and go to Mexico to get tasty ideas. The Big Burrito newsletter is probably one of the best email newsletters I have ever seen. They July newsletter arrived in my email yesterday with an interesting topic. Bill Fuller, the Big Burrito chef, writes about his trip to Mexico with the head Mad Mex chef shares some recipes. Bill also writes that he reads blogs to learn about new things. Obviously I like blogs, and it is nice to learn that other cool people use them too.
If you don’t know about Mad Mex, you should - it is one of my most favorite places to eat ever - partly because the chefs buy local and use good food to make a tasty meal. While I have been lobbying Bill (and every server that has crossed my path) to bring back the chick pea pizza that has been off the Mad Mex menu for years, I am looking forward to seeing what new items arrive on the menu.

I missed it– I mean I didn’t believe it could happen.I doubted America could take down Kobayashi!!! Our hope had already broken the world record but not IN CONEY ISLAND, so I still thought we couldn’t do it.

Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes - a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.

It’s not just Chestnut, but the whole nation that is taking eating more seriously and it’s paid off. Look at this couple, who is not letting age get them down and are training and competing together.

While taking in Quantum Theatre’s latest play in the repurposed Garden Theatre, I made a surprising discovery: the first Max & Erma’s was in Pittsburgh, or at least, in Allegheny City. I don’t mean these guys — I mean Max’s Allegheny Tavern, which has operated on the North Side since 1903. The present owners, who are indeed a Max and an Erma, named it Max and Erma’s Allegheny Tavern until they were forced to change the name.

I am pleased to report that whatever its name, Max’s is one of Pittsburgh’s many hidden restaurant gems. (The only reason I found out about them is that my girlfriend’s family likes to go there.) They’ve got a good selection of German draft beer (with samplers), good food, and smoke-free dining rooms. Being German, the menu’s not very friendly to vegetarians, but omnivores will leave full and happy. Even better, they’re one of those rare restaurants that advertises a discount in the Entertainment Book and then actually honors the coupon. Highly recommended if you’re ever looking for a filling but casual dinner up on the North Side.

The Atlanta Metroblog is featuring the Drink of the Week (this week is an awesome mojito. This drink of the week idea got me thinking about what is a Pittsburgh drink. A few years ago I was doing some work in Houston and we were sitting at the bar and I asked the group “what is the Texas drink?” The response was “long island iced tea” - which certainly didn’t seem very Texas to me.
So, when people visit Pittsburgh - what is the suggested Pittsburgh drink? I know the immediate answer is Iron City Beer. I know this is a drink favored by Pittsburghers everywhere. Last summer I helped a family pack up a case of iron to take with them to their son who now lives in Alaska. But is there a mixed drink that really screams Pittsburgh?

The scariest thing about this recipe for a Ho Ho Casserole (which was read aloud to me today at lunch) is that it is said to serve two.

Now that I look at the story for myself, I see that it may have been a joke… but we do live in the Ho Ho capital of the nation, so I can almost visualize the portion size.

More than a month ago news broke that some foods were making pets sick; the recall began March 16. So if you were thinking that the suspect petfood — which, it appears, contains the toxic chemical melamine, used in making plastics — might have been cleared from shelves by now, well, you’d probably be right.

Trouble is, that icky melamine may be laying in wait for us humans. Yesterday the FDA announced that pigs destined to be pork chops and bacon had eaten suspect food. More pig farms and a chicken farm are being checked out. Yikes.

Maybe it’s time to go vegetarian for a while.

Or not. The suspect wheat gluten (and now possibly corn gluten, rice protein concentrate and more) is found in “foods often eaten by vegetarians,” according to Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition — including bread, pasta, cereal, protein shakes and energy bars. And, while this doesn’t apply to me, I certainly don’t want to leave it out: baby food.

So what does that mean? If, like me, you’d rather your melamine be in your plates than on them, seems like it might be a good time to start up that salad and fresh veggies diet again.

photo by welovethedark via flickr

The Post-Gazette had shocking news yesterday: Joe Average-Pittsburgher (son of Frank Average and Henrietta Pittsburgher) eats more than one and a half Ho Hos per day.

“Holy Crap,” you might well say. “I don’t even know anyone who eats those things. Somebody must be packing on the Ho Ho pounds to get us up to that number.” That’s what I said, anyway, and I think of myself as a fairly representative Pittsburgher, apart from my low Ho Ho consumption. A nutritionist weighed in:

“Nobody is thinking while eating a Ho Ho, ‘Hey, this is like eating fat on a steak.’ But it’s really the same thing. The arteries aren’t discriminating.”

This is getting worse and worse: no wonder we are dying faster than we can replenish our civic population. This is the crack epidemic all over again, except with a totally different meaning when the word “ho” is used.

Then, today:

Youngsters who are rewarded for good grades with after-school snacks might sympathize as I admit: No Ho Ho for me.

The story should have said 1.51 Ho Hos per Pittsburgher per year, a rate that still leads the nation, but doesn’t come close to making us the heavyweights the story suggested.

What a relief. My horrifying fantasies of drowning in a sea of Ho Hos was lifted. In fact, I might be reasonably expected to eat a Ho Ho and a half in a year. Reason and sense are restored.

Metanote: A Google image search for “ho ho” will produce a whole lot of photos of Santa Claus, sexually available women, and pirates, but not a whole lot in the way of snack cakes. As a result, this post is offered without adornment.

Happy Happy Joy Joy. Today is free cone day at Ben & Jerry’s. Hurry hurry to the nearest, well only Pittsburgh Ben & Jerry’s (Yes, I know there is one at the airport but I checked the website and the airport location is not participating in free cone day).

On Tuesday April 17th from 12pm until 8pm participating Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops around the world will be hosting Ben & Jerry’s Annual Free Cone Day.

Ben & Jerry’s Squirrel Hill
5885 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412-521-7550

Now that Easter is over I guess the Pretzel Shop is looking forward to Christmas.
I took this picture at the Pretzel Shop this morning while I was picking up lunch. The Pretzel Shop is THE BEST place ever. I bought lunch for five and 6 rice krispie treats and the whole total was less than $20. Check out Alik’s rave review of the Pretzel Shop here.

In my prior entry about cupcakes, “Kate” from CMU urged me to visit the Sweetie Sweetie Bakery in Regent Square. I have gone, and I can report that these are indeed excellent cupcakes; better than Giant Eagle, and only $1 each. Plus, the bakery has one of those “Zoltan” style mechanical fortune-telling machines. Despite the fact that it predicted gloom and doom for my near future, I must say that $1 for a cupcake and my fortune is a darn good deal.