At Oceanaire, try the king crab

April 15, 2008

Oceanaire has bought a boatload - literally - of Alaska king crab from the fishing fleet featured in the Discovery Channel’s series Deadliest Catch.

Now the seafood restaurant group owns a whopping 40,000 pounds of king crab, straight from the deck of the vessel Time Bandit. (I’ve only seen the show a few times, but I’m told the boat is owned by the Hillstrand brothers, Andy, Johnathan and Neal.)

I give Oceanaire’s VP of ‘culinary development’ points for bravery: he went to Dutch Harbor to join the crew in the Bering Sea during the last catch of the season. (Three executive chefs went too, but none from the Baltimore location. Guess we have our own crab issues).

But back to the food.

The entree will be served in two and three-pound clusters cracked tableside by Oceanaire servers. It’ll be $36.95/pound (better save up) and should last through 2008.

Deadliest Catch’s fourth season returns to Discovery tonight at 9.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Discovery ordered to turn over tiger bone tapes

March 28, 2008

tiger.jpg

Assistant Business Editor Ben Mook uncovered an alarming story yesterday when the U.S. District Court for Maryland ordered Discovery Communications, of Silver Spring, to turn over footage to help the defense of an animal rights group that’s being sued in China.

A civil lawsuit filed in Beijing claims The International Fund for Animal Welfare impugned the reputation of a Chinese business through a web article claiming a wine it makes uses tiger skeletons as an ingredient.

The subpoenaed footage, which has not aired in the U.S., is from an episode of Animal Planet’s Crime Scene Wild series, and examines the Guilin Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Mountain Villa Entertainment Center and its making of “bone fortified wine.” Guilin Xiongsen runs a tiger farm, villa, restaurant and winemaking operation at Bear & Tiger Mountain.

The villa’s defense? They’ve got the wrong bones.

“The main ingredients of the ‘animal bone medicated wine’ produced by [Guilin Xiongsen] are rice wine, papayas and African lion bones, and do not include any ‘tiger bone’ ingredients at all,” the company said in the lawsuit.

Read Ben’s online-only story at our main Web site.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Discovery leaves glamour to the dogs

March 17, 2008

Animal Planet is betting some canine couturiers will do anything to remain in THIS dog house - the swanky pad that will house dog groomers from across the nation vying to be chosen “Groomer of the Year.”

Silver Spring-based Discovery’s latest brainchild, “…Groomer Has It,” will launch the second week of April and will be hosted by Jai Rodriguez (the least obnoxious host from ‘Queer Eye‘).

From the release:

These self-proclaimed best groomers will … face grooming challenges that range from styling pups for their runway debut to grooming some of the most exotic dog breeds, to making adoptable pups look their fetchingly best for new homes.

Top dog - er, human - will receive a cash prize of $50,000 and a mobile grooming salon to give his or her career a leg up.

No Marylanders made the short list to compete on-air (is that good or bad?), though there are East Coast groomers from New York, New Hampshire and Boston.

I’m usually a fan of anything animal-related, but this cable lineup adoption leaves me scratching my head.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Marylanders: Fear the Python

February 28, 2008

“Pythons could slither north as climate warms.”

It sounds like the basis for a horror movie, but it’s not. It’s a headline from Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications.

According to Larry O’Hanlon at Discovery News, the 20-foot, 250-pound reptiles could survive in multiple states by the year 2100 (at that point our climate may resemble their native India or Pakistan).

“The big snakes could comfortably creep through Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey,” he writes.

Well, they can have southern Jersey, as far as I’m concerned.

Of course, they’ve already immigrated to the U.S. A few years ago, researchers discovered a self-sustaining population of Burmese pythons in the Florida everglades - probably the result of a pet released into the wild (Snakehead, anyone?). Since then pythons have been spotted in other regional parks and preserves.

If their mere presence isn’t frightening enough, this fact could do it: they eat alligators. ALLIGATORS. (There’s a photo in that link that is worth clicking on. Trust me).

The story concludes, “USGS researchers are also looking into the potential for similar invasions by nine species of giant constrictors, including boa constrictors and yellow anacondas, which are common in the pet snake trade.”

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Posted by The Daily Record | Filed Under business, discovery communications, environment, maryland, pets | 2 Comments 

Baltimore’s top dogs

January 18, 2008

crowned_lab.jpgThe Golden Retriever leap-frogged over the German Shepherd to wrestle the No. 2 spot away from the Boxer on this year’s list of the most popular dogs in Baltimore.

The American Kennel Club reports that for the 17th consecutive year, Labrador Retriever is the most popular breed in the country (aww… just look at that adorable face).

“Baltimore is considered a working-class port town whose roots run deep,” says AKC spokesperson Lisa Peterson. “So it’s no surprise that the Rottweiler—a member of the Working Group—would continue to move up Baltimore’s top 10 list.”

Here’s the top 10 registered breeds in Baltimore, compared to the rest of the country:

1. Labrador Retriever (Nationally: Labrador Retriever)

2. Golden Retriever (Nationally: Yorkshire Terrier)

3. Boxer (Nationally: German Shepherd)

4. Yorkshire Terrier (Nationally: Golden Retriever)

5. German Shepherd (Nationally: Beagle)

6. Pug (Nationally: Boxer)

7. Poodle (Nationally: Daschund)

8. Daschund (Nationally: Poodle)

9. Rottweiler (Nationally: Shih Tzu)

10. Bulldog (Nationally: Bulldog)

A Baltimore-area Border Collie, “Christopher,” will compete for Best in Show (and $50 grand) at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship on Saturday, Feb. 2. The show will air on Discovery’s Animal Planet from 8-11p.m.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

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