• Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer is apparently taken by the idea of “vertical farms,” skyscrapers that produce food, and is putting together a feasibility report for the mayor to review. [NYT]
Related: Skyfarming [NYM]

• Gael Greene traveled to France to attend a lunch made by Paul Bocuse, the legendary chef now in his 42nd year of cooking with three Michelin stars, in part because he wasn’t well enough to attend the Citymeals-on-Wheels benefit here last month. [Insatiable Critic]

• Sometimes Top Chef fans go too far. One of Spike Mendelsohn’s admirers drove almost an hour to try a burger at Good Stuff Eatery, and then he posted a note to Spike on Craigslist’s Missed Connections, asking, “Can i see for myself if the carpet matches the drapes?” Shudder. [Eater]

• With the neighboring Chase bank soon to be out of the picture, Bar Boulud can expand its bar space and add another kitchen. [NYP]

• If you’ve got the money and the willpower, turning a ten-pound pork belly into bacon at home is a cinch. [Salon]
Related: Bacon: No Need to Overanalyze

• Despite what the packaging says, a British court ruled that Pringles are not technically potato crisps because they are made from dough, not potato slices. [WSJ]

• Good news! It seems that baked goods made without trans fat taste just as good, if not better, according to a taste test. [NYDN]

• Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef thinks Washington, D.C., is the next big food city. [WP]

• Ko’s reservation system has turned into a Net obsession? You don’t say. [Wired]

• You’d think that prices for top bottles of wine are falling in this economy, but you’d be wrong. [Portfolio]

• Is Starbucks killing off independent coffeehouses in Harlem just like it has everywhere else? [Uptown Flavor]

• Finish an order of the incredibly spicy phaal curry at Brick Lane Curry House, and they’ll give you a free beer and a certificate to prove you ate it. [Serious Eats]

• Starbucks is bringing back bolder blends of coffee for those customers who enjoy that robust/burnt taste so much. [WSJ]

• Is it possible to have a four-star restaurant without a dress code? According to Le Bernardin’s maître d’, “We don’t think so.” [Amateur Gourmet]

• The Corn Refiners Association, a Washington trade group, would like you to buy their claim that high-fructose corn syrup isn’t any worse for you than sugar. [WSJ]

• Dairy Farmers of America, which controls a third of the nation’s milk supply, is being investigated by the Feds for allegedly manipulating milk and cheese prices. [WSJ]

• Mystery writer Alafair Burke is going to have a fictional Mesa Grill bartender strangled in her next novel. [NYP]

• As food prices skyrocket and corners of the globe starve, Americans are throwing away an astonishing 27 percent of food available for consumption, according to a new government study. [NYT]

• In an effort to lure back customers, Starbucks will start offering “smoothie-like drinks made with fresh fruit and whey powder,” though this raises the question of who prefers a “smoothie-like” drink to an actual smoothie. [WSJ]

• Casey and Dale from Top Chef Miami still keep in touch, meaning she knows why Dale isn’t dating Jack from Project Runway anymore. [Slashfood]

• Diners think restaurant inspections protect them much more than they actually do. [Science Daily]

• Starbucks begins selling its new Pike Place Roast today, and the new coffee blend promises to be less gag-inducing than its other brews. [WSJ]

• And if you want to taste that new blend, all Starbucks locations will be handing out free eight-ounce samples for 30 minutes starting at noon. [NYP]

We said it here first: Bacon has jumped the shark. [American Madness]
Related: Bacon Has Jumped the Shark

• A judge is barring the Health Department from enforcing the law requiring chain restaurants to display calorie info on menus, until April 14, by which time he’ll have decided what to about the New York State Restaurant Association’s lawsuit against the city. [NYP]

• A list of schools that received shipments of the recently recalled beef has been released by the Department of Agriculture, but there’s still no list of retailers. [NYT]

• Top Cheffer Dale Talde explains why he needs to have some attitude in the kitchen: “I’m Asian, not the tallest dude in the world and I look like I’m 12.” [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]

• The parents of today’s notable chefs weren’t all so happy when they found out their young ones’ career plans. Kolly Mehta, whose son, Jehangir, mans the kitchen at Graffiti, recalls, "I had mixed emotions, because we had cooks and servants in the house, and where we are from it’s not recognized as such an outstanding job." [TONY]

• Seamus Mullen doesn't want to hear a lot of that damn rock and roll in the kitchen. [NYT]

• Starbucks has purchased the Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle, maker of the $11,000 Clover coffee maker, and coffee snobs are already revolting: “In protest, Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Ore., one of Clover’s earliest champions, said it had decided to stop using Clover machines.” [NYT]

• Notoriously hot-headed Gordon Ramsay claims he doesn’t like to swear and blames his potty mouth on the industry: “[A]ny chef would be a hypocrite if they didn’t admit to swearing in the kitchen.” [NYDN]

• A cockroach supposedly fell on a Brazilian C-lister’s head the other night at the Waverly Inn, but the restaurant suspects the story may have been a ploy to get a better table. By the Brazilian, not the roach. [NYP]

• An economic downturn doesn’t mean tough restaurant reservations will be any easier to score, and if restaurateurs follow Drew Nieporent’s lead, entrée prices won’t be declining. [NYT]

The City Council passed a watered-down version of Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to place produce carts in low-income neighborhoods. The new plan cuts the total number down to 1,000 from 1,500 and reduces the number of targeted precincts from 43 to 34. [NYP]

The Post hit two midtown Starbucks yesterday and found that, while Tuesday night’s three-hour training session for baristas may not have instilled the ability to make perfect drinks, they will remake them as many times as you force them to. [NYP]

A City Council member introduced legislation yesterday that would require meat from cloned animals to be labeled as such. [Metro NY]