From
Laura Hahnefeld, Phoenix New Times : Who needs to watch a pizza being hand-tossed by a chef when they can watch Roberto the Pizza-Producing Robot slide it out of his exit shoot? After choosing one of four varieties (Margherita, bacon, ham, or fresh veggies), hungry-for-crap patrons watch through a window as the machine whips up flour, water, tomato sauce and fresh ingredients, makes them all nice-like into a 12-inch disc, bakes it, then delivers the whole still-looks-like-its frozen feast on a cardboard tray. Congratulations, Italy, in a wait time of only three minutes, you've found a way to single-handedly diminish your centuries-old accomplishment. Mangi!
From Eater National (
www.eater.com ): The Obamas have hosted many celebrity chefs at the White House over the past year or so. Marcus Samuelsson, Mario Batali, Emeril, Bobby Flay have all spent some time with the first family: Alice Waters even secretly swapped gardening tips with the White House staff recently. While these are all fine, fine chefs in their own right, the Obama Administration has yet to allow a real, grade-A Kulinary Gantgsta past the White House gates. Until now...
Read More.
From
Pamela Parseghian, Nation's Restaurant News : Rick Smilow, president and chief executive of the
Institute of Culinary Education, takes a look at the salaries earned by
chefs and other culinary professionals in an upcoming book called
"Culinary Careers." Nation's Restaurant News got a
sneak peek at a proof copy of the book, which offers advice on "how to
get your dream job in food." In it, Smilow writes that executive chefs
in some of the nation's top restaurants or large restaurant companies
can earn up to six-figure salaries.
Read More.
From
Time magazine : "Mario Batali turns attention back to the menuLike the lesser celebrity chefs we've all seen so much of, Mario
Batali has had it pretty good. After creating and running some of the
most successful Italian restaurants in the U.S., he has made enough
money to buy Sardinia. He's such a big TV star that even his vacations get made into TV shows.
Through his cookbooks, his magazine articles and the deathless
repetition of his various cooking programs, he has influenced the way
America cooks and eats. But like most celebrity chefs, he understands
that mere celebrity is a form of fraud, of failure. What most of them
want, more than anything else, is to be a real chef again and create
food in restaurants.
Read More
From
Krista Simmons, Los Angeles Times : On [Feb. 16], bad-boy chef Anthony Bourdain and Le Bernardin's Eric Ripert did a spot on the Martha Stewart Show to promote their new Sirius Radio program, 'Turn and Burn', which launched [Feb. 18] In addition to preparing coq au vin, Bourdain and Ripert shared their most sensual food memories - in as explicit verbiage as they could without making Martha blush, of course. 'Turn and Burn' will attempt to bring the ever-popular food porn genre onto the radio, and will also cover topics such as sustainability, at-home cooking and food ethics. The duo will host celebrity guests on the show, the first of which will be none other than famed restaurateur, chef and TV personality Mario Batali. Bourdain and Ripert will air on Martha Stewart Radio from 10:00 - 11:00 pm PT every Thursday on Sirius channel 112 and XM channel 157 through March 18."
From Bret Thorn, Nation's Restaurant News (
www.nrn.com ): NEW YORK - The James Beard Foundation has announced the 397 semifinalists in its chef and restaurant awards, which go to restaurants, chefs, restaurateurs and wine and spirits professionals across the country. This is the second year the James Beard Foundation has published the names of the semifinalists for its awards. The organization began the practice after the 2008 list was leaked. The semifinalists will be voted on by a number of regional panels of past winners, food writers and other experts.
See the list.
From
'Forbes' magazine : Our experts picked these as the most exciting recent additions to the country's dining scene.
Certainly the same could be said of Bayless' other pick, 105degrees, which is a stone's throw from a stockyard, yet serves no meat whatsoever. In fact, all the food is served raw (105 is the optimal temperature to which foods are "cooked" and served here), yet by employing creative techniques such as dehydration, diners are pleasantly surprised with creative presentations and explosive flavors.
See the list.
From
Brian Stelter of The New York Times : FOR the upfront season of advance television advertising
sales, Scripps Networks has something new to share with clients: a
second 24-hour cable channel for food lovers and the advertisers who
love them. Scripps, the owner of the Food Network, plans to turn on the Cooking Channel on
Memorial Day , May 31, this year, enhancing its position in the category of kitchen
programming. Before meetings with advertisers, the company is
announcing half a dozen series for the channel on Friday, including new
ones starring
Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray. It might as well be called Food Network, the Sequel.
Read More
From
Sam Sifton of The New York Times : A tough loss for New York pizza supremacy, as Pizzeria Bianco of
Phoenix has been awarded the title Best Pizza in America by the
magazine Every Day With Rachael Ray, according to Lois Najarian
O’Neill, a publicist for the television personality. Ms. Ray
commissioned the Serious Eats founder Ed Levine and his Slice blog
compatriot Adam Kuban to conduct the competition, which involved their
eating at some 64 pizzerias across the United States.
Read More
New York, NY (February 8, 2010) – Today, the James Beard Foundation announced the five honorees for the 2010
James
Beard Foundation Awards America’s Classics category. The America’s Classics award is given to restaurants with timeless
appeal, beloved for quality food that reflects the character of their community – from small, regional restaurants, watering holes
and shacks, to lunch counters and down-home eateries that have carved out a special place on the American culinary
landscape. This year’s five America’s Classics honorees will be celebrated at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, the
nation’s most prestigious recognition program honoring professionals in the food and beverage industries, in an awards
ceremony taking place on Monday, May 3, 2010 at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.
Read about the winners.