Dining news: March 28, 2008

The Rocky

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

5280's recent Best Restaurants issue named Fruition's Alex Seidel as Denver's Chef of the Year. The magazine's list of best restaurants over $30 included Fruition, Luca d'Italia, Potager, Rioja, Duo and Capital Grille. . . . A recent Discover Financial Services survey notes that 50 percent of American consumers plan to trim nonessential spending such as eating out this month. . . . Women fill nearly one- quarter of all chef and head cook jobs in the U.S., according to the National Restaurant Association. . . . Campbell's reduced-sodium soup was the best-selling new food and beverage brand in the U.S. in 2007, according to IRI. The best-selling new U.S. beverage in 2007 was Vault from Coca-Cola. . . . Daily coffee consumption by 18-to-24-year-olds fell to 26 percent from a high of 37 percent in 2007, the National Coffee Association said. . . . For a fun view of one local diner's culinary idiosyncracies, visit denveater.typepad.com. . . . Barry Estabrook wrote in Gourmet: "Unlike 'organic,' 'local' has no legal definition attached to it. There is a considerable disconnect between what consumers and food purveyors consider local."