Here in Orange County, we're pretty known for our plastic surgery, injections of every sort and suctions of the lipo variety. And we here at the Weekly aren't immune to this practice--no, Gustavo hasn't gone and gotten Botox--as we've given Voice Places a facelift! You may be familiar with the site from such features as restaurant reviews, calendar picks and our Best Of selections.

But now we've added a bundle of more features like a pretty new design, tips from Foursquare, a national food blog, trending events and locations and improved photo galleries.

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Kickstarter

Japanese beer-fed Kobe beef jerky is a real, glorious thing, and now, thanks to Kickstarter, you can soon get it in your mouth.

Called Kobe Red, the gourmet snack is created by Los Angeles-based Magnus Fun Inc. It's made with beer-fed, hand-massaged cattle from Japan. It has been wet-aged with savory spices, allowing the flavors to permeate every molecule of the beef. Folks at South By Southwest couldn't get enough.

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Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles

Last summer, we reported that Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles would be opening in Anaheim. It is now this summer, and we still aren't stuffing our faces with fried deliciousness. What gives?!

See Also:
* The Playground to Yelp Reviewer: 'Burn in Hell'
* Case of the "McStinkyNigger" Orange County Restaurant Receipt Settles
* Lawsuit: Disneyland Employee Dressed as White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland Refused to Hug Black Child

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If you're going to be drinking this summer down the Jersey Shore, at least you can be more confident the shot of Lagavulin or Auchentoshan the bartender just poured you is actually high-end scotch, not dishwater.

That's because the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) led a statewide raid on Wednesday, the culmination of a sting operation called Operation Swill, in which plainclothes investigators went to 63 bars that had received complaints about mislabeled alcohol, ordered shots neat and surreptitiously took samples for testing. The ABC collected more than 1,000 open bottles of liquors from 63 license holders in 15 of New Jersey's 21 counties, then subjected all of the contents to testing.

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With all the hoopla and controversy over the first firing of the 3-D-printed gun, here's something everyone can agree is less controversial and astronomically cooler: NASA is funding research on 3-D printed food!

Yup! To feed astronauts that might one day travel to Mars, the space agency has selected a Texas-based firm to develop a 3-D printer that will create a pizza from scratch using powdered ingredients mixed with water and oil. The printer will presumably turn this food toner into something edible, starting with the dough layer, working up to the sauce, cheese, and protein. The proposed machine has been inevitably compared to the food replicator on Star Trek!

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Andrew Gabriel

Have you been to Wild Goose Tavern yet? Here's the best excuse yet to go, like, now!

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The King will have an answer to The Clown's cult sandwich the McRib. Called the BK Rib Sandwich, it will have a similar boneless pork patty formed to look like it came from a rib, served with pickles, a tangy BBQ sauce and a sweet bread bun.

The new sandwich will be rolled out with the rest of BK's summer menu in a few weeks, including sweet potato fries and a return of its pulled pork sandwich. Just like the McRib, it will stay only for a limited time with a price point of about $3.50.

Although this writer does not understand the appeal of the McRib, I do thank it for inspiring one of the most classic Simpsons episodes on record. Here again is the RibWich YouTube clip I roll out whenever I get a chance to talk about the McRib and any and all versions by McDonald's competitors.

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Medieval Times

Here ye, here ye, my lords and ladies! Medieval Times, the famed fake castle where you can watch a jousting tournament while gnawing on a turkey leg and chugging ye olde Diet Pepsi, may be headed to the big screen.

Deadline reports that production companies Benderspink (The Hangover Part III) and Broken Road (Jack and Jill) are hoping to secure chain's rights and then shop a feature film project to the movie studios.

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It can be argued that MTV's The Real World started the whole put-strangers-together-in-a-house-and-see-what-happens gimmick of just about every reality show we see today, including Bravo's Top Chef. Now MTV is casting for its own food show, where, wait for it, they'll have strangers living in a house competing for a chef job.

If you're interested in being one them, here's the casting call notice from http://www.foodschoolcasting.com/:

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In an upset victory, Cheesy Garlic Bread has triumphed over Sriracha in Lay's Potato Chips "Do Us A Flavor" contest. Short of saying that this might indicate that the Sriracha craze has finally ebbed, we actually never got to taste any of the three finalists...so Cheesy Garlic Bread might have actually tasted better than Sriracha. At least one blog reported that the Lay's idea of Sriracha flavor doesn't taste like Sriracha at all.

For her winning entry, Karen Weber-Mendham, a librarian from Land O'Lakes, Wisconsin, will receive at least $1 million...but at least a million Sriracha fans are now asking whether they voted enough or if this even matters. Huy Fong Foods, the maker of the sauce that everybody including Trader Joe's is trying to copy, reportedly had nothing to do with the contest.

As a result of the, um, results, Cheesy Garlic Bread will remain on store shelves at least until the end of the year. The runners-up will be all but a faded memory of this silly but brilliant marketing campaign after this summer.

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