Fine, I'm still in my bathrobe. And my lunch is stale Triscuits. But that can't bring me down. A few thoughts:

Thanks to Wade Tatangelo for the news that S. Howard Ave.'s Taqueria is closed. It's a loss for the neighborhood--we'll see what owner Tommy Ortiz has planned for the space.

Big congrats to the Perfect Caper in Punta Gorda. In the latest issue of Saveur, in a section called "State Plates: Florida" it talks about the "Mango Gang's" Allen Susser, Norman Van Aken and Douglass Rodriguez, but then it goes on to talk about creative up-and-comers and little Ms. Jeanie Roland of the Caper gets a nod. I love her food, and am planning my next visit to correspond to some spring training action.

I just heard that PETA is offering big bucks to the chef who can create the greatest faux foie gras (you know, fatty duck or goose liver). A $10,000 prize and much publicity will go to the winning chef in PETA's international Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge. The winner must produce an original, purely vegetarian faux foie gras comparable in taste and texture to the real glob of prized bird fat, and it must beat out all other entries. Um, good luck with that. 

Then I also read that the tiny town of Yountville in the Napa Valley has, for the second year in a row, earned six Michelin stars, the largest concentration per city block short of New York City and more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere on the planet. Recipients include the French Laundry (3), Bouchon (1), Bistro Jeanty (1) and Redd (1).  Anyone been to Redd? I don't know it. Now if I can only convince Janet Keeler, travel and food editor, to send me to Yountville for some investigative eating...