Marriage counselors tell us that couples frequently tie the knot without discussing the core matters that can cement or sunder their marriage: finances, children, religion. Well, let me add one under-discussed biggie to the list: restaurant dining. I am eternally astonished to find not only that many couples I know failed to discuss this key area before they marched up to the altar, but also that many of them still have not developed a joint dining strategy even after 10 or 20 years together.

In a city where restaurants frequently blame closures on a brutal real estate market, a new solution has taken hold: Why not get rid of the dining room? Of course! If no one actually has to come to your restaurant, all sorts of problems are no longer an issue. You don’t need an attractive location, artistic ceramic bowls, quirky wallpaper in the bathroom, printed menus, service staff — way less risk of failure. Just put up a website, and install a button that says "delivery."

Come on behind the scenes and learn what being the owner of a ramen shop in Japan is like.

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Horn & Hardart Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd.

In Italy and the U.S., restaurants are pledging to use sales of Amatrice's signature dish, spaghetti all' amatriciana, to raise funds for the Italian town devastated by Wednesday's earthquake.

A few years back, one man in Saudi Arabia was hailed as a hero for putting leftover food from his restaurant in a refrigerator along the street for anyone to take; since then, an ongoing effort in Europe has been scaling up the same approach to serve whole communities of people in need.

Yoshitaka Takahashi’s hands are shaking as he scores and cleans the skin of the fish in front of him. The tension rises again when his knife reaches the liver. The slightest mistake in removing the highly toxic organ could end in an agonising death for anyone who eats his fish. Twenty minutes later, the chef has successfully prepared a whole fugu – or puffer fish – a Japanese delicacy whose capacity to maim and kill is dividing the country’s culinary world.

Restaurants are such staples of culinary culture that we tend to take their modern-day traits for granted. But they went through a lot of changes to become the delicious destinations we know today.

Rockhill has really good food, but some issues

An Italian restaurant in New Mexico has come under fire for a punny billboard playing off the Black Lives Matter slogan amid nationwide outcry over the recent fatal shootings of black men by police officers. Paisano’s in Albuquerque posted “Black Olives Matter, Try Our Tapenade” on a marquee last week advertising one of its specials and reportedly posted a picture of the sign on social media.

I’ll take an unagi roll, some tuna nigiri, and a side of lies, please. The dab of spicy green paste that accompanies your sushi may go by the name wasabi, but it’s actually something else entirely. What we call wasabi is almost always just a mix of horseradish, mustard, and a bit of green dye. Because of similarities in their chemical compounds, which you can see detailed below in a new video from the American Chemical Society’s Reactions series, horseradish makes a less-spicy (but passable) substitute for wasabi. Why aren’t sushi restaurants just serving the real thing?

You can see the moment, around the table, when the fumes drifting off the rib-eyes reach a new nose. Invariably, it causes the smeller-in-question to whip their dilated pupils toward the open test kitchen and the harsh light of the bobbing blowtorches, charring a spread of identical steaks at the head of the 20-top table, sending wisps of smoke into the air that smell pleasantly of meat... with more than a hint of marijuana. The eyes of the guests tend to linger on fire, roasting their anticipated fifth course -- it's a natural reaction.

Life without paychecks means watching banks chisel away at your earnings, a few bucks at a time.

Burger King, the restaurant chain backed by 3G Capital and Warren Buffett, will begin selling deep-fried sticks of macaroni and cheese encrusted in Cheetos-flavored breading, part of a trend toward blending fast food with well-known snack brands. The new product, called Mac ’n Cheetos, emerged from a partnership with PepsiCo Inc.’s Frito-Lay, the snack empire that owns Cheetos, Doritos, Ruffles and other chips. The move mimics the strategy of Yum! Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell, which introduced a taco with a Doritos shell in 2012.

Japan's first "naked restaurant" opens in Tokyo next month with draconian rules of entry -- podgy prospective diners will be weighed and ejected if found to be too fat. Following the lead of establishments in London and Melbourne, "The Amrita" -- Sanskrit for 'immortality' -- also has strict age restrictions, with only patrons between 18 and 60 allowed in, after they check in their clothes and put on paper underwear provided by the restaurant.

Japan's first naked restaurant opens in Tokyo next month with draconian rules of entry. Only patrons between 18 and 60, no fat people, no tattoos, no phones and no touching.

This is how restaurants decide who gets their food first.

I have been to this restaurant many times.