Does the general public really believe that the sumptuous cut of steak topped a creamy blue cheese sauce accompanied by mashed truffled Yukon Golds is going to be a gold star on their weight loss chart?

That’s one of the least-heated comments coming out a post on the health department’s initiative to help small, non-chain restaurants put nutrition information on their menus. You should read the heated comments. What do you think?

Meantime, I’m accepting spring menu recipes and pictures from chefs. Yep, Ed’s Diner readers will review your spring

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Infinite Soups, a new take-out place on Tacoma Avenue South at Sixth Avenue, occupies about 500 square feet and serves 25 different kinds of soup, by the cup, bowl or quart, priced $2-$7.

Don’t bother doing the math: Infinite Soups is a small place with a big selection. I sampled 10 made-from-scratch soups today, on Infinite Soups’ soft opening. Wednesday is the official opening day.

Point of disclosure: I have enjoyed many of these soups — from West African peanut to Moroccan lentil to Italian sausage tortellini — over the past two years. The people

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Two hours after I pitched the local, less heavy-handed version of this story to my editors, Reuters posted a story about a consumer group that doubles as the food police calling upon local, state and national governments to make restaurants list nutritional data on their menus.

“Restaurants have launched into a whole new era of extreme eating,” the executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest said. “If we’re going to deal with the epidemic of obesity and the tremendous prevalence of heart attacks and strokes, we’re going to have to do something about restaurant foods.”

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is already on the controversial case.

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I’ve been keeping my eye on a culinary kerfuffle involving a New York restaurant owner and the New York Times’ restaurant critic.

Now there’s a local angle.

But, first, the backstory.

Frank Bruni wrote a less-than-positive review of Jeffrey Chodorow’s pricey steak-and-swords palace, Kobe Club. Bruni liked the steak. He didn’t like the decor — thousands of samurai swords hanging upside-down from the ceiling.

Chodorow bought a full-page ad in the Times last week, at a price that’s been estimated at up to

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Emerging Market Development — aka the folks who developed Varsity Grill, 21 Commerce and The Loft — is opening a bar in the downtown Tacoma digs that EMD’s defunct Taboo/Comedy Underground once occupied.

According to EMD’s call for general manager resumes, the bar will open in April.

The Food Connection, Pierce County’s largest food bank, and the Emergency Food Network, Pierce County’s emergency food distribution center, each mark 25 years of service this year. To celebrate, they’re jointly presenting a silver-anniversary silver-screen salute: The Cans Film Festival.

Starting April 12, the Tacoma non-profits will screen food-themed movies and partner with local restaurants that will offer dinner specials to raise funds for The Food Connection and the Emergency Food Network. Movies will be shown at the Blue Mouse Theater in Tacoma’s Proctor district. McGavick Winery will provide complimentary pours.

So far, six restaurants have signed

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Chefs: Here is your shot at free publicity.

Diners: Here is your shot at doing my job.

It’ll work like this:

Chefs: Send me, in e-mail, recipes and pictures of finished dishes that you’ve devised for your spring menus. Make the pictures pretty. Test the recipes for home cooks; recipes should serve 2-6 people.

Tell me when the dishes will appear on your spring menus. No specials. I’m asking for dishes you’ll keep around for a few months. I’ll post your recipes, pictures of your dishes and menu details here.

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An upscale Indian restaurant is replacing the Happy Mart deli at Sixth Avenue and Stevens in Tacoma.

"So far we have decided to name it Bombay Bistro," said Anita Walia, a Bombay, India, native who is opening the restaurant with her husband, Kamal, who hails from Punjab. “It’s almost official. But you never know."

She’s a non-practicing medical doctor. He’s a Tacoma veterinarian. This is their first restaurant. They’re looking to open around April. Work is under way.

Anita Walia promised northern Indian, seafood specialties and unique Indian art and décor.

"It will

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