Slashfood

• The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Snobbery, specialty coffee, slow-cooked beans
  

  Filed under: Wine, Coffee, East Coast, Business, Vegetables, Recipes, Newspapers, America, in sixty seconds, Coffee shops, Celebrities

  
  Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter picks up his second restaurant, Monkey Bar. His first, the Waverly Inn, has been luring a high wattage crowd for two years, despite not being officially open.
  
  L.A.'s fast food moratorium raises questions about choice and personal responsibility.
  
  The Minimalist makes chapati, Indian flat bread.
  
  A recipe for slow-cooked green beans.
  
  Eric Asimov sips the crisp white...
  



• Coffee: Suddenly, it's good for you!
  

  Filed under: Coffee, Science, Newspapers, America, Coffee shops, Health & Medical, Guilty Pleasures

  Over the years, I've had a love/hate relationship with coffee. On the one hand, when I worked in a cafe/bakery, the free, unlimited chocolate-covered espresso beans made it a lot easier to bake bread all night. On the other hand, when I developed acid reflux, coffee was the first thing that had to go. Over the years, I've repeatedly reunited with coffee, only to leave it again a few months later. Between warnings about digestion, blood pressure, and various other problems, I've learned to fight my deep love of the...
  



• Starbucks releases list of stores to close
  

  Filed under: Coffee, Coffee shops, Food News

  
  As Shayna (and every major media outlet) noted a couple weeks ago, Starbucks is going to be closing just over 600 stores (616 to be exact) over the next year. Yesterday, they announced which stores, across 44 states and the District of Columbia, are going to get the axe. California, Florida, New York and Texas are losing the highest number of stores. The list on the Huffington Post is searchable, which makes it easy for you to check out and see if your local store will be closing.

  Business, On the Blogs, Coffee shops

  
  News agencies all over the country have been reporting the news. Starbucks, the coffee mega giant, is closing around 600 stores!
  
  Most analysts blame it squarely on the company's over-expansion and a slowing economy. Starbucks has opened too many stores too close to each other, and that proximity has hurt the profits considerable. According to the Word of Mouth Blog from the Guardian, 70% of the stores being closed were opened in the last 18 months. Add to that the fact that people just don't have the extra cash to shell out on...
  




• Starbucks is bringing back the "burnt" coffee
  

  Filed under: Coffee, On the Blogs, Coffee shops

  
  There seems to be a lot of Starbucks news over the last few months. Here's some more, anyway.
  
  It seems that Starbucks not everyone was happy about the switch to the Pike Place roast coffees. The Consumerist reports that the coffee chain got a lot of requests for consumers for the older, stronger roast coffees. Apparently some people likened the old roast style as having a burnt flavor, while the new Pike Place roast is much milder.
  
  Anyway, the public demanded and Starbucks has conceded....
  



• Starbucks looking for new head of food and beverage division
  

  Filed under: Coffee shops, Fast Food

  
  Last May, I was invited to a press tasting at one of my local Starbucks, to try out their new breakfast sandwiches and the warming program. Over the course of two hours, I tried four different sandwiches, a warm chocolate cookie and a bagel that had gone for a ride through the warming oven as well. The woman who was presenting was passionate about these sandwiches and her energy was infectious. By the time I left I was ready to eat my breakfast at Starbucks every day!
  
  Of course, I didn't end up eating there every day (I think...
  



• Are coffee cuppings the new wine tastings?
  

  Filed under: Coffee, East Coast, Trends, Newspapers, America, Coffee shops

  
  There's a pretty interesting story in the New York Times about the prevalence of coffee "cuppings" - basically wine tastings for java, minus the spitting. Aficionados sit around discussing different roasts, trying to find the right words to describe the subtle flavors of a cup of Kenyan or Guatemalan roast.
  
  Now, I drink coffee every day, usually multiple cups, black. Aside from water, it's probably the single consumable I have most regularly. But while I can certainly taste the difference between the watery, acidic, sewage brown stuff sold in...
  



• Big tease on how to stay skinny at Starbucks
  

  Filed under: Coffee, On the Blogs, Coffee shops, Health & Medical

  Imagine you're perusing your favorite food blogs, and you come across a headline that reads "How to order at Starbucks and not put on weight". If your first thought was anything like "Oh wow, finally, a map to not getting fat at Starbucks!", then you, like me, would be disappointed to read the actual article.
  
  I see now that I was overly optimistic. Of course it's getting to be common knowledge how many calories are in most of the coffee chains' creations,...
  



• Eight types of annoying people at Starbucks
  

  Filed under: Coffee, On the Blogs, Lists, Coffee shops

  Do you visit Starbucks on a regular basis? If you do, you might notice one or more of the type of patron that Holy Taco names in its list of annoying Starbucks customers.
  
  I'm not a big coffee drinker, and I hate to sound pretentious, but I have been against the coffee chain since I was a teenager and I rarely go into one of their stores (though my parents love, love, love the place). What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't be able to spot...
  



• San Francisco Chronicle Food section in 60 seconds: Salad, Seafood, and Springtime
  

  Filed under: Vegetables, Newspapers, Comfort Food, in sixty seconds, Coffee shops

  The feature story this week is on the Bay Area's small-batch coffee roasters.
  
  Spring-time calls for salads made of young greens. Recipes are for: Parsley Salad with Green Onions, Cherry Tomatoes & Spicy Lime Dressing, Truffley Salad of Arugula, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Salad with the Herbs of Spring.
  
  The Working Cook turns to cous cous, coming up with two recipes with three kinds of cous cous: Warm Salad with Couscous & Grilled Coriander Chicken and Sea Bass with Seared Asparagus, Little Pasta...