Two Fat Ladies make the list, make room for Sprinkles, vodka and more

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-- The 100 top cooking shows of all time. Did your favorite make the cut? [The Cooks Den]

-- Before all your friends arrive next weekend, make sure you know how to BBQ for a crowd. [Global Life via Food News Journal]

-- What’s Dan Aykroyd been up to? Booze. He’s been producing and distributing wine and spirits for about seven years now and recently created Crystal Head Vodka, said to be the result of the ghost buster’s ‘fascination with the supernatural.’ From the press release: The vodka is made with water from an aquifer in Newfoundland, Canada, ‘quadruple distilled and triple crystal filtered through Herkimer diamonds, which according to New Age belief systems, embody positive energy and goodwill.’ Aykroyd is scheduled to host a bottle signing on Thursday at the Wine House, at 2311 Cotner Ave. in Los Angeles, from 6 to 8 p.m.

-- Oh, how I want a concrete-cast outdoor dining table so I can pretend I’m in Tuscany. Check it out, and 21 other outdoor-dining-room ideas. [Sunset]

-- End of an era: Gay Talese profiles the restaurant Gino, which opened in New York City in 1945 on Lexington Avenue near 61st Street and is now closing its doors. It was known for, among other things, a menu that was handwritten in ink 65 years ago, as well as regular customers ‘so amiably resigned’ to the kitchen’s ‘unchanging cuisine that it has never been necessary for these customers to consult the menu.’ Moving in? Beverly Hills bakery entrepreneur Charles Nelson and his wife, Candace, of Sprinkles Cupcakes fame. [The New Yorker]

-- You want to invite dinner guests over for dinner. But they always bring along their pesky food restrictions. So how do you know when to change the menu and when to draw the line in the potato salad? Try Andrew Knowlton’s hard-and-fast rule. [Bon Appetit]

-- Rene Lynch
twitter.com/renelynch