Food Network

[Pheidippides]

Don't forget the tablescapes. They're crap, I agree. The food? I would never eat it. I'm just saying that is Sandra Lee can make a buck and people like her stuff, I don't fault her.

Sadly, that is the truth. She is the logical step down from Rachael Ray, and it is a programming fault, not her fault directly.

[YOhio]

Don't forget the tablescapes. They're crap, I agree. The food? I would never eat it. I'm just saying that is Sandra Lee can make a buck and people like her stuff, I don't fault her.

Mrs. Funk, you've admitted to liking aerosol cheese. The whole food snob charade can end.

[Mrs. Funk]

Mrs. Funk, you've admitted to liking aerosol cheese. The whole food snob charade can end.

I'm not sure I'm a food snob. Not really. I just generally like good food. I don't think Sandra Lee teaches people how to make good food.

I do not, however, believe that Easy Cheese is good food either. I realize that eating cheese that keeps at room temperature is repellant. I just occasionally crave it a great deal.

[SuperGabers]

My wife won't watch her anymore because:

1. I make too many nervous comments about her boobs.

2. She has to make a cocktail with every meal. My wife hates alcohol.

Oh my hell! Does she ever. She is such a DRUNK!

[SuperGabers]

Dare I mention my favs: Paula Dean - I know. I know. But she kills me. At first I thought she was annoying and that her personality was a huge facade. But after a while, she grew on me. I mean, who can really hate a person who uses so much butter.

I also love Throw Down.

[Donuthole]

Oh my hell! Does she ever. She is such a DRUNK!

Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray are both huge lushes. Food network needs a program where they both try to drink each other under the table. Now that's a program I'd watch.

[SuperGabers]

Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray are both huge lushes. Food network needs a program where they both try to drink each other under the table. Now that's a program I'd watch.

That would be ---hiccup--- great.

[filsdepac]

Forgot to mention my other favorite: Best Thing I Ever Ate. There's usually a subject with each one (pork, dessert, etc). They're great if you live in California or New York as the majority of places they go are in one of them.

[MarkGrace]

Big ups to Maria Hines, who kicked the trash out of Morimoto last night on Iron Chef. Dude rarely loses, and she cleaned his clock. Maria owns the fantastic Tilth in Wallingford, which is less than a mile from our apartment.

[UteStar]

Big ups to Maria Hines, who kicked the trash out of Morimoto last night on Iron Chef. Dude rarely loses, and she cleaned his clock. Maria owns the fantastic Tilth in Wallingford, which is less than a mile from our apartment.

That was a great episode. I loved the look of Morimoto's food--very creative, but that Hines looked like she cooked up some great plates. How is the restaurant? Expensive?

[MarkGrace]

That was a great episode. I loved the look of Morimoto's food--very creative, but that Hines looked like she cooked up some great plates. How is the restaurant? Expensive?

The restaurant is fantastic (I've been for both dinner and brunch). She's a big name around here, and has quite the resume: James Beard winner; F&W best new chefs in America; Frank Bruni (heavyweight critic for the NY Times) named her restaurant one of ten best new places in the country outside Manhattan; and of course now she took down Morimoto by TKO!

The prices are in line with most restaurants of its caliber around here, which in my estimation is pretty reasonable for the quality. Seattle's best chefs have a penchant for setting up in neighborhoods so they can save on the operating costs of having a place downtown.

http://www.tilthrestaurant.com/

[UteStar]

The restaurant is fantastic (I've been for both dinner and brunch). She's a big name around here, and has quite the resume: James Beard winner; F&W best new chefs in America; Frank Bruni (heavyweight critic for the NY Times) named her restaurant one of ten best new places in the country outside Manhattan; and of course now she took down Morimoto by TKO!

The prices are in line with most restaurants of its caliber around here, which in my estimation is pretty reasonable for the quality. Seattle's best chefs have a penchant for setting up in neighborhoods so they can save on the operating costs of having a place downtown.

http://www.tilthrestaurant.com/

I liked that match up and I liked her honesty throughout that episode. She talked about how she was nervous and basically she wanted to throw up but she kept it all together and did a great job. Fun episode. I will be curious to see if she gets more people coming to the place because of that episode.

[MarkGrace]

I liked that match up and I liked her honesty throughout that episode. She talked about how she was nervous and basically she wanted to throw up but she kept it all together and did a great job. Fun episode. I will be curious to see if she gets more people coming to the place because of that episode.

When she got selected by the NY Times, it became a lot harder to get in -- but I think that's mostly because it put her on a national radar, so she was pulling out-of-town guests. Even before that her restaurant was already plenty busy, because she had a huge following among the food geeks around here.

Here's a link to the Bruni article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/di...tml?ref=dining

There's another very talented chef in the same neighborhood named Rachel Yang. I'm a big fan of her place, and she appeared not too long ago on Iron Chef as well: [YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lc_kC56UdGg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lc_kC56UdGg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

I haven't noticed a major uptick in business there since the appearance, though. The whole grilled fish there is pretty much one of my favorite dishes in Seattle.

[filsdepac]

Not sure if there are any Tyler Florence fans, but I just got reservations to his new restaurant, Wayfare Tavern. I don't think his show is particularly exciting, but he always seems to make delicious looking foods, so I'm excited.

[UteStar]

Chopped and Good Eats are two I would take a look at if I were you. Alton Brown's mole is really disturbing initially, but after a few episodes you don't even notice it anymore.

Chopped is great on sommany levels. On one hand, you have these chefs of varying backgrounds and experience levels making up dishes on the fly using random (sometimes insanely random) ingredients in very limited time. Despite all the obstacles, they often come up with dishes that look pretty dang good. They also come up with some dishes that look terrible. On the other hand, you have these extremely smarmy, precocious, judges, all of whom are very successful chefs and restaurateurs. They apply the "rules" as strictly or as liberally as they see fit, depending on how the food tastes, how the chef looks and acts, and pretty much any other criteria they come up with. I watch it to hate the judges as much as i watch it to see the cooking.

Watched an episode of Chopped last night. I liked it quite a bit. Pretty entertaining. Thanks for the recommendation. It is now added to my addiction that is Food Network.