This week’s roundup of tales that didn’t make the Restaurant SmartBrief include the story of a tech startup that uses cameras and a smartphone app to direct seekers to the bars most likely to hold Mr. or Ms. Right (or Right Now); the final cancellation of “America’s Next Great Restaurant;” and a piece on how your shampoo might be making you fat.
- Forbes wrote this week about a startup called SceneTap that will use facial detection cameras to track the number of men and women at bars, and a location-based app to guide patrons to the bars where they’ll be most likely to meet someone special.
- Tired of restaurants getting so much of the blame for America’s obesity problem? Check out Grist’s piece on the possibility that shampoo and a host of other environmental factors may bear much of the responsibility for making us fat.
- That’s a wrap for this reality TV restaurant. “America’s Next Great Restaurant” winner Jamawn Woods closed the last remaining Soul Daddy restaurant this week, after only two months, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
- A James Beard Award finalist shares his lifelong passion for a cheesy Mexican favorite in “An Ode to the Nacho.”
- Speaking of food passions: Houston Press writer Joanna O’Leary lists five essential foods to have when stranded on a deserted island include peanut butter, salmon and chocolate chip cookies.
What must-have foods would be in your bag? Tell us about it in the comments, and feel free to share your favorite foodie stories of the week.