Advisory Opinion

Cicadas

I was in D.C. a few weeks ago and the reappearance of the cicadas was all the buzz. (Sorry, I couldn't help it.)

Now, via Marginal Revolution, you can watch a French chef preparing and eating cicadas. "Just like softshell crab," he says. Go here to watch the video.

P.S. If you have no idea what a cicada is, check out the video. I can't promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The Adult Happy Meal

A Small Victory has a review of McDonald's new Adult Happy Meal, and thinks it's actually a sad meal: "Ice cream, tequila, nachos and prize of porn: That is a happy meal."

The Health Benefits of Guinness

It is better than vegetables and is good for cardiac patients too. (Via OxBlog.)

Getting That Exclusive Table

Via Marginal Revolution, here's a great article on how to buy your way into New York restaurants:

Outside, I realized I had just witnessed the gold standard. The maître d' turned down the money when it was a bribe, gave us the service anyway, then accepted the money as a well-earned tip.

Apparently it's easier than you might think.

The French Love McDonald's

Really, they do:

Call the French snooty, or just demanding, for their attention to good food, good wine, good atmosphere in their restaurants, for lingering over their meals. But the French have a dirty little secret: Of all the people in Europe, they like McDonald's more than anyone else does.

Pound for quarter-pound, they eat more of it, more often, than any other nationality on the continent, and the nay-sayers here who predicted the French would give up their beloved aged cheese before adopting the quick-fry meat patties so often seen as emblematic of America's bad taste, have been proven as wrong as red wine with white fish. . . .

France has 1,008 McDonald's restaurants, second in Europe only to the 1,235 in Britain and the 1,244 in Germany, and though each country's total sales are a closely held company secret, France is leading them both. . . .

A Big Mac in the heart of Paris goes for $3.65, a fish sandwich sells for $3.40, large fries for $2.40 and the Royal Cheese -- which would be called a quarter pounder, except for the metric system -- goes for $3.85.

(Via Dan Drezner.)