The Intelligence Brief is our weekly compendium of food and drink news sourced from outlets all over the world, including right here at home

A word to the wise: confusing a bottle of Foam-Brite for your sour mix comes with a $90k fine — a lesson this Washington, D.C bar found out the hard way.

Eater explains why coffee is so subpar at most brunch spots and encourages patrons to get their caffeine fix elsewhere.

A single 2.7lb snow crab just sold to Tetsuji Hamashita, a Japanese seafood wholesaler, for $46,000 USD. “I know it’s extreme. But it’s the custom,” Hamashita told CNN. “But I am sure the taste of the crab matches the price.” Sure, bud.

Scout’s road map of Vancouver’s best comfort food continues with a stop at Gastown’s Sardine Can for an order of crave-worthy Gambas al Ajillo.

This new restaurant going into the old Nomad space on Main Street sounds pretty awesome.

Food as resistance: how Indigenous chefs are reclaiming their roots, preserving foodways and creating new ones.

“As we look at the history of Indigneous food in Canada, we’ve seen everything from the active destruction of traditional food practices such as the massive kill off of bison and buffalo, to the clever adaptation of communities that made “new traditional foods” from government-issued food allowances, like my father’s four cents. This penchant for survival and flair lives on in Indigneous cooking today through fusion foods, pow wow staples, and a return to simplicity.”

Evil incarnate: a white restaurant manager in South Carolina was just sentenced to 10 years in prison for beating and torturing a black employee with intellectual disabilities.

Check, please: Overrun with tourists, a port city in Europe is voting on a law that forbids new restaurant openings for a five year period.

Drinking via Instagram honours this week go to @lamezcalierayvr as the smokey and herbaceous El Duende is the kind of drink we need right about now:

 

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A post shared by La Mezcaleria (@lamezcaleriayvr) on Nov 9, 2019 at 8:43am PST

Learn the lingo of Vancouver Island, including the endearing nickname for this much-loved Tofino restaurant.

Necessity is the mother of invention and when this kid realized the distinct lack of Krispy Kreme in his hometown, he jumped on the opportunity.

How McDonald’s is trying to lure back its Gen-X customer base with the return of a selection of classic Happy Meal toys.

This week in creative problem solving: a man that was aware enough to know that he shouldn’t be driving but drunk enough to decide that stealing a motorized Walmart shopping cart was the best way to get to the next bar.

Clive’s Classic Lounge Bar Manager Jayce Kadyschuk shares his favourite spots to dine and drink around Victoria.

How a crowdsourced app is helping folks navigate public spaces such as restaurants that often only offer gendered washrooms.

“This is the reality of what being in public is like for me now, a big reason I seldom go anywhere if I can avoid it: Whenever I have to navigate spaces like airports and restaurants and rest stops, I’m forced to contend with gendered restrooms. That day in Niagara, I opened an app that I’ve come to rely on whenever I leave the house, called Refuge Restrooms. It’s a crowdsourced database of bathrooms that are safe(r) for folks such as myself. In any given location, you can browse the map, and up will pop purple pins denoting bathrooms previously users have added.”

If you’ve ever wondered if you can cook bread in a flower pot the answer is yes, you most definitely can.

How a group of Railtown restaurants have come together to give back to the community.

“Each participating establishment will serve up an exclusive menu item during the month, and proceeds from each sale will go toward the Powell Street Getaway operated by the Lookout Housing and Health Society, which supports those living with chronic illnesses, addictions, and/or mental health challenges.”

This oddly satisfying moment of the week is brought to you by this stop-motion animation of a lego pizza in the making.

And speaking of pizza, check out Scout’s sneak peek inside the new Bufala, which is set to open in North Vancouver later this month.

Mark your calendars! Culinaire returns to Vancouver Island in March and will showcase some of the best food and beverage the island has to offer.

While our elections may have just wrapped up the American one is heating up and here’s what democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete is eating on the campaign trail.

The folks at Bon Appetit pay a visit to the Okanagan Valley and are quite pleased to find themselves amidst over 180 wineries.

How Fidel Castro’s love of ice cream and frustrations with an American embargo resulted in one of the biggest ice cream parlours in the world.

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