop into the phone and it does something scientific and magical. Even better, the soda-powered battery lasts four times longer than a lithium battery and the whole thing is biodegradable. And to be fair, it runs on Pepsi products, too.

Coke-Powered Nokia Cellphone Concept By Daizi Zheng [The Design Blog]

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Filed Under: food as fuel, coke phone

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

GQ food critic Alan Richman

GQ magazine’s resident Grumpy Old Man and restaurant critic has put forth his contenders for the ten best restaurants of the year. The list includes Marea and Aldea in New York, Craigie on Main in Cambridge, The Bazaar in L.A., Bibou in Philly, 54 Mint in San Francisco and The Bristol in Chicago, plus picks in Portland, Seattle and Atlanta. Unsurprisingly, there are no restaurants from New Orleans included among his favorites.

10 Best New Restaurants of the Year [GQ]

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Filed Under: lists, alan richman, gq magazine

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Is Stephen Starr planning a third New York restaurant? The Philadelphia-based restaurateur, who transported his mega-restaurants Buddakan and Morimoto from Philly to Chelsea, tweeted on Friday that “Plans for a new Starr space in NYC are in motion. Creating Vietnamese menu and looking for chefs.” Starr confirmed to the Inquirer that he’s in negotiations with an unnamed New York hotel, but “cautioned plans were preliminary because the lease was not signed.” Which makes one ask, why tweet about it? This isn’t the first time Starr’s looked into a New York hotel: He was previously in talks to take over the space in the Gramercy Park Hotel that is now Maialino.

Starr’s premature Twitter?

Starr’s Vietnamese Plan in New York [Inquirer]

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Filed Under: empire building, stephen starr

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

Stephen Starr will have a coveted seat at the Final Table on tonight’s Top Chef finale. The Philly-based restaurateur, who also owns New York’s Buddakan and Morimoto, appeared as a judge on the last season of the show, although none of the those contestants seemed to impress him much. At least now we don’t have to worry about what he’d say to fellow Philadelphian Jen Carroll, but perhaps he’ll show up at her finale viewing party tonight?

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Filed Under: food tv, stephen starr, top chef, top chef: las vegas

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

Wine Enthusiast magazine has extended a friendly hand across the alcohol-soaked aisle and created a list of its top 25 beers of 2009 to go along with its top 100 wines. You can download the list in its entirety from their site, but PA’s Victory Brewing is represented, along with Boston’s Sam Adams and a slew of California craft brewers. [Wine Enthusiast via BeerYard]

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Filed Under: lists, beer, the other magazines, wine enthusiast

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

We know things are different in the United Kingdom – with everyone minding the gap and tucking into bangers and mash – but the burger porn? We thought that was the same the world over: find a sexy lady (Padma, Paris), have her stuff a drippy, oversized ground beef patty in her mouth, roll tape. Until we came across UK Burger King’s website Singing in the Shower: The World’s First Guilt Free Showercam, which involves a girl in a food-themed bikini singing a pop song while taking a shower, which is then beamed out to the internet via webcam.

Visitors to the site can vote for which song they’d like the girl, who’s been dubbed “Shower Babe,” to sing the following day, and which food-themed bikini they’d like her to wear. Today she’s belting out “Like a Virgin” while wearing a burger bra, tomorrow she could be mournfully crooning “You’re So Vain” while showering in a fried-egg bikini top. Somehow this sells burgers or breakfast butties, which seems to be the aim of this marketing campaign, but, like with all great performance art, we can’t be sure. Sadly, Shower Babe’s video cannot be embedded, but you can watch it here.

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Filed Under: marketing gimmicks, ads, burger king, burgers, commercials, hamburgers, united kingdom

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

We know things are different in the United Kingdom – with everyone minding the gap and tucking into bangers and mash – but the burger porn? We thought that was the same the world over: find a sexy lady (Padma, Paris), have her stuff a drippy, oversized ground beef patty in her mouth, roll tape. Until we came across UK Burger King’s website Singing in the Shower: The World’s First Guilt Free Showercam, which involves a girl in a food-themed bikini singing a pop song while taking a shower, which is then beamed out to the internet via webcam.

Visitors to the site can vote for which song they’d like the girl, who’s been dubbed “Shower Babe,” to sing the following day, and which food-themed bikini they’d like her to wear. Today she’s belting out “Like a Virgin” while wearing a burger bra, tomorrow she could be mournfully crooning “You’re So Vain” while showering in a fried-egg bikini top. Somehow this sells burgers or breakfast butties, which seems to be the aim of this marketing campaign, but, like with all great performance art, we can’t be sure. Sadly, Shower Babe’s video cannot be embedded, but you can watch it here.

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Filed Under: marketing gimmicks, ads, burger king, burgers, commercials, hamburgers, united kingdom

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

Philly-based hot dog portraitist Hawk Krall is now selling 11×14 prints of his awesome series of regional hot dog paintings – originally part of the Hot Dog of the Week at Serious Eats – for $27 each or a set of four for $100, plus shipping and handling. The epic collection includes 12 specialty hot dogs from New York, SoCal, Chicago and Philly, among other places. Some of the original paintings are also for sale, if you prefer your wiener art depicted in gouache. Krall recommends ordering online by Monday, December 14 if you’d like them to arrive before Christmas. For more gift ideas for food lovers, see the Shop-A-Matic.

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Filed Under: gifts, christmas, food art, hawk krall, holidays, hot dogs

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from Grub Street Philadelphia

Jennifer Carroll

Looks like that viewing party wasn’t a victory party after all for Philly’s Jennifer Carroll, who was metaphorically booted off the Top Chef train to victory. We had a chance to chat with Carroll about her mid-season rough patch and whether or not Mike Isabella is really a misogynist, plus she reveals the real reason she pronounces ceviche as “se-veech.”

It seemed like you started out really strong and then went through a rough patch in the middle of the season where you were on the bottom a lot. How’d you get out of the rut?
Basically, I just had to stop being so hard on myself and let the mistakes go that I beat myself up for. I am my own worst enemy and biggest critic. I try for perfection every time and when I don’t get it I get upset and disappointed.

You mentioned in your exit interview that young girls were coming up to you in Philly and were inspired by seeing you on the show. With only one female winner in the past six seasons, do you think the show sets women up to fail or is just reflecting the male-female imbalance that’s already out there in professional kitchens?
I don’t think there was any bias against me because I’m female. Yes, there’s only been one woman who’s won, but there’s also only been six seasons of the show. There are definitely more men in the field, but the men have been stronger in the other seasons. Not necessarily in this one though.

Speaking of women in kitchens, Mike Isabella came across as sexist with his ‘not losing to a girl’ comment, but you guys are actually friends. Did you ever have a little chat with him about his remark?
[Laughs.] Yeah, right after the show aired, he called me up and apologized and said ‘You know, I didn’t mean it that way,’ and I was like ‘You don’t think before you speak!’ He was joking that he wanted me to come down there so we could do a press conference together where he would give me a hug and we would say that we like each other.

Who did you identify as your biggest threat when the competition first started? Did that change at all as the competition continued?
When we first started, I thought my biggest threat was going to be Michael Voltaggio and throughout the competition, seeing how strong and consistent Kevin was, you know, I was taken aback and had to rethink who were the strongest ones there. It was really crazy – there were a lot of really good chefs there. It was a hard season!

What was the best dish you made all season? The worst?
Hmmm. I think maybe the worst dish was probably the TV Guide challenge – that Quickfire – I don’t think that was so great. I was not feelin’ that one. I had a lot of good dishes. My favorite was probably the duck that I did on the last episode, even though I got eliminated. I really loved the duck dish.

What dish made by another contestant impressed you most?
A lot of Michael Voltaggio’s dishes were just so creative. Seeing all of his techniques I’ve never used before was just amazing and they were working so perfectly. His frozen gazpacho was amazing. We didn’t get a chance to try everyone’s dishes, so it’s hard to say.

What did you learn about cooking from the other chefs there?
I learned that you need to have that drive in you to always want to learn more. To not get comfortable in your job and always be out there looking and learning. All of the new modern techniques, I know some of them, but watching Brian and Michael V. bring those to table every week made we want to become more current in my field and push myself more.

Is Top Chef kind of like the movie Scream now, where contestants have identified conventions they should avoid in order to succeed – like don’t make dessert because that always screws people up?
[Laughs] Yeah, that’s pretty funny! As you can see in the Restaurant Wars episode, we did that. At the reunion show, were were all laughing about that – the five deadly sins in Top Chef: don’t make dessert, don’t cook shrimp! Eli was naming like 30 of them.

Ok, I have to ask this on behalf of our readers because they constantly commented on it. Your pronunciation of ‘ceviche’. Why do you pronounce it ’se-veech?’
Well, listen, the master of fish, Eric Ripert, says ’se-veech’ all the time. If people want to comment that I’m saying it wrong, they can complain to him. At Le Bernadin, we have a lot of saying for things that are maybe not the right pronunciation or word because there are a lot of different cultures working in the kitchen. You just end up saying things that are funny. Like we don’t say “julienne those carrots,” it’s “Giuliani those carrots!” So I say ’seveech.’ If it tastes good, who cares what the hell I call it?

What’s been different for you in the kitchen since you were on the show? What’s been different about your life?
In the kitchen it’s just created a new energy. It’s made myself and all of my cooks excited to be at work, the restaurant is really busy and we’re serving a lot of people. We’re doing a lot more experimenting in the kitchen and having fun. In my personal life, I’ve met so many new people and there’s been so much support for me in Philly and everyone is saying how proud they are of me and congratulating me. I got so many emails last night saying [my run on the show] has been great and “you’re still our Top Chef.”

Is it true that you still call your mom every night after work?
Yeah, I talk to my mom every night. Ive been doing that for years and years. When I worked in New York I used to call her on my way to the subway. Now I walk to and from work and I talk to her on my way home every night. I couldn’t imagine not talking to her!

Related: Read a recap of last night’s episode on Grub Street New York.

Previously: All Jennifer Carroll Coverage [Grub Street]

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Filed Under: top chef, food tv, jennifer carroll, season six, top chef: las vegas

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