My heart leapt when a friend sent a link with the title "20 Worst Foods in America 2009." A dozen possibilities raced pell-mell through my fevered brain - Did they mean worst-tasting foods? Worst foods for the environment? Most expensive foods? Most boring foods?

But when I got to the website, it turned out to be a magazine with the worst (in this case, most yawn-provoking) title I can imagine: Men's Health. I think I'd rather read a magazine called Zebra's Health, or Orangutan's Health. Anyway - you guessed it! - their idea of Worst Foods in America is based solely on number of calories and amount of fat.

The main problem, we've decided, are those dreadful end-of-episode meetings around the table, where emotions are vented, accusations made, and tears shed. We like a chef-testant break down as much as the next guy, but these meetings feel contrived and about as riveting as any end-of-shift staff meeting. Maybe if the food shots were a little more porny, we could find ourselves slightly more excited by CB, but there's something about raw fowl (see episodes 1 and 3) that is a major turnoff. And, while the food critics on the show are a great source of entertainment, they aren't enough to keep our attention or, apparently, that of most viewers.

Daniel Ochoa Pascual of Llanten, a restaurant in Valladolid, Spain, has been invited to cook at Le Cirque on April 7. Wine director Paul Altuna will pair Spanish wines with Pascual's dishes for the occasion.

The second annual Top Chef Tour starts Friday at the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza. The 21-city tour will have the chef'testants stopping in New Orleans, D.C., Boston and L.A.

Alain Ducasse is the proud papa of a new baby boy, Arzhel. The French chef has also been immortalized in wax at Paris' Musée Grévin along with his signature dish, cocotte des légumes.
[NY Post]

Michael Psilakis, of Anthos fame, cooked at the White House yesterday, calling the experience, "a carpet ride that has just been magical... surreal."
[NY Times]

A study conducted by Columbia and the University of California has shown that high school students whose schools are within a block of a fast food joint are more likely to be obese than those who study even a quarter of a mile further away.
[NY Times]

Beware your sweet tooth. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a link between the consumption of fructose and increased food intake, which may also lead to a higher risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
[Science Daily]

The backlash against bottled water continues. A Canadian University will gradually ban the sale of the stuff following a student vote to do so. The decision is part of a wider campaign to implement greener practices at the university.
[CBC]

This week, Counter Culture barges into Rockmeisha, a West Village itzakaya, or Japanese pub. The occasion of this invasion was a piece in rameniac.com (Hailey Eber also blogged about it) that claimed the place offered the fourth best ramen noodles in NYC. Indeed, the chashu ramen are delicious, though less fussy than the comparable product at Ippudo:

(click to enjoy)

Rockmeisha offers much other estimable pub grub in a Japanese, American, and English vein, including "pig toe" (tonsoku) salad:

Grilled sardines that may or may not demonstrate a Portuguese influence in that part of the world:

A luscious yellowfin (negima-ae) appetizer in a pool of shoyu dressing:

But one thing we didn't dig was a serving of pure cream cheese ("cheese yakko"), plated as if it were tofu: