WHT

That may be tougher than it sounds. The Elks and Moose sometimes have them. At least the ones in Ocean County. Also some of the volunteer fire departments as a way of raising funds. Maybe that would be the type of situation to look out for.

You many want to check Amazon.com auctions. The prices may be better.

For baking it is fine. As a core element it is fine. Never use it with acidic products; here is where the fear may take over. Baked goods do not leech or absorb the metal around them. Tomato sauce, pineapple and other acidic would be the exception. I use Pyrex or Lincoln Aluminum for baking. Stainless or copper for stovetop and never Teflon for anything. That will do more harm in the long run than aluminum.

Shop-rite used to do nice burger patties in store. Both in .25 and .125 pound sizes. Great for the Hibachi. F R E S H not frozen.

Never been there and a client wants to meet for dinner.

It is one of those obscure things as I mentioned. I will post the actual statute when I find it. If memory serves it was part of a set of banking changes back in 1978, a forerunner of The Fair Credit Act. One of those things like the limit on how much loose change a merchant or debtor had to accept. $25.00 incase anyone wanted to know.

I forget the reason but in NJ you could not advertise a deal like that. Not that offers like that don’t happen. But here in IL You can. Though what should the Tax department care if you still pay your quarterlies. You see that a lot out here in furniture ads, “pay cash or use the house charge and pay before X days and we will discount the sale to an amount equal to your sales tax.” Another strange on I have noticed is in some areas you can list prices as tax included. Others you can’t or they have other restrictions.

Gas is a thin margin sale and because of that the extra incentive boosts the margin. Some places look at it as a part of doing business and eat the cost. It also tends to complicate the bookkeeping. Too many places are not automated enough to offer the option. Some places won’t for loss prevention reasons. Having designed enough POS systems I have heard a lot of reasons pro and con.

You might want to try FOX 5 Or WPIX 11; if memory serves they are more likely to do that sort of story. I guess it would be in how you phrase the pitch. I would also think that the Montclair Times and Ledger might be good print avenues. I can understand the frustration you feel. Hard to get the added recognition and advertising without looking like you have a case of sour grapes. “Foodies”, dose anyone actually own up to that title? I think of it in a derogatory sense. But if it means income…

I would think that John Stossel and his 20/20 segment would be a good avenue for this type of article. I don’t see it as a main story. More of a public interest or minor expose. I would hope that most people take Zagat’s with a grain of salt if at all. I find the hotel concierge to be a better source of information. For that mater ask here as people seem to from time-to-time.

I loved the article. It goes to address things that others and I have suspected for some time. I heard it said once that encyclopedias and reference books are often inaccurate at the point of publication do to time lag. I think Zagat’s falls under this model.

Hmmmm... not so sure about that. I can't find any documentation, but I thought cash discounts were also illegal. Wouldn't everyone use such a loophole if that were the case? What always confused me is why gas stations can get away with charging less for cash. I wonder if the law regulates industries differently, or if states are the ones actually govern such things. I will have to go digging for the papers. You can discount for cash. You can't surcharge for credit Was the thrust of it. Remember in law wording is everything.

What about pasta dishes?

Show your work

I have tried a couple of times. After the aging and trim you have rather narrow but thick hunks of meat. Too hard to cook at home much less a commercial kitchen. The waste is almost 30% after the trim but well worth it if you care to try.

Nor should they. it is part of the cost of doing business.

By federal law you cannot charge more for using a credit card. Nor can you set a minimum purchase. You can offer a discount for cash! Funny, yes. Logical? No.

I was looking at the thread dealing with fresh foods and someone mentioned Deep-dish pizza being better the 2nd day. This got me thinking that there are a lot of foods that need some time to develop. Stews and chili come to mind. Some soups and even some cuts of roast meat seem better given the extra time. What do you think?

Can you other than that tomato that is still not in production? That is not the point. man will change things to suite him.

The short answer is fat helps to ttranfer heat. Meat is a lot slower to do this. added moisture has to be reduced befor heat can be effectivly transfered.

This reminds me of that move where in the future every restaurant was a Taco Bell, Demolition Man, I think. Sure from a certain standpoint I guess they could be seen as big. Though there are still larger and more profitable organizations like the Burch Group out of Texas or Million Dollar Enterprises in NJ if we are talking strictly dollars. All of these corporations share similar traits and approach the market in the same way.

You address some great points and some well-known fallacies about intellectual property. As I mentioned before over the past few years there have been some advances and some failures in this area. As an example; I create a chessesteake sandwich while working at Joe’s boardwalk café. It contains several ingredients cooked in a particular way and I call it the Xtreamsteak. Since it was part of my normal duties to come up with new menu items (baring other nuances of law.) Joe’s owns the sandwich. If I go to work for Sam’s and make the same sandwich I might be able to call it UltiSteak and get away with it if it is not challenged by Joe’s as being in violation of a trade agreement. Several types are applicable including non-compete and secrecy. This seldom happens, as you might know. Though it could under several laws. If we take the simple route, food as art the artist only maintains rights if they are the unassisted original producer. If done as part of a job or hired to do such the person owning the restaurant owns all rights. An example that relates would be you own Joes and want a picture of the sandwich and hire me to take it. You would still maintain copywrite on the image. If I cook a sandwich with the same ingredients and photograph it I own all rights. I had a situation a few months ago where I did a layout for a menu. Under the agreement they owned the layout and style but not the copy. They had the menu reprinted as flyers with different photos but the same wording. Because of the contract they either had to pay me for the use of the verbiage or discontinue use of the flyers. If I had not retained rights on the copy they would have been in the clear. Because a web site is in an international area with little method of enforcement many business would not give clearance for use. Why? If you have a picture on your site and another person steals it you or they have little recourse if any. If that picture is used in say a work showing that hotdogs kill. Not only could the owner of the restaurant sue you but the plagiarist. A hard case at best but a possibility. Since you are dealing with “Mom & Pop” type places I would not worry too much about this. Brand names and corporate image get to be funny things. Do you have pockets deep enough to go the first 2 rounds? You in some ways have to look to the extreme of the situation. Some places are very protective of there brands and will go to great lengths to defend them. To take a photo and distribute it may seem innocent but at some later point may become actionable. You can be sued for reasons that don’t even make sense, it is then up to a judge to rule on it at your expense. In your asparagus scenario the recipe is not protected but the name and image is! Sure it might just be a hotdog to you but to them it is a brand. Brands are protected by some strange and hard to interpret laws. You are a private person and the 1St. amendment in reality only protects you as far as you can afford. Yes you can be sued but a threatening letter and a C & D is more likely. Unless you have clearance for a photo it is hard to defend. If Sabrett does not want its logo used they may send you a C & D with a time limit or they may haul you into court under several laws on the books. As to your involvement in the past in media it might work against you to make that claim. Cover your ass, all it takes is some shyster to put a crimp in your life. Take it from one who has been there.

Maybe I could give you a better answer than what I have posted before if I understood why would you think it ok to post the picture here versus use in a newspaper? To an extent this is where fair use gets to be sticky. In a way you had it right. You are granted a limited license when you buy food at a restaurant. Or any pre-made food for that matter. The producer owns the rights. To make it trickier, unless the Chef is the owner of the restaurant it’s considered a work for hire situation. The business owner retains all rights. The Chef in that case is hired to accomplish a task. IE the pope and church own the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel not Michelangelo. Let me know a little more about how you perceive the situation and I will be happy to help with what I know about law and photojournalism.

Yes, the sweet irony of it.

For the most part, I agree with him... Sad to say but PT Barnum was right.