SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) — U.S. restaurant chain Hooters will open its first restaurant in South Korea next month, the company’s local unit said Wednesday.
Hooters, known for its brand image of waitresses with tight shorts and low-cut T-shirts, is scheduled to open its first restaurant in Seoul on Jan. 18, Hooters of Korea Inc. said in a statement. full story…
Rachael Ray is everywhere. She’s on TV, on bookshelves and now you can even buy the Food Network personality’s cookware.
To Lansing resident Misty Lane, it’s too much, and through a Web site she has created she has found out she is not alone.
Originally conceived as a joke, Lane started the “Rachael Ray Sucks Community” (http://community.livejournal.com/rachael_ray_sux/) in 2003 half expecting others to share her disdain for Ray.
“I got really fed up watching her show,” Lane said. “I really didn’t think anybody would join.”
The online group dedicated to Ray-bashing existed under the radar for about two years, until web magazine Slate.com ran a piece in defense of Ray in July of 2005 with a link to the site. Now 1,332 members strong, Lane, who has never met Ray, said the community receives about 300,000 hits every month. more…
The first orders Walter Scheib III remembers receiving from Laura Bush’s new social secretary, Lea Berman, still ring in his ears: “We need to stop serving this country-club food.” Scheib, who was then the White House executive chef, was speechless for several moments before he finally blurted out, “We are not serving what we want; we are serving what the first family wants to have.”Within two months of Berman’s arrival, in December 2004, Scheib was asked by the chief usher, Gary Walters, who is in charge of White House operations, to hand in his resignation. Scheib agreed to stay on until his replacement was found, but the next day he told The New York Times that he had been fired. As soon as the article was published the White House asked him to clear out immediately.
Quite a comedown, he admitted in a recent interview, from his days in the previous administration, when Hillary Clinton had charged this fiercely competitive, meticulously organized chef with bringing “what’s best about American food, wine and entertaining to the White House.” His sophisticated contemporary food was generally considered some of the best ever served there.
But he was quick to say he would only talk about his difficulties as long as it was clear that he has no complaints about Laura Bush. more…
A Florida woman has told the National Enquirer that she carried on a five-year affair with TV cook Rachael Ray’s husband.
Rachael Ray is the talk show circuit’s newest darling, so you can see why Jeannine Walz would pick now to cash in on her dirt. Why Rachael Ray, the mouse-voiced spaz attack who laughs at her own jokes, is popular, though, is still a secret.
Walz says she did drugs with John Cusimano, Ray’s husband and a lawyer, and then the two got their freak on. Maybe Ray has some recipes for food to slather on your lover’s body she can share?
In any case, Cusimano’s sexual requests aren’t sugary, but they sure are spicy. Walz says he shelled out cash for her to spit in his face and rub her bare feet on his face, amongst other things.
“Sometimes he’d be naked. I always kept my clothes on,” Walz says. “John paid me up to $500 for a session. We’d often have sessions at least twice a month … I virtually supported myself by spitting on him. But there was never any normal sex involved. He once offered to pay me $1,200 to perform a kinky sex act with him, but I refused.” more…
A restaurant in the southwestern US state of Arizona that proudly admits to trying to finish off its customers has introduced a new item on its menu — the “quadruple bypass burger”.
The burger at the “Heart Attack Grill” restaurant is stacked with four beef patties, cheese, onions, tomatoes and fried bacon, and weighs in at only 8,000 calories, more than three times what the human body needs in one day.
Patrons who have no appetite for the “quadruple bypass burger” can opt for the “triple” or “double-bypass”.
“It’s not good for one’s health but it’s only a joke,” John Basso, who opened the restaurant 10 months ago, told AFP.
Customers who have room for more can also order French fries “fried in pure lard” and can purchase cigarettes off the menu. As a courtesy, the restaurant offers its “best customers” a wheelchair service to their cars by waitresses dressed in slinky nurses’ outfits.
The idea, however, has not gone down well with the Arizona State Board of Nursing which has expressed concern that some patrons may confuse the waitresses with real nurses. more…
The popular franchise will soon be serving a portobello mushroom sandwich created by competitor Betty Fraser. Check out the recipe:
Martha Stewart threw rival talk-show diva Rachael Ray into her wicker-and-jute ring this morning, and, in her inimitably patrician way, gave her a verbal smackdown for daring to air her show with Barry Manilow at exactly the same time Her Martha-ness did.
At 10 am in New York, both Martha (on NBC) and Rachael’s (on ABC) shows featured the ageless crooner Manilow as a musical guest, and Martha was none too pleased. “I’ve never actually met Rachael Ray,” said Martha during her opening monologue, with a rather unmistakable chortle. “I think she’s very fun…lively…uh…young woman,” continued the domestic queen, racking her brain for adjectival possibilities. “She has Barry on her show today … Now that’s kinda weird.” more…
Yahoo! has a site up for nearly every interest–pets, astrology, finance and cars are all well-represented. Yet until Thursday, the Internet portal didn’t have a home for food lovers.Now it does. Yahoo! Food will feature recipes, videos and restaurant reviews, says Deanna Brown, general manager of lifestyles at Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ). The site will cull videos and recipes from several food content brands, such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (nyse: MSO - news - people ), as well as posts from 13 food bloggers and one new Web-based cooking show.
Brown has been working with food for most of the Internet’s history. She claims she put the first recipe online in 1995 while launching Conde Nast’s Epicurious.com. In 2002, she revamped AOL Food. Now she’s hand picking chocolate chip cookie recipes, among other things, for Yahoo!.
Yahoo! media and entertainment head Lloyd Braun hired Brown because “[Braun] identified ‘food’ as something he wanted to do. He saw the food marketplace as under-served,” says Brown. more…
http://food.yahoo.com/
Padma Lakshmi had a confession to make.
“I hate reality TV, I have to tell you,” said the new host of Top Chef, Bravo’s reality cooking competition. “I think a lot of it brings out the worst common denominator of the human spirit.”
But the Indian-born model and actress, perhaps best known for being married to Salman Rushdie, is satisfied that Season 2 of Top Chef won’t contribute to the decline of modern culture. The reality series pits 15 up-and-coming chefs against one another in an intense culinary contest.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the skills,” Lakshmi said. “I think it’s very compelling seeing someone trying to be really good at their job.” more…
NEW LONDON, Conn. — The most important person on a movie set isn’t always the director, writer, producer, cameraman, sound technician or even the star.
Sometimes, the most important person on a movie set is the chef. This makes Roger Poirier the big man on campus during the filming of the ESPN miniseries “The Bronx Is Burning,” which is taking place at Dodd Stadium.
On a recent Tuesday, Poirier made breakfast and lunch for 190 people. He turned out both meals from a restaurant-quality kitchen housed in a vehicle the size of a UPS delivery truck. Salads, vegetables, starches, chicken, beef and fish were all prepped and cooked in Poirier’s truck and served on a buffet line by his three assistants.
The cooks have been at the stadium since Sept. 23. They all work for Hanna Brothers Catering of Slidell, La., an eight-year-old company that specializes in catering film- and television-production locations. “The Army runs on its stomach, they say, and I think there is some truth to that in the film business as well,” said Jim Hanna, a co-owner of the company. Poirier, 43, has worked for Hanna for seven years, but he has been feeding crews on the sets of commercials, movies and TV shows since his father bought a catering truck when he was a teenager. He is a self-taught cook who keeps all his recipes in his head.
It is almost literally a life on the road. Poirier, who is married with two children, figures he is home in Missouri about two months a year. He has worked TV shows ranging from “Cheers” and “Dynasty” to “Star Trek: Next Generation” and “LA Law.” He has worked just as many movies, ranging from the current “The Guardian,” starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher to the upcoming “The Good Shepherd,” starring Al Pacino and Angelina Jolie. more…
JACKSON, Miss. - Delta State University’s “Fighting Okra” mascot has landed a leading role on an episode of The Food Network’s “Good Eats,” a family cooking show starring Alton Brown.
The episode, Okraphobia, will premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday with additional air dates at midnight Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday, 1 a.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Oct. 6.
Delta State’s official mascot is the Statesman. The Fighting Okra is its popular unofficial mascot.
The Fighting Okra’s original 1998 costume was handsewn from a green sleeping bag. The okra got a new costume for the TV gig. more…
UZHHOROD, Ukraine - Valentyn Shtefano’s pastries were known for attracting stares and giggles as well as lip-smacking murmurs. But even his fiancee was surprised when Shtefano told her he was making her wedding dress — out of flour, eggs, sugar and caramel.
The dress — made of 1,500 cream puffs and weighing 20 pounds — took the 28-year-old baker two months to make, and by the end of the wedding reception, bride Viktoriya said she didn’t want to take it off. more…
In the video game, Cooking Mama, the player learns how to cook various meals using the Nintendo DS’s touch screen to interact with the ingredients. This gameplay structure, with the player completing a series of short mini-games, is similar to the WarioWare series. Following the instructions of the titular “Mama”, the player uses the stylus to chop vegetables, slice meat, flip food in pans and arrange the final items on the plate. The game features over 76 dishes to complete.
There is an uncanny resemblance between Sara [Horowitz] from “Hell’s Kitchen 2″ and porn star Eva Angelina.
It might just be the glasses.
Sara Horowitz
Eva Angelina
If you have better pictures of Sara, please send to admin@chefreport.com
In 2001, both E! and the Style Network began airing Nigella Bites, the first stateside TV outlet for the British sensualist Nigella Lawson. Nigella Feasts finds the hostess up to the same old tricks: She prepares hearty food without fuss; she alternates coy smiles with confidential grins; verbal and voluptuary, she reinvents the double-entendre. This sex bomb is aimed, I think, at housewives. Buford, explaining why the Food Network’s offerings are called “food porn,” insisted, “It’s not erotic … It’s just unreal.” He obviously hadn’t seen Lawson make guacamole.
Or even heard her say “guacamole.” In the first episode of Nigella Feasts, working on a side dish for her cornbread-topped chili con carne, she endowed the word with illicit implications, pronouncing it with the roundest O imaginable, as if the sound itself might ripen the fruit. O, avocados! Having scooped them into a bowl, Lawson first reflected on the succulence of their flesh, then got down to business “massacring the avocados with [her] masher.” She mashed without pity. “Hmm—disturbingly satisfying!” she moaned. You want me to put my chips in that? more…
In a dynamic documentary style, “Gourmet’s Diary Of A Foodie” pastes together a whirlwind tour of China from Beijing to Shanghai and rural villages in between. Food on television is dominated by eye candy, silly prattle, and 30-minute meals, and some say offers nothing for real cooks. So this new series, produced by WGBH-TV, may fill the void for a more demanding audience. “The show is meant to appeal to serious foodies,” says co-executive producer Michael Selditch. “We went out the door with that crowd in mind and tried to bring back stories that hadn’t been done before.”
As such, the viewer goes down the old alleyways of Beijing, where chef Li Qun demonstrates fruitwood-roasted Peking duck. In the village of Xi Tang, which is on the water and famous for its snacks, we get a close look at zongzi dumplings, lean and fatty meats with sticky rice, wrapped in aromatic reed leaves. In Shanghai, we are whisked into the kitchen of chef Jereme Leung , who specializes in what he calls new-Shanghai cuisine for the emerging middle class (a riff on the traditional drunken chicken served in a martini glass with a granité on top), and in Daxing, outside of Beijing, we go to the house of Dr. Du, the village doctor, where lunch is being prepared in side a rustic kitchen in a giant iron wok over a wood fire.
Gourmet’s editor-in-chief , Ruth Reichl , thinks of the show as a “magazine on the air. ” “ It’s so graphically rich in the same way that the magazine is,” she says by phone from New York. Behind the camera is Zero Point Zero Productions, the New York-based team responsible for “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and other popular shows. The filming style is fast and unpredictable. With plenty of close - ups, stylish cropping, and moody natural lighting, everything is slick. “We were trying to achieve a look that could match the elegant photography in Gourmet magazine,” says Selditch.
The show really moves. Each 30-minute episode (there are 20 this season) has a theme, with local food journalists serving as translators and reporting on what they know best. Lydia Tenaglia, co-executive producer and director of “Diary of a Foodie,” was already connected to an international network of food people from her work on Bourdain’s shows. “We ended up talking to a lot of the same people and going deeper into stories that we had begun to explore on other series,” she says. more…
A NEW REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES THAT might have landed on Bravo or the Food Network is coming to PBS. Producers are taking advantage of new ad models emerging on the “noncommercial,” nonprofit network.
“The Wine Makers,” a battle among 12 oenophiles for the chance to launch their own label, is slated to launch in 2007. Producers are promising national distribution on the 350-plus public-television stations, which they will have to secure themselves, since the national PBS arm isn’t involved.
Top-tier sponsors are being offered a five- to 15-second spot before and after the half-hour show. So far, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, which promotes wine produced on California’s central coast, is onboard. Producers are searching for up to three other marketers. A deal with a non-endemic advertiser is near, according to producer J.J. Levine.
The sponsorship model for “The Wine Makers” is reflective of the new PBS. The network has traditionally relied on underwriters and image advertisers, but with funding sources drying up and competition from cable–for viewers and differentiated content–intensified, bottom-line considerations are key. Pre- and post-roll spots are gaining traction as the inveterate “brought to you by” tags may be losing steam.
In addition to the premium-level sponsorships, “Wine Makers” producers–independent Doc City Productions, which has produced multiple wine-oriented shows, and South Carolina Educational Television–are offering branding opportunities on the show’s Web site and other promotional tie-ins. PBS disapproves of paid product placement, a staple of competition reality series such as “Top Chef” on Bravo and “The Apprentice” on NBC. more…
She’s already got the hottest new talk show on television. Now RACHAEL RAY is looking to heat things up in the game show world — not as a host, but as a contestant.
Rachael is among the many famous faces that will compete in the latest installment of “Celebrity Jeopardy!”
The two-week competition will be taped at Radio City Music Hall in New York from October 5-8 and will be hosted by ALEX TREBEK. It will begin airing November 8.
First, she took daytime television by storm with her highly rated new talk show, now RACHAEL RAY has joined forces with Epic Records to introduce viewers to one of her passions outside the kitchen — music! The label has announced that it will release a series of soundtracks with songs handpicked by Ray.
“I’m thrilled to partner with Epic … Epic is iconic!” Rachael says. “We’ve created soundtracks that I would listen to or play at a party, starting off with my picks for Christmas and a funky mix for kids. I start singing holiday songs on Thanksgiving weekend — that’s when my tree goes up as well — and, the kids’ CD is filled with music that both kids and parents might enjoy.”
The first two soundtrack releases are slated for next month. How Cool Is That Christmas CD hits music stores on October 10, while Rachael Ray’s Too Cool For School Mixtape for Kids will be available on October 31. Other titles will be introduced in 2007.
Through the Epic deal, Rachael has also created unique cellular voicetones — ringtones featuring messages from Rachael — to all major U.S. carriers.
Show Blows Away the Competition With a 2.8/9 Weighted Metered Market Average
“Rachael Ray,” the new daily, daytime show, debuted yesterday with the highest ratings for any first-run syndicated talk show since the launch of “Dr. Phil” in 2002.
The show, hosted by Rachael Ray, opened yesterday with a 2.8/9 weighted metered market average, which was up 17% from its average lead-in (2.4/8). “Rachael Ray” was also up 33% from its year ago time period average (2.1/7).
“It was a wonderful start for Rachael and our show and we couldn’t be happier with the ratings,” remarked King World Productions CEO Roger King. “We look forward to a whole season of exciting shows, guests and ratings.”
Said Terry Wood, President of Creative Affairs and Development for King World, “We are thrilled that viewers across the country tuned-in to check out Rachael’s new show and we are all very proud of Rachael, Executive Producer Janet Annino and our top notch production team for bringing us such a quality program.”
The daytime strip won its time period in New York with a 3.9/16 (10:00 AM on WABC) and had its best top 10 market performance in Philadelphia with a 5.2/20 (10:00 AM WPVI). Overall, the show finished first or second in 28 of its 55 metered markets.
“Rachael Ray” easily beat the three other talk shows to debut this fall. She beat the premiere episode rating of “Megan Mullally” by 133% (1.2/4); “Dr. Keith Ablow” by 211% (0.9); and “Greg Behrendt” by 250% (0.8).
“Rachael Ray” airs on 180 stations nationwide, representing 97% of the United States. more…
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Heather Locklear is set to star in “Angels Fall,” a Lifetime original movie based on Nora Roberts’ best-selling suspense romance novel.
Johnathon Schaech is co-starring in the film, the third of four adaptations of books by Roberts that Lifetime plans to run back-to-back on Monday nights in February.
The first two, “Carolina Moon,” starring Claire Forlani, Jacqueline Bisset and Oliver Hudson, and “Montana Sky,” starring John Corbett, Ashley Williams, Charlotte Ross and Diane Ladd, have completed production. The fourth one, “Blue Smoke,” is in preproduction.
“Angels” centers on Reese Gilmore (Locklear), a chef who is reeling from a shooting spree at her Boston restaurant that left her as the sole survivor. She is slowly starting to put her life back together when she takes a job at a restaurant in Angel’s Fist, Wyo., and gets to know the residents of the town, including Brody (Schaech), an annoyingly stubborn yet mysteriously sexy writer. Reece’s hard-won happiness and sense of security are threatened, however, when she becomes not only the sole witness to a murder but also the killer’s next target. more…
A man decides to eat in a hamburger shop and orders a regular meal. Later, the waitress brings his meal to him. He takes a bite out of it, and notices there’s a prickly black hair inside of the hamburger. He begins yelling frantically at the waitress, “Waitress, there’s a hair in my hamburger! I demand to see what is going on back there!”
So, the waitress takes him back where the cook is and the man witnesses the cook taking a meat patty and flattening it under his armpit. He says, “That’s disgusting!”
Then the waitress says, “If you think that’s disgusting you should see him make donuts.”
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Carefully tailored to service the soccer mom crowd racing between work and kids and shopping, “The Rachael Ray Show” is a syndicated daytime talk show-cum-pep rally targeting viewers who are double-parked.
It moves along in energetic rat-a-tat-tat style via a series of manic Rachael McNuggets that casts Oprah’s very own handpicked youngster as a whirlwind of hyperkinetic charisma. Indeed, the opening hour depicts the former host of Food Network’s wildly popular “30-Minute Meals” as a woman in need of
” name=”c1″ /> News | News Photos | Images | Web
” name=”c3″ />
Ritalin to slow it down, modulate her pitch and try a little less hard. Ray has an inherent likability and is certainly easy on the eyes, but she doesn’t talk to us so much as screams and she might want to consider taking a more leisurely approach. As it is, it’s all she can do to keep from using the adoring audience as her mosh pit.
Happy to be here after spending the past five years “talking to vegetables,” Ray emerges to a cool, loftlike brick set (it spins!) and hip R&B theme music. She quickly (everything here is quick) pours herself a cup of completely unnecessary coffee that she sips while reminiscing at the set’s kitchen table. Ray’s occasionally squeaky voice is even more adorably anxious than usual, but the crowd clearly already views her as royalty on Day 1 — screaming wildly with her every breathless piece of jabber. She packs a lot of show — too much, actually — into the kickoff that’s punctuated by her cuddly asides designed to establish a connection with Jane America. more…
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 box of white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix
A few drops of green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent
SERVING “DISHES AND UTENSILS”
1 NEW cat-litter box
1 NEW cat-litter box liner
1 NEW pooper scooper
1) Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill. Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs. Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside.
2) When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs, and enough pudding to make the mixture moist, but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.
3) Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape the blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.
4) Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box. Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!
HUNTINGTON — About 25 minutes into eating his cheeseburger, David Francke’s eyes glazed over and he pushed back from the table. “There’s no way,” Francke said. “I’m giving up on it. If I don’t, it would be everywhere.”
“It” is the brand new Bubba’s Big Bad Single Wide Burger at the almost-famous restaurant, Hillbilly Hotdogs that gives new meaning to the phrase “Biggie Size.”
Weighing in at 5 pounds, with seven pieces of cheese on 31/2 pounds of fresh meat from Logan’s on a custom-baked bun from Brunetti’s, The Single Wide got a grand introduction Friday afternoon as the restaurant, just a couple of blocks from Marshall’s campus, filled with students cheering on Francke, a 25-year-old med school student at Marshall from Charleston.
Francke earned the chance to be the first customer to take on a Single Wide since he holds the record (4 minutes) for eating Hillbilly Hotdog’s massive Homewrecker, a 15-inch hotdog with ALL the trimmings — the equivalent to eating 10 hotdogs.
Francke, who disposed of the Homewrecker in record time, said he was pretty confident about taking on the Single Wide, since he was still a bit hungry after knocking out a Homewrecker. more…
During Rachael Ray’s time on the Food Network, she has burned bread at least 50 times, chopped off the tip of a finger, lit Emeril Lagasse’s set on fire and set her own hair ablaze while leaning over a candle-covered birthday cake. Many of her jeans feature a permanent shiny line across the back created from standing too close to the stove.Those incidents make her a poor choice to run your gourmet kitchen, but they add up nonetheless to the most promising newcomer in the ever-competitive world of syndicated daytime talk shows.
“Rachael Ray,” which premieres today, follows a traditional recipe of celebrity interviews, cooking segments and lifestyle tips. But the wild ingredient is the host, a self-described bobblehead who can’t stay in place long enough to boil an egg and who seems stuck permanently in cheerleader mode.
“Everything I do I compare to being a waitress,” said Ray, 38, who peppers her conversations with words like “groovy,”wuss” and “hootenanny.”I try to figure out what people want and expect, and then I try to fill the order for them.”
That eager-to-please attitude is not for everyone, especially those still wiping sleep from their eyes at 11 a.m., but for those frustrated by Martha Stewart’s stringent guide to living, Ray probably will be welcome relief. In the first week alone, viewers will see her jump out of a plane, challenge an audience member to a “bag carrying” contest and create meals for polar bears — stunts that Stewart wouldn’t do for a million gardenias.
That spirit is what caught the attention of the reigning Queen of Daytime TV. Oprah Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions, is behind the new show and hopes to have the same success it did with its last project, “Dr. Phil.” Winfrey will accentuate her support by making an appearance on Tuesday’s program.
“Oprah got from day one that Rachael knows how to be herself on TV,” said Terry Wood, president of creative affairs for King World, which is partnering with Harpo on the series. “She doesn’t want us to change her. She wants us to take what works and expand it, give her a bigger stage.” more…
Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. Pictures is cooking up another comedy caper about murdered chefs — only this time set in Sin City, one of the world’s new culinary capitals. Eric Gold is producing.
Remake of the 1978 laffer “Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?”–starring George Segal and Jacqueline Bisset — will see its title shortened to “Who is Killing the Great Chefs?”
Studio has hired scribe David A. Goodman to pen the script, with Oliver Platt attached to star in the one of the two lead male roles.
Gold told Daily Variety that it made perfect sense to have the film take place in Las Vegas, where many of the world’s greatest chefs, including the likes of Todd English, Nobu Matsuhisa, Michael Mina and Joachim Splichal, have flocked.
In the updated version, Platt will play a food critic who comes to Vegas to check out the action, reprising the role played by Robert Morley in the original. But when a chef is found murdered in the same way his signature dish is prepared, the critic becomes a suspect. more…
CHICAGO — Don’t come between foodies and their foie gras.
That was the message sent by Chicago diners who dug into foie gras dishes Monday, on the eve of the city’s ban on foie gras. High-end restaurants had special foie gras tastings to protest the ban, and even a few down-home sandwich and pizza joints added it to their menus for the occasion.
At the 676 Restaurant & Bar on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, chef Robert Gadsby topped foie gras with Pop Rocks candies, wrapped it in prosciutto, and blended it into hot chocolate as part of an “Outlaw Dinner” that also featured such controversial ingredients as wild morels, absinthe, unpasteurized imported cheese, and hemp seeds. While the seven-course, $140 dinner was completely legal, all the ingredients have been banned at some point.
Gadsby called the foie gras ban ridiculous.
“What’s next?” asked Gadsby, who also hosted an Outlaw Dinner last month at his Noe Restaurant & Bar in Los Angeles, where foie gras will be subject to a statewide ban by 2012. “They’ll outlaw truffles, then lobster, beluga caviar, oysters. There are diners who eat to fill a hunger urge, and there are diners who eat to be dazzled. If you take away the luxury ingredients, how can you dazzle them?”
Food Network and Guinness World Records will team up on special four-night primetime event Food Network Challenge: Guinness World Record Breakers Week starting Monday, Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. (EST/PST).
During the special, competitors will attempt to set or break 10 Guinness World Records, including crafting the tallest sugar sculpture, throwing the highest pizza toss, making the most pancakes in one hour and building the largest popcorn sculpture. more…
Food Network has picked up its reality chef hunt The Next Food Network Star for a third season. The show, in which aspiring TV chefs compete for a show on the channel, is casting now. Filming will begin with eight new contestants in New York in January and the show is set to debut in June.
In a related matter, Food has given a second season order to Guy’s Big Bite, the show hosted by last season’s Next Food Network Star Guy Fieri. The Sunday morning show will return with 13 new episodes. more…
Bravo has announced the cast of Top Chef 2, and it has grown from season one. For the second season, which debuts immediately after Project Runway 3’s finale on Oct. 18, the cast has been increased to 15 chefs.
Their ages range from 23 to 46, but eight are in their 20s, and a total of 13 are in their 30s or under. The new chefs are:
Elia L. Aboumrad, 23, Las Vegas, NV
Otto Borsich, 46, Las Vegas, NV
Marisa Churchill, 28, San Francisco, CA
Clifford Crooks, 28, West Caldwell, NJ
Carlos Fernandez, 36, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Betty Fraser, 44, Los Angeles, CA
Mia Gaines, 32, Oakdale, CA
Ilan Hall, 24, New York, NY
Michael Midgley, 28, Stockton, CA
Josie Smith-Malave, 31, Brooklyn, NY
Emily Sprissler, 30, Las Vegas, NV
Suyai Steinhauer, 29, New York, NY
Sam Talbot, 28, New York, NY
Frank Terzoli, 39, San Diego, CA
Marcel Vigneron, 26, Las Vegas, NV
Who could possibly be next in the battle of Cheesecake photos? Some I would like to see, some should just stay in the kitchen. Please add your comments and be heard.
Gale Gand
Giada De Laurentiis
Ina Garten
Paula Deen
Sandra Lee
Sara Moulton
Celebrity “cook” Rachael Ray was the first of the Food Network staff to pose in FHM. Followed by Cat Cora it makes you wonder who’s next?
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay, known from the Food Network, had two horses running Monday.
He entered 2-year-old filly So phie’s Salad in the second race. Named after Flay’s daughter, So phie’s Salad finished last at 2-1 odds in the 1-1/16 race on the Mellon turf.
Unlike her 5-furlong debut at Saratoga on Aug. 9, when she came from behind to finish third, So phie’s Salad went straight to the lead under jockey Javier Castellano. She led entering the stretch before fading badly to finish more than 17 lengths behind winner Limoncella.
Flay is also part-owner of Unbridled Success, who finished third in the Grade I Hopeful Stakes, 5-1/4 lengths behind winner Circular Quay. more…
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Gene Grabarnick longed for a hotel with all the things a man would want on a getaway with friends.
Where the concierge ushers guests to the hottest clubs. Where requests, from hand-rolled cigars to a favorite beer in the mini-bar, are unflinchingly filled. Where luxury is wrapped in sexy, swanky style.
So, he built it. (more…..)
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (weight is dependent on how many servings are required)
1 large lemon, cut into halves
sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
butter or olive oil, whichever you prefer
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Rub butter or oil over the skin of the chicken until it is completely coated.
Take a knife and gently separate the skin from the breast meat; slide lemon halves under the skin with the peel side up. This way the juice from the lemon will coat the breast.
Season skin of chicken to your preference; place sprig of rosemary into the chicken.
Cover and place in oven for 30-45 minutes. Remove cover and continue to roast until juices run clear, basting every 15-20 minutes, depending on size of the bird.
If you’ve followed these steps correctly, your chicken should look like the one in the picture. Bon Appetit!
The network has begun negotiating deals with new talent that go beyond hosting shows and give the network a share in online ventures, merchandise and cookbook sales and other deals that have made folks like Emeril Lagasse rich.
Mr. Lagasse, who did his first Food Network show for $50 an episode, now generates $150 million a year, including $90 million from restaurants, according to Mr. Lagasse in an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine last year. There are Emeril sausages, Emeril seasonings, Emeril bowls, Emeril knives and Emeril wines.
Food Network doesn’t get a piece of that, but it wants to in the future.
“Once we determine that somebody is going to be a Food Network talent, then on a going-forward basis for new talent it will be our position that it’s good for us and it’s good for them if we work together on all ancillary businesses,” said John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks, parent of Food Network.
With an eye on growing its nontelevision business, Scripps is also broadening Food Network President Brooke Johnson’s authority to include all brand activities. Ms. Johnson is looking to add a general manager to the network. The GM’s role will be either to handle the day-to-day operations of the channel or to oversee new business development.
“We’re getting into a position where the brand is going to be able to live in a lot of different venues and platforms,” Ms. Johnson said. “As we go into the future, we’re looking to a more partnership relationship with our talent than perhaps we had when we just thought of ourselves as a television brand.”
While Food Network may have missed the boat on some of Mr. Lagasse’s ventures, Ms. Johnson said that “we’ve gotten a great deal out of that relationship and it remains a really important relationship to us.” (The network does have an interest in the new King World-distributed syndicated talk show featuring Food personality Rachael Ray.) more…
Or register here: http://chefreport.com/blog/wp-register.php and start posting now.
All accounts and post are subject to review and deletion.
When posting a news story, only post a few paragraphs of the story and then link the website you got the story from in the post. Try to use the same format as seen on current post on this blog.
GOT NEWS?
When Rachael Ray’s new talk show kicks off in September, one very special guest will be in the house: Ray’s friend and mentor, Oprah Winfrey.
On Aug. 3, Winfrey, 52, made a surprise stop at the New York City set of Ray’s show, where she hung out for the entire taping, met the audience, got a full tour of the set and shared some on-air coffee talk with Ray.
Afterwards, Winfrey, who rarely appears on other people’s shows, headed to the airport for a flight to South Africa, where she is working on her Leadership Academy for Girls, due to open in January.
Ray’s hour-long syndicated program, The Rachael Ray Show, premieres Sept. 18. The episode with Winfrey will air during its first week. more…
Chef Ramsay calls both Heather and Virginia upstairs. Chef Ramsay tells Heather that she started off as a young girl and the way she has matured is amazing and tells Virginia that you can’t buy a palette like she has. Chef Ramsay tells the chefs that one of them had a very slight edge on the customer comment cards. Chef Ramsay hands both Heather and Virginia a key and says that the winner’s key will open a door. Heather’s key opens the door, and she wins the restaurant. Chef Ramsay says Heather won Hells Kitchen because “she stuck to what she knew best and she controlled her kitchen from start to finish.” more…
NEW YORK, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ — Cat Cora, acclaimed chef, author and UNICEF spokesperson has been named Executive Chef of Bon Appetit magazine. more…
We’ve written about Anthony Bourdain’s recent experience in Beirut— the globe-trotting chef was there taping an episode of his show No Reservations when fighting broke out. (He was safely evacuated.) At the time, he wasn’t sure whether the episode would ever air. Now comes word that it will indeed be broadcast on the Travel Channel Monday, Aug. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. more…
…Next Eddie is to play a fiery celebrity chef with a drink problem in hard-hitting new Channel Five drama Kitchen.
The two-part series, which will hit our screens next year, also stars The Bill actress Natalie Robb.
Douglas Rae of makers Ecosse Films said: “This is going to be Trainspotting in the kitchen.” more…
Eddie Izzard
GREENSBORO — If you want to see Oprah Winfrey from a closer vantage point than your overstuffed couch, you’re in luck.
The details are out about the influential television host’s visit to Greensboro in October to headline a benefit gala for Bennett College.
Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday and range in price from $250 to $1,000. Proceeds will go to the Revitalizing Bennett Campaign, which has raised more than $30 million of a $50 million goal.
For the money, you get to go to a hospitality hour, attend the gala and hear Winfrey speak and partake of a to-be-determined meal. Those buying certain levels of sponsorship packages will have an opportunity to meet the pop icon herself. more…
Follow up…
College Sells 300 Oprah Tickets in a Day
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Tickets to a fundraiser for Bennett College featuring Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou sold fast in the first day of public sale. more…
TV CHEF Gordon Ramsay is taking on his biggest challenge yet - teaching Homer Simpson how to cook.
The fiery cook caught the attention of the producers of The Simpsons following the US version of his reality show Hell’s Kitchen.
They now want him to show Bart’s dad Homer what to do in the kitchen.
Gordon, renowned for his foul language, said: “I was really honoured.
“I don’t know how they’re going to do it, but I hope they keep the swearing in.” more…
Eddie Izzard is to play a drunk, fiery chef in a new miniseries commissioned by Five.
The new drama, set in an exclusive Glasgow restaurant, has been inspired by Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential.
Izzard plays the once brilliant and charismatic chef, Nick, now heading towards burnout.
Into his charge comes young chancer Danny, played by up-and-coming actor James Young, who has been placed in the kitchen as a condition of his probation.
Production has begun in Dublin on two, two-hour episodes, according to trade magazine Broadcast, and the show is due to air early next year. more…
PlayFirst has announced the release of a Mac version of SpongeBob SquarePants Diner Dash — a version of the popular casual game that has you waiting tables at the Krusty Krab using Nickelodeon’s lovable cartoon hero SpongeBob SquarePants. It costs $19.95, and a demo version is available.
SpongeBob SquarePants Diner Dash puts you in control of SpongeBob as you help Mr. Krabs expand his Krabby Patty kingdom one restaurant at a time. You wait tables and make sure customers are helped in a timely fashion. Do it successfully and you’ll make money, enabling Mr. Krabs to expand his offerings and open new locations. more…
After months of rumors (the best of which involved Ray Romano and, I believe, Brad Pitt, which appeared briefly on the movie’s wikipedia page), Coming Soon has managed to track down the official cast for Pixar’s next film, Ratatouille. For those of you who missed the wonderful teaser, the movie is about Remy, a Parisian rat who, quite reasonably, dreams of being a great chef. What with him being a rat and everything, his foodie impulses are not welcomed by his family, particularly when he uproots the lot of them and moves them to Paris, where they take up residence in “a Parisian restaurant made famous by an eccentric French chef.” more…
