• Top Chef: All Stars champ and hero of the self-deprecating Richard Blais will be cooking a special dinner at Frog Hollow Farm in Brentwood on July 23. [Food Gal]
• Shirley Fong-Torres, author of The Woman Who Ate Chinatown and one of the great guides to and champions of S.F.’s Chinatown, passed away over the weekend after a brief battle with leukemia. She was 64. [SFGate]
• Here’s a slideshow of dishes from Aspen from Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs. [Yumsugar]
• A San Diego man who threw a cup of scalding hot water at a Starbucks barista when said barista hassled him for stealing sugar packets, etc., has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery. [AP/Examiner]
• The Federal Reserve’s move to limit debit-card fees should be a boon to restaurants, which conduct about 35 percent of their sales through debit. [Forbes]
• Short stack over Saudi Arabia? That’s right, IHOP is expanding to the Middle East. To the tune of 40 stores over the next five years. [NRN]
• “The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists.” So make sure you’re eating sustainable fish, mmmkay? [BBC]
• Sure, all of this no-peanuts business is annoying, but consider this: According to a study by the publication Pediatrics, nearly 8 percent of U.S. children suffer from food allergies. [WP]
• If you’re interested in seeing Cameron Diaz reenact with David Letterman the time she fed A-Rod popcorn, here’s video of that. [Gawker]
