Grub Street

Over at First We Feast, Empellón Cocina chef and co-owner Alex Stupak explains that his ongoing "Push Project" dinner series — the second installment of which begins tomorrow and continues Friday — is meant really only to profit the creative process. "You’re basically making the decision to throw your livelihood into a state of anarchy for a week," he writes, explaining the rationale of planning, sourcing. and cooking intense menus with a visiting chef that cannot possibly turn a healthy profit. So why do it? "This will sound strange," writes Stupak, "but I think one of the key ingredients to a long career of creativity and progression is a healthy dose of destruction every now and then." [First We Feast, Earlier, Earlier]

Real life gets more and more like the Hunger Games each day: Actor, author, director, and all-around food guy Stanley Tucci will host the 2013 James Beard Awards ceremony on May 6, and the theme of this year's ceremony is the very cinematic-sounding "Lights! Camera! Taste! Spotlight on Food & Film." The always awesome Ted Allen will host the organization's James Beard Foundation Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards Dinner on Friday, May 3. [Official site, Earlier]

They weren't engineered with spliced salmon genes in a test tube, nor have they ever benefited from a marketing board of string-pulling executives, nonetheless, Eat Like a Man explains, the Honeycrisp has become a hit "grassroots phenomenon" with a cult following of apple eaters and a price tag that puts Granny Smiths' to shame. Because of demand, FreshDirect carries them but the profit margin is low, which gives the Honeycrisp diva status. All apples must eventually meet their corer, however, and a new contender called the SweeTango, the Esquire blog reports, is nearly ready for its major (fruit) label debut. Tart news, but also sweet. [Eat Like a Man/Esquire]