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Smashburger Comes to Illinois; Padma Sticks with Top Chef

• Smashburger, a Colorado-based burger chain with nearly 200 restaurants nationwide, is planning to enter the Illinois market with 11 outlets. [Businesswire]

• MillerCoors has begun testing $20 draft beer systems for drinking at home. [WSJ]

Top Chef fans, rest easy! Padma Lakshmi will be staying on as host and only occasionally appearing on her new sitcom. [Fork in the Road/VV]

Previously: Padma’s New Sitcom: The Pilot Revealed!

• Michael Jackson’s chef has written a cookbook called Fit for a King. [Salon]


• True Blood, the fictional beverage from the HBO series of the same name, will be manufactured and sold in stores beginning this fall. [NYDN]

• All the food seen in Julie & Julia is real, which posed challenges (including deboning 60 ducks!) for the food stylists. [NYT]

• Sandra Lee wants to be a gay icon. [Out via Eat Me Daily]

• Scientists have found that the dye in blue M&Ms; can help mend spinal injuries. [Telegraph]

• The belief that tomato leaves are poisonous doesn’t have much scientific basis. [NYT]

Smashburger Comes to Illinois; Padma Sticks with Top Chef