Every year, I leave Denver's Great American Beer Festival with a few important takeaways. Even if I seem to forget those tendencies over the course of the year, they always seem to be the same recurring concepts.
Every year in early fall, more than six million people enter a large field in Munich as part of Germany's official Oktoberfest celebration. The two week plus event is one of the most popular destinations and is said to be the largest fair in the world.
It's happening all across the country. In Seattle, operators can be fined $250 for serving plastic straws. In places like New York City and Miami, efforts to ban plastic straws are also underway. Some restaurants are even making the switch to paper straws without the input of regulations.
But what's behind this movement away from plastic straws?
Meet the “Renegade Lunch Lady.”
Chef Ann Cooper is an internationally recognized author, chef, educator, public speaker, and advocate of healthy food for all children. She also happens to be the Director of Food Services for the Boulder Valley School District here in Colorado, where my son is soon to be a first grader.
If you trace the history of lodging in America's great national parks back to its roots, you can literally see the beginnings of foodservice in the United States, and how those roots are closely linked with railroad expansion.
We've all been there. Whether we're the ones who were late or the ones doing the waiting, we've all contributed to or had to deal with one of the most controversial aspects of the restaurant business -- seating incomplete parties.
Hot dogs. Fireworks. Lemonade. Late summer nights. Fireflies. These are all the things you probably associate with the 4th of July or summer as a whole. But don't overlook that iconic red, white, and blue dessert -- the Bomb Pop.
Recently, I had the pleasure of dining at St. Elmo Steakhouse in Indianapolis. One of the items on their menu, even more popular than the steak, is the world famous shrimp cocktail. And sure, the shrimp are large and fresh, but it's the cocktail sauce that garners all the accolades.
The Negroni is truly one of the landmarks in cocktail history. Started in Florence in 1919, it was originally a variation of the Americano cocktail, but instead of soda water and a lemon peel, Count Camillo Negroni requested to substitute gin and orange instead.
Summer is the time of BBQ and roadtrips. So why not combine them both and hunt down America's best 'cue joints. From Kansas City to the Carolinas, here's a list to start checking off.
Hotel lobbies are one of my guilty pleasures. They rank right up there with airport bars and for similar reasons -- people coming and going to and from places all around the world, interesting conversations to be had, a feeling of connectivity.
That's my son up there. The one with the chef's hat, contemplating his bite of duck breast.
It hit me when I was in Italy.
Before we talk about why, we've got to start with what Wagyu beef is and how it's different from other types of beef.
Why do we toast? Where did the tradition come from? And what can we learn from it's origins?
One in nine jobs in the United States is supported by the travel and tourism industry. Translation? How operations provide hospitality is critical to why they will succeed. So how do we define hospitality?
What are people eating in 2018? Deep flavors from deep food traditions.
