Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

The Great American Lager

Hey Budweiser...

Not that anybody watches the All-Star Game (only 12 million Americans)...but isn't there just the slightest bit of brand incongruency of taking a lead advertising position and stressing that you are "The Great American Lager" over and over, less than 48 hours after selling the company to a Belgian conglomerate? Couldn't you have, like, delayed the deal until after the game? Or brought back the Lizards in the interim?

I guess $52 billion in your pocket means you don't have to care about your brand anymore. But one would think that InBev should have known better...

The Food Shack

When one travels to Palm Beach for some luxurious rest and relaxation, restaurants with names like L'Escalier, Ta-boo and Forte might come to mind to kick off an evening's entertainment. Surely not, "hey honey, let's go to the Food Shack."

Big mistake. I've been to Palm Beach County five or six times in the past year and sampled a lot of fabulous restaurants. And, one of my favorites is this out-of-the-way-in-a-dreary-strip-mall seafood joint called, yep...the Food Shack. And, before you question my culinary sophistication, you might want to check out these reviews from The New York Times, Southern Living and the Boston Globe. And, Zagat's rates the Food Shack as "Outstanding."

Never been? My suggestion is to skip the entrees and heavy up on the "Shackatizers." The menu changes frequently, but my faves that night included the Butter Rum Tempura Wahoo Lollipop, the Panko Fried Oysters, Bacon Wrapped Salmon Medallions and the Sweet Potato Crab Cakes. Go with friends. Buys lots of Shackatizers and share.

Funky, loud and fun...with a great view of the kitchen. And simply sensational food.

Chicken Soup for the non-PC Soul

We call the Jail in our town the Public Safety Building. As someone wrote into the Letter to the Editor, if we're gonna be PC, let's go all the way: The Dane County B&B for the Legally Challenged.

I laughed my ass off last week when Matt McDermott of Ad Agency Confessional revealed that the rumor about Cock Flavored Soup was true...and the mix is produced in Jamaica.

I so know a bunch of people that would be way into this product.

Saving an Icon

Urban Legend has it that McDonald's was the first large-scale hamburger chain.

But, in the 1940s, there was Mammoth Orange. These quintessential fast food joints, shaped like fruit and painted a blazin' shade of orange, served hamburgers and orange juice all up and down California's Central Valley.

There were hundreds of them...and the last Mammoth Orange closed last summer when the California DOT fenced it off from vehicular traffic as it began to renovate the adjacent intersection.

But, according to our friend Dan Carter, "the City of Chowchilla has purchased the Mammoth Orange burger stand on Highway 99 (California's Route 66) and is moving it intact to the City yard until they can refurbish it and put it at the Hwy 99 exit (gateway) to their community as an information booth and kiosk. Kudos to the Chowchilla City Council for saving a historicstructure and putting it to work informing visitors about their community."

Kudos indeed...and a great example for communities everywhere.

Image Credit: crazy4citrus

No Alcohol = 2 Stars

Word from Egypt is that the owner of the five-star Grand Hyatt Cairo has banned all alcohol from the hotel.

A practicing Muslim, he apparently arrived at his hotel a couple weeks ago and ordered all alcohol onsite destroyed, in accordance with Islamic Law.

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but think of the horror on Belushi's face when the movers dropped a case of alcohol in the classic Animal House. I'm sure several patrons at the hotel had a similar expression.

While this is clearly the prerogative of any owner...this move appears to instantly drop the hotel's 5-star rating to 2, as part of the requirements for multiple stars is the availability of alcohol.

According to the Assistant Manager, discussions with the owner are continuing. It will be interesting to see whether religion or commerce prevail.

Black Market Candy

From Slashfood.com (via Iconoculture) we learn that the politically correct ban on sweets and candy in our public schools has spawned an underground movement of kids selling contraband Snickers to other students.

Just like aggressive cleansing of a neighborhood drug trade can lead to more violent crime as former dealers move to other revenue generating options, is this really what we want to encourage our third and fourth graders to learn?

How to be pushers?

The West Deck / Newport

I am so living right.

How else to explain a great night with new friends from the Newport County (RI) CVB at Mike Cheney's sensational "The West Deck."

As part of the destination's "Restaurant Week," Executive Chef Rob Biela created a 5-course cooking demonstration / wine pairing event that featured Seafood Scampi (with Steele Sauvignon Blanc) and Braised Ossobucco (with Steele "Catfish" Zinfandel).

Favorite of the night: West Deck Calamari (with Chinese 5-spice powder instead of the more traditional panko) on a bed of Sambal infused Hummus.

Damn!

Drunks on Parade

New research out of George Washington University Medical Center reveals that those who work in the Hospitality Industry suffer more than any other industry from problems related to alcohol.

15% of us drink too much, according to the study, due in part to the availability of alcohol in the workplace, lack of supervision and the average age (younger) of hospitality industry workers.

Hey, when you work in an industry in which you live-on-the-razor's-edge-laugh-in-the-face-of-death every single day, sometimes ya need to take the edge off.

However, it sounds like more and more of us are taking a little more than just the edge off...

All You Can Eat

Last year, we posted on the incredibly smart (and successful) Heart Attack Grill in Arizona. Under the tagline of "Taste Worth Dying For," the Grill serves up    Double, Triple and Quadruple Bypass Burgers and Flatliner Fries...all served by waitresses in sexy nurses costumes. You can check the original post for how the Arizona State Bar of Nursing feels about that.

As the Grill returns to Chandler, they've launched a homecoming promotion for this weekend: All you can eat and drink Saturday from 11 to 11...FOR FREE. For real.

That's a lot of beef...and a ton of free publicity.

It's All About the Experience

While dining out is about the art of cuisine, any reasonably talented photographer can capture an image of food that looks as good as it (probably) tastes. Hell, look at those photographs of hamburgers from the fast food chains. The ones I get never look like that.

And while Asheville's incredible Savoy could certainly proffer up photos of its culinary creations on its website, owner Eric Scheffer is whip-smart enough to know that it's the experience that will capture the imagination.

Which is why the photos he uses on his site (enlargeable example at left) are so dead on.