The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs This week was the Season Premiere of Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs and I was blown away!  The level of talent and big name chefs seen this season is out of this world.  Here is the list of the Chef Contestants: Anne Burrell – from Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and Worst Cooks in America. She is kind of crazy looking, like a troll doll and loves to say “brown food is good” but she is a beast in the kitchen. Michael Chiarello – from Easy Entertaining and Chef of Bottega Restaurant in Napa Valley.  Michael seems way too uppity for my liking.  That is the best way I can describe him and I’m not rooting for him whatsoever. Elizabeth Falkner – Chef of Citizen Cake and Orson in San Francisco.  Hello, Elizabeth.  I’m Christine.  It’s nice to meet you because I have never really heard of you before.  I’m not sure how you snuck into NIC but I’m sure you’ll be gone soon. Alex Guarnaschelli - Alex’s Day Off and a regular judge on Chopped.  She is also the head Chef of Butter and The Darby in New York, NY.  Personally, I love Alex.  She has crazy, menacing eyebrows and makes the most delicious, decadent dishes.  However, I feel she is not a lead contender after this weeks episode.  She was too nervous and frazzled from the first challenge – not a good sign. Chuck Hughes – from Chuck’s Day Off and head Chef of Garde Manger in Montreal, Canada.  Never really heard of you either, Chuck, and not sure how you squeezed your way in either.  You’re cute though so you can stay awhile. Robert Irvine – from Dinner: Impossible, Restaurant: Impossible and Worst Cooks in America.  His nemesis is Anne Burrell and his forearms are as big as my head.  I like Robert Irvine but I’m just not too sure if he’ll make it all the way. Beau MacMillan - from Worst Cooks in America and Chef of Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, Az.  Oh Beau, you’re so annoying.  You said in the opening season you’re the underdog and the one the everyday man or woman should be rooting for.  Not long after you said that you tripped on a rock and hobbled around the rest of the episode.  You big old baby!  I’m not rooting for you whatsoever. Spike Mendelsohn – from Kelsey & Spike Cook and Chef of Good Stuff Eatery.  You were eliminated the first week and of all the chefs you were the one I would have guessed would be gone first.  Just out of your league Spike, but thanks for stopping by. Marcus Samuelsson – from 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, judge on Chopped and Chef of Red Rooster in Harlem NY.  You were winner of Top Chef Masters and you’re a force to be reckoned with.  I foresee you going far, if not the furthest. Geoffrey Zakarian – from 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, judge on Chopped and Chef of The National and The Lambs Club in New York, NY.  I adore Geoffey.  So regal and wonderful. I hope he makes it far and after this week with his winning dishes I think he will! I’m excited for this Season of Next Iron Chef.  Who is your favorite contender?

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1. Top Chef: Texas Premiers Tonight! Top Chef Is Bigger In Texas. Why yes, yes it...

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Top Chef: Texas

Top Chef Is Bigger In Texas.

Why yes, yes it is.  Tonight is the Series Premiere of Top Chef: Texas and I’m chomping at the bit for it!  Tom Colichhio, Gail Simmons and Padma Lakshmi will return for another season of chopping, searing and whipping up some delicious fun!

This season is promised to showcase the most surprising twists and turns of any other season with never-before-seen challenges and special guest judges such as Emeril Lagasse and Hugh Acheson.

I’m eager to see what it is all about.  Will the chefs make cuisine Texas is typically known for such as steaks bigger than bread boxes and fried okra, or will there be more finesse?  Only time will tell, but this girl is ready to see if everything truly is better in Texas.

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This January, Food Network pumps up its primetime lineup with three series premieres full of fun-filled food entertainment!

First, Guy Fieri returns as host of Ultimate Recipe Showdown as a new batch of home cooks step up and put their prized personal recipes to the “ultimate” test, premiering Sunday, January 4, at 9pm ET/PT.

Then, course-by-course eliminations leave one chef standing in Chopped, hosted by Ted Allen, premiering Tuesday, January 13, at 10pm ET/PT.

Finally, The Next Food Network Star season four finalist and charismatic foodie, Adam Gertler, attempts outrageous food-related jobs on Will Work for Food, premiering Monday, January 19. at 8:30pm ET/PT.

Ultimate Recipe Showdown – Season Two
Premieres: Sunday, January 4th at 9pm ET/PT
With more than 12,000 recipes submitted from home cooks across America, Ultimate Recipe Showdown returns for another season of delicious competition as the top 24 contestants battle head-to-head for national glory. Hosted by Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins &Dives; Guy’s Big Bite), the series features six categories: Comfort Food, Burgers, Cakes, Hot and Spicy, Desserts, or Hometown Favorites. Each week, the judges crown an “ultimate” winner who receives $25,000 and the chance to have his or her recipe featured nationwide at T.G.I. Friday’s® restaurants.

Chopped
Premieres: Tuesday, January 13th at 10pm ET/PT
Passion and expertise rule the kitchen on the fast-paced new series, Chopped. Hosted by Ted Allen (Food Detectives), the series challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” until the last man or woman left standing claims victory. Each week, a rotating panel of culinary elite judges including Alex Guarnaschelli, Aaron Sanchez, and Geoffrey Zakarian will decide whose dishes shine the brightest and award the winner $10,000.

Will Work for Food
Premieres: Monday, January 19th at 8:30pm ET/PT
Adam Gertler shared his humorous take on food throughout season four of The Next Food Network Star. Now, he pairs his comedic timing with an adventurous spirit in the new series, Will Work for Food. The series exposes Adam to the world of little-known food jobs as he fearlessly puts his life – and mouth – on the line to try them all! Whether taking honey from three million bees, sculpting ice with a chain saw, foraging for truffles, or digging a wine cave, Adam will do anything in the name of food.

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Last week on Top Chef: New York, Christmas came early for the chefs, as the Quick Fire involved cooking for television host, author, and magazine publisher Martha Stewart. Once again, Ariane took the prize for another simple yet tasty dish.

Then, for the challenge, the chefs had to use their skills to give back to the community by catering a Christmas cocktail party hosted by special guest judge, actress and foodie Natasha Richardson, for amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research.

While Hosea won, Eugene, Melissa and Jamie were at the bottom. Luckily, the judges showed mercy and let everyone stay to cook another day.

Check out Gail Simmon’s blog about this episode here.

Looks like Christmas Week the show is not airing a new ep, so be sure to check your local listings so you won’t miss the next new episode.

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I’m thinking all my time spent watching Top Chef might just pay off when it comes to “Foodie Fight: A trivia game for serious food lovers”, which features over 1,000 questions covering everything from culinary science to celebrity chefs. 

It’s sold at Sur la table, and you can get it here.

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It’s back! Top Chef: New York started this week, and it did not disappoint. So far, I’m rooting for Gene. And wishing that Padma would loosen up a little bit–and go easy on the dewy/greasy makeup (seriously, look at the photo above for proof!). And thinking that Carla is a few eggs short of a dozen.

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Leave it to New York City to not only host one of the coolest foodie events ever, but also provide the backdrop for the ever-addictive “Top Chef” on Bravo.

But before we talk boob tube, let’s talk festival.

Thursday, October 9, through Sunday, October 12, The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival takes a bite out of the Big Apple.

The festival, presented by Food & Wine magazine, is the only festival in New York to bring together both legendary culinary icons from around the globe and America’s most beloved television chefs. 

Festival History
In 2002 the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival made its debut in Miami. Seven years later it’s grown into one of the largest cultural events of the year featuring the best and brightest stars of the culinary world. This year the festival pays homage to one of the greatest restaurant cities in the world–New York City.

The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival mirrors the charitable component of South Beach, benefiting the hunger relief programs Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength (100 percent of the net proceeds from the festival will go directly to these community based initiatives).

Taking place primarily in the Meatpacking District and select landmark settings such as the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, the festival will seamlessly integrate into the pace and lifestyle of the city. This year’s talents include Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis, Tyler Florence, Alton Brown, Masaharu Morimoto, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Ferran Adria, Patrick & Gina Neely, Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsey and Nigella Lawson to name a few.

For more informatino about the festival, or to buy tickets, click here.

Then, set your DVRs for Wednesday, November 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, as Bravo Television kicks off season five of “Top Chef” with “Top Chef: New York”.

“Top Chef: New York” will also feature guest appearances by several culinary and mainstream stars including Martha Stewart, The Foo Fighters, Jean-Georges, Eric Ripert, Rocco DiSpirito, Wylie Dufresne, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Natasha Richardson.

The 17 “Top Chef: New York” contestants are:
 
- Alex, a 33-year-old executive chef from New York who currently resides in Los Angeles.

- Ariane, a 41-year-old chef and restaurant owner from Verona, NJ.

- Carla, a 44-year-old chef and catering business owner from Nashville who currently resides in Washington, D.C.

- Danny, a 26-year-old executive chef from New Hyde Park, NY.

- Fabio, a 30-year-old restaurant owner from Florence, Italy who currently resides in Moorpark, CA.

- Gene, a 33-year-old executive sushi chef and chef consultant from Whitmore Village, HI who currently resides in Las Vegas.

- Hosea, a 26-year-old executive chef and restaurant owner from Taos, NM who currently resides in Boulder, CO.

- Jamie, a 30-year-old executive chef from New York who currently resides in San Francisco.

- Jeff, a 30-year-old chef du cuisine from Niceville, FL who currently resides in Miami.

- Jill, a 28-year-old executive chef from Latrobe, PA who currently resides in Baltimore, MD.

- Lauren, a 24-year-old chef tournant from Cincinnati, OH who is currently stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

- Leah, a 27-year-old sous chef from Scarsdale, NY who currently resides in New York.

- Melissa, a 28-year-old sous chef from Maryland who currently resides in Boulder, CO.

- Patrick, a 21-year-old culinary student from Quincy, MA who currently resides in Hyde Park, NY.

- Radhika, a 28-year-old executive chef from Chicago.

- Richard, a 27-year-old executive sous chef from Long Island who currently resides in San Diego.

- Stefan, a 35-year-old chef from Tampere, Finland who currently resides in Santa Monica, CA.

I can hardly wait!

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A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report sheds new light on food marketing to children and adolescents. The report, “Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation”, finds that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006.

The report also finds that the landscape of food advertising to youth is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with previously unmeasured forms of marketing, such as packaging, in-store advertising, sweepstakes, and Internet.

These campaigns often involve cross-promotion with a new movie or popular television program.

Analyzing this data, the report calls for all food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.”

The Commission obtained the data for this report through compulsory process orders requiring financial and marketing information from beverage manufacturers and bottlers; producers of packaged snacks, baked goods, cereals, and prepared meals; makers of candy and chilled desserts; dairy marketers; fruit and vegetable growers; and quick-service restaurants.

The report finds that approximately $870 million was spent on child-directed marketing, and a little more than $1 billion on marketing to adolescents, with about $300 million overlapping between the two age groups in 2006.

Marketers spent more money on television advertising than on any other technique ($745 million or 46 percent of the 2006 total.) But for most food products, they employed the full spectrum of promotional techniques and formats when advertising to a young audience: themes from television ads carried over to packaging, displays in stores or restaurants, and the Internet.

That same year, cross-promotions tied foods and beverages to about 80 movies, television shows, and animated characters that appeal primarily to children. In total, the companies spent more than $208 million, representing 13 percent of all youth-directed marketing, on cross-promotional campaigns. For some food categories, such as restaurant food and fruits and vegetables, cross-promotions accounted for nearly 50 percent of reported child-directed expenditures.

For example, characters from Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean appeared in ads that were shown in movie theaters; and on television, product packaging, the Internet, and in-store displays. According to the report, food marketers created special limited-edition snacks, cereals, frozen waffles, and candies “in honor” of these movie characters.

In cross-promotional campaigns, television ads and packaging often directed viewers to a Web site where they could enter a sweepstakes to win a related premium, such as movie posters, character action figures, and cash. Consumers might also be directed to “advergames” (video games advertising a product), free downloads such as screen savers and ring tones, podcasts, and online video episodes known as “Webisodes.”

The report finds that, although there is room for improvement, the food and beverage industries have made significant progress since the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services co-sponsored the Workshop on Marketing, Self-Regulation & Childhood Obesity in 2005.

The report cites the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, launched by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) in 2006, for taking “important steps to encourage better nutrition and fitness among the nation’s children,” by changing the mix of food and beverage advertising messages directed to children under 12 and encouraging them toward healthier eating and better physical fitness.

To date, 13 of the largest food and beverage companies – accounting for the majority of food and beverage expenditures directed toward children – have adopted the initiative, pledging either not to advertise to children under 12, or to limit their television, radio, print, and Internet advertising to foods that meet specified nutritional
standards.

In addition, several major food and beverage companies have adopted the Alliance for a Healthier Generation guidelines, which are designed to lower the caloric value and increase the nutritional value of foods and drinks sold in schools outside the school meal program.

The report recommends that all companies that market food or beverage products to children under 12 adopt meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products – standards that extend to all advertising and promotional techniques, including, for example, product packaging and in-store marketing.

Companies also should improve the nutritional profiles of products marketed to children and adolescents, whether in or outside of schools; cease the in-school promotion of products that do not meet nutritional standards; and improve the quality and consistency of the nutritional criteria adopted for “better for you” products. The report also recommends steps to enhance the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ initiative.

Finally, the report recommends that more media and entertainment companies restrict the licensing of their characters to healthier foods and beverages that are marketed to children, so that cross-promotions with popular children’s movies and television characters will favor more nutritious foods and drinks. Media companies also should consider limiting ads on child-directed programs to those that promote healthier foods and beverages.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

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It’s about time that Ted Allen (pictured above) got his own food show, which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m./8 c on the Food Network. After all, he is the Tim Gunn of the food world.

The show, Food Network’s “Food Detectives with Ted Allen“, explores common food-related aqssumptions and myths (Is double-dipping really as bad as we think it is? Does the five-second rule really hold true?), all while letting Allen be, well, Allen–poised, charming and utterly adorable.

Emmy Award winner Allen has been a judge on every season of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and is also host of the PBS series “Uncorked: Wine Made Simple”. Allen was also the food and wine specialist on the Emmy-winning Bravo series “Queer Eye”, which had a 100-episode run. He is author of The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes (Clarkson-Potter), a cookbook that features easy, all-natural recipes. Allen also co-wrote the New York Times Best Seller Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab Five’s Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better and Living Better.

Since 1997, Allen has been a contributing editor to Esquire magazine, where he writes about food, wine, style and everything else the American man needs to know. He was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his Esquire feature on the little-known phenomenon of male breast cancer. He also writes regularly for such publications as Bon Appétit and Epicurious.com.

Allen holds an master’s degree in journalism from New York University, with an advanced certificate in the school’s Science and Environmental Reporting Program, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Purdue University. He lives in New York with his longtime partner, Barry Rice.

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If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’re sure to enjoy the short-lived but hilarious television show “Kitchen Confidential”, based on the bookof the same name by Anthony Bourdain.

While I found the book to be long-winded at times, and extremely graphic in parts, the show was a dark sitcom starring the very talented Bradley Cooper (“Alias”), as a recovering alcoholic who has to turn a restaurant around in 48 hours. His staff/friends include Seth (Nicholas Brendon of television’s gem ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), seafood genius Teddy (John Cho of Smiley Face), sous-chef Steven (Owain Yeoman), and lowly kitchen worker Jim (John Francis Daley of ”Freaks and Geeks”).

The restaurant, Nolita, is managed by Pino (Frank Langella), and the rest of the staff include Pino’s daughter, Mimi (Bonnie Somerville of ”NYPD Blue”) and Tanya (Jaime King of Pearl Harbor).

Those who have paid their dues in the restaurant industry will recognize that the series accurately depicts how restaurant staff, from top to bottom, work hard and play hard, most of the time simultaneously.  

Although you can certainly rent the whole series, which was shelved quickly due to lack of ratings, it’s worthy of purchase, if you ask me.

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