Foodbeast » Features

Do You Write Food Reviews On Your Finished Plate? Maybe You Should Start.

Elie Ayrouth — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:31:22 +0000

This is the story of a girl who finishes meals at her restaurant and instead of running home to her computer and type-scribbling a review on Yelp, inks her thoughts out on the very plate she was just served off of.

It’s a novel idea, one that ends up truncating your thoughts more than a 140-character Tweet would (unless you can scribble entire paragraphs in ketchup, hats off to you). It’s an immediate, uplifting (or…opposite of uplifting) way to make known to your chef what you thought of the meal he/she just prepared.

Could this story be the product of a slow news day? A true journalist, and an even truer publication would never admit to such heresies. I also wouldn’t know a true journalist if Charles Foster Kane himself slapped me in the face and took a piss in my morning coffee.

That’s besides the point. This isn’t a slow news day. In fact, this particular discussion could seemingly be more important than all other articles combined…or not.

Why? The reasoning is two-fold. The enigmatic girl who thought this would be a good idea ended up getting a free meal out of her antics.

The other fold? It’s a great way to interact with a chef that you would normally never see. This is particularly true with chain restaurants where the chef is someone paid more for his assembly-line skill and not necessarily for his culinary creativity.

When’s the last time you went to Olive Garden and “sent your regards to the chef” for that awesome Chicken & Potato Florentine Soup? Or went back to your assembly line employee at Chipotle, after your meal, and gave him a high five for marinating that chicken like a BOSS?

It’s the little things. Yeah, I’m sure the trolls reading this could give a rats’ ass about how well your local Starbucks Barista made your Caramel Macchiato, but maybe we’ll regret these missed opportunities in 30 years when that jovial Barista is now a coffee-pouring machine named Ms. Dos and it’s a computer generated face on an 8th generation iPad.

Of course, we can’t expect to get as lucky as this young lady did. But it might be fun to throw your opinion about the dish you just ate, on the dish you just ate, the next time you eat out. Good or bad, at least we’re interacting.

What do y’all think? Was this just a curiously obscure girl gesture that means nothing, or a serendipitous event we can glean from as socially advancing individuals?

Careful where you try this though. My mom was none too pleased last night when I sent the plate back with a Sriracha-inked: “Good try, but that hummus was a bit too airy and the olive oil overpowering.”

Pick and choose your battles.

YELPing Back — “Burn in hell,” Says Notable Chef to One of His Customers

Elie Ayrouth — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:44:05 +0000

One of the more recent features YELP has implemented involves the ability for business owners to respond to their reviews, whether positive or negative. Obviously, this is opening the floodgates for extremely boring and politically-correct communication between consumer and producer…am I right? Right…..wrong. Let’s jump into this particular case:

Let me setup the battlefield: Negative Nancy Yelp Reviewer vs. Passionate Chef/Restaurateur.

As a prologue, on a recent visit to aggregate-review site Yelp.com, I was drawn to a particular back and forth argument occurring between some displeased customer and the owner of that very restaurant. Why should you care?

Well, the review seemingly reamed the restaurant at length, in fact the 1-star rating was over five paragraphs long, touching on everything from the forced 3% gratuity, refusal to cook Kobe Beef well done, chef’s family walking around “trying to be restauranteurs,” and soggy french fries, to name a few.

The owner’s response? Five paragraphs of his own, rounding out the entire piece with a real bruiser:

Burn in hell. — Jason Quinn

Popular food truck-chef-turned-restaurateur, Jason Quinn, has accomplished quite a bit in his short 25-years on the planet. His once-chef duties with The Lime Truck helped him secure a $100,000 prize on Food Network’s food truck show, and shortly after, he rode the wave of success to open up his own brick-and-mortar restaurant in Southern California — The Playground.

If you’re not familiar with Quinn from his appearance on The Great Food Truck Race, you’ll likely hear more about him through the reverberating halls of the foodie community. He’s a passionate fellow, quick to defend and boast about his craft, his people and the ultimate food art he produces.

A few of his competitors on The Great Food Truck Race were quick to pigeon hole him, and his team, as cocky and young — which frankly, isn’t too far fetched. They are young, but they’re winning, and the food is speaking for itself. Anyone who’s tasted a dish from The Lime Truck, or experienced a night of dining at The Playground can quickly attest to the quality of food they’re putting in their mouth.

Quinn is a skilled chef, and explains every dish he makes with the same enthusiasm one would use while describing their newborn baby’s first uttering of “momma” or “papa.” He’s a giddy chef — it’s refreshing. Just look at him busting at the seams in the video we shot of him a couple months back at a local food truck gathering [see below]:

Now let’s switch gears. We’ve established Jason Quinn’s passion, his built up anxiety for success, and now…we’ll explain how he does his darndest to stay active on Yelp. And by active, I mean he responds to a majority of his Yelp reviews, good or bad. To his credit, the majority of feedback he gets about his Santa Ana location is positive. Easy to deal with, for the most part.

With a running total of 84 reviews written of The Playground, the heavy majority of them fall in 5-star range, with the average rating standing at 4.5/5 stars. So what happens when a bad review comes in? Here’s a look at the full conversation, starting with the lengthy, negative review:

Full disclosure, I loved my visit to The Playground. Quinn was super hospitable when our friends had dinner, all the food was delicious, and everyone around was having a good time. The review above? Some could view it as narrow, and I definitely wouldn’t disagree, but playing devil’s advocate, there are far more disgruntled, naive and obscure reviews to be had on Yelp.

Trolls are a plenty on the Internet, and this person just doesn’t seem to understand the type of restaurant he/she walked into. Many a gastropub and chef-driven restaurant involves dealing with a certain heir…if you don’t like it, you don’t dine there. There are plenty of other establishments that will cater to your changing of their menu, your cooking suggestions, and more wallet-friendly dishes.

With that in mind, does that negative Yelper’s review warrant this response from chef Quinn? You decide:

One of the most interesting lines in Quinn’s response is his self questioning of his restaurant’s core drive, to be “chef-driven” or “hospitality-driven.” The option of being chef driven, while un-Orthodox, would at least give a semblance of a reason behind his passionate response.

In a chef-driven environment, the policies set forth by The Playground aren’t too out-of-bounds.But does that mean Quinn’s move to be so passionate and transparent (he openly expresses the $300,000 investment he made to open the restaurant) in his Yelp responses are a good business move?

It’s up for debate. Quinn hasn’t shied away from his response, he’s not chalking it up to a lapse of judgement, he’s kept his response up on the review website and even gone a step further, he’s opened up a “Dialog” section on his restaurant’s website. He discusses the incident at length. It’s actually a very interesting read, I’ve lifted some of their notes in response to the beef:

The artistic license we allow the kitchen touches on a sensitive tension between the chefs in the kitchen and the customers in the seats. The chefs design their dishes in the way they believe will highlight the quality of the ingredients, the culinary art involved and the customer’s experience. Every component of every dish is carefully considered and tailored to complement the other elements of the dish. Regardless whether you and I agree that they have created a masterpiece, they do their best to design the perfect dish.

If a customer orders risotto, he would never dream of telling the chefs that they should use a different white wine in its preparation; if the customer could detect and disapprove of the white wine being used, he would either not order the dish or say that it did not suit his taste. In that case, we would take it off his check and offer to substitute something more to his liking. (Much as we did for the infamous one-star reviewer.)

So what’s the next move? An open discussion.

Even if a chef can win an argument, should it be had in the first place? In an age of transparency, social media and direct customer interaction, there are indeed new liabilities that should be accounted for.

For many restaurateurs, they fear that one “unhappy” customer may spread those negative sentiments to his immediate network, and subsequently, his network’s extended network.

That itching task of trying to please every customer, which undoubtedly led to the phrase “The customer is always right,” keeps many chefs/owners up at night wondering if they did all they could do. It’s fair to say Quinn has that itch, he’s attentive to customers, he’s responsive on social networks and Yelp and does all he can to correct inconsistencies in service and quality.

Being an accessible, open and outgoing entrepreneur can have potential drawbacks though.

Possible case #1, telling a customer, publicly, to Burn in Hell.

BRAWL: Food Trucks vs. Restaurants

Lucia Phan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:08:20 +0000

Local restaurants throughout many cities have voiced concern over the expansion of food trucks in their community. Quick service food trucks “stealing” customers threaten traditional brick and mortar restaurants, and in an attempt to level the playing field, they are asking city legislators to toughen up the regulation on food trucks.

The SoCal Mobile Food Vendors’ Association claims that stricter regulations are “clearly anti-competitive…[and] limit the public on their favorite foods.” It is unfair for restaurants to believe they have a monopoly on a certain area (laist.com).

Recently, due to the popularity of food trucks, cities such as San Francisco have streamlined their permit process and made the cost of obtaining a permit less prohibitive. Permits used that used to run upwards of about $10,000 are now as low as $300. This ends up flooding the market with a bounty of tasty options.

And the only law that food trucks must obey in relation to restaurants is that they must notify nearby businesses about when they are going to be in the area and that they are not allowed to park within 300 feet of a business selling similar food (sfgate.com).

Restaurants have a lot more at stake when customers begin to dwindle, and in an already competitive market (restaurants have a failure rate of over 50%), it’s understandable that there’s a lot to cry about.

However, from a consumer’s standpoint there’s really no battle. It’s a WIN-WIN situation. The wider the selection of good grub the better, and ultimately, the more competitive the pricing. Some restaurants that can’t handle the competition shouldn’t be playing the game. Be better or make room for something better.

50 States, 50 Awesome Places to Eat Pie

Lucia Phan — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:52:03 +0000

Pie lovers rejoice! December 1st, for some, is National Pie Day – what a better way to celebrate than taking a virtual road trip across the good ol’ U, S, of A to appreciate all the delicious pies in every state? Of course nothing beats the classic warm apple pie, but take a look at some extraordinary pie places out there that are serving up old favorites as well as new creations:

*National Pie Day has been celebrated on several different dates throughout history, including December 1st and January 23rd. Not the worst holiday to celebrate twice…if you know what we mean –

West

1. California, The Pie Hole (Sweet & Savory)
2. Oregon, Divine Pie (Gluten & Dairy Free)
3. Washington, Dahlia Bakery
4. Nevada, Michael Mina (Savory)
5. Idaho, Pie Hut
6. Utah, Morrison Meat Pies (Savory)
7. Montana, Loula’s
8. Wyoming, The Pie Lady
9. Colorado, Mermaids Bakery

(photo credit: yelp.com, Mini Cherry Pies, Mermaids Bakery, Colorado)

Southwest

10. Arizona, Iowa Café
11. New Mexico, Pie-O-Neer
12. Texas, Blue Bonnet Café (Pie Happy Hour)
13. Oklahoma, Pioneer Pies

(photo credit: roadfood.com, Coconut Creme Pie, Blue Bonnet Cafe, Texas)

Midwest

14. North Dakota, Lapp’s Bakery
15. South Dakota, Bobkat’s Purple Pie Place
16. Nebraska, FarmHouse Café and Bakery
17. Kansas, The Upper Crust Pie Bakery (Mini Pies)

(photo credit: uppercrustbakery.com, Assorted Mini Pies, Upper Crust Bakery, Kansas)

18. Minnesota, The Aroma Pie Shop
19. Iowa, Kathy’s Pies
20. Missouri, A Slice of Pie
21. Wisconsin, Upper Krust Pie Shop (Sweet & Savory)
22. Illinois, Hoosier Mama Pie Company (Pie Pops)

(photo credit: chicago.grubstreet.com, Assorted Fruit Filled Pops, Hoosier Mama Pie Company, Illinois)

23. Indiana, Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen (Ice Cream)
24. Michigan, Achatz Pies
25. Ohio, Just Pies

Southeast

26. Virginia, Mom’s Apple Pie Company
27. West Virginia, Almost Heaven Desserts
28. North Carolina, Scratch
29. South Carolina, 3.14 Pies (“Designer Pies”)

(photo credit: travelandleisure.com, Blackberry Cabernet Pie, 3.14 Pies, South Carolina)

30. Georgia, Yesterday Café
31. Florida, Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe
32. Kentucky, Whistle Stop Restaurant
33. Tennessee, Litton’s Market and Restaurant
34. Alabama, Pie Lab (Sweet & Savory)

(photo credit: pielab.org, Snickerdoodle Pie, Pie Lab, Alabama)

35. Mississippi, The Pie Folks
36. Arkansas, Charlotte’s Eats and Sweets
37. Louisiana, Strawn’s Eat Shop

Northeast

38. Maine, Quietside Café
39. New Hampshire, Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery
40. Massachusetts, Petsi Pies (Sweet & Savory)

(photo credit: flickr.com, Apple Pie, Petsi Pies, Massachusetts)

41. Vermont, Vermont Mystic Pie Company (Pre-Packaged)
42. Rhode Island, Schartner Farms
43. Connecticut, Michele’s Pies
44. New York, Bubby’s

(photo credit: freefoodboston.wordpress.com, Crumble Pie, Bubby’s, New York)

45. New Jersey, Country Pie Factory
46. Delaware, Corner Bistro
47. Pennsylvania, Lancaster Central Market
48. Maryland, Best Pie Company

Non-Contiguous US

49. Alaska, Village Inn
50. Hawaii, The Right Slice (Non-Traditional)

(photo credit: rightslice.com, Macadamia Pie, The Right Slice, Hawaii)

Happy National Cake Day! — History of Cake [INFOGRAPHIC]

Elie Ayrouth — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:09:16 +0000

In between our news on fast food, bacon and the latest shows on the Food Network, we can’t leave you without an occasional food history lesson. November 26th is National Cake Day, a holiday that reminds how wonderful dessert can be, and how truly colorful a history our favorite cakes have.

Instead of boring you with an essay on the origins of carrot cake, we’ve visualized a walk through the decades and pointed out everything you need to know about the cakes we love to consume in this infographic:

Happy Thanksgiving — A True Foodbeast Holiday

Elie Ayrouth — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:01:16 +0000

Happy November 24th everyone! Wait, that’s not right…Happy Thursday! Damn, again…one more time….Happy Thanksgiving! There we go. Whether you’re looking for some last minute dishes to add to your menu, or want some ideas with what to do with all those leftovers, we got you covered. Even if you just want to gaze at some ridiculously good food, we’ve compiled a list of some of the hot recipes, ideas and galleries of Thanksgiving goodies around the food community.

Have a safe, fun and thankful holiday! We’re thankful for everyone reading this, you’re amazing! Eat on:

Ways NOT to Cook Your Turkey [COMIC]

Geoff Kutnick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:06:33 +0000

Thanksgiving is now just days away, and many of you out there will be cooking a turkey for the first time. Even for seasoned vets, the task of cooking an entire turkey for a table of hungry mouths can be an intimidating one. One of the most trusted source of information for cooking turkey during the months of November and December is the Butterball-sponsored Turkey Talk-Line.

FOODBEAST had the chance to interview Alice, a supervisor for the Turkey Talk-Line, and has been answering turkey questions for the last 15 years. Pre-requisites for the hotline includes 2-3 weeks of training, including the actual preparation of turkeys with the various cooking methods they answer questions for. The 9 cooking methodologies include: grilling, open pan, covered pan, deep frying, electric roaster, brining, frozen turkey thawed and cooked, microwaving, and countertop roaster.

Before we get into the 3 weirdest phone calls Alice has ever answered on the Turkey Talk-Line, we’ll cover the answers to the 4 most frequently asked questions about preparing a Turkey.

Q: How long does it take to thaw a Turkey?

A: 1 day for every 4lbs OR 30 minutes per pound in cold water.

Q: How big of a Turkey should I purchase?

A: A pound and a half of turkey weight per person. This allows everyone to have a generous portion and leftovers for sandwiches and chili.

Q: When is the Turkey done?

A: Recommend using a meat thermometer. The thigh should be 180 degrees, stuffing should be 165 degrees in the center, and the breast should be 170 degrees.

Q: What’s the best way to store Turkey leftovers?

A: Take all the meat off the bone and store in the fridge for the rest of Thanksgiving weekend. If you want Turkey after the weekend, freeze the meat not used for sandwiches. The turkey will last up to 2 months.

And finally, here are the 3 ways NOT to cook your turkey – some of the weirdest calls Alice has ever received in her 15 year career…

1. If I’m cooking a turkey while traveling across time-zones in a recreational vehicle, will the Turkey cook an hour faster?

2. Is there anyway I can save my turkey if I accidentally pushed the ‘Clean’ button instead of ‘Bake’? My fiancee and parents are coming over for dinner in a few hours.

3. Our turkey looks awful. We needed it to defrost faster, so we threw it in the dryer. But now the plastic is all melted. What can we do?

Visualizing Dr. Conrad Murray’s First Meal Behind Bars

Elie Ayrouth — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:03:02 +0000

Thanks to some nifty reporting from the folks over at TMZ, we are now not only privvy to Dr. Conrad Murray‘s guilty vertict for involuntary manslaughter over the death of the late Michael Jackson, but we also know the doctor’s first meal behind bars. According to reports that Law enforcement sources revealed, Murray’s first meal consisted of a cheese sandwich, fruit punch, carrot sticks and some sort of Oreo-knockoff cookies.

With the guilty verdict fresh, Murray is scheduled for sentencing on November 29th. He faces up to 4 years behind bars. For those not familiar with the case, this gentleman was recently found guilty by jurors after a 6-week trial. The prosecutors leading the case proved beyond a reasonable doubt that that Dr. Murray was responsible for Michael Jackson’s death.

RIP Michael.

Here’s what Murray was served as his first meal, visualized. No confirmation on whether he ate any of it or not though:

Happy Nachos Day Muchachos!

Lucia Phan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:00:03 +0000

It’s November 6th, and for those unfamiliar, we’re getting you familiar — It’s National Nachos Day!

We never met anyone that could resist nibbling on Nachos. They’re good for every occasion…baseball games, movies, tail-gates, late night snacks…a Nachos craving can occur at anytime and sometimes you just can’t get enough of’em!

Do you ever justify eating an unhealthy amount of Nachos with the theory that “if you get the nachos stuck together, that’s one nacho?” We do! The best part is that there’s so many ways to enjoy Nachos, it’s hard to get sick of them. Check out how you can seize the Nacho cheese and celebrate:

Na-cho Everyday Nachos

Nacho-centric Fast Food We Wished they Brought Back

Taco Nacho (Jack-in-the-Box)
Nacho Cheese Chicken Sandwich (Jack-in-the-Box)
Fully Loaded Nacho (Taco Bell)
Nacho Cheese Doritos Taco (Taco Bell)
Nacho Whopper (Burger King)

Nacho Spinoff Recipes