The Gluttonous Myth of Diamond Jim Brady

David Kamp has a nice piece of culinary-historical investigation in The New York Times that assesses the legendary gluttony of Diamond Jim Brady.

Al Forno Charleston 2.0 - New & Improved!

My web hits at Al Forno Charleston have be sagging a bit lately.  It could be that I didn't post anything for a month and then, when I finally got around to it, the best thing I could come up with was a crummy link to a video of Chris Cosentino cutting up a beef heart.

But that's probably not it.  I think I just need to jazz things up a little bit and make the old site more appealing.  So, check out the prototype of the new-and-improved layout and look-and-feel for:

     Al Forno Charleston 2.0

I think this is just the sizzle the old site's been missing . . .

Hat tip to the Bloggess for the link . . .

Oh, it is ON!

None of the major media outlets have picked it up yet, but it seems a full-fledged war has broken out in the northern reaches of Mount Pleasant.  

For years, Sonic has reigned supreme as pretty much the only drive-thru fast restaurant north of the IOP Connector.  Sure, there was funky local contender Jack's Cosmic Dogs, and a Quiznos and a few chain-type sandwich shops, but when it was time for a quick fix of greasy fries in a paper sack ordered through a drive-thru microphone, Sonic owned the neighborhood.

A few weeks ago, though, an aggressive new player muscled in on Sonic's turf, as captured through this crafty surveillance photo:

That's right. Chik-Fil-A is on the move. It wasn't enough for them to dominate the US 17 corridor from the Ravenel Bridge all the way to I-526 with their habit-forming chicken filets and a drive-thru line that I swear sometimes wrapped around the building twice. Now they've opened a new location in the Oakland Market shopping center just north of Highway 41 and are bringing it straight to Sonic.

But Sonic isn't taking things lying down. "You wanna do chicken?" it said to the brash newcomer. "Oh, we can do chicken all day long:"



And Sonic ain't stopping there. This weekend, they took the gloves off altogether:



Aw, snap. What you got to say now, chicken boys?

Grits

Eva Moore up at the Columbia Free Times has a nice article on Anson Mills grits.

Checking in on the status of American Literature

Did you know that THIS is the #12 best selling book on Amazon.com this week?:

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Take another little piece of my heart . . .

Here's video that will teach you new skills in the kitchen. Not sure why, but I find it fascinating and disturbing at the same time!