Grub Street

Slate delves deep into the life of Cornell professor and "chicken savant" Robert C. Baker, who grew up during the Great Depression and invented dozens of edibles made with chickens, eggs, and by-products, including the Chicken McNugget. Baker created the techniques that made the McDonald's product possible, though Slate notes a "representative said there is no record of contact with him." In a parallel channel of mysterious junk-food origin stories is the tale of John "Doc" Pemberton, who invented Coca-Cola in the late 1880s. Though the Atlanta-based corporation has for years depicted the soft drink's inventor as a vaguely stocky, heavily bearded man, The Wall Street Journal reports that a sleuthy-type in Maine recently paid $17,825 for a photo of a man he believes to be the real Pemberton. The Coca-conspirators believe the soda company has in fact been using the image of an unpopular Confederate general for a long time. [Slate, WSJ]

We already knew it had a run on some cult chocolate chips and that its staff has impeccable grammar, and now here's another sign that the Cobble Hill Trader Joe's is at the center of some weird retail universe: DNAinfo reports that epidemic levels of double-parked cars have caused the DOT to take the unusual action of removing three metered parking spaces directly outside the Court Street grocery store in order to reduce congestion. The new "No Standing" regulations are in effect from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, including Sundays. [DNAinfo, Earlier]

"When I was nine years old, I told my mother I was going to cook Thanksgiving dinner, chased her out of the kitchen, and cooked the whole dinner." —Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Cuisine at Home mastermind Nathan Myhrvold was always fairly ambitious. [CNN, Earlier]

A local real estate investor, Philip “Tod” Waterman III, is suing a Chelsea wine storage facility for refusing him post-Sandy access to his $300,000 collection of 198 rare cases. WineCare Storage was flooded during the storm, but the company managed to save "at least" 95 percent of its precious cargo by moving the cases to higher floors. And a member of the one percent is still pissed. WineCare explained to Waterman that it's been a "slow and difficult process" getting everything back in order, and that the bottles won't return to cellars until it's safe. But Waterman, who has paid $44,000 in storage fees since 2006, is going to keep on whining all the way to court. [NYDN]