What do you think the worst problem to crop up from your restaurant fountain soda could be? Gas? Diabetes? I worked a few years in food service and I remember an incident in which a customer claimed that our soda fountain darn near asphyxiated him. I didn't wait on this customer, but my fellow server fetched the requested carbonated beverage for this person and moments later was summoned to his table. The soda fountain nozzle had fallen into his drink and, unfortunately, my fellow (absent-minded) server had the misfortune of having the customer discover the mishap.
The customer was quite upset, claiming he could have been killed if he had swallowed or choked on it. Now, a few things came to my mind at this claim:
1. Could a person really swallow a soda fountain nozzle?
2. For those who have never dealt closely with a soda fountain nozzle, these things are about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter.
3. The customer in question wasn't so large that I could imagine a nozzle getting down his throat.
I digress. What I'm getting at here is that for some people, choking is a real and probable hazard of drinking a fountain soda.
I am here to tell you that there is yet another danger lurking in that cold glass of sweet refreshment.
POOP.
Yes. I screamed, too, when I first made this discovery. That's what I said, and those of you who have read my other blog are thinking that yours truly has some kind of poop fixation (it happens when you are the parent of multiple toddlers). This is for real.
See this CNN article from a couple of weeks ago. http://http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/08/soda.fountain.bacteria/index.html?iref=allsearch
According to a Virginia university research study of area restaurants, (both do-it-yourself sodas and employee-access-only sodas) over half of the samples were contaminated with coliform bacteria, e. coli, or Chryseobacterium meningosepticum. To you or me, who are not mad scientists (like my bro-in-law who has an unnatural relationship with hemoglobin or my good friend Yuriko who thinks lab rats are super "cute") that means that someone got poop in the soda.
And don't think that you're safe if you don't order the soda. The water also comes from the same soda fountain.
This article goes on to state that the same study also found that the soda also fell below basic drinking water standards.
The study didn't go into how the poop got in the soda, and the truth is, the study used relatively small subject matter. (90 beverages from 30 area restaurants, all in one city in Virginia) So here are my thoughts on this issue:
1. Does Virginia have a hygeine problem? I hope that is the case, because I would hate for Denver to have this same issue...
2. How did the poop get there?
3. I have gotten sick after having eaten at various restaurants, and I always assumed it was the food. Now I wonder...was it the poop in my soda?
4. I recently discovered a pho restaurant near my home and I was delighted to see that they do not serve fountain sodas--all sodas come in a can. (Pho Saigon on Quebec and County Line)
5. I don't think the restaurant where I worked had the poop problem. We actually removed the nozzles and washed them regularly in the super-duper sanitary dishwasher. Thank goodness!
Jake just walked by and stated that some things you really just don't want to know. I disagree. Are we not all better people for knowing now that someone got poop in your soda?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Kiki's Review: Not A Strip Club
Have you ever had a meal, and afterward you wished you could take it all back? Somehow remove that food from your body? I had a such a meal tonight. Yikes.
Kiki's Casual Dining. The name should had been warning enough. Kiki's? Casual dining? In my own defense, the name of the place didn't exactly break my cardinal rules of Japanese restaurant names. (E.g., Avoid any place called --Bowl and avoid a place offering sushi and cuisine of an entirely different region on the same menu when the place is not a fusion restaurant. The worst offenders have names like this: East Sea Teriyaki Bowl Asian Bistro, pho and sushi bar.) I was trying to keep an open mind, and plus, the place boasts real Japanese home cooking. (see http://www.kikisjapaneserestaurant.com/) I love Japanese home cooking.
The decor here is summed up in one word: cluttered. This didn't detract me, as I've been in plenty of cluttered Japanese eateries (even in Japan) that were delicious. Kiki's had a mess of trendy tables, chairs, and booths, mixed with old shelving piled haphazardly with large ceramic plates. The wait staff was, well, in a word, unenthusiastic. Kind of depressed, actually. But I took heart because the place was packed. Every table was full. I felt a twinge of disappointment, though, when I realized that the Asian clientele was not Japanese and most of the all Asian employees were also not Japanese. (In my experience, non-Japanese clientele and non-Japanese ownership/cooks at an "authentic" Japanese restaurant usually equals sugary sauces and a plethora of other culinary sins.)
Let's move on to the food. Again, in a word, unenthusiastic. Also unskilled. Two items were good: the fried oysters and the fried chicken (kaki-furai and karaage). That's about it. Their miso soup is made with a mushroom broth, which, if you know me, you know is tres offensive. But even then, I was still optimistic because I know that there are people out there who actually enjoy the 'shrooms. Then my seaweed soup arrived. It was like someone poured soysauce into a bowl of water, added seawed and sesame, threw in some raw onion chunks, and called it soup.
I ordered two different kinds of roasted fish, both of which were obviously prepared by someone who had no idea what they were cooking. Seriously, can we at least GUT THE DARN FISH?!?! And then NOT cook it until it's rubbery? And then the squid--geez! It was presented so unappetizingly that we didn't even want to try it. Giant whole squid, sliced and sliding around on a bed of some kind of soy-ginger-garlic-sugar sauce. But we did. So, so, so not worth the effort. I won't even get into the rest of the meal, my friends. I shall spare you the details.
My poor husband finally just gave up part way through the meal. His exact words: "I can't. I just can't."
I admit, when it comes to Japanese home cooking, I grew up with the best. My Oba-chan (grandma) was an excellent cook. She roasted fish perfectly every time. She fried her fried food perfectly. Her flavorings were impeccable. Not too sweet, always packed with flavor. I know I hold a high standard. However, I still won't be going back to Kiki's. No thank you.
Oh, I wish my dinner wasn't in me!
Kiki's Casual Dining. The name should had been warning enough. Kiki's? Casual dining? In my own defense, the name of the place didn't exactly break my cardinal rules of Japanese restaurant names. (E.g., Avoid any place called --Bowl and avoid a place offering sushi and cuisine of an entirely different region on the same menu when the place is not a fusion restaurant. The worst offenders have names like this: East Sea Teriyaki Bowl Asian Bistro, pho and sushi bar.) I was trying to keep an open mind, and plus, the place boasts real Japanese home cooking. (see http://www.kikisjapaneserestaurant.com/) I love Japanese home cooking.
The decor here is summed up in one word: cluttered. This didn't detract me, as I've been in plenty of cluttered Japanese eateries (even in Japan) that were delicious. Kiki's had a mess of trendy tables, chairs, and booths, mixed with old shelving piled haphazardly with large ceramic plates. The wait staff was, well, in a word, unenthusiastic. Kind of depressed, actually. But I took heart because the place was packed. Every table was full. I felt a twinge of disappointment, though, when I realized that the Asian clientele was not Japanese and most of the all Asian employees were also not Japanese. (In my experience, non-Japanese clientele and non-Japanese ownership/cooks at an "authentic" Japanese restaurant usually equals sugary sauces and a plethora of other culinary sins.)
Let's move on to the food. Again, in a word, unenthusiastic. Also unskilled. Two items were good: the fried oysters and the fried chicken (kaki-furai and karaage). That's about it. Their miso soup is made with a mushroom broth, which, if you know me, you know is tres offensive. But even then, I was still optimistic because I know that there are people out there who actually enjoy the 'shrooms. Then my seaweed soup arrived. It was like someone poured soysauce into a bowl of water, added seawed and sesame, threw in some raw onion chunks, and called it soup.
I ordered two different kinds of roasted fish, both of which were obviously prepared by someone who had no idea what they were cooking. Seriously, can we at least GUT THE DARN FISH?!?! And then NOT cook it until it's rubbery? And then the squid--geez! It was presented so unappetizingly that we didn't even want to try it. Giant whole squid, sliced and sliding around on a bed of some kind of soy-ginger-garlic-sugar sauce. But we did. So, so, so not worth the effort. I won't even get into the rest of the meal, my friends. I shall spare you the details.
My poor husband finally just gave up part way through the meal. His exact words: "I can't. I just can't."
I admit, when it comes to Japanese home cooking, I grew up with the best. My Oba-chan (grandma) was an excellent cook. She roasted fish perfectly every time. She fried her fried food perfectly. Her flavorings were impeccable. Not too sweet, always packed with flavor. I know I hold a high standard. However, I still won't be going back to Kiki's. No thank you.
Oh, I wish my dinner wasn't in me!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Hello and Welcome
Hello there! This is my new blog. It's a food blog. I'm just putting it together as of now, but I will note here that lately I have a hankering for pho. This is something new to me, as I have not particularly enjoyed Vietnamese cuisine in the past. Lately, however, my interest has been aroused and I am on a search for a great bowl of pho in the Denver metro area. If you know of any places, please comment. More to come!
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