TV Chefs Blog is where we cover the celebrity chefs and cooking personalities: the news they make, the new products they sell, the restaurants they're opening. We also review the television cooking and food shows. We report on the more famous food authors and their new cookbooks too. If it has to do with eating it, making it and the star cooks who do it, it's here.
This is a pretty sweet find I stumbled on. Just nine days ago the prestigious James Beard Awards were given out in New York City. And now, from that event, here is almost a half hour of video, broken into three parts, where cookbook author and television personality David Rosengarten interviewed celebrity chefs on the Beard red carpet, compliments of devour.tv and Bravo network.
Here, David talks with event hostess Kim Cattrall and event host Bobby Flay, along with José Andrés, Drew Nieperont, Terrence Brennan, Cesare Casella, Ted Allen, Tom Collechio and Todd English.
Part 2 of the video for some bizarro reason starts out with a total repeat of the Kim Cattrall interview. Don’t let that fool you though, for this is plenty of new material here. In fact the entire rest of the clips is with interviews featuring Masaharu Morimoto, Pichet Ong, Katie Lee Joel, Michael Psilakis, Donatella Arpaia, Thomas Keller and Douglas Rodriguez.
We go a slightly different place in part three with interviews as well as some background on the Beard Awards, and then interviews with chefs Wylie Dufresne, Marcel Vignenon (from Top Chef, season 2), Tony May, Dan Barber, Cindy Wolf, Michel Richard and Danny Meyer.
And yes David, we too find it both ironic and very scary a food award show has no food!
Famed culinary expert Ted Allen joins the Food Network family with the debut of his new series Food Detectives, premiering Tuesday, July 29th at 9pm ET/PT. The half-hour primetime series explores the delicious connection between science and food, pulling back the curtain and revealing the answers to some of the most puzzling food mysteries and will feature experts from Popular Science magazine.
“We’ve wanted to work with Ted for years on a series of his own and we’ve found a great fit in Food Detectives,” said Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network. “Not only will this show provide a wealth of interesting information for our viewers, it also gives Ted an opportunity to show off his wit and culinary knowledge.”
“I’m so excited to be working with Food Network on this new series,” said Allen. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to head up my own show and I know that viewers are going to be totally engaged with the information we are discovering on Food Detectives!”
Food Detectives mixes a healthy dose of humor with a wealth of fascinating factoids. Aided by willing culinary techs and the brains from the leading science and technology magazine Popular Science, the series will conduct experiments to find the truth behind the most interesting food myths. Ted and his team will dig deep to answer questions like: Does it really take seven years for gum to digest in your stomach? Is the five-second rule true? Can an “apple a day” really keep the doctor away? Viewers can also get in on the fun by submitting their most puzzling food conundrums for potential show experiments.
Emmy Award winner Ted Allen was the food and wine specialist on the groundbreaking Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has also been a judge on every season of Food Network’s Iron Chef America and Bravo’s Top Chef and is the author of “The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes”.
Many weekends are slow, food news-wise. This is definitely not one of those.
On the air we have a preview of Paula Deen’s new cooking show on Sunday early afternoon and later that night episode 2 of NFNS. Off the air and live, the biggest thing of this weekend and perhaps of the year is the Annual James Beard Awards Sunday night.
First up is Tyler Florence who travelled to Boise for a food charity event, A Chefs’ Affaire. What it is involves a five-course gourmet dinner created by Idaho chefs from 20 different restaurants. There is also a live chef auction and a silent auction. Benefits go the the Idaho Foodbank. Celebrity chef Tyler Florence presents a cooking demonstration prior to the dinner.
Sunday night is the 2008 James Beard Awards, basically the Oscars of the Culinary World. For who’s up for what check out are post on the Beard Finalists we did in March. On Monday we’ll let you know who the winners were. Ah, but for a moment let’s look at last night in Big Apple, namely the Chefs’ Night Out party hosted by Bon Appetit at the Edison Ballroom in New York City.
Well some bloggers (not me, sniff) were lucky enough to go, so let me quote the ulterior epicure:
It’s kind of an unofficial kick-off for the James Beard weekend of festivities leading up to the James Beard Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception at Lincoln Center on Sunday, June 8. The event involved loud music, a dance floor, lots of cocktails, a dessert “buffet,” passed finger foods, an ice cream truck, and lots of people-watching.
Attendees included: Barbara Fairchild, Andrew Knowlton, Tom Colicchio, Tracie des Jardins, Johnny Iuzzini, Anita Lo, Drew Nieporent, Gail Simmons, Ilan Hall, Grant Achatz, Donatella Arpaia, Michael Psilakis, Bradford Thompson, David Kinch, Harold Dieterle, Anne Burrell, Fabio Trabocchi, John Besh, Lee Ann Wong, and many more…
And for photos of the event there was “live blogger” snack (that’s her cool name) taking photos on her cellphone straight to her blog. No captions but I know for sure I saw Gail Simmons, and Ted Allen with some guys and Daniel Bouloud sucking on a Good Humor bar (I kid you not), and a blurry pic of a guy against a wall who’s hair reminds me of Marcel from the first season of Top Chef. Not saying it was, some blurs look like other blurs, but it could have been.
As for television, on Sunday night there is a brand new Iron Chef America with star chef Marcus Samuelsson entering Kitchen Stadium for the first time, taking on Iron Chef Bobby Flay; that’s at 9pm Eastern, followed at 10pm Eastern with the second episode of The Next Food Network Star (which we both showed a clip of and talked about the other day.)
In the daytime however, there’s a Paula Deen marathon from 11am to 2pm, culminating at 1:30pm with a sneak peek of her latest new cooking show, Paula’s Best Dishes. As FN describes it this way: “What happens when America’s favorite Southern cook opens up her kitchen to family, friends, viewers, and the best home cooks in the country? Paula is cookin’ up something new as she rescues viewer recipes, learns the secrets of some of America’s best cooks and shares stories and traditions with friends and strangers alike.”
For this Sunday’s show the theme is “Deli Delights” with guest local Savannah chef, Alan Nowell paying a visit. Next week the show premieres in its regular Sunday at 12:30pm time slot with Paula managing to get her husband Michael into the kitchen with her.
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Foodie Fight - A Trivia (Board) Game For Serious Food Lovers
Famed culinary expert Ted Allen joins the Food Network family with the debut of his new series Food Detectives, premiering Tuesday, July 29th at 9pm ET/PT. The half-hour primetime series explores the delicious connection between science and food, pulling back the curtain and revealing the answers to some of the most puzzling food mysteries and will feature experts from Popular Science magazine.
First up is Tyler Florence who travelled to Boise for a food charity event, 
As for television, on Sunday night there is a brand new Iron Chef America with star chef Marcus Samuelsson entering Kitchen Stadium for the first time, taking on Iron Chef Bobby Flay; that’s at 9pm Eastern, followed at 10pm Eastern with the second episode of The Next Food Network Star (which we both showed a clip of and talked about the other day.)
