Locanda Uses Hampster Power For "Alternative" Rotisserie

Just one minute past 9 a.m. and the first April Fool's prank rolls into the Eater Inbox. A press release from Locanda PR helper Ashley Bellview: "Locanda to Launch Alternative Power Rotisserie."

"Undaunted by a stubborn building department inspector who insisted on a UL listing for the Italian rotisserie motor of their brand new Universo Grill, the Locanda team has modified the unit which will now be powered instead by a hamster cage.

"We didn't want the 'Locanda-Opening-To-Be-Delayed-Again' so we applied some old world know-how and came up with a truly green solution," Stoll explains. Each member of the hamster team will be outfitted with a tiny hat from which a matchstick-sized rod will protrude. At the end of the rod will dangle a locally grown, organic baby carrot which the hamsters will chase and chase, turning the wheel and powering the wood burning rotisserie in turn.

"This isn't some fusioney thing we invented out of thin air" says chef Anthony Strong, "There are years of precedent for just this sort of thing dating back before Roman times. Even the Etruscans were big into hamsters". Although Locanda's attorneys assure us the hamsters will have half-hour breaks, rest periods and chew toys, animal rights activists are already mobilizing and a full demonstration is expected in front of the soon-to-open Valencia Street eatery by the end of this week. The SF Department of Health had no comment."

Nice one, guys. Who's the artist on staff?

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