"Tim Love" news and stories

When the Steelers meet the Packers, Italy meets Texas, and Mario Batali meets Tim Love, there's going to be a wild Spaghetti Western throwdown that isn't exactly a Sergio Leone movie (although Batali and Love in Stetsons is something we'd like to see). The boy from Babbo and the lad from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro are co-chairing a Dallas Super Bowl Weekend party on February 4th which, with cocktails, dinner, cooking demos, silent and live auctions, and a cast of characters that includes mad-dog chefs Guy Fieri and Emeril Lagasse, is going to be hotter than Austin in August.

Plus, the Spaghetti Western, which may blow the roof off Tim Love's Love Shack S07, is a benefit for the Mario Batali Foundation (supporting children's education, food, and health programs) and the Moyer Foundation's Camp Erin (a camp that helps children in bereavement). Jamie Moyer, MLB pitcher and founder of the foundation with his wife, Karen) will also be on hand, as will Texas Ranger Tommy Hunter.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• The King of Texas graciously shares his tips for grilling steak.
• Giada remains svelte by eating whenever she wants -- you can too.
• Enjoy these cupcakes instead of the hackneyed wedding cake.
• The Best New Chefs bring it at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic.
• Pepino el Pyu is the perfect Colorado cocktail.
• Exclusive, revealing shots of the Voltaggio twins.
• Even chefs can rough it in tents.

A few of the best links on the Web this week:

• Butcher parties are the latest trend in date night activities.
• Ben & Jerry's has committed to converting all flavors to Fair Trade Ceritified by 2013.
• How do high-end chefs feel about kids at their tables? Pretty good.
• Would you pass Foodie 101? Try your luck at the top ten most mispronounced food words.
• Chef Tim Love sounds off on bacon overkill.

In uncertain times, we count on simple pleasures: Home cooking, unemployment checks and the heady mix of ego, chutzpah and alcohol-fueled drama we have come to anticipate from "Top Chef."

So when Bravo announced that "Top Chef Masters," the show's latest iteration (hosted by Kelly Choi, right), would be given over to established culinary superstars, fans had reason to worry: Would decorum and professionalism win out over brash experimentation? Would upstart bickering be replaced by upper-crust camaraderie? Would the fauxhawk go the way of the dodo?

The answer after the inaugural hour is a qualified "yes." But what "Top Chef Masters" loses in amateur hour enthusiasm it gains in hyper-astute commentary. It is a knowing look at what it means to be a celebrity chef in an era when celebrity chefs are often made overnight on cable TV. Every week, by stripping four different "masters" of their sous chefs, sommeliers and Cuisinarts -- in one instance forcing them to make do with nothing more than a dorm room's toaster oven, microwave and hot plate -- it resets the bar for gourmet ingenuity.

Read on to learn about the Girl Scout mafia's dessert tastes and prosciutto-popcorn risotto.

Every now and then I get a hankering for something truly decadent. The past few days I was lamenting the loss of Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in NYC. I first met Tim on the set of Iron Chef America and he invited Joe Distefano and me back to his restaurant after the show.

We sat down at the bar and had a quick shot of icy Tuaca liqueur (one of Tim and his crew's favorite tipples that they had done shots of every 15 minutes during the filming of the 60 minute contest part of the show) and ordered Jalapeno Margarita's and Prairie Butter. Prairie Butter is Tim's take on roasted marrow bones. He takes Buffalo marrow bones, sprinkles them with a mix of South-Western spices, roasts them, and serves them with flatbread and a roasted pepper chutney.

Well, the restaurant is closed now, and Tim is back to Texas at his original Lonesome Dove Bistro, but I am stuck craving those marrow bones. I don't know what spices he used so I have come up with my own recipe. Every few months I buy a bunch of bones and get set for a truly great meal.

Here's my recipe for South-Western Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

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