Patricia Cobe

Tomato lovers may start getting gloomy as summer draws to a close, but there are still plenty of reasons to rejoice. Local red, yellow, orange, purple and striped beauties are at their peak well into September and even October, depending on locale. And restaurants are going beyond salads and BLTs to make the most of them.

A hurricane is disruptive whenever it hits, but as the full force of Irene swept the East coast over the weekend—the most lucrative days for restaurants—industry folks had to instantly come up with their own disaster plans. And they had to let their customers know pretty quickly. Alerts sent out through Facebook, Twitter, texts and blogs ranged from the serious to the quirky.

Many restaurants and bars are helping thirsty customers beat the heat with inventive drinks this summer. There’s a cool way to cool off no matter what's your beverage of choice—beer, wine, cocktails or house-made lemonade.

Table salt was the go-to seasoning, but now chefs (and diners) are using crystals of different sizes, textures, colors and flavors.

The LTOs Six sandwich builds featuring two proteins—panko breaded cod and breaded whole breast white meat chicken—prepared in a choice of three flavors:...

Aweakened dollar, high commodity costs and increased global demand for seafood are combining to push up prices this season. Fernando Navas, corporate chef for the six-location SushiSamba, names “price” as his number one sourcing challenge.