The Food Scout

Several decades ago, pop culture artist Andy Warhol made big bucks screen-printing large copies of Campbell Soup cans onto canvas, and raised the question of whether food was art, or art was food (I still find it interesting that Campbell Soup Company proudly displays one of those canvases that it presumably bought, when it should have been suing the pants off of Warhol for copyright infringement). And now M&M/Mars takes us all one step closer to bridging the gap between food and art ourselves. Hopefully you already knew that it was possible to have little messages printed on M&M’s for, say, a wedding or other special occasion where one ...

When Starbucks hit a same-store sales wall last fall, industry pundits and analysts launched a wave of theories and explanations as to why Starbucks deserved to be in this situation. No one was more critical of the company’s situation of course, than the company’s own chief, Howard Schultz. In the wake of its fall from Wall Street grace, Starbucks has been launching wave after wave of innovations, from advertising, to promotions, to new products and menu items (mostly publicized courtesy of the press) including a blog site that invites fans to submit ideas (more cathartic for the fans than useful to Starbucks, I would expect).

I was impressed with Ruby Tuesday’s makeover when I ate dinner at one of its recently rehabbed units a few months ago. But I had lunch at another one for lunch this week, and I’ve decided it’s my new favorite (chain) restaurant. So much so, that I’m revising my prejudice that casual dine restaurant chains require compromise when it comes to freshness, healthiness, contemporary flavors, and other quality cues.

I'm still recovering from the shockwaves I felt in my wallet this weekend. No not gasoline, but food. I just decided not to think about the $3.35 per gallon price tag when I fueled up, even though a month ago I was paying $2.79 a gallon. That's probably because I'd been driving around for days (on a tank of $3.05 gas) watching the price go up to $3.15, then $3.25 and even $3.35 in places. So I'd been bracing for the hit at the pump.

It’s my birthday and I don’t have much time to work today, because I’m running around town redeeming all the free food that I’m getting for my birthday. Buffalo Wild Wings sent me a gift card for $15 (and I’ve never spent a cent there). Fortunately it’s right next door to Coldstone Creamery, where there’s a “Love It” custom creation of my choice waiting for me (if I show them the coupon with the one-week expiration date). Then just a few doors down is Qdoba, which is giving me a free burrito. I don’t think I can eat $15 worth of food at BWW and a big burrito at Qdoba at the same time, so I’m going to have to come another day. Then, somewhere I have to fit in a visit to Red Robin, which is giving me a burger for my birthday (they’re hoping I bring some people with me to celebrate, I suppose. Suckers!). Then later this week I want to stop by McAlister’s ($5 off birthday coupon), San Francisco Oven for a Buy-An-Entree-Get-The-Second-For-50%-Off (hmm, that will cost me money), and Sonic for a free medium drink (cheapskates).