Does This LOOK Like a Rubblish Bin?

I hadn't been intending to make this an ongoing feature of this blog, but nonetheless: Spotted in the restroom of the truly great Shanghai Dumpling King in San Francisco. The food was super delicious, the service great, my lunch companions wonderful. Bathroom signage, not so much.

Apparently, you must find some other place for your rubblish.

The Science of Food Reviewers: Photographing the Photographer

When you go to a nice restaurant these days, it is not unusual to see people take out their cell phones and take a photo of their food before they begin eating. The explanation is probably that there are so many amateur food bloggers out there, pretending to be professional restaurant reviewers.

So I thought I'd snap the above photo at a recent meal when we were taken out for dinner by a professional wine and food editor. The first thing she or he (gotta be anonymous if you're a real restaurant reviewer, if at all possible) did when each of our plates arrived at the table was to snap images on his/her cell phone.

Consider it a behind-the-scenes look at the food writing business.

Heart Attack Grill: All Questions Answered

The web site for the Heart Attack Grill – an actual restaurant – more than explains why Americans are unashamed to have eaten themselves into overweight diabetes.

Yes, I know it's done tongue-in-cheek, but it's not completely off-base.

Barack Obama on Classic Episode of Check Please

Quick quiz: When did Barack Obama say: "I've learned from some past mistakes that you've got to be cautious."

• After he got kicked around by the Republicans on health care?
• After he got kicked around by Hillary Clinton in the primaries?
• After his first foreign policy initiatives ran into the rocks?

No, in the quote above he is referring to his proper allotment of appetizers at a restaurant in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. It was from the 1990s when he was a state senator in Illinois, and he was a guest on the public broadcasting restaurant-review program Check Please. Reportedly, this episode was never aired, in part because the future senator/president/messiah ... er, um, talked too much. I don't know if that's true, but I've heard it multiple times.