Top Chef - - Page 22

by BS

Last Supper: ES Staff Picks

We asked what you’d pick as your last meal on earth, so we figure fair is fair, we might as well share our own. Think you can do better? Send your funniest/best/most salivating last supper menu to contests@endlesssimmer.com, and you’ll be in the running for the biggest Top Chef prize pack ever.

80 proof: Start the meal off with a nice plate of twelve mozzarella sticks. Then move on to a large pepperoni pizza, a 2-liter regular coke, and a side order of Bojangles chicken supreme combo (chicken strips, fries, tea).

BS: A buttered filet mignon, an entire box of wheat thins, and vanilla ice cream with perfectly juicy strawberries. Bacon is used as a palate cleanser in between every course.

Liza: Chicken fried steak with cream gravy, macaroni and cheese, fried okra, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, and chocolate ice cream. And a delicious Pilsner! And for an appetizer (as if I didn’t put enough food down), my mom’s grilled cheese and tomato soup 🙂

TVFF: I’d have to go Italian. A nice cold spread with great cheese, olives and vegetables. Main course would be authentic spaghetti carbonara made with guanciale and a side of sauteed broccoli rabe with plenty of garlic and red pepper. For desert, a Philly-style cherry water ice.

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Maids seconded Brit and Deej’s thoughts on LA restaurant Bazaar:

As a rule modern cooks should refrain from creating membrane pockets. Membranes are usually unpleasant textures when we are confronted by them in the natural world and even more so when they are man-made vehicles for familiar tastes. Those olive juice membrane pockets sound disgusting, and I love olives.

But JoeHoya defends the ‘branes:

I’m a big fan of the olive oil spheres – I don’t remember the membrane being especially noticeable once it bursts, and the texture wasn’t as offputting as Maids assumes it might be at first.

– Summer is not feeling the new Padma Lakshmi:

After watching Top Chef Masters last night, I’m of the opinion that Kelly Choi is an inoffensive substitute for Padma… except she is too damn skinny. They’re both models, and Padma is slender, but Kelly is so thin I have trouble believing that she is even capable of eating. Just where in that torso is there room for a large intestine?

– Finally, reaching back to Bliz’ pork porn, We Are Never Full shares a sentiment Spike and Andrew would be proud of:

is it wrong to say that i have a boner? is it even more wrong to say that i’m a girl? kidding… kidding. but this is almost gross enough to turn a hard-core pig-eater into a vegan. i said ALMOST gross enough. what a post.

Thanks for playing, kids – see ya next week!

in Pig / TV 0 comments

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: But She Has Sassy Bangs!

Hey, Food Network! What the hell are you doing?

Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but I’m starting to think you blew it with the first episode of The Next Food Network Star. Did you really start off the season by eliminating the cute, perky blond who identified herself as “Housewife 2.0?” She appeals to both the guys and the girls! I just don’t think you have the right mindset. And by “mindset,” I mean the typical reality show producer technique of keeping contestants around solely because they appeal to the audience and make for plenty of news coverage. In other words, the reason they kept that marginally-talented Susan Boyle on that British show for so long. (ZING!)

In other news, we’re running another contest here at Endless Simmer. Just give us your “last meal on Earth” and you can score some bad-ass Top Chef gear. I know what you’re thinking…”another contest?!?” It’s all part of our master plan to run as many contests as your local top-40 radio station. Be sure to stop back next week to nab some tix to the monster truck rally.

Shall we smörg?

A look at the folks on the upcoming Top Chef Masters: Slashfood thinks Kelly Choi could be “the new Padma” and Eat Me Daily wonders who the hell Jay Rayner is (other than an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean, by the looks of it.)

Gordon Ramsay finds out the hard way that Australian women don’t like to be called “pigs.” Who knew?

Post-jump goodness: a video podcast worth checking out, some gratuitous meat (and a burger, too) and a new way to get your gambling fix.

in Celebs / TV 7 comments

by BS

What’s Your Last Supper?

I know some of you are revved up about The Next Food Network Star, while others are excited for this week’s premier of Top Chef Masters, but personally, I’m just waiting for Padma to come back already!

When it comes to cooking reality shows, you just can’t beat the real deal. But fortunately for addicts like me, TC is now available on DVD. You can pre-order the season five DVD right now. It includes extended interviews and never-before-seen stew room footage, which we assumes means a whole lot of drunk chef-testants. So A&E Home Entertainment, who are releasing the DVD, asked us if we would be so kind as to promote the release while giving ES-ers a chance to win Top Chef: The Cookbook, Top Chef The Computer Game (!), and Top Chef: The Cutlery Set. Wowzers! That’s a lotta Top Chef paraphernalia.

So here’s the deal: Remember the season five episode when chef-testants had to cook famous chefs’ last supper requests? We’re asking you: What would your last supper be? Tell us, in 100 words or less, what you would eat if it was the absolute last thing you could ever put in your mouth. We’ll hook the funniest entrant up with some sweet Top Chef prizes. Email your answers to contests@endlesssimmer.com

in Contests / TV 9 comments

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: On the Wings of Love

I’m not a complicated man. I’ve discussed many of my food weaknesses here on the site. For the most part, they’ve been very specific…a particular dish from a particular restaurant or a traditional recipe made in an exact way. But there is a more generic food item that gets me salivating like Pavlov’s Pup as soon as I hear the words.

Buffalo wings.

Dangle the possibility of deep fried chicken wings tossed in hot sauce (side of blue cheese dressing, please), and I’ll pretty much travel to the ends of the earth. Funny…the one place I don’t travel is the owl-mascotted restaurant chain that’s located less than a mile from my house, because Mrs. TVFF doesn’t look kindly on that establishment. Anywhere else buffalo wings appear is a place I’m going.

So when my Twitter reader started BINGing with a tweet from the local bar McGillin’s Olde Ale House — plenty of atmosphere, good food and great local microbrews — mentioning a special offer of $.25 wings, I knew what I’d be doing that evening. McGillin’s may be the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philly (since 1860), but they’re au courant with a Twitter account. Wings, twitter – you got my number, McGillin’s.

OK, enough e-drool. On to the smörg…

in Celebs / TV 7 comments

by tvff

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: A Dingo Ate My Soufflé

Food movies can be a dicey proposition. Sure, we were able to find plenty of great food movie scenes, but the truth of the matter is that there are plenty of bad food-centric movies out there. Does anybody remember Simply Irresistable? Yeah, that’s what I mean.

But I’m pretty sure that I’m going to like Julie & Julia. Why? For starters, it’s about Julia Child, who is scheduled to be canonized by the Pope any day now. Second, it stars Meryl Streep, and she’s doing an accent. I smell Oscar. And finally, I’m certain that I’ll love it because — as the trailer points out — it’s about a blogger! Once J&J takes off like gangbusters, it’s only a matter of time before Endless Simmer: The Movie. What will it be about? Who knows, but I guarantee strong language, needless violence and gratuitous nudity. Lots and lots of nudity.

Which leads me to my first point in the smörg…

– Padma Lakshmi showed up at the White House Correspondents Dinner in DC wearing a see-through dress. Really, Padma? Can’t you just cry out for attention with an overdose like every other celebrity? Photos NSFW, obviously.

– Two of our favorite food competition show runners-up, Kelsey Nixon of Next Food Network Star and Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef, are starring in a new video series for Food2.com, the new site from the Food Network folks that features all kinds of original content and social media integration.

After the jump…a less-than-rare celebrity fashion sighting, two pretty boys team up to make America skinnier and the world’s greatest chef sends out for a slice.

in Celebs / TV 2 comments

by Russell Warnick

Meeting Tom Colicchio

A few weeks back I was on vacation in Santa Monica and coincidentally so was Tom Colicchio. Well, he wasn’t on vaca but he was there to publicize his new book, ‘wichcraft. I got off the plane (Virgin America, which I think deserves its own discussion regarding their food) and immediately made my way to the Williams-Sonoma. And I was very excited.

Unfortunately this wasn’t a Q&A nor was he taking photos. The rather overly guarded store security only permitted for photos to be taken of him while signing. Boo!

But I have to say, this guy is a legend. He was very nice and answered my questions and he even asked me some. But he was most certainly intimidating, even sitting down.

‘Wichcraft is a collection of Tom’s and co-author Sizar Ortuza‘s favorite recipes from the restaurant of the same name, located in L.A., NYC and San Francisco. When I got back from my trip I decided to throw a couple of the sandwiches together for a boys brunch. They were indeed a hit, not that there was any doubt. Read about them after the jump…

in Bacon / Celebs / Cheese / Eggs / Recipe / Sandwich 6 comments

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