Food & Beverage

Cleveland's own Michael Symon, the chef behind such restaurants like Lola and Lolita, is also the creative genius behind the burger chain B Spot. According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, Symon is "ready to bring is B Spot burger restaurant to Pittsburgh in quite a big way.

Symon's Cleveland-based Symon Restaurant Group made its first foray into the Steel City last August when it opened a Bar Symon at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Now, the restaurant group is said to be "scouting the region for what may eventually be four to six B Spot locations in the Pittsburgh area."

Dough Petkovic, a business partner in Symon Restaurant Group, said:

“We had always planned on coming to Pittsburgh. We've grown in the greater Cleveland area to a degree we're really comfortable with. As much as these towns dislike each other for football, they're very similar cities. We just like the Pittsburgh market. We think we understand it.”

Researchers in New Jersey say that they have discovered potentially dangerous levels of lead in white rice that has been imported to the United States from various locations around the world.

Dr. Tsanagurayi Tongesayi, an environmental chemistry professor at Monmouth University, said that his team's findings are especially worrisome for Asian-Americans who consume large amounts of rice, and infants and children who are more sensitive to the effects of lead.

Tongesayi added:

"Such findings present a situation that is particularly worrisome given that infants and children are especially vulnerable to the effects of lead poisoning. For infants and children, the daily exposure levels from eating the rice products analyzed in this study would be 30-60 times higher than the FDA's provisional total tolerable intake (PTTI) levels."

The researchers analyzed samples of rice imported to the U.S. from Asia, Europe, and South America, and found that the rice contained between 6 and 12 milligrams per kilogram of lead. This surpasses the Food and Drug Administration's allowable levels.

The highest levels of lead were found in rice imported from Taiwan and China. Significantly high levels of lead were also found in rice imported from the Czech Republic, Bhutan, Italy, India, and Thailand.

A new study has found that global warming will make it difficult to raise grapes in traditional wine country, which will force production to shift to other regions. The study has found sharp declines in wine production from Bordeaux, Rhone, Tuscany, California's Napa Valley, and Chile by 2050 as warming climates make it harder to raise grapes in traditional wine country.

Researchers are now predicting a two-thirds fall in production in the world's premier wine regions due to climate change, with the biggest decline expected in Europe. However, they also anticipate that wine production will make a large push into areas that were once considered unsuitable for wine making, which could mean a greater variety from northern Europe, the northwest U.S., and even the hills of central China.

Lee Hannah, a senior scientist at Conservation International and an author of the study, says:

"The fact is that climate change will lead to a huge shakeup in the geographic distribution of wine production."

Researchers are anticipating huge changes in the regions that produce good grapes. Hannah notes:

"It will be harder and harder to grow those varieties that are currently growing in places in Europe. It doesn't necessarily mean that [they] can't be grown there, but it will require irrigation and special inputs to make it work, and that will make it more and more expensive."

One of the most finicky varieties of grapes are white grapes, which are sensitive to very subtle temperature shifts, rain, and sunshine.

Rich Products Corp. has expanded its recall to more than 10.5 million pounds of heat treated, not fully cooked foods because they could be contaminated with E. coli. The recall includes all products produced at Rich Product's Waycross, Ga., plant with "Best by" dates ranging from January 1, 2013 to September 29, 2014.

Products included in the expanded recall include:

21-oz. bags of Farm Rich mini bacon cheeseburgers, UPC code 0 41322 35622 2
1-lb. bags of Schwan’s mini meatball sandwiches, UPC code 0 72180 55312 6
18-oz. bags of Farm Rich mini quesadillas, UPC code 0 41322 35611 6, case code 1 00 41322 35631 1
18-oz. bags of Farm Rich mini quesadillas, UPC code 0 41322 35635 2, case code 1 00 41322 35635 9
20-oz. bags of Farm Rich mini quesadillas, UPC code 0 41322 35611 6, case code 1 00 41322 35611 3
21-oz. bags of Farm Rich Philly Cheese Steaks, UPC code 0 41322 35618 5, case code 1 00 41322 35618 2

A sample of Farm Rich frozen mini pepperoni pizza slices product from a Texas case tested positive for a strain that was involved in a multistate investigation of E. coli.

As of Thursday, the E. coli outbreak includes 24 cases in 15 states.

The Cleveland Indians have partnered with Dominos for a new promotion that will feed hungry fans for half price. The offer gives Tribe fans half-price pizza from Dominos - the Official Pizza of the Cleveland Indians - every Wednesday throughout the 2013 season.

Dominos new "Wahoo Wednesdays" begins today, and will run each Wednesday for the entire season. Indians fans can order online at dominos.com and enter the promotional code "Wahoo" to receive half off their menu priced pizza.

Fans ordering online with the Wahoo code will also be entered to win Indians autographed items and fan experiences. The grand prize is an on-field workout, including batting practice, shagging fly balls, and running the bases at Progressive Field. The promotion lasts all season, but only orders placed through July 31 will be entered to win prizes.

Today is the grand opening of a new bar in the Greater Cleveland area - World of Beer, which will feature 500 different bottles of beer and 50 drafts that will rotate every night.

The bar chain has two other locations in Ohio in the Columbus area.

Located in the INA Building, the 3,800-square-foot bar will focus mostly on beer. Liquor will not be served, however a few wines will be available. World of Beer will also not bother with serving its own food. Instead, it will partner with other local eateries who will deliver food to the table. Eddie 'N Eddie's, which is located next door to the bar, will staff a server inside of World of Ber.

Mark Pottschmidt, a partner in the venture, commented:

We were looking at the Cleveland market, and we fell in love with Lakewood. We went to Melt, Deagan’s and Eddie ‘N Eddie and saw that they all had craft beer. Lakewood is already ahead of the craft beer movement.”

On March 20, all 10 Robeks smoothie and juice stores in the Cleveland, Akron or Canton area will give a free smoothie to anyone who comes in between 2 and 4 p.m. and makes a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Robeks said in a press release:

The Make-A-Wish Foundation makes dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Helping families has always been central to our mission, and we're pleased to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation and to offer free smoothies to customers who also lend a hand.

In stark contract to the state of New York, where NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has sought to impose regulations on the restaurant industry, including the banning of soda drinks over a certain size and the required display of calorie counts, the state of Mississippi is attempting to enact legislation that would ensure that such limitations could not be imposed in their state. Last week, the House passed the final version of Senate Bill 268, which bars local governments from requiring nutritional information, restricting portion sizes, or banning toys in kids' meals, in a 92-26 vote.

The bill, which was introduced by state Sen. Tony Smith (R-Picayune), is designed to prevent Mississippi city and counties from modeling rules after cities such as New York.

Unfortunately, Mississippi could actuallybenefit from being informed about the calorie counts of the foods they consume while dining out. According to federal rankings, nearly 35 percent of Mississippi adults were considered obese in 2011

If you didn't know it already, Cleveland now has its own distillery and a new whiskey that's just hit the market, Cleveland Whiskey. It hit liquor stores and bars for the first time ever this week, and is already selling out in many locations. One place it's sure to be well-stocked this week is at the Market Garden Brewery & Distillery in Ohio City, where Cleveland Whiskey is throwing a launch party for the new bourbon.

The party, which is free and without a cover charge, will kick off at 5pm at Market Garden Brewery and Distillery, which is located at 1947 West 25th Street, Cleveland.

25,000 pounds of Bolognese sauce products are being recalled by an Ohio-based company due to undeclared allergens and misbranding. Summer Garden Food Manufacturing says that the products contain soy, wheat and MSG that are not declared on the label.

Both soy and wheat are known allergens.

The products that are subject to the recall are 24-ounce jars of "Giant Eagle Market District Bolognese Pasta Sauce" with best-by dates of Dec. 5, 2014 or Feb. 6, 2015 on the lid.

The products were shipped to distributors in Ohio and Pennsylvania under Giant Eagle's "Market District" label.