Wegman’s, part deux

So last night I stop at the Giant in New Cumberland on the way home from work. I have maybe a dozen items in my cart. It’s about 6 p.m. and half the checkout lines are closed. I pick the one where the store manager is working the cash register.

I like to watch managers do real work occasionally.

The customer in front of me gets through the lane, and the manager starts on my stuff. Then a big, dirty guy ambles up to the bagging end of the lane, eating something from a broken plastic spoon. He licks off the spoon and puts it somewhere. Then he wipes his hand on his dark, dreggy Giant golf shirt.

I don’t know why. His hand was probably cleaner before he wiped it on the shirt.

This is the guy who is going to put my food into a bag.

Mark Sept. 16 on your calendar

Picture this:

You’re starting a job in retail for a store that will open in about 3 months. The company gives you three weeks of training – remember, this is retail, the LCD of the business world.

After three weeks of training they send you – no, wait, I mean they drive you – to a store in another city every workday, so you can practice on a cash register in a real store with real customers, with an experienced employee there to help you.

This goes on for months, until the new store opens.

The name of that store?

Rumors, innuendoes, whining, rants

Remember James Cafe on Market in Camp Hill?

It’s the place that used to have good food and good service, then closed for “remodeling,” then disconnected the phone and then was supposed to reopen any day.

Guess what might maybe possibly be on the edge of the verge of going in there …

Well, according to occasionally reliable sources familiar with the Market Street scene, it’s going to be

A New Sue Review

The continuing adventures of Sue Gleiter, Food Writer

The “Cheers” Influence on Bobby Thiemann

Wing contest

Frederic Loraschi demoes at New World of Food and Wine Festival

Tea & Krumpets closes

Water sommelier

The amazing thing about Harrisburg is that everything gets here a few years later than it gets to anywhere else.

When the world ends, for instance, we should have 24 to 30 months advance notice.

So it is with water.

Organic stuff

The Dilettante at Dilettante’s Dilemma posted on  a weekend trip to Spiral Path Farm … and offered up a bonus hit:  JuJo Acres Farm in  western Perry County, which delivers organic, free-range beef from Limousin cattle raised …

The Next Food Network Fool

Nobody else in the business serves up hot vitriol like Anthony Bourdain.

Not only does he detest the terminally cozy Rachel Ray, he’s out to slay anyone who wants to follow in her footsteps … like The Next Food Network Star …

“Minimally talented wannabe cooks of negligible to moderate experience compete to become ‘Celebrity Chefs’ based on a focus group-like criteria of ‘likeability’ while food and cooking ability (such as it is) take a distant back seat. All to record breaking ratings for FN!

“I love it. I think it’s a useful window into the real heart and soul of the Food Network, a cautionary tale, morality play and case study of the kind of pathological narcissism and exhibitionism that drives people to grope strangers in hot tubs … “

If you go, drink this.

Beautiful day, good crowd and this was the best beer I had all afternoon.

If you can’t go tonight, buy the paper tomorrow and read about it … and see some good pix by Mike Fernandez. Here are my notes from the people I talked to:

Brewfest

On Saturday, I’m covering the Hbg Brewers Fest starting at noon, 3rd and Locust Streets. So I went over to Troeg’s Brewing Company to talk to John Trogner, who gave me a much better understanding of the six-pack debate headed for the state Senate.

A Senate committee last week voted 9-2 for a bill that would permit beer distributors to sell ales, malts and lagers by the six-pack, instead of limiting them to selling by the case.

Fat is Flavor

If you’re a nutritionist and you’re reading this, first, shame on you.

Second, cover your eyes.

It’s pork butt, baby. As my BALTA friend Chef Nate Keller says, “Fat is flavor.”