Chef Report

Find out what’s behind 15 impassioned expressions

Dry ice wisps rise from the center of the stage as “the Chairman” approaches to raise a large cover, dramatically intoning, “and the secret ingredient isŠ” Two chefs await with anticipation: an Iron Chef and a challenger, ready to prepare five dishes in one hour, to be judged by a panel of experts. It’s the opening scene of Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” a TV program that’s attained near-cult status among foodies and chefs across the nation.

Trading the heat of battle for Napa Valley’s scorching temperatures, Cat Cora, the only female Iron Chef among a group that includes culinary luminaries Mario Battali, Bobby Flay and Masaharu Morimoto, visited last week to participate in the Festival del Sole culinary lineup at Copia, Beringer and the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone. more…

If you find Food Network’s Alton Brown to be a fascinating fountain of information as the host of Good Eats, you won’t want to miss what he’s serving next. The four-part series Feasting on Asphalt (premiering Saturday, July 29 at 9 pm/ET) seats Brown and his buds on motorcycles as they travel cross-country for what has to be the most impressive progressive dinner on record, sampling regional cuisine all along their way from Savannah, Georgia, to the California coast. Brown paid TVGuide.com a visit to recount his travels. more…

Globe-trotting, show-hosting chef Anthony Bourdain, back safely from Lebanon (where he was filming a Travel Channel show when the conflict began) fielded questions online this morning from Washington Post readers. Asked if a No Reservations episode was in the works based on the trip, he replied: “We’re trying to figure some way to show how beautiful and hopeful Beirut was before the bombing, how terrible a thing it is that happened, what we’ve lost, the pride and hopefulness and optimism that was smashed…It will not be a regular episode of No Reservations.”

In another highlight, one reader asked how Bourdain’s world view, particularly as it relates to food and travel, has been changed by the experience. more…

The Food Network is banking on one of its most popular hosts in a campaign that aims to draw in viewers to its new show “Feasting on Asphalt.”

The show premieres this Saturday and stars Alton Brown, host of the “Good Eats” series, who travels around the country exploring American road food.

Brown and his crew travel by motorcycle “on a quest to find out what’s left to eat in America that’s not a chain or a drive thru,” according to a Food Network statement. more…

Celebrity chef ROCCO DiSPIRITO has his sights set on Broadway, New York after declaring he wants to play BILLY FLYNN in musical CHICAGO. more…

PRINCE Charles is aiming to be Britain’s next celebrity chef.

He hopes to knock the likes of Hell’s Kitchen Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver off the top spot with his own book of recipes.

Sources say the prince will include his favourite foods of egg mayonnaise sandwiches, mutton and organic roast lamb and beef.

A royal courtier said: “The prince has always been picky about food - his high standards are legendary. He’s also keen on the organic thing and his Duchy Originals food range has been so popular he felt a cookbook would be a recipe for success.” more…

America’s Youngest Professional Chef, Author, CEO is taking on Prime Time Television. Chef Adrianne Calvo opens Maximum Flavor Productions, Inc. Her very own production company in which she is personally developing cutting edge cooking shows. more…

THE SECOND SEASON OF BRAVO’S HIT CULINARY COMPETITION SERIES ‘TOP CHEF’ BEGINS PRODUCTION IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

ACTRESS AND AWARD-WINNING WRITER PADMA LAKSHMI TAPPED AS HOST FOR SECOND SEASON

TOM COLICCHIO RETURNS AS HEAD CHEF/JUDGE; GAIL SIMMONS OF FOOD AND WINE IS BACK AS A REGULAR SERIES JUDGE more…

PASADENA, Calif. — Rachael Ray is everywhere with her Food Network shows, best-selling cookbooks and lifestyle magazine. Now, she’s adding daytime talk show hostess to her crow0ded resume.

The high-energy cook who shows America how to whip up inexpensive meals in 30 minutes promises her hour-long syndicated show, debuting Sept. 18, will present “can-do” advice about cooking, travel, relationships and pop culture trends. more…

Usually, it’s the aspiring chefs who suffer a daily roasting while working with Gordon Ramsay.

But when the celebrity chef took a team of four doctors into his kitchen for the Channel 4 show The F-Word, he certainly felt the heat.

The evening reached boiling point when one of his amateur chef’s splattered hot liquid in his eye - by accident of course. more…

Celebrity chef, author and TV personality Anthony Bourdain ran into a snag filming an episode of his “No Reservations” series for the Travel Channel.Bourdain and his crew were in Lebanon, and had just finished shooting in Beirut when Israeli airstrikes began. In a posting on the eGullet.com forums, Bourdain stated that the crew had been due to film in the Bekaa Valley on Thursday, but the violence forced them to cancel plans.In a posting late Wednesday night, he said, “The Israelis just bombed the airport. Looks like we won’t be going anywhere soon.” more…

Gordon Ramsay is to present a new chat show for the FOX network in the US.

The celebrity chef, who hosts The F Word for Channel 4, has also bought an apartment in New York to work from while he is in America.

He said: “They want me to do a chat show. Irreverent stuff. It’s very interesting.” more…

It’s a lesson in pop art these Fort Lauderdale students won’t forget - seventeen-feet of tasty popcorn in the shape of a giant Mickey Mouse.

Seven students from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale are trying to take the title of world’s largest popcorn sculpture. The group started creating the mega-Mickey sculpture yesterday for an episode of Food Network Challenge, which will air in October. more…

Also…

Popcorn Mickey Mouse to Break World Record

Cinema’s relationship with food and drink has always been a complicated affair. Sometimes it is abusive, as Mae Clark, with her face full of grapefruit, learned from James Cagney in “The Public Enemy.” Sometimes it is unrequited, as Tony Shalhoub learned from ungrateful customers in “Big Night.” Now and then it amounts to a glorious epiphany, as in “Sideways,” when Paul Giamatti rhapsodized to Virginia Madsen about the delicate, even haunting properties of pinot noir.

A little bit of food can go a long way in the movies: Think of Sue Lyons’s lollipop in “Lolita,” the chicken salad sandwich in “Five Easy Pieces” or Diane Keaton’s pastrami on white with mayo in “Annie Hall.” And occasionally food threatens to steal the show, as in “Babette’s Feast” and “Like Water for Chocolate.”

The eating and drinking in these films are as much a reflection of character as the clothes the actors wear or the manner in which they speak. Such culinary verisimilitude has usually delighted critics but has not always translated into popularity among filmgoers: The roughly $71 million in domestic ticket sales for Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” (2004), which matched that of the Lasse Hallstrom film “Chocolat,” represents the high- water mark for movies that dwell on food and fine wine.

In the coming year, however, a wave of ambitious studio films will try to capitalize on a growing appreciation for all things epicurean. In November, 20th Century Fox is scheduled to release “A Good Year,” in which a London investment banker, played by Russell Crowe, inherits a vineyard in Provence. And Warner Brothers recently finished filming a remake of the German film “Mostly Martha” in New York, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a controlling chef and Aaron Eckhart as her culinary opposite, an earthy Italian-American named Nick. Also on the horizon is “The Food of Love,” based on the novel by Anthony Capella, which reimagines the Cyrano de Bergerac story as a contemporary romance set in Rome with gastronomy as the poetry of seduction. The project will combine two of the director Peter Chelsom’s passions: romance and Italian food. more…

On Aug. 5 and 6, the zoo invites visitors to “Chill Out” with its penguins, puffins and polar bears. There will be special activities including music, games and crafts as well as demonstrations by ice carvers and ice chefs. Food Network star Rachael Ray will be on hand Aug.6 to prepare a special meal for the zoo’s bears. more…

“What, are you blind?” TV chef Alton Brown deadpans into the camera. Whoosh! On cue, a Venetian blind drops down in front of him. Brown is whipping up a lemon meringue pie for Good Eats, his weekly romp in the kitchen for the Food Network, and the prop is supposed to help aspiring bakers visualize chemical reactions they can’t actually see.

“Let’s just say for a moment that this is a microscopic cross-section of our pie crust in the oven,” says Brown, reaching around to run his hand along the closed slats. “By the time the layers of fat start to melt, the protein structure formed by the flour and water needs to be set. That way, when the fat melts, it’ll look like this,” he says, twisting the rod to open the blind. Brown grabs hold of two slats in the middle and wiggles them up and down. “These are the nice flakes in our flaky crust. If the fats melt before the protein sets, we’ll have a real mess on our hands. Ten minutes in the refrigerator will keep that from happening.”

Protein structure? Microscopic cross-section? It sounds more like a half-baked high-school science lesson than a half-hour cooking show about pie. Who is this geek? And why doesn’t he tuck in his shirt? more…

Richard Petty was standing next to one of the country’s best chefs, but he wasn’t at all impressed with what he was dishing up.

It was the night before a 2004 NASCAR race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Petty, king of the stock car racing circuit, came to a private dinner that Food Network host, restaurateur and cookbook author Mario Batali was preparing for drivers.

The redheaded, pony-tailed culinary star’s spread included penne all’Amatriciana - pasta that’s usually tossed with guanciale, or dried, salted hog’s jowls, tomato sauce and red pepper flakes. The dish might be appreciated by the adventurous diners jamming the reservation book at Babbo, Batali’s New York Italian ristorante, but it apparently didn’t spark Petty’s appetite. more…

Hot cars, hot food: Chef Mario Batali (right) entertains NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip during practice day for the Nextel Cup race in Long Pond, Pa.

Highly touted Showtime drama ‘Brotherhood’ raises hopes of purveyors“The Sopranos” has it all — the thuggish yet sympathetic mob-member lead character, the female shrink who treats him, a wife, mistresses and a club where the guys hang out. And Italian food everywhere, from the dining table to Satriales’s to Artie Bucco’s restaurant and back to the family fridge for reheats of leftovers.

The acclaimed HBO series even begot “The Sopranos Family Cookbook.”

Could the magic food deity that poured a golden parmesan bounty of riches on “The Sopranos” do the same for the Irish? more…

The Food Network has teamed with Haagen-Daz to bring us a two-hour special called Scoop! The special will focus on five contestants competiting to create a new ice cream flavor. more…

CHICAGO

HOMARO CANTU’S maki look a lot like the sushi rolls served at other upscale restaurants: pristine, coin-size disks stuffed with lumps of fresh crab and rice and wrapped in shiny nori. They also taste like sushi, deliciously fishy and seaweedy.

But the sushi made by Mr. Cantu, the 28-year-old executive chef at Moto in Chicago, often contains no fish. more…

Amy Sedaris was supposed to be pushing her new comedy, “Strangers With Candy,” which opens Friday (see an interview with Sedaris here), but what really excited her was double-strength vanilla.

The actress/writer has a sideline selling cupcakes at New York’s Gourmet Garage, but she had never heard of double-strength vanilla until it was mentioned in the course of an interview about the movie. A stickler for pure vanilla who tends to put in an extra glug or two when she’s baking, Sedaris said she couldn’t wait to try the stronger stuff. more…

…In addition to an acting career that has included a recurring role on “Sex and the City” (she was Carrie Bradshaw’s publisher), the voice of Foxy Loxy in last year’s “Chicken Little” and Mrs. Kravitz in the big-screen “Bewitched,” Sedaris gets $20 a batch for the cupcakes she sells at New York’s Gourmet Garage.And she is writing a cookbook. And she is thinking of starting a make-your-own-disguise business. And she wants her own cooking show.

“I’ve never seen Martha Stewart’s show. I did ‘Conan O’Brien’ with her a long time ago, but I don’t watch cooking shows,” says Sedaris, whose own specialties are baked goods and Greek food. “I guess it’s because in real life, I would like to do a show like that. But I would want to do it like the old ‘Galloping Gourmet’ — really low-budget.” more…

NASCAR has its own style of tailgating. Celebrations often last for a week and meals include overflowing platters of homemade food, opulent decorations, and great spirit.

Lifetime Products, a manufacturer of folding tables, will name “America’s Ultimate Tailgater” at the Tailgate of a Lifetime 2006 Tailgating Championship Aug. 19 at Michigan International Speedway.

Five finalists will be selected to join the official chef of NASCAR, Mario Batali, an author and New York restaurateur, for a trip to MIS. The finalists will create their ultimate tailgate parties, including a three-course meal, over-the-top decorations, and all the trappings that make NASCAR Tailgates so unusual. The contest is judged by Batali, NASCAR legend Ernie Irvan, and Richard Hendrickson, president of Lifetime Products; the prize is $10,000 in cash. more…

TO SOME he is an annoyingly hyperactive cook who sprinkles mockney words over his recipes and television programmes. Others credit him with ushering in a revolution in school dinners. But now Scottish academics have hailed Jamie Oliver as the creator of modern masculinity.An entire morning of a three-day event, sponsored by the Association for Consumer Research, has been dedicated to exploring the cultural meaning of the celebrity chef. more…

Here’s a keeper: a genial host on an out-of-the-way show on an obscure network who brings a light touch to his passion.

The subject is food. And comedy. Make that comedy involving food and people’s reactions to it.

The warm and unpretentious style belongs to “Ham on the Street,” 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays (moving to 9:30 p.m. Mondays mid-July) on the Food Network, a series deserving a wider, hungrier audience.

The ham in question is George Duran.

An entertainer and chef, Duran is developing a following for his inspired, uplifting gig. more…

When asked to come aboard the Borgata’s new expansion, chef Bobby Flay asked who else signed on and was told Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina.

“At that point, the conversation was over for me. I was sold,” Flay said.

On Friday, Bobby Flay Steak joined Wolfgang Puck American Grille and Sea Blue, Michael Mina’s seafood restaurant, as the Borgata’s $200 million addition debuted. The expansion, the first of two, premiered almost three years to the day the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa brought a strong Las Vegas flavor to Atlantic City. more…

Borgata’s first phase of expansion features restaurants opened by celebrity chefs (from left) Michael Mina, Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck. Their restaurants are called Sea Blue, Bobby Flay Steak and Wolfgang Puck Grille.

It came as no surprise to viewers around the world when Kelly Perdew heard the words, “You’re hired!” from Donald Trump on “The Apprentice 2.” Already recognized as an innovative leader in the business world, winning the competition seemed a natural step in his remarkable life.Kelly is a West Point graduate who completed U.S. Army Ranger and Airborne training, and holds multiple college degrees. His new book, “Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump,” is available wherever books are sold.

Q Give us a behind-thescenes look at a meal during “The Apprentice” competition.

“Believe it or not, we had to prepare most of our own meals. Both Chris and Maria were great cooks. They came up with some really interesting and delicious dishes with the ingredients on-hand in the suite. However, my favorite meal was the sevencourse spectacular dinner we ate while leaving New York Harbor on the Queen Mary 2 after winning the Crest task. I can’t remember how many lobster tails I ate!” more…

E.W. Scripps Co. is taking Food Network high-definition and global at the same time.

The media company said it is launching Food Network HD June 30, joining HGTV HD, which went to the high-definition format in April. more…

WORRIED telly chiefs are taking a new step to protect viewers from Gordon Ramsay’s swearing - by blurring his mouth.

Channel bosses in America are so concerned about Ramsay’s foul-mouthed rants on Hell’s Kitchen they are doubling their censorship.

So not only will the chef’s expletives be bleeped out, viewers won’t be able to guess what he’s saying as his mouth will be out of focus. more…

Newswise — “Food is related to just about every single challenge people have living on this planet,” is the perspective of Alton Brown, television personality and author of the popular book, I’m Just Here For The Food, who spoke Sunday at the opening of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO®, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.

Brown brings the science of food chemistry to a broad audience as host of the Food Network program “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef America,” two food shows that Time magazine named as “worth their salt.” more…

Show host and author Alton Brown signs copies of his book in Orlando after his address at the IFT Annual Meeting Food Expo, the world’s largest annual scientific forum and exposition on food.

Finally! Chef Gordon Ramsay says what I - and most of America, I’m sure - have been saying since the first episode: these contestants aren’t chefs, they’re just a bunch of fast food cooks, and none of them are fit to run a multi-million dollar restaurant at a billion dollar hotel. Yes! One of the truer moments in reality TV show history.

This week the teams not only have to get through their fourth service, but also have to make lunch for the first time - for several screaming, hyper kids. more…

NEW YORK — The actor who plays temperamental chef Artie Bucco on “The Sopranos” avoided jail time for driving while impaired in a plea bargain deal, authorities said.

John Ventimiglia, 42, who portrays Tony Soprano’s high school buddy on the HBO show, will visit 30 schools to caution against drinking and driving under the agreement announced Monday in a Brooklyn courtroom. more…

Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio says winner Harold Dieterle’s victory “was a lot closer than people thought just watching the program.”

He tells the Denver Post that “Harold kind of fell apart on some of the challenges …It came down to who would be the most likely to inspire. If you can’t get your people to want to work with you, your restaurant isn’t going to last very long.” Thus, Tiffani was eliminated.

Tom Colicchio served as Harold’s sous chef for the Food and Wine Classic competition, which was one of Harold’s prizes. They lost the competition, but Harold is using the event to look for investors for the restaurant he wants to open in New York City. more…

THE SOPRANOS star JOHN VENTIMIGLIA pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in a New York City court on Monday (26JUN06). The 42-year-old actor, who plays Chef Artie Bucco in the mob drama, agreed a plea deal with prosecutors and was fined $500 (GBP277) and had his driving license suspended for 90 days in Brooklyn Criminal Court. (more…..)

Bad-boy chef and globe-trotting gourmet Anthony Bourdain gets frank about rude vegans, Rachael Ray and why restaurants are America’s last meritocracy.

“I don’t think there was a mouthful of food I had in two days that didn’t have sand, fur or shit in it.” Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has a lot to say about his recent trip to Namibia, where he filmed a segment for his Travel Channel show, No Reservations — and where he didn’t exactly get the Brangelina treatment. (more…..)

Las Vegas (PRWEB) June 26, 2006 — Local entertaining magazine, Confetti Connection and culinary demonstration studio, Cheflive, are partnering up to produce, Cheflive Confetti Kids, an innovative and educational cooking show geared toward families. The monthly cooking show will showcase kid-friendly recipes, ideal for upcoming holidays and celebrations. (more…..)

NEW YORK - In the new movie “The Great New Wonderful,” Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Emme Keeler, an aggressive, insensitive business woman we see making a presentation with a portfolio of sketches in hand and a mini-entourage of 20-something lackeys in tow.

Is she a high-powered ad woman ogling to snare a million-dollar account? A brittle corporate executive who’s managed to penetrate the glass ceiling?

Nope. Emme is a high-end cake designer in New York City. She’ll create a masterpiece for $1,800 at $14 a slice — The Great New Wonderful is the name of her business — and she wants more than anything to topple the reigning Queen of Cake, Safarah Polsky, portrayed by Edie Falco. The movie, set in a post-9/11 New York, opened Friday in New York, Boston and Washington. more…

High-end cakes for weddings and other parties generally start at $500 and top out at $25,000.

The seventh annual Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival, Saturday and Sunday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW, will feature more than 280 wineries from 14 countries; demonstrations from such celebrity TV chefs as Michael Chiarello (”NapaStyle” and “Easy Entertaining”) and Ted Allen (”Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”); and seminars on the wines of Uruguay, Australia, Portugal and South Africa. more…

Premiere Date:
September 18, 2006

Genre:
Talk show

Format/Length:
Daily 60-minute talk show

Series Description:
Rachael Ray, TV’s most down-to-earth and relatable star, launches her brand new, one-hour daily syndicated series, appropriately named RACHAEL RAY on September 18. The show will be an exciting and unpredictable hour of fun that celebrates the can-do spirit in every person and gives viewers the essentials for whole-hearted living. Host Rachael Ray will present simple solutions for everyday issues-from food and travel to family and relationships to pop culture trends and “how-to” instruction-offering viewers unique, entertaining ways to squeeze just a little more out of life every day.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/ 

It also claimed the program had put an incompetent chef into place at Bonaparte’s, a struggling bistro in northern England that was featured in one episode. more…

It’s not every day I dine with someone who has noshed on iguana tamales in Oaxaca, swallowed the beating heart of a cobra in Vietnam, and feasted on raw, bloody seal innards and eyeballs with an Inuit family in the northern reaches of Canada.

But then, Anthony Bourdain is not your typical lunch date. more…

New Yorker editor Bill Buford chopped carrots in Mario Batali’s restaurant and butchered pigs in Tuscany. In the end, he learned something about being human. more…