Milwaukee's fashionable east side.

Yeh, right.

A rotten tomato fight was held in a parking lot near Beans and Barley on North Ave. A fenced area was stocked full of rotten tomatoes and about 120 people were allowed in to throw them at each other. It was part of the Second Annual Tomato Romp presented by the East Side Business Improvement District. Journal Sentinel photos: Michael Sears



Hasn't the cost of food gone up and up?

Isn't this a colossal waste?

Wouldn't it been better if the tomatoes had been donated to food pantries?

OK, everybody.

Just work with me, please.

To get you in the proper mood and frame of mind for Culinary no-no #76, please take the :30 to observe the following video.

I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Last week’s Culinary no-no #75 may have been a slice of sacrilege. My designated no-no was what some experts believe is the best pizza place that also serves the best pizza in America, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.

Bon Appétit Magazine claims it’s the best.

Forbes raves about it. So does Ed Levine, author of “Pizza: A Slice of Heaven.”

The James Beard Foundation named owner Chris Bianco, described by one reviewer as a “skilled, pizza-obsessed human being,” the Best Chef in the Southwest in 2003. Bianco’s establishment is the only pizzeria to receive an award from the famed Beard.

I’ve never eaten at Pizzeria Bianco. As I wrote last week, some of those pies look pretty good. And I don’t question the passion Bianco is noted having for making each and every pie himself.

But I stand by my no-no. Standing in line for three hours outside in an outdoor pizza oven for a pie topped with arugula?

No-no way.

There are words in the English language that are overused. One of them is “awesome.” A standard rule is that the younger you are, the more you utter the word, “awesome,” because it’s just so awesome to say awesome.

Another word used excessively is, “best.” He’s the “best.” She’s the “best.” They’re the “best.” It’s so awesome it’s the best.

When I was News Director at WTMJ Radio, one of my program directors, a good guy by the name of Steve Wexler used to preach that when we were on the air discussing/promoting/teasing upcoming stories or talk show topics, we’d better be able to deliver what we were promising.

“COMING UP ON NEWSRADIO 620 WTMJ, THE GREATEST ACT OF KINDNESS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. WTMJ NEWSTIME….7:33.”

That is NOT what Wexler had in mind.

Hyperbole often occurs in the subjective culinary world. Culinary no-no #63 was a perfect example. No, that burger didn’t change my life.

There is, I don’t want to say danger because that would be an exaggeration, but a definite risk when so-called food experts take on the challenge of selecting the “best” (there’s that word again) of a particular category.  The Food Network just broadcast a special called, “Top American Restaurants: Bon Appétit Picks the Best.” Food Network presents Bon Appétit magazine's best picks for American eats.

Can’t you just smell trouble brewing? Do you envision chefs tossing aprons at their TV sets? Would you like to be in charge of reading the Food Network’s e-mails?

Bon Appetit’s “experts” chose America’s “Best” Restaurants for steaks, burgers, ribs, tacos, fried chicken, and …….pizza. This edition of Culinary no-no will focus on the magazine’s choice for the best pizza place in America. Remember, this is the better than anybody else, numero uno.

Take a guess where this primo pizza palace is located.

One immediate guess would have to be that deep dish variety from the Windy City.




If you pick Chicago, that leads to an all-out shouting match with aficionados of the New York style pie.

So what city did Bon Appétit Magazine choose as having the best restaurant for pizza?

It would have to be Chicago…….or New York, right?

No no.

Try…..

Phoenix.

As in…

Arizona.

Bon Appétit Magazine selected Pizzeria Bianco as the restaurant with the best pizza in America.

 

Owner Chris Bianco is portrayed and described in the Food Network special as having a tremendous passion for his business and for crafting pizza.

He makes his pies in a traditional brick oven that result in an amazing crust.

There is the Margherita Pizza...


 


The Rosa has Arizona pistachios.

The Sonny Boy has salami and olives...





The Wise Guy has plenty of fennel sausage...


 

Gotta admit, that one loaded with sausage looks mighty tempting.

Okay, I sense a bit of uneasiness on the part of readers. Yeh, this is all fine and dandy, Kevin, but what’s the no-no?

My wife, Jennifer was out of the room for a few moments while we watched this TV special and I caught one of the many rapid fire shots causing me to yell to my wife, “I can’t believe this….it looks like one of their pizzas is full of green beans.”

It wasn’t long before we learned what exactly was on that pie. It wasn’t green beans. It wasn’t asparagus. But it was green, and patrons and the program host spoke with high praise about the Biancoverde.

The Bianocverde had three cheeses: fresh mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, ricotta.

But what about that green stuff?

It was arugula.

Nice three cheese pizza right out of this beautiful brick oven, covered with a salad.


  

Right about that time, some patron was bragging about the Biancoverde and waiting in line just for the chance to order the arugula pizza. And that's when the culinary no-no bells and whistles went off.

The Food Network Channel camera panned the line waitng outside to get into Pizzeria Bianco that doesn't take reservations except for parties 6-10, no larger. The line went on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

People wait in line, some for this....

.....a green pizza, for more than THREE HOURS.

This is Phoenix, folks.

110 degrees.

Standing outside with the masses.

Three hours.

For pizza.

No way, Giuseppi.

I don't care if my pizza is delivered to my table by these servers, I'm not waiting for three hours for salad greens or anything else on my pizza.

It just goes to show that even the experts aren't always right. Their choice for the best ribs was a place from Illinois.

The Food Network Channel special will be re-broadcast if you can stand the nauseating  host Alton Brown.

To read previous Culinary no-no’s, please click CULINARY NO-NO under my TAGS section.

Dream Dance could very well be the best restaurant in Milwaukee. It recently re-opened in a new location at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino with changes that make this stellar dining spot even better.

There was nothing wrong with the “old” Dream Dance per se. It boasted exceptional food and service. But it didn’t have convenient parking. Once outside of your car and inside the casino, to get to the restaurant, you had to maneuver your way through the labyrinth of bells and flashing lights and smoke and yes, some of the great unwashed. There were no restrooms in Dream Dance. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel dining critic Carol Deptolla in her review today says things have changed:

“And the physical changes at the restaurant, part of a $240 million expansion at the casino, are a vast improvement over the restaurant's previous home.

Longtime patrons will recall scurrying through the flashing, ringing, smoky maze to get to Dream Dance upstairs. Once inside, they found a fine restaurant, albeit windowless. If they needed a restroom, back into the casino they went.

The restaurant is on the first floor now, easily accessible from the outside (if not particularly well-marked on the exterior). Just leave your car with the valet at the main driveway or park in the ramp and head for the far eastern end of the complex. Giant doors in the lobby lead to the restaurant, sealed off from the din of the casino like an inner sanctum……. Restrooms are just down a short hall - inside the restaurant.”

Fine, but how’s the food?

Deptolla was impressed.

Apparently that $14.95 fish fry at Serb Hall didn’t go over too well.

Today, American Serb Hall is advertising its Friday Fish Fry in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel………for $8.95.

But you won’t get cod or haddock for your $8.95. Instead, you’ll be served Alaskan Pollack.

Still beats $14.95.

Here we go again.

As reported in May, certain restaurants in New York City must now, under a new law, post the number of calories for each item on their menu boards or face fines. Now, an entire state may impose the same requirement.

A bill approved by the California Legislature awaiting the signature of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would make the west Coast the state the first in the nation to require restaurants to display the calorie counts for each item on their menus and menu boards. The law would apply to chain restaurants that have 15 or more outlets. About 17,000 restaurants would be affected by the law that would take effect in 2011. Supporters believe restaurant patrons will make healthier choices if presented the calorie information.

A new study indicates 3 out of 5 Californians are either overweight or obese. Researchers from  the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley figure a menu-labeling law  will result in people losing weight. They calculate the weight loss after the law’s been in effect for a year would be about 2.7 pounds for adult fast-food customers.

The problem is that there is no way of knowing if people will reduce their intake of fattening menu items and exactly what their weight loss, if any would be. Supporters of the California legislation say the calorie counts in New York City are having a dramatic impact. But that evidence is primarily anecdotal. There’s no definitive study that clearly shows consumers armed with calorie counts makes them thinner. To get the data, a study would have to be done to find out what transpires after the law has actually been in effect for some time.

The American Journal of Public Health looked at 11 chains in New York City giving customers calorie counts. Subway was determined to have the most-easily seen information, making it handy for customers before they placed orders. Only 32% of Subway's customers said they saw the numbers, and of those, only 37% admitted the information affected what they purchased, or 12% of all Subway customers. Researchers determined the difference in calories between customers who saw the numbers and those that didn’t. Subway customers that saw the calorie counts ordered meals on average that had 52 less calories, a 7% reduction.

That tells me a menu-labeling requirement doesn’t work. Most customers aren’t seeing the information, not to mention the fact that a weight loss in a year of 2.7 pounds isn’t, I’m sorry, all that much. Some studies suggest only 15-20% actually pay attention to labels.

California’s restaurant industry prefers legislation proposed by Assembly member Nicole Parra (D-Hanford). It differs from the bill that calls for calorie counts on menus and menu boards by requiring the same information, but allowing restaurants to display it in several ways: menu or other writing at the point of sale, standard food item packaging, counter or table tent, tray liner, poster, brochure or other printed material, and/or electronic kiosk. The information must be available on the premises of the restaurant.

Will Governor Schwarzenegger sign the bill? Sure looks like it. Recently he signed a bill into law making California the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants.

Restaurant-goers are smart enough, I believe, to be able to discern if a menu item is loaded with calories. Government mandating that restaurants give this information, that will only increase their costs, and will probably not have a significant impact on eating habits, is just plain wrong.

This week, no one large culinary no-no entrée to chew on. Instead, a few smaller appetizer-like items to sample.

Let’s begin with Culinary no-no # 70, a famous cartoon character and his exploits around the pool.

 

The well known Frosted Flakes from Kellogg’s is one of the many sugar-sweetened cereals on the market. Come mid-September, look for someone other than Tony the Tiger to grace those cereal boxes: Olympic champion Michael Phelps.

In choosing Frosted Flakes, Phelps rejected the cereal most athletic phenoms opt for, the Breakfast of Champions, Wheaties. So-called health experts are furious because this will send a horrible message at a time when child obesity is sweeping Fatso, USA.

Seems to me lazy kids and irresponsible parents are more to blame for out of shape youngsters than Tony the Tiger.

Michael Phelps on boxes of Frosted Flakes? So what!

By the way, take a look at what Frosted Flakes is sponsoring.



Culinary no-no # 71

After a long run on the Food Network, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse has landed on the environment –conscious cable channel, Planet Earth. Those familiar with Emeril, and that would be millions, know about his cooking flair, his dramatic excess. The chef calls it “turning it up a notch,” and finishes off each creation with a resounding, BAM! 

Alessandra Stanley writes about television for the New York Times. With schnozzola scraping the ceiling, Stanley critiques Emeril’s latest cooking show, slamming him for not being “green” enough:

Back in April, Culinary no-no # 52 examined how the biofuels craze and the subsequent rise in food prices was impacting world hunger.

Dirt cookies made out of mud. Looting.  Rioting.

And it’s getting worse.

Poor women in many parts of the world are trading sex for food, increasing the risk of new AIDS infections. Officials of the United Nations (UN) made that startling announcement at a conference in Mexico last week.

The UN points the finger at biofuels, claiming more expensive food prices have resulted in another 50 million people going hungry. Women are so desperate they’re joining the crews of large fishing boats, selling their bodies for scraps. Officials fear an explosion in new AIDS cases. Those on the front lines grapple with how to combat hunger and AIDS.

Read more from ABC.

As the mountain of evidence suggesting links to biofuels, higher food prices, and a global food crisis continues to grow, a correlation that most Americans fully understand, we can count on our government bureaucrats to turn a deaf ear to this critical issue.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Association refused to reduce the quota on ethanol in cars. The New York Times described the EPA’s conclusion that, “at least for now,  the national goal of reducing oil use trumps any effect on food prices from making fuel from corn.”

The newspaper quoted a typical bureaucrat, completely bankrupt of nay common sense. EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson demonstrated his head-in-the -sand mentality when he said the ethanol mandate was not causing “severe harm to the economy or the environment.”

What planet is he on?

Food producers disagree, saying food inflation is bad enough but could get worse.

This is very revealing. The feds don’t care that your trip to the grocery to feed your family is becoming increasingly more difficult or that people around the world are starving. They care more about cramming our food into our gas tanks.

The federal government’s refusal to relax the quota and mandates on ethanol and the inability to understand the ramifications of those inactions is a culinary no-no of global proportions.

Despite efforts in Beijing to clean up its act, all indications are the Summer Olympic Games will be a culinary catastrophe.

A positive menu move was made a few weeks ago. Even so, if I were attending the Olympic Games that begin this week, I’d be leery of some of the local offerings. And this is coming from a guy who eats anything, isn’t picky, and fully understands the theory that a hungry tourist needs to be adventurous and dine as and where the locals do for an enjoyable, exciting experience.

Here’s something I wouldn’t expect to read in Gourmet Magazine. Remember, that’s Gourmet Magazine.

The headline teasing one of this month’s articles tells me that I can dine “exquisitely” in restaurants in the city hosting the Summer Olympics. I don’t doubt that, especially if I stay away from duck’s feet, steamed crap and burnt lion’s head.

The same headline then does an about face and informs me there’s a better alternative.

Prime rib in Beijing??!!

Hardly.

Gourmet Magazine….did I mention the title? GOURMET Magazine says I need to hit one of the outside vendors some evening and sample the wonder of what GOURMET Magazine calls, “A Banquet of Bugs.”

Writer Stephen Henderson recounts how one vendor in a rather unusual manner enticed him to stop and check out his bill of fare (You’ll find out when I link to the article).

There, Henderson of GOURMET Magazine discovered, “deep-fried centipedes, crickets, grasshoppers, scorpions, silkworms, and starfish. Most of these snacks were neatly arranged kebab-style, on wooden skewers.”

Henderson writes he could feel the little legs tickling his lips as he ate a centipede kebab. He refers to this and other odd dining experiences as broadening the palate and even quotes an “expert” who contends that eating insects, here we go………… will save the planet.

Sorry, Gourmet Magazine. Your arguments just aren’t persuasive enough.

Please pass the crisp Peking duck.

Though it usually comes at the end, I will start with the moral of this story:

Be nice to your waiter.

Culinary no-no #45 dealt with respecting the wait staff at restaurants. We heard from Phoebe Damrosch who has written a book about her experience waiting tables at Thomas Keller’s four-star New York City restaurant, Per Se.

Another book told from the perspective of a waiter is out, only this time, the waiter is out for revenge. Steve Dublanica is the author of, “Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter.”

Read an excerpt from his book and also watch a video of his appearance on the Today Show here.  Here's a book review from the Wall Street Journal.

Chances are you’ll have second thoughts the next time you’re thinking about being rude to your server.

When you think of Hawaii, what comes to mind?

Focus, people, focus. This is a food blog.

Of course, you think of...

The pineapple has a long and rich history in our 50^th state.

James Drummond Dole traveled to Hawaii in 1900 with $1,000, degrees in agriculture and business, and a dream of cultivating pineapples. He started growing them north of Oahu and, obviously, became very successful. Dole continues to grow and sell pineapple today and its visitor center on Oahu is a popular tourist destination.

But the pineapple presence in Hawaii isn’t what it once was. In 2006, Del Monte, which began its pineapple business in Hawaii in 1916, announced that it would put an end to its operations because it was no longer economically feasible to grow pineapple in Hawaii since it could be grown cheaper in other parts of the world.

A headline this weekend is enough to rattle a Hawaiian right down to his poi:

“Pineapple could vanish from Hawaii”

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. of Maui is planning huge layoffs and a massive cut in production. Expensive land and labor costs are taking their toll as the unthinkable has occurred: Hawaii having difficulty competing pineapple-wise with Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador and other countries.

Many Wisconsinites will be fuming to hear this bit of news. Hawaiian agricultural business would make up the slack in part by growing crops for the production of ethanol.

Pineapple hasn’t vanished completely from the Aloha state, but it’s disappearing at an alarming rate. To see American production of pineapple deteriorate is almost unconscionable. Hawaii without pineapple? Think Milwaukee without a brewery. Sad.

Read more from this weekend’s Honolulu Advertiser.


To read previous Culinary no-no’s, please click CULINARY NO-NO under my TAGS section.

Nowhere in the list is this mentioned:









True, the Golden Arches serves a lot of items high in fat and calories. But is McDonald's to blame for a nation of bloated waistlines?

Two years ago, a study group at the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggested 10 new causes for obesity:

1. Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today's Americans get less shut-eye than ever.

2. Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today’s pollutants affect our hormones.

3. Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices.

4. Decreased smoking. Smoking reduces weight. Americans smoke much less than they used to.

5. Medicine. Many different drugs — including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetes drugs, some antidepressants, and blood pressure drugs — can cause weight gain. Use of these drugs is on the upswing.

6. Population age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans tend to be more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and more Hispanic.

7. Older moms. There's some evidence that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the higher her child's risk of obesity. American women are giving birth at older and older ages.

8. Ancestors' environment. Some influences may go back two generations. Environmental changes that made a grandparent obese may "through a fetally driven positive feedback loop" visit obesity on the grandchildren.

9. Obesity linked to fertility. There's some evidence obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, the percentage of obese people in the population should increase.

10. Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men. If there are fewer thin people around — and if obesity has a genetic component — there will be still more obese people in the next generation.

They contend fast food and inactivity can lead to obesity, but are circumstantial factors often given too much attention as opposed to a host of other causes.

Regardless of medical research or common sense, liberal politicians know best. In the city of Los Angeles, the evil fast-food restaurants have been designated as the culprits for a certain section of the city being far too fat.

What’s the solution proposed by members of the city council? In essence, they want to ban “fast food restaurants,” placing a one-year moratorium on the opening of "any establishment which dispenses food for con