5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

If you've tuned into the Food Network lately, chances are you can pinpoint this here sir as Scott Conant - recurring judge on "Chopped," and host of the new series, "24 Hour Restaurant Battle."

After more than a decade of cooking in some of New York City's most renown Italian restaurants (L'Impero, Alto, San Demonico, etc.) and being named a "Best New Chef" by 'Food & Wine' magazine in 2004, Conant opened up his very own restaurant, Scarpetta, in 2008. Scarpetta went on to receive three stars from both The New York Times and 'New York Magazine,' and was dubbed one of the “Best New Restaurants in America” by 'Esquire' magazine. Oh - and the restaurant received a nomination for "Best New Restaurant" from the James Beard Foundation in 2009.

Let's just say the man knows a thing or two about opening up a restaurant.

5 Things to Keep in Mind When Opening Your Own Restaurant: Scott Conant
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We fly pretty fast and furious here. Here are a few posts we love that might have flapped right on by.

• Why you should always hire a cook with Waffle House on his or her résumé.

• Anthony Bourdain talks Beirut and family meals.

• Wherein Andrew Zimmern went for the full Bourdain.

• Filmmaker Joe York shares his five favorite food documentaries.

• Do you take home restaurant leftovers?

• Oh, PETA. Again with the nudity, blood and bombast.

• Lunch lies! Dinner deceits! Tasty truths!

• Mario Batali on the food of love.

• Customize your chocolate.

No foolin'. Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruit, so don't Gulag them away in Bloody Mary land. They're sweet, juicy, colorful and ever so ready to meet the business end of a muddler. Here's one way they've been punching up my summer.

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It's been our experience that many people get mighty shirty if there's not an open bar at a wedding, and others don't mind ponying up for a brewski. Where do you stand? (Or sit. Gently now...gently...)

Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Don't want to double dip your peanut butter and jelly knife? There's a paddle for that. - Kathleen Purvis

• The weird, wacky and generally nerdy culinary creations debuted at Comic-Con. - LA Weekly

• Michael Batterberry, founder of 'Food & Wine' and 'Food Arts' magazines, passed away at the age of 78. - New York Times

• Did'ja know locusts are kosher? The unlikely animals permitted under traditional Jewish dietary laws. - Associated Press

• Each night, Keith Pandolfi's father would lock himself in the kitchen so no one in the family could break in and interfere with his culinary art. - Saveur

CNN staffers took on a double-dog dare to finish a dish made with bhut jolokia - a pepper so hot it's been weaponized. Sara Sidner, a Delhi-based correspondent, share her first-hand account.

I don't do eating stunts; it's just not my thing. I don't like watching people shovel huge amounts of doughnuts or pies or whatever else down their gullets to win a prize. It's part guilt - knowing there are hungry people in the world - and part disgust, because it makes me gag to watch.

Turns out I am a hypocrite. While in New York City, I did as some of the locals do and took a food challenge. It's called the "Phaal Curry Challenge," an idea thought up by Brick Lane Curry House in New York's East Village. Basically, the owners dare patrons to eat an entire bowl of their spiciest curry - Phaal Curry. It has a total of ten different types of chili and peppers in it.
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday and the most delicious finds on TV.

As if plain ol' cheese and plain ol' cake weren't good enough, someone had to go get crazy on us and combine the two. And by crazy, we mean oh-so right.

It's National Cheesecake Day! And if you're into those sort of things, we hear a certain Factory o' Cheesecake is commemorating the occasion by offering half-price slices to dine-in customers.

Say cheese!

What's on TV?
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

You may recognize the above gentleman as Chef Rick Moonen, owner and executive chef of RM Seafood in Las Vegas, author of "Fish Without a Doubt" and more recently, the runner-up on season two of Bravo's "Top Chef Masters."

A vocal advocate for sustainable fishing and seafood, Moonen has a "Big Five Theory" - essentially saying restaurants in the United States typically serve only five groups of fish: tuna, bass, snapper, cod and salmon. Keeping up with this belief, Moonen provides some seafood substitutions in order to give the "Big Five" a break.

5 Fish That Deserve a Break: Rick Moonen
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I don't have family recipes - at least on my side of the marriage. More on that at another time, but most of my culinary heritage is stitched together from books that somehow made their way onto my shelves and into my psyche.

Here are a few that changed the way I eat, drink and think, forever.

1. An Invitation to Indian Cooking – Madhur Jaffrey
Vintage (1973)
When Dorothy cracked open the door of her tornado-tossed Kansas farmhouse and stepped from staid black and white into lilting, lively, color-popped Oz, it must have something akin to how I felt when my Dad suddenly started cooking from this book.

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The Pakistani mango is banned in the United States, mainly because any foreign pests imported with it may jeopardize the United States own tropical fruit industry.

Would you cross the border to get a taste?