Puerto Rico food scene thriving after string of disasters

The Puerto Rican food scene had reached its peak. Young chefs were inventing delicious new creations, restaurants popped up all over the island, the industry was no longer reliant on tourist season. Then a series of calamities hit: a hurricane, a series of earthquakes, a pandemic. ...

There’s a love story in Alabama barbecue restaurant’s name

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — There’s a love story in the name of this restaurant, Bar B Quing With My Honey, and meeting the owners puts you right in the middle of it. The latest chapter is being written in midtown Mobile, where Glenda Marks Witherspoon and her husband, Timothy...

McDonald's finds a buyer for its restaurants in Russia; locations will reopen under a new name

Workers to spilt $600,000 after SC tip pool ruled illegal

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A restaurant in South Carolina has been ordered to pay more than $600,000 to nearly 100 workers who were forced to share their tips, the U.S. Department of Labor has ruled. The tip pool at 167 Raw in Charleston was an illegal arrangement that violated the...

Coffee shop in Auburn to hire people with special needs

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Bitty and Beau’s coffee shop will have its grand opening in Auburn this July and is looking to hire 25 employees. The North Carolina-based company proudly employs individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “I honestly teared...

Pub in Vogue, England rebuffs magazine's name-change request

LONDON (AP) — The owner of a rural English pub says he was asked to change the bar's name by a fashion magazine because of the village where it’s located: Vogue. Mark Graham, who runs the Star Inn at Vogue, said he received a letter from British Vogue publisher Conde Nast, saying...

Food fight: Restaurants sue Boston over al fresco dining fee

BOSTON (AP) — The owners of five restaurants in Boston's North End say in a lawsuit against Mayor Michelle Wu that the city's $7,500 fee for eateries in the neighborhood that want to offer outdoor dining this summer is unconstitutional. The four business owners, in their federal...

Tunnel contractor pokes through Virginia Capitol ceiling

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A contractor working on a $25 million tunnel that will connect Virginia's Capitol to a nearby legislative office building “inadvertently” poked through the ceiling of a subterranean Capitol extension earlier this year, causing debris to fall into the visitors center...

Oh, rats! As New Yorkers emerge from pandemic, so do rodents

NEW YORK (AP) — They crawled to the surface as the coronavirus pandemic roiled New York City, scurrying out of subterranean nests into the open air, feasting on a smorgasbord of scraps in streets, parks and mounds of curbside garbage. As diners shunned the indoors for outdoor dining, so did the...

Neon Pig: A smashing decade as butcher shop, gourmet grocery

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — The Neon Pig is flying high after 10 years. The popular butcher shop and restaurant has evolved over the years, but the one constant has been its mission to provide homemade and handmade goodness to its customers. The butcher shop breaks down...