Celebrity Chefs

Slather On The SPF4,000 And Go To The Nasher

Win Free VIP Tickets To Iron Fork

Update: We've selected two winners based on funny: BeSly, who offed Paula Deen by stuffing her with icing using a CO2 charged ISI Gourmet Whip, and Tyler Kitchens, who takes issue with Giada's pronunciation of LEE-MUN-CHELL-OH. If we can't get a hold of them we'll dial up some new winners. Thanks fo ... More >>

The Death of the Star System

"Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air gives the hotel a serious restaurant and the chef an ideal California spot." How many stars is that? The Los Angeles Times recently ditched its star rating system. Russ Parsons, the food editor at the Times, says the system is dated, especially considering the rapi ... More >>

Who Will Build Dallas' Best Meatball Hoagie?

Flickr​This week in The New York Times, Pete Wells reviews someplace called Parm. His intro points out the lack of coverage food snobs give Italian-American cooking -- red-sauce pasta on red-checkered table cloths -- despite that it's a prominent comfort food for millions of Americans. That's ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain's Playlist: Sippin' on Gin and Juice, and That Better Be Fresh-Squeezed

Anthony Bourdain recently created an iTunes Celebrity Playlist. And what does a playlist say about a person? Everything. It's their soul on paper. Bourdain isn't necessarily shy though, case evidence being his current media scuffle with Paula Deen. So it's no surprise that the unruly Ramones hea ... More >>

Mario Batali and Jon Stewart Demonstrated How to Chew Food for Other People Last Night

On last night's Daily Show, John Stewart and Mario Batali schooled us on Super PACs in a way that will be forever seared in our minds. If my poli sci teacher used even an ounce of this type of imagery, who knows where I'd be now. (Working for a Super PAC, presumably.)

Rachael Ray Visits Mariano's; No Word Whether She Stenciled Her Face on the Bathroom Wall

Rachael Ray thinks you're quirky, Dallas. She thinks you're friendly, too. Below you'll find a clip from Rachael Ray's Food Network show, Tasty Travels. You know the drill -- lots of gesticulation, hand gestures, eye rolling and Rachael Ray's crazy intonation. She visits Mariano's and re-hashes the ... More >>

Guy Fieri Sightings: Lunch at Chop House Burgers in Arlington, Then Dough Pizzeria for Dinner

Dough Pizzeria Dallas​As Scott wrote about last week, Guy Fieri is in town to shoot episodes for his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives at Maple and Motor and Pecan Lodge. We caught word that they also filmed at Chop House Burgers in Arlington yesterday. I called Chef Kenny Mills today. "I'm ... More >>

"I Am a Whore," and Other Things Anthony Bourdain Said in Dallas Last Night

​Not even Game 6 of the World Series could keep local food fetishists from getting their Anthony Bourdain fix last night. The author-speaker-cook-TV-host-and-more took the Majestic stage to a nearly packed house last night, for a talk and Q and A sponsored by City of Ate. (Read my interview wi ... More >>

Wolfgang Puck Continues Downtown Catering Siege: Another Reason We Need Food Trucks

​Wolfgang Puck strikes again in downtown Dallas, announcing a catering deal with the upcoming Museum of Nature and Science. A lengthy press release details plans for two dining concepts that in tandem "will accommodate almost every budget and need." The museum isn't scheduled to open until 201 ... More >>

Top Chef: Texas is Official; Emeril Lagasse and Hugh Acheson Will Judge

Emeril: Top Chef's new jurist.​Official word just came from Bravo: The next season of Top Chef will be set in Texas. You already knew that if you've been following any number of blogs, including City of Ate, where we broke the story that the state will shell out an estimated $400,000 to see ... More >>

Ten Things I Learned at the American Culinary Federation Convention, Starring Alton Brown

Alton Brown doesn't age. Maybe it's all that salt?​I came to the ACF National Convention hungry and clearly wearing the wrong outfit. Surrounded by "white coats," as chefs are called in the industry, I walked conspicuously through the crowd in my street clothes, making a beeline for Food Netwo ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain's Coming to the Majestic

​This just in: Chef, novelist (and Bone in the Throat is highly recommended) and TV-show host Anthony Bourdain's booked a gig at the city-run Majestic Theater in October, with tickets going on sale this Friday. The full release follows, but long story short: "Bourdain will spend the evening sharin ... More >>

The Lodge's Jose Luis Nieto Talks Spices and Cooking for Bobby Flay

Taryn WalkerSee more of the Lodge's food in the slideshow.​In the third part of our Q & A with Jose Luis Nieto, executive chef of The Lodge, he muses on everything from his favorite television chef, his kitchen tools of choice, to what herbs and spices he couldn't live without. Who are your ... More >>

A Rock-ing Good Meal

Taryn WalkerSee more of the Lodge's food in the slideshow.​In the third part of our Q & A with Jose Luis Nieto, executive chef of The Lodge, he muses on everything from his favorite television chef, his kitchen tools of choice, to what herbs and spices he couldn't live without. Who are your ... More >>

A Very Tasty Documentary: A Matter of Taste -- Serving Up Paul Liebrandt

HBO probes a food genius in A Matter of Taste -- Serving Up Paul Liebrandt.​Chef Paul Liebrandt is one of those maverick foodies who elicits equal parts admiration and dissent, love, fear and loathing in his equally distributed coterie of fans and detractors. To his adherents, he is that proto ... More >>

Ristorante Nicola's Luigi Iannuario on Paula Deen and How to Spoil a Good Book

Ristorante Nicola executive chef Luigi Iannuario.​Born in Milan, chef Luigi Iannuario believes that the best way to know your way around a kitchen is to experience all kinds of kitchens. That's why he's made it a point to do it all -- resorts, hotels, a Michelin-rated restaurant, an internatio ... More >>

Chef Erron Star Depew: It's OK When She Slices at TopGolf

Erron Star Depew, up to par in TopGolf's kitchen.​Erron Star Depew is the chef at the new TopGolf location in Allen. Yes, you heard me right. Chef. TopGolf. Allen. Just because folks are swinging clubs doesn't mean they don't want to eat well too. At least that's what Depew figured when she cr ... More >>

A Guy's Guy: Food Network's Fieri is Awesome, Dude

Food NetworkYou go, Guy.​There may be no other Food Network personality worthy of not just one but, count 'em, two Screen Bites reviews than Guy Fieri. Already the raucous center of a previous appreciation of his kitchen-bound program, Guy's Big Bite, which single-handedly proved that Fieri p ... More >>

Before She Competes on MasterChef, We Talk Food With The Polyphonic Spree's Jennie Kelley

Courtesy of FOXThe Polyphonic Spree's Jennie Kelley, as you'll soon see her on Master Chef.​ Jennie Kelley has been a member of the choir in Dallas' super-happy Polyphonic Spree collective since its Beginning Stages..., but, these days, music is taking a backseat to another passion of hers. After ... More >>

Five Food Shows Ready to Have a Fork Stuck in Them

Food Network Humor​After 12 years of growing grouchier and more haggard, Alton Brown announced a few weeks ago that he's putting Good Eats out to pasture. Presumably, he's ditching science class for something more lucrative, like Welch's grape juice and the warmed-over Iron Chef: America, leav ... More >>

Emeril's Road(kill) Show

Don't give a damn if he ain't got that "Bam!"​The food television world has officially tilted off its precise axis. Emeril Lagasse, the original food television über star, the Spencer Tracy of all cathode-ray cuisine -- in his new program, The Originals with Emeril -- has been officially stri ... More >>

An Apology to Wylie Dufresne

Great food, Wylie Dufresne. Sorry about the whole "shitter" thing.​Dearest Wylie Dufresne, You, sir, are The Shit. And by that, I mean the amazing The Shit, not the actual shit The Shit. The food that I watched you create and serve up last week at wd~50 in Manhattan was otherworldly. If you ... More >>

Six Letdowns at the James Beard Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards

Bite us, Jimmy.​Not sure if you guys heard, but this year City of Ate picked up a nomination from the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards for Group Food Blog, and I was nominated in the Humor category for a feature story we did on fried hamsters. Awesome! We City of Aters were so excited, ... More >>

Too Much Drawlin', Paula

Food NetworkPaula Deen​It may risk a certain level of blasphemy, or more likely be a "duh" revelation, to say Paula Deen is one of food television's most grating on-screen presences. This is, perhaps, a politically incorrect conclusion to draw, given the travails she's faced throughout her s ... More >>

The Bestest of The Best Thing I Ever Ate

​One of my pet peeves about most cooking shows is how often a program's uber-foodies -- from the four-star guys in the starchy aprons to the home cooks who've lucked into a spot on television -- are reluctant to express any real emotion about how much they love the actual taste of good food. ... More >>

Canada's Answer to Julia Child? "Mais non" (Not)

Laura Calder​Whether it's intended or not really doesn't matter: The minute a cooking program dubs itself French Food at Home and offers up a chef trying to be as understated, quirkily charming, yet educational as, yes, la grande dame d'American French cooking -- Julia Child -- it's setting it ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain Sort Of Responds to City of Ate Post

The question of whether an awards competition designed to confer legitimacy upon food writing should honor a writer who doesn't have an editor, discernible code of ethics or known identity has reached Anthony Bourdain -- and he's seized upon the occasion to condemn food writers everywhere. ​C ... More >>

Chopped All-Stars: A Cut Above the Rest

Food NetworkRobert Irvine wields a blade.​I've watched enough of the regular episodes of Food Network's Chopped to see through its paint-by-numbers plotting. Within the first couple of minutes of an average episode, I can all but predict which aspiring chef, caterer or cooking instructor, wres ... More >>

Jamie Oliver's Great Escape

Jamie Oliver at Athens​From the moment my inner ear first caught a bit of Jamie Oliver's East End, London, accent, with its gargled consonants and street urchin patois (he's the Artful Dodger with a frying pan) I was hooked. I've always considered Oliver to be a cut above most of the air-bru ... More >>

A Southern Thing

Jamie Oliver at Athens​From the moment my inner ear first caught a bit of Jamie Oliver's East End, London, accent, with its gargled consonants and street urchin patois (he's the Artful Dodger with a frying pan) I was hooked. I've always considered Oliver to be a cut above most of the air-bru ... More >>

Top 7 Most Irritating Food Commericals

Ritz Hey Guy, how 'bout never driving your exhaust spewing Ritz truck near our food. Capeesh? ​It's been a long day. You're at home watching Top Chef. After three-to-four minutes of actual show, you get an ad blitz (Yes, this scenario implies you don't have TiVo).There's the ad where Burger King's ... More >>

Game On -- Down Home With the Neelys: "First and Ten" and "Game Night"

Food NetworkGina and Pat Neely​It almost risks redundancy for the 1,000-kilowatt cooking couple of Gina and Pat Neely to do any kind of Super Bowl-related show. Since, by all outward appearances, each of their cooking shows seems choreographed to climax with a whoopin' and hollerin' game-style ... More >>

Kitchen of Champions

Food NetworkGina and Pat Neely​It almost risks redundancy for the 1,000-kilowatt cooking couple of Gina and Pat Neely to do any kind of Super Bowl-related show. Since, by all outward appearances, each of their cooking shows seems choreographed to climax with a whoopin' and hollerin' game-style ... More >>

Tired of Cowboy Chow? Try the Short Rib & Shishito Pepper Hash At Craft.

​If you're in town for the Big Game and want to know if Big D features anything other than barbecue and chicken-fried steak, head down the Dart Green Line to superstar national chef Tom Colicchio's Craft and enjoy an elegant brunch, featuring Short Rib and Shishito Pepper Hash. Served with two ... More >>

Super Bowl Week: Charities Ride the Hype

​Dallas is going to see more than an infestation of football fans this week. In honor of the big game, groups are putting their best philanthropy out there. The Event: Leading Ladies Spectacular The Cause: Genesis Women's Shelter This year, the Leading Ladies' philanthropy spilled over into t ... More >>

Couch Potato: What Is It With This Guy?

Matthew McConaughey (left) and Guy Fieri​Everything about Guy Fieri is big and boisterous, and has been that way ever since he walked off a winner in the Food Network's second season of the Next Food Network Star. His voice's volume and rasp call to mind an overworked cattle-auctioneer. His sh ... More >>

Chef Tell: Finally.

​Real quick, here's a breakdown of last night's Top Chef All Stars so I can get to the point (the real point): There was no Quickfire. The chefs woke up at the ass-crack and drove to Montauk for a four-hour fishing trip. They were split into four teams of three and the goal was to catch as many fi ... More >>

Jeff Harris Takes His Craft Elsewhere as Tom Colicchio Calls Up Tim Bevins to Run Kitchen

Photo by Robert BostickJeff Harris, back when he worked at Craft, like, a few weeks ago​Just three months ago we ran that three-parter about Jeff Harris, executive chef at Tom Colicchio's Craft at the W in Victory Park. But Craft sends word this afternoon that Harris has departed, leaving in charg ... More >>

Think Cupcakes Are Over? Tell it to Gigi.

Photos by Kristy YangGina "Gigi" Butler: With God and frosting on her side, anything is possible.​Dallas' love affair with cupcakes continues. The force is strong in those miniature desserts, and a new aspirant has thrown its hat into the oven. And after having met the queen bee of the newest ... More >>

Rachael Ray is Back and Surprisingly Appetizing

​Rachael Ray's new program, Week in a Day, on the equally fresh Cooking Channel, makes for surprisingly pleasant -- and informative -- viewing. Confession: Despite Ray's vaunted status as one of the original founding chefs, along with Emeril, of the original Food Network, I've always found h ... More >>

Chef Tell: All Stars Is All Drama

www.bravotv.com​After the bigotry in the rear-view mirror that made Dallas' involvement with Top Chef Just Desserts not so sweet, last night's debut of Top Chef All Stars was so very freakin' awesome. There was drama, there was silliness, there was attitude, there was skill, there was fright...and ... More >>

Chef Daniele Puleo on Surfing Trends
While Staying True to Heart

Daniele Puleo​Chef Daniele Puleo and his fiancée are having dinner when we arrive at Daniele Osteria. When I called to let him know we're stuck in traffic, he tells me to take my time. "We'll go ahead and order," he says. I don't know who he's talking about at the time. But I am nervous to di ... More >>

So You Think You Can Cook: MasterChef Dishes Up a Chance to Embarrass Yourself

And here's what Gordon Ramsay thinks of your tuna casserole.​A recent City of Ate post announcing Food Network's upcoming Dallas casting call has been hanging around in the most-viewed story list this week, so y'all are probably keen to learn about another chance for TV stardom. MasterChef, t ... More >>

The Scariest Thanksgiving Food Pile Ever

foodnetwork.com via Random Good StuffHope your Thanksgiving didn't look like this. Or maybe it did, after you blended all the leftovers.​You may have already guessed what this is: Yes, this "pie" is a Paula Deen creation. The only thing more disturbing than the creamy pile in the photo of Paul ... More >>

Wreath It Up

foodnetwork.com via Random Good StuffHope your Thanksgiving didn't look like this. Or maybe it did, after you blended all the leftovers.​You may have already guessed what this is: Yes, this "pie" is a Paula Deen creation. The only thing more disturbing than the creamy pile in the photo of Paul ... More >>

Quizzing Brownstone's Casey Thompson
On her Idols, Dead Trends and her Last Meal

Casey Thompson​Yesterday, we gave you an in-depth profile of Casey Thompson, Top Chef star, former executive chef at Shinsei and currently parking her toque at Fort Worth's Brownstone. Today, we lob a few questions her way, yielding such important personal tidbits as her fondness for The King ... More >>

Craft Dresses Up Menu with a Charity Favorite; Tom Colicchio May Return

Chef Jeff Harris' cavatelli, version 1.0, before it was dressed up with duck and foie gras.​Charitable contributions aren't the only good thing emerging from the bushel of culinary benefits being held this month. Chef Jeff Harris last weekend created a duck cavetelli with Swiss chard and foie ... More >>

Making a List: Who's Been Naughty
Or Nice on the Web?

Gosh, and we wonder why meat-eaters so often make fun of vegans.​As any web editor will tell you, the best way to up the "viewage" is a daily list. People love lists. Five Ways to Hack a McRib and Six Things to Do with Disturbing Halloween Candy proved this theory. My pitch for Top Five Sauces ... More >>

Hot Dish

Gosh, and we wonder why meat-eaters so often make fun of vegans.​As any web editor will tell you, the best way to up the "viewage" is a daily list. People love lists. Five Ways to Hack a McRib and Six Things to Do with Disturbing Halloween Candy proved this theory. My pitch for Top Five Sauces ... More >>