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SILENT AUCTION RAISES $6,000 FOR NEEDY FAMILIES

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By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

The United Food Bank of Plant City raised about $6,000 in a silent auction Saturday during a benefit dinner at Hillsborough Community College's Trinkle Center. Celebrity chef Jon Ashton entertained the audience of about 250 people with a cooking demonstration as culinary students from Simmons Career Center and Plant City High School prepared and served a three-course meal under the direction of chef Ken Melton. (Full disclosure: I was emcee, meaning they raised six grand despite my performance.) Ashton raised more than $4,000 on his own by promising to cook a private dinner for 12.

NEW TO THE TUBE

Animal Planet personality Jeff Corwin will host a new one-hour special called "Extreme Cuisine" at 9 p.m. Saturday on the Food Network. Corwin explores the cuisine of the backcountry, including locusts, grasshoppers, wasp larvae and blood cockles. If the special does well, Food Network may order more episodes.

Rhetorical questions: How much more ceiling room remains in the extreme-food genre? Are there any bugs or invertebrates we've yet to consume on video? And what qualifies as extreme these days? To Thai mountain villagers, a plate of blood cockles is just … lunch.

DENNY'S HITS A GRAND SLAM

The Denny's Super Bowl ad that promised free breakfast to everyone in America — assuming America was available between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on a Tuesday — resulted in 2 million free breakfasts that cost the company $12 million.

Kevin Pang of the Chicago Tribune nailed five Denny's Grand Slams in the eight-hour span.

I loved this part of his story:

"Grand Slam No. 4 — Melrose Park, 7:41 a.m. I fight with a fat woman over a parking space, who glares icy daggers and eventually wins. Inside the restaurant, there is a 14-minute wait (an outrage, considering my need for instant gratification).

"I am running out of creative egg preparations, so I go with no-cholesterol, substitute Egg Beaters. I will not make that mistake the next time. It is the Alpo of eggs. It is flavorless and evil. Worse yet, my sausage links have shriveled into dried lumps of brown matter."

NOT EVERYONE IS HURTING

In a sign that restaurant customers are heading toward more affordable quick-serve options, McDonald's reported this week that comparable-store sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 5.4 percent in the United States, compared with a 1.9 percent increase in the same month a year ago.

Chick-fil-A also continues to perform strongly. The 2008 same-store sales increase was 4.59 percent over 2007, and the chain's 12.17 percent system-wide sales increase over the previous year represents the 16th straight year of double-digit sales growth.

AYE, THE OLYMPICS O' BEER

Gaspar's Grotto, which calls itself "Tampa's favorite pirate bar," is preparing for the first Beer Olympics of 2009.

Starting at 3 p.m. March 1, teams will compete in beer pong, flip cup, up-the-river down-the-river, waterfall and a pitcher chug race.

Spots for 12 five- to six-member teams are available. The cost is $10 per team. General admission is $5 and the bar will host special promotions throughout the day for patrons.

Contestants can sign up at the bar at 1805 E. Seventh Ave. in Ybor City. For information, call (813) 248-5900 or go to www.gasparsgrotto.net.

THE LAST SUPER BOWL ITEM. I SWEAR.

Anthony SanFilippo, a hockey writer for the Delaware County Times, was in Tampa during Super Bowl week to cover the Lightning game against the Philadelphia Flyers and was asked to cover the Super Bowl by the paper.

His seat in Section 206, Row V, put him next to 90-year-old CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent Andy Rooney, according to the sports blog Deadspin.

SanFilippo said soon after Rooney sat down at about 4:30 p.m. — two hours before game time — the noted curmudgeon opened the boxed lunch provided to reporters seated in the auxiliary press box. Rooney muttered about the choices in the lunch, but soon devoured an orange.

After he finished his lunch, Rooney leaned back, closed his eyes and dozed. SanFilippo said Rooney's "mouth was open" and there was a "slight snore." It was then that spectators who recognized him began snapping camera phone pictures of Rooney sleeping, including some who came up next to him and flashed a thumbs-up signal for their photos.

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