Roy Choi, Lady Gaga, Christina Tosi and Ugly Fruit

It is Friday and you know what that means. It means you are already in the weeds for tonight's’ service chefs, so get your mise en place together.   Recently, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, Kroger announced it would be selling ‘ugly’ produce in an attempt to cut down on food waste.   Hannaford, Price Chopper and Market 32 started experimenting with ugly produce earlier but has since discontinued the program. Hannaford used the ‘misfits’ moniker as a trial starting in May of 2016 in 14 Albany NY area stores citing the lack of interest from the customers. A spokesperson for Price Chopper and Market 32 cited the lack of consistency and quality for their reasons to discontinue selling the ugly produce.   Kroger will give it a go under the store brand name Peculiar Picks. Kroger is the largest grocery store chain by revenue in the US with 2800 stores and 122.7 billion dollars in sales.   Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar fame is expanding her empire with a new outpost in LA this weekend. She just wanted to be closer to LeBron.   The pastry chef will open her new dessert spot Milk Bar along with a retail store, dessert classroom, production facility and distribution center in Fairfax. The LA milk bar is the 15th store Tosi has opened as part of Momofuku Restaurant Group.   Milk Bar LA is a 4000 square foot giant in a strip mall that previously housed a Baskin-Robbins and a laundromat. Her first dessert class birthday cakes will be available on saturday as well with a ticket price of 195 smackers. That hefty price tag does come with some solace, since the proceeds will be going to a charity: Cookies for Kids Cancer.   Along with the 4000 square foot space, Milk Bar will debut their first ice cream truck where guests can get her famous cereal milk soft serve.   If you stop in this weekend, don’t forget to get a crack pie.   In late December Chef Roi Choi will open the doors to Best Friend, his latest eatery and his first in Las Vegas. The LA chef is known for Kogi BBQ truck, A-Fram and Locol. Choi describes his Best Friend concept as a “remixed and remastered collection of the evolution of our Los Angeles- it's food, its music, it’s culture. Chef Choi gave a sneak peek to the entrance of Best Friend at Park MGM hotel.   They are timing the opening of Best Friend to coincide with Lady GaGa’s residency at Park MGM’s theater. So, all you little monsters will have a place to eat. Choi said he can “explore different things and ball out a little bit”. The restaurant bar will be about 9000 square feet and have an open kitchen, DJ equipment with a few subwoofers and feature higher end ingredients.   This week Austin has been under a boil water notice after flooding contaminated the water. Residents and businesses were asked to boil water before using it in cooking, brushing teeth etc.. Some of the hardest hit were restaurants early in the week. Several had to close for a day or two.   In the spirit of this funky, friendly town, several breweries have stepped in to help local coffee shops. In one case Govalle brewery was boiling 230 gallons of water at a time along with filling several of their holding tanks and shipping it to area coffee shops.   “We’re in the business of boiling water and being a good neighbor,” says Jeff Young. Jeff is the owner of Blue Owl Brewery. His brewery can boil up to 1000 gallons of water in their steam-heated kettles.   For more information on how breweries are helping out in Austin check out the article on Austin’s Eater Page.