Has marijuana been legalized in name only, if you cannot open pizzeria-slash-pot-smoking-hangout without it being crushed by the oppressive boot of the state? The dream of every stoner child of the nineties remains unfulfilled for the time being:
Tag Archives | Restaurants
The First Robot Restaurant Opens In China
It will be hard to resist robots if they are as adorable as these ones seem to be. CNET Asia writes:
The Robot Restaurant opened in Harbin in June and has taken the food and beverage industry in China further into the mechanized world. Robot Restaurant staffs a total of 20 robots as waiters, cooks and busboys.
Upon arrival, Usher Robot welcomes customers to the restaurant and directs them to the seating area. Patrons can then place their order, which is relayed by humans to one of the four the robot chefs who are able to cook various styles of dumplings and noodles. Waitress robots carry the food to customers by following a track that uses sensors placed under the floor for spatial awareness.
Used Cooking Oil: A Hot Property Black Market Item
Natt Garun writes in Gizmodo:
People resort to the black market for all sorts of stolen goods: cellphones, watches, cars, babies. But used cooking oil? According to the Washington Post, that’s a thing too.
Thieves are now moving into the green market by stealing used cooking oil from the back of restaurants. They sell the sludge to recyclers, who then process it into biodiesel. The oil can go for as much as $4 per gallon on the down low.
Since this is a pretty new criminal enterprise, police aren’t entirely sure what to do with the perps — or how to stop the theft from happening. In some states it’s a misdemeanor. Meanwhile in Virginia, two men caught greaselifting were charged with grand larceny. Serves you right for those sticky, err, slippery fingers.
Most Popular Herb In Top Restaurant Kitchens: Marijuana
It’s probably the worst kept secret in the restaurant business, but it takes an outspoken voice like Anthony Bourdain’s to make it the front page headline in the Dining Section of the New York Times:
Even preschool teachers unwind with a round of drinks now and then. But in professional kitchens, where the hours are long, the pace intense and the goal is to deliver pleasure, the need to blow off steam has long involved substances that are mind-altering and, often enough, illegal.
“Everybody smokes dope after work,” said Anthony Bourdain, the author and chef who made his name chronicling drugs and debauchery in professional kitchens. “People you would never imagine.”
So while it should not come as a surprise that some chefs get high, it’s less often noted that drug use in the kitchen can change the experience in the dining room.
In the 1980s, cocaine helped fuel the frenetic open kitchens and boisterous dining rooms that were the incubators of celebrity chef culture.
