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Benno Needs a Restaurant Name; Cook-off at Rikers Island

• With just a few months to go until opening, Jonathan Benno’s Lincoln Center restaurant is still without a name. [NYT]

• Housemade pretzels and pretzel rolls are cropping up on menus across town, from Per Se to the Rusty Knot. [NYT]

• Inmates in Rikers Island’s culinary program competed in a mock Top Chef competition yesterday. [NYP]

• Bay Ridge’s community board voted unanimously last week to crack down on the neighborhood’s hookah bars. [NYP]

• Monsanto’s plan to donate 130 tons of pesticide-coated hybrid seeds to Haiti was met with alarm by food activists, who charge that the seeds are toxic and will further devastate Haiti’s agriculture. [Squid Ink/L.A. Weekly]

• As American palates shift toward preferring bolder tastes, food companies are ratcheting up the heat and flavors in their products. [WSJ]

• The NBA is partnering with food companies to get edible team logos plastered onto pizzas and toast. [USA Today]

• Fresh Express is recalling bagged lettuce and other products after finding traces of salmonella. [Feast]

• The food designer behind popcorn chicken has created a “choke-proof” hot dog that breaks up into eight pieces during cooking. [Consumerist]

• Lay’s new ad campaign is intended to help consumers think of the potato chips as a real food. [NYT]

• Eating carrots, cantaloupes, peppers, spinach, and apricots can give the skin a tanlike glow. [NYDN]

2A owner Laura McCarthy offered snake wine at the bar’s 25th birthday party. [Page Six/NYP]

Benno Needs a Restaurant Name; Cook-off at Rikers Island