Grub Street

Businesswoman B.J. Fletcher has spent the last two years working to turn Paula Deen's Albany City childhood home into a museum. Fletcher has even enlisted the help of Paula's ex-husband, Jimmy Deen, and they recently purchased Paula's former residence. Paula, of course, is thrilled with this idea: "I would want something like this to be a symbol of hope for people looking to make their lives better," she told the Albany Herald. "That house holds so many memories for me ... And it just so happens I can pretty much furnish it like it was. I still have mama's living room set." But Fletcher and Jimmy now want to move her home closer to the more tourist-friendly area near the Thronateeska Heritage Center. In that case, they should scrap the idea to preserve her childhood house and build the museum from the ground up. This is what we'd like to see be a part of this soon-to-be American landmark.

French Quarter residents have accused restaurateur Sean Meenan of depicting himself as a "family operator" and are now threatening to sue if the Vieux Carre Commission approves his plans for a new 223-seat restaurant on the site of an old gas station in the neighborhood, the Times-Picayune reports. Meenan, whose restaurant group includes Café Habana and Habana Outpost in New York (also Dubai), has spent in excess of $2 million in conjunction with building the project, which will result in the new restaurant taking the place of three previously separate lots. Sure, the brand may have once produced a controversial pinup calendar, but it does use compostable utensils and also generates its own electricity. Why are some New Orleans residents against Habana Outpost? They're apparently worried it will be loud and tacky. "This chain, themed restaurant is totally out of character with this area of the Quarter," a lawyer tells the paper. "Any project should compliment [sic] the area's residential character, not destroy it." [Times-Picayune, Related]

A butcher operating out of Pike Place Market in Seattle has been feeding pigs all of those "useless" stems, root bulbs, and "over sized" marijuana leaves produced as by-product at the local medical dispensary. The special feed, William von Schneidau tells NPR, leads to the production of "redder and more savory" meat. Of course it does! The BB Ranch owner has also been busy slipping mickeys to his livestock in the form of the local vodka distillery's spent grains. When all is said and done in the abattoir, "Pot Pig" holds blowout dinners for $120 a head with stoner pig on the menu. There are also "gourmet cupcakes" for dessert.

Prime Meats and Frankies 457 restaurateurs Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli have been hinting for some time that their forthcoming Red Hook space, dubbed "the Res," will be a departure from more conventional restaurant structures. (Earlier this month, Castronovo would only tell us it was a "long, long, long, long-term project.") Eater reports the pair disclosed the first few details of the Res yesterday at the Mésamerica Festival in Mexico City, and they're pretty exciting. The project, which will debut in a few weeks and already has a website, is a dedicated space for "collaborative dinners, one-off events, and installations," where "chefs can stay at the facility while they present their work, free of charge." Falcinelli and Castronovo say they were inspired by the prospect of creative chef-collectives and annual gatherings like René Redzepi's MAD Symposium. [Eater, the Res, Earlier]