Eideard

Inside the Atlas Cafe

Just after 4 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, as a dozen people clicked away on their laptops at the Atlas Café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, half of a tree broke off without warning less than a block away. It crashed into the middle of Havemeyer Street, crushing a parked car, setting off alarms and blocking the street. A deafening chorus of horns rose outside Atlas’s window as traffic halted. An 18-wheeler executed a sketchy 10-point turn in the middle of a crowded intersection before a pair of fire trucks made their way through the traffic jam in a blaze of red. Chain saws roared, sawdust flew and the horns built to a peak. It was New York urban pandemonium at its finest.

Inside the warm confines of Atlas, separated from the chaos by only a thin wall of glass, not a soul stirred. A quiet mention was made of the falling tree, a few heads rose for a second, and then, just as quickly, they ducked back down. They all returned to whatever was on the other side of their glowing, partly eaten apples. On a day when the cafe Internet connection had already been down for four hours, and the toilet had been blocked for even longer, I thought I had seen these worker bees pushed to their limit. But I had underestimated them. Nothing could stir these people. They were not in New York; they were citizens of Laptopistan…

I was, admittedly, a profoundly skeptical observer. Though I had been a freelance writer for the last eight years, I had always worked at home, clad in pajamas and brewing my own fuel rather than paying $3 for someone to make pretty designs in my caffeinated foam. Whenever my wife suggested that I get out of the house, maybe take my laptop to a cafe, I shot back: “Real freelancers don’t work in coffee shops. It’s just unemployed hipsters and their unpublished novels, or screenplays, or Facebook stati…”

So what was I doing in Laptopistan? I moved from New York to Toronto in September, but had come back to the city for a week and was sleeping on a friend’s couch. I needed a place to work. Someone suggested Atlas. I swallowed my skepticism and got my passport ready.

Set on the corner of Havemeyer and Grand Streets, and flooded with light from two walls of windows, Atlas Café, which opened in 2003, looks like a combination of worn trattoria and late 1990s Seattle coffeehouse. The name reflects its wall-sized map of the world (there are also a mobile of hanging globes, and flourishes of décor inspired by someone’s travel to the Far East). The soundtrack is a mix of old country and folk (Dylan, Willy, Cohen and Cash), classical, bebop and French ballads…

Laptopistan’s is an entrepreneurial economy, driven by solitary thinkers. Aszure Barton, a choreographer from Alberta, was working with colleagues to prepare for her contemporary dance show called BUSK, which will debut Dec. 17 at the Jerome Robbins Theater. Robert Olinger runs a biotech startup that is getting silkworms to make spider silk at commercial scale, designs online education programs for the New York City Department of Education, and directs theater projects with Russian artists. In just a few days I met architects and event planners, database designers, classical musicians, film editors and app developers, every facet of the creative economy working under one roof, not so much together as in tandem…

RTFA. It’s long, interesting, well-written, sometimes humorous, always introspective. The sort of “notes from our journalist in the field” that keeps much of my weekend online reading stuck into the Observer or the NY Times.

And, of course, MacDonald’s can fill the bill as well as many a coffee shop. Or, if you’re in Santa Fe, Java Joe’s.

Dozens of Valley moms converged Saturday on a McDonald’s in Phoenix to breastfeed their infants in protest of a woman who was asked to leave the establishment for doing the same.

An assistant manager of the McDonald’s at 51st Avenue and Cactus Road asked Clarissa Bradford and her children to leave when Bradford began nursing her 6-month-old child on Aug. 11.

Although the restaurant this week issued an apology saying it would never happen again, demonstrators were upset at public reaction to the story and wanted to respond to critics who say mothers shouldn’t breastfeed in public…

A restaurant employee stood outside the entrance, shooing members of the media away. Starchman and another woman, Alisa Ilardo, came out to speak with reporters. They estimated there were about 100 people in the restaurant at the time, mostly mothers with infant children.

There was no sign of resistance from restaurant employees, Starchman said, characterizing the atmosphere as relaxed with most of the women using the time to have casual conversation. Once inside, a few of them even bought food, she said.

Alisa Ilardo said the group was not upset with McDonald’s, but they wanted to make a statement.

“It was just someone’s bad judgment, but we need to keep people from treating moms like this,” she said.

Right on!

U.S. McNuggets curiously… um… different than their European cousins

U.S. McNuggets not only contain more calories and fat than their British counterparts, but also chemicals not found across the Atlantic…

American McNuggets (190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces) contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. They also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, “an anti-foaming agent” also used in Silly Putty.

By contrast, British McNuggets (170 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat for 4 pieces) lists neither chemical among its ingredients…

McDonald’s says the differences are based on the local tastes [Ed.: ROFLMAO!!! Too true, we Americans love our Silly Putty.]: In the United States, McNuggets are coated and then cooked, in the United Kingdom, they are cooked and then coated. As a result, the British McNuggets absorb less oil and have less fat…

Marion Nestle, a New York University professor and author of “What to Eat,” says the tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane in the McNuggets probably pose no health risks…

I know that this is another “The U.S. leads the world in…” story. I just haven’t found the hook yet.

Often just another sales pitch for unhealthy food.

Five major fast food chains have significantly decreased trans fats in the oils they use to cook food, according to new research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health…

By using the School of Public Health’s Nutrition Coordinating Center’s proprietary database — which catalogs the nutritional values of more than 18,000 foods — researchers looked at trans fat and saturated fat levels in french fries from five major fast food chains: McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box and Dairy Queen.

The researchers found that three of the restaurants — McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s — significantly decreased the trans and saturated fatty acid composition of French fries between 1997 and 2008. For these three restaurants, saturated fats either went down or stayed level. While the remaining two restaurants didn’t show a decrease in trans fats during the time period studied, current nutritional information illustrates that the chains have decreased both trans and saturated fatty acid composition since 2008.

The findings were presented this week at the National Nutrient Database Conference in Grand Forks, North Dakota…

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

I know it’s hard, but try to be glad without getting excited about the change. A french fry is still a french fry, and not a baked potato with the peel intact.

Better still. I’m fortunate that I prefer my baked potato with no butter and a pinch of salt.

Groups like the Southern Baptists could never tolerate such a simple message here. After all, it’s a lot easier to apologize for supporting slavery after slavery is long gone than to begin treating people with dignity and respect whom you are mistreating today.

Which leads to the question, how much longer will we keep catering to prudes and bigots?

McDonald’s is recalling 12 million drinking glasses it is selling to promote the new “Shrek” movie because painted designs on the cheap collectables contain the toxic metal cadmium.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission warned consumers to immediately stop using the glasses; McDonald’s said it would post instructions on its website next week regarding refunds.

The glasses, which are being sold for about $2 each as part of a promotional campaign for the movie Shrek Forever After, were available in four designs depicting the characters Shrek, Princess Fiona, Puss in Boots and Donkey…

The CPSC noted in its recall notice that “long-term exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects.” Research has shown it can cause problems to the kidneys and can cause bone softening.

In the case of the Shrek-themed glassware, the potential danger would be long-term exposure to low levels of cadmium, which could leach from the paint on to a child’s hand, then enter the body if the child puts that unwashed hand to his or her mouth.

Though the amount of cadmium leaching from the paint is only a fraction above limits – which the CPSC is still developing – McDonalds is cooperating in the recall from the gitgo. Fortunately.

You may not see much of a political flap over this. The glasses weren’t made in China.

McDonald’s and art have always gone hand in hand.

French Image Crisis: “Look what they’re saying about us now!”

The news itself did not especially interest French editors. It got a few paragraphs on the economy pages of Le Figaro, and a column in Le Parisien.

The news about the news was a different story. Within a matter of hours, this tale of cultural desecration a la francaise had travelled the world….

At least that was how the tale was portrayed abroad. The French picked up on it and ran alarmed reports of the “Look what they’re saying about us now” variety.

But the truth is that the original story – the fact that McDonald’s is to set up an outlet in the underground shopping-mall that abuts the Louvre – did not strike most French people as particularly surprising.

Why was this so? Why did the French not take to the streets to defend their cuisine, as foreigners apparently believed they should be doing? Had they given up, or what?

The answer is that McDonald’s – or McDo as the French prefer to call it – is now rooted in France’s social landscape, to a degree that would have been considered impossible 15 years ago….

But since then – thanks above all to a brilliant marketing campaign – McDonald’s has manoeuvred itself so effectively into the national way of life that it is now almost as invisible as the corner tabac….

There are now more than 1,130 McDonald’s outlets in France. Astonishingly, France is the company’s second-most profitable market after the United States. It is also the country where customers spend most money per visit….

Face it, there are two kinds of people: those who admit to eating an occasional Big Mac, and liars.

BK Quiche

Want a junk food fix, but fear losing your sophisticated edge? Erik Trinidad’s blog fancyfastfood.com has the answer. With the honest tag line, “Yeah, it’s still bad for you – but see how good it can look!”, Trinidad transforms convenience food into gourmet creations.

Inspired by childhood games with his brother, when the pair competed to restyle dishes at Chinese buffets, the blog showcases his makeovers with Domino’s pizza turned into Dao Mi Noh Chow Mein (with soy sauce produced by reducing cola), a sushi platter constructed from chicken shop purchases, and a Big Mac given a new life as steak and chips.

Trinidad says it’s a protest against “foodie” culture and self-important diners at swanky restaurants. Cheaper chains should take note: there may be a fast buck in downturn dining.

A fun site.

My favorite example? Turning a Burger King Croissan’wich and a Biscuit Meal into a BK Quiche. Har!

A Virginia man has sued Burger King for $100,000, saying he suffered an allergic reaction to the onions, pickles and tomatoes on his burger.

Darius Dugger of Portsmouth, in a lawsuit filed in April in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, says he requested a burger without the trimmings and swallowed a bite before he realized his directions had not been followed. That bite allegedly triggered a severe allergic reaction.

Dugger is seeking compensation for lost wages and medical bills. He bought the burger at a restaurant in James City County in April 2007.

In March, a court dismissed a similar suit by a West Virginia man seeking $10 million from McDonald’s. The plaintiff in that case claimed that he became seriously ill after swallowing part of a Quarter Pounder with cheese after ordering one without the cheese.

These klowns are all related by greed to the little old lady who screwed McDonald’s out of millions after she spilled coffee on herself. She won one. Now, all the small-minded hustlers form a line in that great drive-up window leading to the seamy lawyers of America.

Putting the first “c” back in McCurry since 2006
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Fast food chain McDonald’s lost a lawsuit in Malaysia on Wednesday after an appeals court overruled a decision that its trademark had been infringed by a local restaurant called McCurry.

“Where the learned judge, with respect, erred is to assume that McDonald’s had a monopoly in the use of the prefix ‘Mc’ on a signage or in the conduct of business,” Judge Gopal Sri Ram said, overturning a 2006 ruling in favor of McDonald’s.

The McDonald’s operation in this Southeast Asian country of 27 million people is run as franchise by prominent businessman Vincent Tan and has 185 outlets.

McCurry, by contrast, serves Indian fast food from one restaurant in Kuala Lumpur as well Malaysian dishes such as fish head curry and is short for “Malaysian Chicken Curry”.

I haven’t had a good fish head stew since I left Louisiana. Har!

UPDATE: McDonald’s won’t leave it alone. Back to appeals court, today.

Bravo! McDonald’s says they’ll leave it alone, finally.