Aviary, Portland. [Photo: Avila / Eater PDX]

· Walmart to Label Healthier Food as "Great For You" [Reuters]
· Junk Foods Widely Available at Elementary Schools [AP]
· My Last Day: Le Bernardin's Pastry Chef Reflects on 8 Long Years [Atlantic]
· Let Noma Guide You to the Best Food in Copenhagen [Independent]
· Colicchio to Expand to the Hamptons [Eater NY]
· Eating with Friends Can Lead to Weight Gain [AFP]

Loading comment form...

Food52's Piglet cookbook tournament has come to a close, and Chez Panisse's Alice Waters has declared a winner: The Art of Living According to Joe Beef by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson. This is Food52's third annual Piglet, a bracket-style cookbook tournament judged by cookbook authors, chefs, and other food industry folk.

Joe Beef was up against Christina Tosi's Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, and, as Waters herself puts it, the decision came down to crack: the chapter in Joe Beef called 'Building a Garden in a Crack Den' was written "with such affection about how they have replaced 'pop cans, plastic bags, and cigarette butts that littered our yard with tomatoes, kale and turnips'" that it beat out Tosi's ode to Crack Pie.

Below, Frédéric Morin and David McMillan talk about their Montréal restaurant Joe Beef, their "cookbook of sorts," why they won't open a restaurant in the US, and why the world needed another seasonal, ingredient-driven cookbook "about as much as we need another Kardashian." (Note: Neither Morin or McMillan knew they had won when they spoke to Eater.)

Loading comment form...

No pit bulls were harmed in the photoshopping of this image. [Photo: Angela N. / Flickr]

The sneaky hamburger chain McDonald's unfairly stereotyped the noble pit bull in a radio ad and they are sorry. The ad claimed that "Trying a brand new menu item at McDonald's isn't risky. You know what's risky? Petting a stray pit bull." Yeah, pit bull fans aren't going to like that. Over 8,000 of them are in fact forming a boycott of the fast food chain on Facebook. The ad has been pulled and McDonald's apologized on Twitter, but the stereotype of pit bulls as vicious animals persists. What's next, hiring Michael Vick as a spokesperson? Here's the ad:

Loading comment form...

Tocqueville, NYC [Photo: Cheeryvisage/Eater National Flickr Pool]

· American ‘Chinese’ Food Comes to China [Daily Beast]
· Top Chef Canada Announces Contestants For Season 2 [National Post]
· Deputies Taser Woman Blocking McDonald's Drive-Through [FO]
· Toledo Hot Dog Chain Made Famous on "M*A*S*H" Sold [Reuters]
· How Tomatoes Could Curb Cancer in Italy [Gizmodo]
· Video: Sydney's Momofuku Seiōbo [Food Republic]
· An Ode to Alton Brown's Good Eats [Daily Beast]
· Thirsty Thieves Grab Random Booze at Ziggy's Montrose [Eater Houston]
· L'Espalier Sous Chef and Soon-to-Be TV Star Mike Bergin [Eater Boston]
· Dish Sketches From Lincoln's Pastry Chef Richard Capizzi [Eater NY]

Loading comment form...

· Sugar=The Devil? [SE]
· How to Cook A Muskrat [SE]
· Is There Such a Thing as a "Great Eater"? [CH]
· Silly Question: How Do You Pronounce Momofuku? [CH]
· Why Are Food Trucks Getting So Expensive? [Yelp]

Loading comment form...

Chef Romain Tischenko of Le Galopin [Photo: Kris Maccotta]

Need more proof that Paris boasts one of the most exciting dining scenes in the world? It's been only two months since we last compiled a Heat Map for the French capital, and it's already time to highlight more of what's been going on in the city.

For this effort, as has been the case in the past, Mandarin Oriental concierge and restaurant writer Adrian Moore has shared some of his picks for the most talked-about dining in his city. Among them: two burger spots that are actually quite good (Blend and Le Camion Qui Fume, Paris' first food truck), several unfussy restaurants with world-class chefs in the kitchen (Le Galopin, Chatomat, L'Affable), an informal dumpling spot from a two-star chef (Shinichi Sato's Gyoza Bar), and yet another addition to the ex-pat wave (L'Office, from former Del Posto chef Kevin O'Donnell).

Here now, the Eater Heat Map to Paris.

Loading comment form...

Here's a clip from the latest episode of Portlandia in which the turn of the century is alive and well in Portland, Oregon. And by turn of the century, they mean the 1890s. Quote: "Remember the '90s, when everyone was pickling their own vegetables and brewing their own beer? People were growing out their muttonchops and waxing their handlebar mustaches? ... Belts didn't really exit yet, everyone wore suspenders. Everyone used to carve their own ice cubes." See scenes shot at the Portland's famed charcuterie maker Olympic Provisions.

Loading comment form...

Mercy, is it hot in here? Must be because the Eater Hottest Chef contests have begun, with the elimination rounds starting on all of the city sites. Click below to vote on the hottest chefs in your area, and check back here in a couple weeks when the winner of each city's contest will go head-to-head to win the coveted title of Hottest Chef in America. Go on, you know you want to look.

· Boston · New York City · Philadelphia · Washington, DC · Atlanta · Miami
· Chicago · New Orleans · Austin · Houston · Dallas · Las Vegas · Denver
· Seattle · Portland · Los Angeles · San Francisco

Loading comment form...

The James Beard Foundation has announced their 2012 Humanitarian of the Year Award will go to Chicago chef Charlie Trotter. Trotter's Culinary Education Foundation has raised $3 million for the culinary educations of Chicago youth since 1999. Last month, the multiple Beard Award-winning chef recently announced he will be shutting down his landmark Chicago restaurant, Trotter's, in order to pursue a graduate in philosophy and political theory.

The James Beard Awards will be presented at Lincoln Center in New York on May 7; the nominees apart from Trotter and 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Wolfgang Puck will be announced March 19. Here's the press release:

Loading comment form...