UPDATE: One more accolade I forgot last week: A Roanoke woman, Linda Franklin, has won a blue ribbon for her recipe in a contest on a national recipe-swapping website called Justapinch.com. Linda’s recipe was called Kool Poppy Seed Summer Salad. Check out the neat site, and to see Linda’s recipe, click here.

I don’t want to interrupt the burger discussion too much, because I’m having a great time reading everyone’s comments and I want them to keep coming! You all might have to go out and taste your favorite burgers one more time this weekend JUST TO BE SURE, ya know? I give you permission to break your diets for this occasion.

On this glorious Friday, however, I do want to offer a few pats on the back for some local food spots:

* Congratulations to Luigi’s Italian restaurant in Roanoke, which this week celebrated 40 years in business. 40 years under the same ownership! That’s something to be proud of.

* Another nod to Foggy Ridge Hard Cider in Carroll County, which just keeps bringing home the awards and national press attention. I wrote about Foggy Ridge way back in 2007, and since then, their business just keeps getting better. The latest news is that Foggy Ridge was profiled in the September issue of Food & Wine magazine, in an article titled “Small Batch Superstars.” Food & Wine called the hard cider house one of the “South’s best new artisans.” Congrats to Diane and Chuck Flynt.

* Finally, another local food producer also continues to bring awards home to Southwest Virginia. Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax won two awards at the 27th Annual American Cheese Society Competition in Seattle. This year’s contest featured almost 1,500 cheeses, but Meadow Creek’s Appalachian snagged first place in the American Originals – Original Recipe category. Their Grayson cheese took third place in the Farmstead Cheese category.

“Our goal has always been to make a cheese that showcases our milk and our mountainous terrain,” said Helen Feete. “Being labeled an American Original by this award makes us feel like we’ve reached that goal.”

Congrats to the Feete family (Rick, Helen, Kat and Jim) for continuing to turn out tasty farmstead cheeses.

I hope everybody has a winning weekend!