Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Joe Bastianich Works Hard, Plays Hard

The latest and greatest news about celebrity chefs, served up buffet style.

– Joe Bastianich celebrates the completion of a marathon the same way I do: with plenty of booze.  Of course, he actually ran in the marathon where as I just read about it in the news.  Also, after losing 45 lbs, Joe apparently turned into a completely different person.  (Compare the photo above to this one.)

-ZOMFG liberal foodies’ heads are exploding everywhere today with the news that MICHELLE OBAMA will actually appear on Iron Chef. This was in the New York Times today, so apparently it’s not a joke.

– Click through to find out about Emeril’s new burger bistro.  Also to find out where Joe Bastianich’s 45 pounds went.

After the jump…an Olympian goes another round, Fox prepares to ruin another English import and a former Top Cheftestant goes whole hog.

– The former gold medalist will be salchowing his way through another season of What Would Brian Boitano Make starting in March of 2010.

– Gordon Ramsay to bring UK cooking show MasterChef to Fox Network, vowing to make this version significantly trashier than its British counterpart.

– Stephanie Izard of Top Chef fame piles on ten times the bacon as part of her wandering feasts in Chicago.  Seriously, can you even name a dish to which someone hasn’t tried adding bacon?

– Finally, some sad news: Troy Smith, founder of Sonic (the fast food chain, not the hedgehog), and the man who made ordering hamburgers from the driver’s seat a national obsession, has passed away at 87.