How restaurants cut corners: embalmed shrimp and headless beer

It’s not just Olive Garden. Many restaurants save costs with a little sleight of hand

Olive Garden’s unsalted pasta water is just the beginning of the chamber of horrors that is the modern restaurant’s kitchen.

To save a few pennies, restaurants are doing things that would never appear on the menu: pouring thin heads on beer, serving lightly embalmed shrimp and selling a $2.50 bottle of wine for $15 to consumers who never wonder about the quality.

The difference between a half-inch of foam on a beer and a full inch can be about 20 beers per keg saved