Food News Round Up

Hey, kids -- other than a weekend road trip to Jungle Jim's, I've been buried in work. I hate it when that cuts into my eating time. Here are a few tidbits to tide you over until later in the week when the social calendar picks up a bit:

Red Sauce is In: Justin Timberlake may be bringing sexy back, but customers longing for simple comforting favorites are bringing red sauce back. From traditional Italian to upscale trendy, fresh and simple tomato sauces like marinara and pomodoro are back in style. Good -- and good for you! (From the Boston Globe)

Critics Being Sued? A recent defamation ruling against a food critic in an Irish court may have implications in the US. Have recent US court decisions eroded journalists protections to say how they really feel about a restaurant's food and service? Michael Bauer at the SF Chron weighs in on his blog.

The More the Merrier: Frank Bruni's blog, Diner's Journal, has now become a group blog featuring posts from several NY Times writers. Today, Marian Burros weighs in on her favorite French Italian restaurant -- all comfortably glowing in the winter. Look for the same great thoughts from Bruni including a post last week on how reasonable or unreasonable it is for restaurants to demand a credit card number from patrons and charge them for no-shows.

Cooking the French Laundry Cookbook: If you loved Julie and Julia, then you'll want to read the latest from French Laundry at Home, a blog by a woman cooking her way through the entire French Laundry Cookbook in her own kitchen. Complete with pictures and details, she just finished the cream of walnut soup! (via Megnut)

Zagat's Launches Discussion Boards: And from Slashfood, news that Zagat's (partnering with Yelp and Citysearch) has launched their own discussion boards. It's a smart move for the publisher of city-by-city restaurant reviews who doesn't review every restaurant in a city, can't publish books for smaller cities (like Indianapolis), and only updates their printed books each year. Right now the boards seem a bit more dominated by the Citysearch restaurant find feature than the very few discussion topics up and running. There are only local forums for NY, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.