FORWARDTHINKING
NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
By Marta Bright, Blair Campbell, Bobbie Hartman, Kate Pavao, Joe Shepter, and Tara Swords
$100 OMELETDEBUTS IN BEVERLY HILLS
Another simple meal has gone upscale.
At The Blvd, the restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in
Beverly Hills, chef Conny Andersson now serves a US$100
omelet. Ham and cheese are out; instead, this omelet features
organic eggs, chive crème fra iche, and osetra malossol
caviar from the Rio Negro in Uruguay.
That third ingredient, of course, kicks this omelet
into three figures. The family-run Esturiones Del Rio
Negro sturgeon farm, which produces the caviar,
is the only sturgeon farm in the southern
hemisphere. The half-million
fish on the farm, which
descend from Russian sturgeon, live in the basaltic waters
of the Baygorria Dam on Uruguay’s Rio
Negro—a site chosen by satellite survey
for water cleanliness and temperature. The
female sturgeon live in gravity-fed raceways for 7 to 10 years
(older fish produce better caviar). Harvested eggs are rinsed
three times using bottled Fiji water; special salt is added to the
third rinse to bring the caviar to the 3. 5 percent level needed
for the malossol (Russian for “little salt”) designation.
The process is intentionally slow and labor-intensive,
says Graham Gaspard, president of Southern Star Imports,
importer of the caviar into the United States. “It’s not a
race,” Gaspard says. “We’re more concerned about mak-
ing sure that we have consistently high-quality
caviar coming from this farm.”
Which suits the patrons of The
Blvd just fine. Known for its view
of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire
Boulevard, the restaurant is a see-
and-be-seen place. Why not be seen enjoying
a $100 omelet?
WALKING TO WORK
Are you spending all day in front of a computer and watching your waistline suffer? Now there’s something you can do
about it without even leaving your desk. The Walkstation from
Steelcase lets you check e-mail, crunch numbers, and take a
walk at the same time.
“The question is how can I leave work healthier
than when I got there,” says Bud Klipa, president of details at Steelcase. “That’s the new
frontier in office ergonomics.”
The Walkstation is the brainchild of Dr. James
Levine, an obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic.
He became intrigued by the fact that Americans
burn more than 1,000 calories less per day
than they did 100 years ago. The culprit?
COURTES Y S TEELCASE
Sedentary workplaces.
And so, Levine began experimenting with
machines that allowed users to
move and compute simultaneously.
Steelcase eventually developed his ideas into the Walkstation,
which combines a treadmill with a fully functional computer
desk. With a top speed of only 2.9 miles per hour, it’s not meant
to give you a chest-thumping workout. The gentle movement
allows you to concentrate on your work and keeps you
from sweating too much.
“The first fifteen minutes you’re on it, it’s
a little strange,” says Klipa. “But then you
completely forget it’s there and go about
your business.”
The device is currently available only to
corporate clients and costs between US$4,000
and US$4,500 per unit. But home users need
not despair; a consumer version is also in
development. Of course, it’s not clear whether
the Walkstation is a trend or a bold step into the
future. But even at this price, it could help com-
panies control those pesky healthcare costs.
