• The owner of a five-table restaurant in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY is trying out a novel solution to keep his restaurant afloat. He’s selling “V.I.P. cards” for his restaurant, which entitle card holders to free meals up until they consume the price of the card plus 20% (they start at $500 and go up to $10,000). Like a CSA, but for restaurants! [NYT]
• The newest 100-calorie snack pack on the block is a diet-friendly packet of Twinkies. Each contains three bite-size morsels of hyper-processed goodness and is expected to do well in this economy — because people are packing lunches, and all. [AP/Boston Globe]
• China seized and destroyed 3,600 tons of melamine-tainted animal feed this weekend. Really, China? Really? We’d say that it’s getting embarrassing, but it is so far past that point that there really aren’t any jokes to be made. [NYT]
• Profits are up by 2% at Burger King. It’s nothing but a hunch, but could this be tied to the economy? [Chicago Tribune]
• On the other hand, Ferran Adrià purports to be puzzled and bemused by all this talk of a financial crisis, because people are still clamoring to eat at El Bulli, as well as posh London restaurants like Pied a Terre. [Bloomberg]
