If you’re searching for a place to treat your favorite mushroom lover this holiday season, look no further than Babbo. From now until supplies run out (probably after Christmas), the restaurant is offering a three-course porcini tasting menu for $59. For the antipasto course, you’ll get porcini with arugula and Parmesan cheese. The pasta is pappardelle with porcini and thyme, followed by hanger steak served with sautéed porcini and porcini-mustard vinaigrette. Unlike Babbo’s other tasting menus, the whole table does not have to order it. Good news for those who don’t share their guests’ enthusiasm for ’shrooms.

This copy of Ad Hoc at Home can be yours. (Photo: Jolie Ruben)

This week, we whetted your palates with our roundup of the eight best new cookbooks to gift for the holidays. The Feed is feeling generous, and guesses that you, dear reader, have been nice, not naughty. In honor of your shrinking budgets and the upcoming season of giving, we’ve snagged copies of every book mentioned in the story (nearly two dozen) to raffle off to you, including three signed copies of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home. Read more »

This is why you’re fat: A new study finds that a medium tub of movie-theater popcorn weighs in at 1,200 calories before the buttery topping. [Gothamist]

Guy Fieri’s 21-city “rock n’ roll culinary tour” is, predictably, a shit show. Luckily, the guys from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck were there to document it. [EMD]

The World Society for the Protection of Animals has launched a database of restaurants in major cities that serve humanely raised meat. [Eat Humane via Feed inbox]

Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton answers all of your emergency Thanksgiving queries. [NYT/ Diner's Journal]

Lower East Side wine bar Ten Bells wants to introduce drinkers to vinos from the Beaujolais region that are not the much-hyped nouveau varieties. Tonight the bar offers its selection of more than a dozen beaujolaises, generally available only by the bottle, for $7 to $12 a glass from 5pm onward. While you’re drinking, you can also take advantage of the spot’s daily oyster happy hour, with $1 bivalves until 7pm ($2 thereafter).—Jenny Miller

Photos by Daniel Krieger

The Feed was on the scene for last night’s Bocuse d’Or/Top Chef viewing party at the Astor Center. Click through the slide show to see shots of Padma’s boobs Padma Lakshmi, Daniel Boulud, Tom Colicchio, Gavin Kaysen, Paul Liebrandt and more.

Bagel boss Helmer Toro, owner of H&H, has been indicted for tax evasion and labor-law violations. [VV/A Fork in the Road]

These hilarious Gawker videos nail everything we can’t stand about Giada De Laurentiis. Did somebody say “moo-za-rrrella”? [Gawker]

Reps for popular canned pumpkin brand Libby’s just announced that a rainy fall means a probable shortage of their product this Thanksgiving. The Times suggests a recipe for making your own pie filling from fresh gourds. [NYT/Diner's Journal]

Two cases of MacKinlay’s Rare Old Scotch Whisky dating back to 1908 have been discovered under Ernest Shackleton’s South Pole shelter. Don’t break out the rocks glasses just yet—excavators plan to leave the bottles as they found them. [Daily Mail UK via Grub Street]

Garganelli with shiitake mushrooms, brussels sprouts and brown-butter sauce at Travertine. (Photo: Michael Alexander)

Travertine “may look like a nocturnal hot spot, but at prime dinner hour it’s (thankfully) a restaurant first,” writes Jay Cheshes in his three-star review. [TONY]

Chef King Phojanakong receives four stars for his Pan-Asian small plates in Bed-Stuy: “Umi Nom’s memorable food makes it a gem in an unlikely ’hood.” [TONY]

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Port seminar and Nunu chocolate tasting
Halloween is over, so lose the Hershey’s and upgrade to more adult sweets at this pairing of ports and Madeiras with chocolates from Brooklyn’s Nunu. Sommelier Rachel Devine, of wine importer Broadbent Selections, will match spirits like the oaky Rainwater Madeira with raspberry truffles. Heights Chateau, 123 Atlantic Ave between Clinton and Henry Sts, Brooklyn Heights (718-330-0963). Session one 6–7pm, session two 7–8pm; $25.

Le Bingo at (Le) Poisson Rouge
Drag king Murray Hill hosts this nominally French-themed bingo night at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Boards are $2 apiece, and if you score a bingo, you can cash in on gag gift prizes only by shouting “Le winner!” Warm up for your victory with $5 well drinks from 7 to 8pm, or an order of Tater-Tots and a can of Rolling Rock for just $6. FREE (Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St at Thompson St (212-505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com).

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Match your meal with a single-malt at this whiskey dinner at L’Ecole, the restaurant arm of the French Culinary Institute. A dozen FCI students collaborated to create the six-course menu, which will include dishes like juniper-smoked lamb. Scotch selections come courtesy of the Brandy Library. L’Ecole, 462 Broadway at Grand St (212-219-3300). 7pm, $175.

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The very troubling decline in fish stocks is nothing new, but today we find out that herring is at risk too. No! We live for those little buggers, pickled, raw, you name it. [The Atlantic]

Take note: A restaurant has been caught offering cash to Yelpers in exchange for positive reviews. [Eater]

The owners of Freemans plan to open a 63-seat “classic American diner” on the Bowery. [Fork in the Road]

And now, to disturb you beyond words, a video of a fish that has apparently been partially deep-fried and then eaten while still alive. That’s just wrong. [EMD]