new york post

From serving spiced-up burgers to offering cheaper premium steaks, restaurants are trying every trick in the book to bolster sluggish sales. Some, seeing little improvement, have turned to a strategy that was perhaps once unimaginable: haggling.

A reporter from the New York Post, who felt there was nothing to lose and only some to gain through negotiating, decided to put her theory to the test by bargaining at various Manhattan stores. The result of her experiment? She saved nearly $35 in one day by bartering at stores, including coffee shops, neighborhood restaurants, wine merchants, and even casual lunch chains. At Starbucks, a barista slashed 25 percent off the cost of a caramel macchiato "without batting an eye." When the reporter told a manager at sandwich and salad chain Cosí that she was trying to save money, she got a 10 percent discount. A local café was willing to give her a 20 percent "starving artists discount" off of a $50 table.

I'm a little dumbstruck, as America really doesn't embrace haggling. I haven't bargained for anything — let alone food — since my last trip to a foreign country. But, for the food service industry, could the best way to see change at the register be with flexibility in price? What do you think? Is bargaining something you've ever tried at a restaurant? If not, then given the current economic climate, would it be something you'd be willing to consider?

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Twins are sometimes the result of older mothers and IVF, but in the Big Apple, impatient women who don't have fertility issues are rushing to clinics when the old fashioned way of conceiving takes too long. In a jaw dropping New York Post piece, mamas spoke out about "twofers", twins for the price of one round of fertility treatments and cutting down on their number of pregnancies and ability to get their pre-baby bod back by aspiring (via the doctor's office) for multiples. Since 1980, twin rates in America have increased 70 percent. It said:

"I have my body back," says a Gramercy Park mom with 3-year-old twin girls (who asked to remain anonymous to protect her family's privacy). "And while my friends are bracing themselves for baby number two and all the sleep deprivation and chaos that comes with it, we are planning a family trip to Hawaii."

Do you appreciate these multitasking mamas take on motherhood?

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Although the fifth season of Hell's Kitchen debuts this Thursday on Fox, Gordon Ramsay's empire may be crumbling. According to the New York Post, the celebrity chef's company is "finding life pretty tough at the moment."

In the past couple of months the celebrity chef has faced many challenges. One of his restaurant's lost two Michelin stars and another establishment dramatically cut back its hours. The overall price of dining at a Gordon Ramsay eatery has dropped as well, to only $21 a head. Top that off with two years worth of unpaid back taxes, an alleged 7-year affair, and you end up with one burnt Ramsay. In an attempt to solve his problems, he's fired his public relations guru.

However, if Ramsay's luck runs out as a restaurant chef, he's always got his television career to fall back on.

Do you think Ramsay will survive the setbacks?

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While most eighth graders whittled away this Summer at swim camp, one young man became the hottest rising caterer in the Hamptons.

Meet Greg Grossman, a 13-year-old chef prodigy from East Hampton, NY. Recently profiled in the New York Post, Grossman so far this Summer has "seared 75 pounds of scallops, cured 30 pounds of salmon, plated 200 micro-green salads and reduced at least 20 bottles of red wine" while catering for parties.

Despite the "killer" truffles and fish soufflés he made for a recent gallery opening, Grossman's not old enough to qualify for a catering license, so clients must employ him as a "personal chef." While his parents say he "practically teethed at Nobu, Cipriani and the Four Seasons Hotel in Palm Beach," they knew he was really something when he presented them with pan-seared sea scallops under a balsamic vinegar glaze with a wild-mushroom medley at the ripe old age of 10.

I don't know what to make of this preteen personal chef. On the one hand, I think it's an incredible feat; on the other hand, I think that true culinary mastery requires a bit of maturity. What say you? Would you hire him to cater your events?

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If you win Hell's Kitchen, you're supposed to get the title of executive chef at a fancy pants restaurant. So, it's interesting to note that neither the season 1 or season 2 winners are executive chefs anywhere. - New York Post