Andrew Simmons

First it turned your Facebook friends into agribusiness zombies. Now it's going to make armchair Bastianiches out of iPhone-addicted foodies. This week, the San Francisco-based, browser-based computer game company Zynga launches a restaurant simulation called ChefVille. The point of the game seems simple enough: Come up with a restaurant concept,......

Obama is in big trouble. Last election, he slipped by, almost tanking in the wake of the 2007 arugula dust-up. It was also reported, with near-devastating fall-out, that the would-be leader preferred wine to beer. And now, over four years later, the incumbent faces yet another scandal. It's not the......

For guitar amps, gently-used "attitude tees" and vintage poster art, eBay is that ephemeral, endless Target in the sky. Most of us also know by now that there is no better source (save a millionaire foodist's estate sale) for odd and esoteric kitchen gadgets. Whether you're looking for a new......

First things first: Do not panic. Yes, there is a needle in your turkey sandwich. Yes, it is poking out from its little temporary home between the mayo and the lettuce. The needle is sharp. It is there. But do not panic. Do not necessarily leap to the conclusion that......

German mega-corporation Joh. A. Benckiser has made California-based Peet's Coffee & Tea an offer it can't refuse. You can imagine the boardroom intrigue. Flanked by 7-foot-tall blondes, a small bald suit holds a pinkie to his lips and hisses an amount the half-shaven, Vespa-driving, kayak-trip-taking Northern California types on the......

Before kids were playing with iPads in restaurants, entertainment could materialize in less lustrous packages -- literally, the package of a mediocre snack. The classic baseball gut-stuffer (along with peanuts and a couple of sweat-beaded hot dogs), the Cracker Jack combination of globbed-together popcorn, molasses, and peanuts always played second......

When it comes to dining room tables, most of us make do with what's already in our apartment or easily score-able off Craigslist. This way, quite a few splintery wooden boards have become the site of plucky dinner parties. Still, there's another end of the spectrum -- specialized, fantastic, expensive,......

Flavor Flav is hip hop's most legendary hype man, and he shows no sign of complacency in his oldish age. Last Thursday, on a Southwest jaunt from Burbank to Las Vegas, Flav commandeered the airplane's intercom to encourage travellers to dine at Flavor Flav's House of Flavor, his soul food......

As Speedo weather sweeps much of the country, dieters are using tweezers to eat, spending fortunes on salad bar creations and avoiding meals altogether in order to look dandy in beachside Facebook pics. However, new research shows that these last two measures (we can't speak for the tweezers) may not......

California cooking icon Marion Cunningham died yesterday at the age of 90 from complications due to Alzheimer's. Famed updater of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, celebrated author, cooking teacher and television host, Cunningham profoundly influenced the cooking habits of Americans. That is to say, without her guidance -- her cookbooks with......