News tidbits for the hungry traveller.
The dish: Try the chicken rap
Rome has the Colosseum, Paris the Eiffel Tower and now Clinton, Iowa, has Flav's Fried Chicken restaurant. Hype man for the rap group Public Enemy, Flavor Flav is adding restaurateur to his résumé. No stranger to the kitchen, the rapper graduated from cooking school in 1978 and has worked in numerous restaurants over the years. He promises to be a hands-on owner, telling the Clinton Herald: "You're going to find me in here working. You're going to be catching me seasoning my chicken, flouring my chicken, frying up my chicken and, not only that, but serving my chicken to my people." He added that "the taste will blow up your taste buds." There are plans to take the concept nationwide.
The drink: An ancient vintage
Armenian, Irish and U.S. archeologists have discovered the world's oldest known winery. Amid prehistoric graves in a cavern in Armenia, researchers uncovered a rudimentary wine press, a clay vat with a platform for treading grapes, the remains of crushed grapes and seeds and a cup. A chemical analysis of pot shards revealed chemical traces of wine from as back as 4000 BC, researchers wrote in a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archeological Science. The winery was found close to the Iranian border near a village that still makes its own wine, and is not far from where the world's oldest shoe was discovered last year.
The chef: Chef Pic in Montreal
Later this month, Anne-Sophie Pic will take part in this year's Montreal High Lights Festival. She's cooking for a sold out crowd at Toqué! Feb. 18 and 19. In 2007, chef Pic became the first woman in 50 years to earn three Michelin stars for her restaurant La Maison Pic in Valence, France. Her two-star restaurant, Anne-Sophie Pic au Beau-Rivage Palace, in Lausanne, Switzerland, reopens Wednesday after its annual one-month closing.
Special to The Globe and Mail