In a welcome respite from subpar airport fare, "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto is partnering with hospitality and food service company Delaware North to provide fast-casual eateries serving Japanese bar food in airports across the country.
The bistros, appropriately titled Skewers, will serve an assortment of yakitori -- skewered grilled or deep-fried meats and vegetables -- served with rice bowls for portable consumption, as well as soups and salads. The restaurants' settings would take the form of two different models -- a take-out counter and a traditional sit-down approach -- and both would feature open kitchens.
According to Vito Buscemi, director of Concept Portfolio for Delaware North, the line has "great menu variety and great presentation -- all the meats and vegetables are grilled right in front of you. It's very quick, convenient and healthy, and we think it's going to have mass appeal."
Strawberry gelato and sweet-pea sformato. Photo: Sara Bonisteel.
StarChefs, the "magazine for culinary insiders," celebrated New York's "Rising Stars" on Tuesday with a gala tasting in New York City.
Slashfood popped in to check out the fare and gaze at culinary stars like honoree and "Top Chef" Season One winner Harold Dieterle and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto (whose New York restaurant Chef Jamison Blankenship was honored and whipped up a bouillabaisse) as well as Babyface (who knew the hitmaker was a foodie?).
Del Posto's pastry chef, Brooks Headley, paired pea shoots with strawberry gelato, while mixologist Maxwell Britten made Gingerbutter Collins with scotch whiskey. Best overheard conversation of the night: "She puts bacon in everything now, even chocolate chip cookies." We'll have to try that.
Today the steely, dry-humored Maggie Ruggiero (the woman behind an astounding fried cubano) faces off against bald-pated Ian Knauer, who pulls the cross-armed, stern smackdown stance off rather better. The ingredient du jour? Avocado, sweet and savory. The savory dishes both have a certain Asian flair and the sweet (shown above) basically blew our minds and made us want to go use a blowtorch on everything in our kitchen cabinets. Avocado marshmallow on a stick?! Maggie, let's be friends. Ian, not to be outdone, turns out a gorgeous avocado creme brulée.
The two share a window through which they taunt one another, like a modern day Statler and Waldorf. Maggie on Ian: "Razzle dazzle; flash in the pan ... [I'm] someone who enjoys eating food and not just playing with it." Ian on Maggie: "We were born on the same day. She's a little older than I am. She's got experience on her side. I have youth." Oh, snap! Check the video, vote and let us know who you think owned it.
Next week, we'll get to see the best of the best try to best each other.Iron Chef Japan, one of our favorites, is having a civil war on Fine Living Network! It's Grand Battle Week!
Five Iron Chef Japan chefs, including Morimoto, will battle it out against each other every night at 11pm Eastern for Grand Battle Week, December 8-12.
Fine Living Network is doing an excellent job of feeding our Iron Chef Japan addiction. Our favorite so far was Attack of the Vegetables week when they aired "Cooking Japanese Like Morimoto," an ingenious cover of "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors.
Here's how the Google translator says Grand Battle Week in Japanese.
????????
And here are some other things it says:
Slash Food: ???????
I Haven't Changed My Facebook Status in Hours: ???????Facebook???????????????
They're slippery. They're slimy. And they're alive.
This coming week, Fine Living Network will be airing episodes of our favorite Iron Chef Japanin which creatures of the deep are battled every night at 11/10 Central. Watch as these chefs attack and cook living sea creatures in a way that makes you wonder if you're a bad person for watching. This is an excellent week for anyone who hasn't had enough Halloween, or likes Animal Planet and wishes Japanese chefs could be involved.
Not for the squeamish, these squirmy seafoods do get slaughtered right in front of your very eyes. Mother nature would be proud watching the food chain established so aggressively, but your mother might think you need therapy. You be the judge!
Cooking Japanese I think I'm cooking Japanese like Morimoto!
Sing it with me.
Cooking Japanese I think I'm cooking Japanese like Morimoto!
Fine Living Network is featuring Iron Chef Japan nightly at 11pm and grouping episodes into themed weeks. This week is Attack of the Vegetables Week! Definitely a must-see. Japan has some crazy-cool vegetables to begin with, and watching them get cooked up on Iron Chef is guaranteed to please.
Attack of the Vegetables Week starts Monday, October 20th, and my guess is that this song will still be in your head.
Remember that YouTube clip of the upcoming Iron Chef America game for the Wii that Shayna shared back in March? Well, now we've got more solid details about what faces have made it from the transition between show and game, courtesy of Eater.
Mario Batali and Masaharu Morimoto are definitely in. (Check out their Mii versions through the Eater link.) Batali says: "I'm delighted to be involved with Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. My video game counterpart is as passionate and competitive in the virtual Kitchen Stadium as I am in real life, and I think the participation of Chef Morimoto and I adds a great level of authenticity to the game."
But what about the other guys? Alton Brown, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, and new Iron Chef Michael Symon? They are curiosly missing from the press release, but if you check out that cover to the right, it certainly looks like at least Cora and Brown are involved. Since Flay ISN'T on the cover, I assume that means he's not a part of this.
We'll know for sure soon enough -- the game hits shelves this fall.
Marisa told you a couple of months ago about Dinner: Impossible chef/host Robert Irvine losing his job because he embellished his resume just a tad (he lied about his experience, including a tiny fib about, um, doing Princess Di's wedding cake). Now the Food Network show has named a new host.
Michael Symon will be the new guy who comes into people's homes to help them with their cooking and tackles crazy food challenges. Not only is Symon one of the Iron Chefs of the network, he actually won the Next Iron Chef competition. The new shows will start airing this summer.
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.
According to a little tidbit of info over at the New York Post, chef Mario "Orange Clogs" Batali won't be back at the Food Network.
"Sources" say that executives at the Food Network did not renew any of chef Batali's contracts, which include his own show "Molto Mario," and a spot as an Iron Chef on "Iron Chef America."
Guess that means we'll only be able to catch the Italian chef on his new show touring Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow on PBS this fall.
Either that, or in person at one of his bazillion Italian-themed restaurants in New York, Los Angeles (Mozza!), and Las Vegas.
Remember that show on the FoodNetwork in which Mario Batali and a sidekick toured Italy? Well, this October and November, Mario is taking his orange clogs for a culinary tour of Spain. His sidekick this time, though, is actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
According to an interview with Gwyneth in W magazine (the one with the cover shot where she most definitely doesn't look like herself), she offered to go with the Iron Chef, who asked if she was joking. She wasn't. Gwyneth spent many a childhood summer in Spain, and apparently, will "eat all that stuff. The crazy fish things, the eels." The only things she won't eat are beef and pork products, which is such a shame. How do you go to Spain and not eat Jamon Iberico?
I don't know about you, but I'm excited for the show to air on PBS. Gwyneth's voice is a little annoying to me, but I adore Chef Batali.
Yes, I know. It's been a week since the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books took over the UCLA campus and spewed all kinds of bookishness to the masses, but I have to say that it probably took me that long to recover from the crowds, controlled chaos, and crazy heat of the event.
I wasn't there for anything but the chef demonstrations on the Cooking Stage, and to be perfectly honest, I was really only there to see LA son Govind Armstrong (Table 8 restaurant) and my favorite Queer Guy, Ted Allen. However, I have to say that I was somewhat surprised by how much I enjoyed Cat Cora. Granted, I am always a sucker for a lady chef, especially one who can hold her own in Kitchen Stadium, but I didn't think I would be so taken with how cute she is, her charming accent, and the fact that she has personality without bubbling over into an annoying mess like some Food Network stars we know.
Bobby Flay has an impressive list of titles including famed chef, television personality, Iron Chef on the Food Network, and author of several cookbooks. He also runs a group of restaurants including Bolo and Bar Americain in New York City, Mesa Grill located in both New York and Las Vegas, and Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City. Today, Flay is opening a third Mesa Grill, located in the Bahamas at the Cove Atlantis - marking his first business venture outside of the United States.
Widely known for his Southwestern cuisine, Bobby Flay is apparently excited about mixing his signature style with ingredients and flavors of the Caribbean, and will be serving dishes such as Bahamian Spiced Chicken Skewers with Yogurt Cilantro Sauce, Crispy Squid and Cracked Conch Salad with Orange-Chipotle Vinaigrette, and Bahamian Lobster Tail with Red Chile-Coconut Sauce and Green Chile Rice. Sounds pretty delicious to me.
The restaurant, according to the Cove Atlantis webpage, overlooks beaches and the Atlantic Ocean and features vibrant colors, Southwestern motifs, and an auburn and white cow print on the dining chairs. The bar "features a terrazzo and sea shell counter with backlit glass and embedded goatskin, flanked by columns of river rock."
Not to leave any possible stone unturned, it seems that the Food Network has plans to expand their reality television horizons this fall as they conduct a search for The Next Iron Chef. Though details are very limited at this point, the show will apparently be hosted by Iron Chef's own Alton Brown, and the contestants will be culinary professionals hoping to become one of the shows celebrity Iron Chefs alongside the current roster of Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cat Cora.
Though a number of old shows have been weeded out, The Food Network has enjoyed increased viewership over the past few years and are working on introducing even more new content to their regular line-up, including "America's Best Recipe" - where everyday cooks compete for best recipe in various categories, as well as "Food Dudes", which will follow two young "scruffy" chefs from Hollywood as they run their catering business.
It seems as though the days of one (highly trained) chef standing behind a counter preparing meals are definitely numbered.
These days, advertising tends to be on a very obvious (superliminal) level. By this, I mean that most broadcasters make no effort to conceal the fact that they're being paid (or compensated in some way) to promote a product. The show Top Chef, for example, frequently refers to the "Kenmore kitchen" provided by its sponsors and repeatedly uses brand names from other companies. This type of advertising really gets a brand name out into the public arena, but some still believe that sneakier tactics are in order to get the public to try their products and would prefer to use subliminal advertising than superliminal, believing that the subconscious mind has a greater impact on human behavior.
This YouTube video clip reveals an example of subliminal advertising that a viewer found on the Food Network during a broadcast of Iron Chef America. The ad, which is for McDonald's, is only about one frame of film long, but is still noticeable to the conscious mind as a red flash on the screen.
Of course, it could have been a broadcasting glitch and not a purposefully placed advertisement. But that might just be what they want you to think....
Remember that YouTube clip of the upcoming Iron Chef America game for the Wii that Shayna shared back 
Marisa told you a couple of months ago about Dinner: Impossible chef/host Robert Irvine 
According to a little tidbit of info over at the New York Post, chef Mario "Orange Clogs" Batali won't be back at the Food Network. 
Bobby Flay has an impressive list of titles including famed chef, television personality, Iron Chef on the Food Network, and author of several cookbooks. He also runs a 
Not to leave any possible stone unturned, it seems that the Food Network has plans to expand their reality television horizons this fall as they conduct a search for 
10 More Dirty Restaurant Tricks
5 Things You Didn't Know About Turducken
10 Catchiest Food Jingles We Love to Hate
