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The Stew

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By JEFF HOUCK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 13, 2008

CHEWING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES

Summer is the toughest part of the year for restaurants and food businesses to thrive. The less than bustling economy is putting its thumb down even harder this year.

How are some restaurants surviving? Anecdotally, I hear that some mom-and-pop restaurants are getting creative about cost-cutting, to the point of limiting the lemons for ice tea and water to those who ask directly for them.

Others are sticking with what works. Sara Kennedy at the Bradenton Herald reported last week that 10 restaurants in Manatee and Sarasota counties are extending the "Savor Sarasota" summer dinners promotion, partly to offset sluggish sales.

"Savor Sarasota" this year took place at three dozen eateries from May 27 to June 8 and offered fixed-price menus for smaller versions of meals with slightly smaller portions and a choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. Lunches were $15 per person, and dinners were $25. During the extension, restaurants are offering dinner only at $25 per person.

For a list of restaurants, go to www.sarasotafl.org/savor.

NEWLY PUBLISHED BOOK I CAN'T WAIT TO READ

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Snack Cakes," by Leslie Bilderback (Alpha, $16.95).

DR. BBQ WILL SEE YOU NOW

The profile of Lakeland's own Ray Lampe, better known as "Dr. BBQ," is blowing up big time.

His book "The NFL Gameday Cookbook" (Chronicle Books, $24.95) is in stores now, just in time for football season.

This weekend, Lampe will be teaching half-day classes during the Masters of BBQ seminar at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. He'll be teaching classes with 10-time World BBQ Championship winner Chris Lilly. (The sessions, which include wine tastings and a three-day resort stay, cost $2,305 a person.)

In addition to representing Big Green Egg and being the executive chef at Southern Hospitality BBQ in New York City, Lampe just signed to be a spokesman for Sugar in the Raw. During the college bowl season, his face will appear on pork products in Kroger groceries as part of a National Pork Board contest that will give away a tailgating experience with Lampe at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

For more on the doctor, go to www.drbbq.com.

MORE ON PORK

Speaking of the pork board, this week is the deadline for entering the "Bring It t-ON-g! Pork Grilling Challenge." The contest, with a $5,000 grand prize and celebrity chef judge Guy Fieri, is looking for bold grilling recipes. Three finalists will win a trip to New York and a chance to grill off for the cash prize. The contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.

DUCK, DUCK, GOOSED

You may remember that in last week's column, a reader who claimed to be a vegetarian called to complain about all the meat we had on the July 30 cover for our "how to cook the perfect" steak story.

Last week, another reader left a voice mail telling me she was bothered by the cover photo that accompanied the Aug. 6 story on Chinese cuisine. The photo featured a taxi bike carrying various birds to market in Beijing.

"That is a disgusting photo and it should only be shown if you're writing about the abject cruelty shown in the picture. Have you no heart at all?" the caller said. "You probably put this on just for spite because the vegetarian was offended by all the bloody meat on your last cover. Animals are creatures who can feel pain. It doesn't matter if they can do math."

Three initial reactions: First, we don't do spite covers. These days we can use all the readers we can get. Poking someone in the eye for the sake of personal enjoyment is bad business and bad journalism.

Second, the cover photo was a telling depiction of daily life in China that we likely won't see during coverage of the Olympics. If you have a problem with how they treat their animals, you may want to take it up with the People's Republic of China. We just shoot the photos.

Third, if chickens and ducks could do math, that would be pretty cool. We probably wouldn't eat them if they could do our taxes.

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