"TV" news and stories

Beloved Anthony Bourdain, in his show "No Reservations", hops back on the tube tonight, with a season premiere that looks pretty darn delicious -- and fattening -- if this preview video is to be believed.

In it, Tony tucks into a 12-inch-long Chilean hot dog covered with sauerkraut, guacamole and an avert-thine-eyes-health-care-professionals incredible slop of mayo. His thoughts? "I don't know whether to eat this thing or conceal it in a brown paper bag."

We can't wait.

[Via Youtube]

It's amazing what a couple of rabbit ears will pick up, and it pays to do a little futzing around with the remote to sample the bevy of weird and wonderful channels and sub-channels blazing through the airwaves in all their pixelated glory.

Case in point: "The Dotch Cooking Show." This little gem of Japanese pop culture may have ended in 2007, but it lives on thanks to Los Angeles' KSCI-TV channel 18.2 -- not to mention online, in countless YouTube clips and less-than-legal downloads.

America's cook-off shows seem downright sleep-inducing by comparison. As TV spectacles go, Dotch occupies a space somewhere between the loose, tipsy fun of the celebrity-studded '70s staple "The Match Game" and the free-wheeling nuttiness of "Peewee's Playhouse."

Tomorrow night on Top Chef, Gail Simmons has a special surprise for the Chef'testants. She's throwing her girlfriend a bridal shower and they are cooking!

Creating a menu around the old maxim:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

... should be no trouble for the teams (Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue ... where's Sixpence?).

The only problem is, some of them don't look too excited to be Gail Simmons' personal chefs. Isn't this supposed to be a competition, not a service?

The episode airs tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 10th, at 10/9c on Bravo with guest judge Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine Magazine.

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Bravo's Top Chef has cooked up a Restaurant Finder website.

Who better to tell you where to eat than the Top Chef chefs? You can type in the cuisine you desire and a city to get listings and reviews, or browse each chef's personal picks!

Some restaurants are recommended by multiple chefs, like Alinea in Chicago, which is recommended by Stephen, Radhika, Harold, and Tre. Their plugs for the restaurant even include "must eat" items. That's right. Top Chef even tells you what to order!

Stop bossing us around, Top Chef, jeez.

The new season of Bravo's Top Chef begins next Wednesday, November 12th, at 10/9 Central, and features new judge Toby Young, food critic and best-selling author of the book How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

More info here at BravoTV.com.

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I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for the return of Iron Chef Japan. Well here it is! It's not going to be on Food Network anymore though. Nope, now you'll be able to catch it on the Fine Living channel.

Starting on May 5, you can watch all of the amazing craziness of Iron Chef Japan every week night at 11pm. In the meantime, you can indulge your Iron Chef craving by watching some video clips, you know, just to tide you over til next week.

Even though I really love Iron chef America, I'm glad that the original is coming back on the air. There really is not much on TV like it, unless you know where to catch Most Extreme Elimination challenge. You can't beat the secret ingredients, the sweat, the dubbing and ,of course, the original Chairman!