Bloomberg wonders if surge pricing would work in restaurants:

Rather than create culinary gimmicks with artificially inflated prices to make ends meet, Kokonas thinks restaurants should introduce “surge pricing” like that offered by Uber and Lyft. In the restaurant version, meals would rise and fall in price based on the demand in the reservation system.

“It’s about quality. It’s what you’re buying that’s the important thing, not the price.” Kokonas also confirmed that Tock had secured an additional $9.5 million in financing from Valor Equity Partners.

Of all the things to find in a wine shop basement, a box full of missing election ballots from 1984 may just be the most unexpected.

Not that long ago Chicago’s restaurant scene was considered tops in the USA. Not anymore. Chicago Mag digs into what happened.

Botanist barman Max Curzon-Price talks favourite spirits, cocktail competitions and strange ingredients.

The Daily Beast pays a visit to a few bars that truly know how to deck the halls.

On the risks of eating raw oysters as water temperatures continue to rise: NPR reports.

After facing allegations of sexual harassment earlier this year, Washington chef and restaurant owner Mike Isabella has filed for bankruptcy. Rather than taking responsibility for his actions, however, Isabella blames “bad press” for his imminent restaurant closures.

The dream team of beer! The folks behind Alibi Room and Brassneck are coming together to open Magnet, a new beer-focused spot set to open downtown in the coming months.

When it comes to the best punch, just listen to cocktail historian David Wondrich. He wrote the book on it…..literally.

Drinking for a cause! Both Colony and Charles Bar will be donating $5 from every Holiday Eggnog sold to The Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

This week in strange food news: KFC has released a firelog that smells like fried chicken when it burns.

The Globe and Mail’s Alex Gill sings the praises of the recently opened Ugly Dumpling with a three star review.

Sipping in Vancouver, where a song and a cocktail come together to create a beautiful drinking experience.

From an IPA out of Philadelphia to a South Carolina Saison, Punch shares their picks for the best beers of 2018.

In the least surprising news of the week, James Bond has a drinking problem. The real mystery is who decided to fund on a study on Bond’s alcoholism in the first place.

Drinking via Instagram honours this week go to @rwhotelgeorgia and the most festive of holiday cocktails:

 

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A post shared by Rosewood Hotel Georgia (@rwhotelgeorgia) on Dec 6, 2018 at 1:00pm PST

In a year where racist incidents in restaurants made headlines on multiple occasions (Starbucks, MacDonald’s, Chipotle), Eater explores how brands are responding to public demands for accountability.

“Put plainly, while Starbucks’ executives may very well want to ‘do the right thing’ because they believe in equality and fairness, brands’ actions ultimately come down to what will most benefit the company and its shareholders…”

The folks at Imbibe share their picks for their favourite spots to eat and drink in Victoria.

A cocktail created specifically to subvert assumptions about gender and drinking: Munchies reports.

From overpriced sandwiches and sushi bros to more overpriced sandwiches, Grub Street shares some 2018 food trends they hope go the way of the dodo.

All this time we thought the debate was whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich. Now The Washington Post has turned the entire debate on its head with the taco question.

“The Washington Post—investigative powerhouse, arbiter of truth, the newspaper that brought down a corrupt Nixon presidency, keeper of the flame of democracy which each day the current powers of darkness threaten to extinguish—yesterday brought us perhaps its most shocking reportage yet: A hot dog is a taco.”

From sexual harassment in the restaurant industry to the passing of beloved culinary icons, The New York Times rounds up their most read food stories of 2018.

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