| Tasty vittles that make you go yum | | Posted Monday, March 12, 2007 3:11:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | Ask a transplanted Chicagoan what he most misses about his hometown, and nine times out of 10 the response will be cuisine-related -- Italian beef, deep dish pizza, hot dogs smothered with mustard, onions and pickle relish. The same holds true for wherever you're from. Folks who hail from Terre Haute, Ind., crave "square" doughnuts. Former central Illinois residents pick up "gondolas" before they leave town. One-time Philadelphians wax nostalgic over "Tastykakes." Before they were sold nationally, Coors beer, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and White Castle hamburgers all carried a certain mystique because they could only be had in certain parts of the country. "There's definitely a magic to have a regional presence associated with a certain area. It adds to the legend," said Mary Borneman, manager of investor and public relations for the Tasty Baking Co., which manufactures Tastykakes.... | |
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| | | Hotel Teatro: A great location in Denver | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 1:26:39 PM by Blog57 Team | | DENVER - We were tired and hungry - and lost. It turned out there is a difference between 14th Street and 14th Avenue, as surely as there's a difference between Lincoln Avenue and Lincoln, Nebraska. My girlfriend, Ellen, and I discovered this one Friday as we pulled into rush-hour Denver, midway through a cross-country road trip. Fortunately, a quick call to the gracious front desk of the Hotel Teatro set us on a perfect course and set the tone for the following 18 hours. We hadn't even arrived, but the polite, expert staff was already at our service. Almost a century-old - it originally was an office building and street-car barn for the Denver Tramway Co. - the brick and terra cotta Hotel Teatro is within walking distance of Denver's theater and arts district. Around the corner is Larimer Square, a hip, bustling strip of bars, restaurants and boutique retailers, and the 16th Street Mall, a pedestrian promenade of shops and chain restaurants.... | |
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| | | What's new in Las Vegas | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 11:16:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | The Red Rock Casino Resort opened in April in Summerlin. The $925 million property includes 400 guest rooms, nine restaurants, a spa and casino. What's new in Las VegasThe Signature at MGM GrandWhat's new: The all-suite hotel tower, sans gaming and smoking, opened in June. Another tower is scheduled for December, and a third in May 2007. In all, there will be three 576-suite towers next to the MGM Grand, but private and apart from the casino. Details: www.signaturemgm grand.com, (877) 727-0007 Hooters Casino HotelWhat's new: Opened in February, the former Hotel San Remo was refurbished in ``Florida Casual'' to create the first Hooters Casino Hotel. Yes, there are plenty of Hooters girls, plus a 24-hour cafe, sushi bar and Dan Marino's Fine Food and Spirts restaurant.... | |
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| | | Outback Steakhouse operator agrees to buyout | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:26:52 AM by Blog57 Team | | The operator of 46 restaurants in Ohio, including the high-profile Outback Steakhouse chain, has agreed to be acquired by an investment group for $3.2 billion. OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. told investors Monday that the offer by investors, which include some company co-founders and Bain Capital Partners, values the deal at $40 a share. The buyout, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, would see OSI Restaurant Partners go private. The Tampa, Fla.-based company owns nearly 1,300 restaurants, including Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Cheeseburger in Paradise, as well as Outback, its flagship chain -- all of which operate in Central Ohio. The company owns 46 restaurants in the state and has a franchise agreement on another one in Ohio. Its other operations include Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Roy's, Lee Roy Selmon's and Blue Coral Seafood & Spirits.... | |
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| | | Zagat Releases 2007 America's Top Restaurants Survey | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 7:07:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | Zagat Survey today released the results of its new 2007 America's Top Restaurants Survey. The guide, covering 1,389 eateries in 42 major cities, is based on 21 million meals experienced by over 123,000 surveyors. It reflects a banner year for restaurant goers nationwide: Not only are restaurant openings far outpacing closings, but the past year's +2.8% overall average increase in meal cost is below the +4% rise of the Consumer Price Index. There is good news for restaurants too in that people are going out and spending more than ever, especially at the high end of the market where inflation was +6.9%. What's Inside: The 2007 Survey not only lists the Top Food and Most Popular eateries in each of the 42 markets covered, it also points to a variety of national dining trends including America's rising taste for Asian cuisines (especially Japanese), an increase in culinary diversity, dramatic improvements in hotel dining and growing support for sustainably raised food.... | |
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| | | Noisy Antonio's delivers tasty, top-notch food | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 3:09:24 AM by Blog57 Team | | Great food, friendly, professional service and a delightful vintage setting should be enough to make Antonio's Ristorante one of the local restaurants I want to return to as often as I can. But noise on a recent Friday evening made conversation all but impossible. Other diners apparently thought so, too, and their solution was to try to shout above the noise. The handsome old green tin ceiling and black and white tile floor did nothing to mute the revelry of happy diners celebrating the end of the work week. But Antonio's never missed a beat when it came to hospitality and courtesy or hot food that was loaded with flavor and tasted made-to-order. The extensive menu is long on seafood, offering it in 12 of its 14 antipasti ($6.95 to $12.95).... | |
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| | | Sun Capital unit buys Fazoli's | | Posted Sunday, October 22, 2006 3:10:00 AM by Blog57 Team | | A Sun Capital Partners affiliate has bought Fazoli's Restaurants, a quick-service Italian restaurant chain with locations in 32 states. The Boca Raton-based private investment firm has named Robert Weissmueller, a 35-year veteran of McDonald's Corp., to be Fazoli's president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. He is succeeding Fazoli's founder Kuni Toyoda, who is leaving the organization after more than 16 years of service. Still, Toyoda called the transaction a great opportunity for the Fazoli's brand and its people. M. Steven Liff, Sun Capital managing director, said his company is going to work with Weissmueller, Fazoli's management team and franchisees to position the chain for growth. Currently, Fazoli's has 319 restaurants, of which franchise partners operate 179.... | |
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| | | Oswego OKs Main Street restaurant | | Posted Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:08:59 AM by Blog57 Team | | A vacant lot at Main and Jackson streets in downtown Oswego will become the site of an Italian restaurant and banquet facility as a result of action taken this week by the village board. In a unanimous ballot Monday evening, the board approved the preliminary and final development agreement for the construction of the 8,687 square foot brick and masonry building as proposed by Oswego Properties LLC. In the same ballot, the board also granted Oswego Properties' request for a zoning variance that will allow the building to be constructed on the 0.12 acre lot without any on-site parking spaces. The building will house the Capri Ristorante Italiano, a restaurant group with multiple locations in the Chicagoland area. "It's one of the top Italian restaurants in surveys that have been done," said Michael Cassa, executive director of the Oswego Economic Development Corporation (OEDC).... | |
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| | | COOK'S NIGHT OUT: NATE APPLEMAN | | Posted Sunday, October 15, 2006 1:08:16 PM by Blog57 Team | | It's not a term cherished by Nate Appleman. The Ohio native has been with the popular Marina district restaurant A16 since its beginnings in 2004. He became a partner the next year and took over as executive chef when original chef and co-owner Christophe Hille returned to the East Coast in February. Appleman has continued to concentrate on dishes of southern Italy's Campania region, which sets A16 apart from the plethora of American Italian restaurants that seek inspiration from the Dolomites to the tip of Sicily. This purity of style, which includes Neapolitan thin-crust pizzas -- like Hille, Appleman is one of a handful of American certified pizzaiolos, or credentialed pizzamakers -- has won the restaurant and its chefs an almost cultlike following. So is that not trendy? Appleman would rather say he keeps his finger on the pulse of the times.... | |
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| | | TABLE TALK: It's a big birthday party | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:15:02 AM by Blog57 Team | | It's been 15 years since Amici Ristorante served its first plate of Northern Italian cuisine in Carytown. Italians Carlo Gaione and Antonio Capece have opened three more restaurants since arriving from Washington: La Grotta Ristorante in Shockoe Slip; Pronto Pizzeria in Libbie Place; and the newest, Twentyseven downtown. Capece is at La Grotta and Gaione is in the kitchen at Amici. Giaone has seen a lot of changes in Carytown and the restaurant business over the years. But if he had to name the biggest change in 15 years? Prices. It's getting harder and harder to keep menu prices down and maintain quality. .... | |
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