Aida Mollenkamp Show: FoodCrafters, Mondays at 10PM ET
Posted on Jun 01, 2010 @ 06:40PM - Add a comment
Backstory: "I was like Wizard of Oz behind the scenes and worked in a test kitchen developing recipes for six years at Chow.com. At Chow, we went from print to online. The Food Network saw me in a video and we launched the show Ask Aida. It was like [the NPR show] Car Talk but for foodies. I was like a female Alton Brown because I wanted to know the whys and the hows and was really happy when [Alton] gave me a pat on the back for my work once. The whole time, I really come into my own with my food voice in the Bay area. And being a native of California, there were all these people that weren’t getting their stories told. When the Cooking Channel said they wanted to do a show about artisans, I said, ‘This is my dream job.’ On FoodCrafters we go around the nation in search of the best artisanal products. Point raised blue cheese, I’ve roasted coffee and made kim chi. It’s been this love affair where we find all our favorite products, go make the products and come back and tell their back story.”
Meet The Stars Of The Cooking Channel: David Rocco
Aida’s Backstory: “My parents always wanted us to be renaissance people so they made us do everything and at one point I was playing three instruments and a million sports and it just got to be too much and I just needed to calm down. I thought I was going to be a ballerina and all these things and then I tore my ACL. That’s when and I focused and saw my mom in the kitchen and I was like, ‘That’s actually what I want to be doing!’ I grew up with huge Sunday meals—my mom is second generation Italian but still upheld those traditions and my step-mother is French so I was really fortunate to be raised by two very skilled home cooks. As I got into cooking, everyone thought it was just my passion. But, when I decided I wanted my passion to be my career, I think everyone was a little bit leery. I’m very analytical and I used to be a math dork in high school and won all these awards. I followed it slowly but surely. I feel like the biggest lesson I’ve learned from it is how much good you can do when you do what you love.”
Meet The Stars Of The Cooking Channel: Chuck Hughes
San Francisco High: “We finished the season of FoodCrafters at Bi Rite market in San Francisco which is my favorite market. It’s the utopia for food people—they have all local produce and perfect butcher counter. I want to die and go to heaven in Bi Rite market. I walked in there and now, San Francisco people don’t talk. We’re not a gossipy community it takes a lot to impress people. There are a lot of cynical, intellectual people and this butcher said to me, ‘I never heard such a buzz about something like the Cooking Channel and FoodCrafters.’ And in San Francisco, the devil is mass media and to see people that are cynical be excited—it’ll be interesting.”
Food Idols: “I did recipe development and recipe writing and food styling. So for food styling, I look up to Donna Hay. She inspired me to keep things very simple. For cooking, I look up to people like Jamie Oliver’s genre who are foodies but doing it in a modern way. But then there are people like Jose Andres who I would never attempt to cook their style of food but I find them very inspiring. I can remember the exact moment when I first ate [Jose Andres’] food. It’s cool when you have a completely different style but in the food community, if you’re doing it right and it’s good—I’m going to love it. The Cooking Channel pulls back the curtain a little bit and shows you whole different side to food industry.”
Meet The Stars Of The Cooking Channel - David Rocco
Posted on May 28, 2010 @ 12:28PM - Add a comment
David Rocco
Show: David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, Saturdays at 12:30PM ET
Backstory: "Dolce Vita means 'Sweet Life' and we shoot entirely in Italy. It's funny because when I was pitching the show, they would be like, 'Are you a chef?' and I’d be like, 'No – I’m Italian! It’s part of my DNA, our meals are gourmet every Sunday.' We filmed it Florence and we show how Italians incorporate food into their daily life. The simplicity of a capri salad... is it cooking? No but I call it food assembly. You have great ingredients, great mozzarella, beautiful tomatoes and olive oil and that’s it. Our show is really a hybrid of cooking, travel and lifestyle. What I’m showing is how accessible and how good Italian food is. People are really inspired when I say, 'I’m not a chef—I’m Italian.' I’ve often said that a bad cooking show can teach you how to cook but a good cooking show inspires you to want to cook. It’s that Italian philosophy of just being connected to the food, seasonal ingredients and that folklore wisdom of as much as you need or a little bit of this or that. For a foodie or food lover, Italy is one of the great culinary cultures of the world."
Meet The Stars Of The Cooking Channel : Chuck Hughes
David's Roots: "Growing up in the 70s, I was in a very Waspy, Anglo Saxon, non-Italian neighborhood in Toronto. I was embarrassed because my dad would take my old hockey sticks, cut them and use them to hold up our tomatoes in the garden. We’d be making our own wine, our own prosciutto. It was so embarrassing because I just wanted to go to school with peanut butter and jelly—not prosciutto focaccia sandwiches. And now with the Food Network and food culture—food is so in. And Italian food is so hip. As a kid I was so embarrassed. I learned to appreciate [Italian food] when I went to Italy for first time when I was seven years old. Coming back to Toronto, I almost used my culture to make friends because I would have kids over and my mom would make fresh pizza and it became like, 'Oh, the Roccos eat really well!' It was rough because my rabbit was a pet that we would eat three weeks later . . . and my friends would be like, 'Didn’t you have a bunny as a pet?' And I’d changed the subject and my mom would tell them it was chicken. It’s all what we’re used to and how we were brought up."
Food Equals Calm: "I cook all the time. I truly am passionate about food and it’s a way for me to get rid of the stresses of my day. Food is almost about connecting with G-d. I’m very artistic and it’s an outlet. I always use food to relax. If I come home after being stuck in traffic I’ll tell my wife, 'I have a headache, leave me alone—I’m going into the kitchen to cook a great meal' and she’s like, 'Okay! Go go go. Please come home with bigger headaches and more stress.'"
Family Matters: "The Sunday meal is something we grew up with. The Sunday meal was a time to eat with the grandparents. I have vivid memories of being on my grandpa’s lap and him giving me a little bit of wine with ginger ale. There's no abuse of alcohol in my family—wine is part of our culture. You don’t abuse it, you respect it. But even now—even if I don’t speak to my mom all week because I’m busy—that Sunday ritual of eating all together is about being human again and connecting with family. The TV has to be off. That one special meal a week is so important."
Meet The Stars Of The Cooking Channel
Posted on May 27, 2010 @ 05:47PM - Add a comment
The creators of the Food Network are taking a hip, cool, cutting edge approach to food and food culture when they launch the Cooking Channel on May 31st. Taking a unique and edgy approach to the food programming America craves, they’ll be airing programming “for food people by food people” that will peel back the curtain and really go behind the scenes of the culinary world. The network rolled into New York City last week to kick things off with a chic party at the Empire Hotel that was nothing short of a culinary wonderland with tastes of some of the best food around. RadarOnline.com, however, was also lucky enough to dine with three of the network’s break out stars and get a taste of the good life from each of them to share with you!
5 Ingredient Fix: Claire Robinson
Chuck Hughes
Show: Chuck's Day Off, Saturdays at 2PM ET
Backstory: "Chuck's Day Off is set in my restaurant, Garde Manger, in Montreal and what happens on my day off. I realized that I saw my bread guy every day—more than I saw my family but I had no idea what his name was. Most cooking shows are about the chef but the chef is a small portion. I have my waitress episode, fish monger, dishwasher . . . It’s all about paying respect to everyone that is there with a little wink wink to making it all happen. My show really shows cooking in a restaurant. People have a romanticized view that you’re smelling wine and doing all these tastings but the reality of it is that it’s a sh** job with long hours and no respect and you have to really love it. I’m super passionate about it and what I really love—I’m a kitchen rat."
Cooking Channel Announces What’s Cooking In 2010
Chuck's Roots: "My first cooking classes were in grade five. I was the only guy in a class of like six chicks and I was hooked. My mom was an airplane stewardess when I was a kid and she did the Montreal east coast so she used to bring back cases of lobsters, cases of shrimp, oysters . . . so we ate. I do have a passion for food and the restaurant business in itself . . . I was a busboy, I was a bartender. Opening my own restaurant was a good fit but in my mind I needed to make this legit so I went to cooking school—and failed that because I stayed at my internship instead of taking my final exam. In cooking school you learn a certain way of doing things that I think is super important but you’re not going to learn necessarily how to put good flavors together if you don’t travel, if you don’t read books, if you don’t stay open minded – you’re never going to leave that cooking school mold. If you want to learn to chop an onion it’s a great place to learn. And it’s definitely useful and there are still handful of techniques that I learned from cooking school that I still use everyday."
Catching Up with The Worst Cooks In America
Tattoo You: "I have tattoos of lobster, shrimp, arugula, lemon meringue pies . . . I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos. They’re not just for sailors and prostitutes anymore. I got my first when I was 18 or 19 and it was an addiction. For me, if I was going to put something on my body permanently – it had to be something I really loved. It’s all about food and seafood and things I like."
Check Out “Eat It” Section
Celebrity Clientele: "Jake Gyllenhaal and Kirsten Dunst come into Garde Manger all the time. Jake is a late night eater and Kirsten is more of an early bird eater, nibbler, have a few drinks kind of girl.
Vegas Uncork'd
Posted on May 10, 2010 @ 05:29PM - 2 comments
Vegas hosted the Bon Appétit Uncork’d this weekend and after all the cooking (and eating!) the party moved on to the Palazzo’s After Hours- Crushed: Wine that Rocks.
Cooking Channel Announces What’s Cooking in 2010
Kicking off the evening’s festivities at 10:00pm was a red carpet with rock star chefs and celebrities, who joked and compared notes. Celebrities and VIPs walking the carpet included: winemaker Joe Bastianich, editor in chief of Bon Appetit Barbara Fairchild, actor Chazz Palminteri from A Bronx Tale, actor Rick Faugno of Jersey Boys, actress Laura Prepon of That 70’s Show, Scott Ian of Anthrax, and Six Foot Nurse. The list of star-studded chefs in attendance was incredible as Zach Allen of Carnevino, Vince Chiyuto of Lagasse’s Stadium, Sam DeMarco of FIRST Food & Bar, Frank and Carla Pellegrino of Rao’s, Luciano Pellegrini of Valentino.
Food faddies, chefs and celebs mingled poolside at the Palazzo where of course there was MORE food, featuring signature bites from the all-star lineup at The Palazzo, including Bangin’ Mini’s from First Food and Bar Executive Chef Sam DeMarco, salumi and cheese from Executive Chef Zach Allen of Carnevino, and a Rockin' Wing Bar from Chef de Cuisine Vince Chiyuto of Lagasse's Stadium.
We may never eat again.
5 Ingredient Fix: Claire Robinson
Posted on Apr 13, 2010 @ 06:28PM - Add a comment
If there is one word to describe Claire Robinson—it's passionate! Especially when it comes to food! As the host of not one but two popular shows on The Food Network—5 Ingredient Fix (Saturdays at 12:30pm ET) and Food Network Challenge (Sundays at 8pm ET)—she's been encouraging aspiring chefs everywhere to keep things simple and not be afraid to experiment in the kitchen. We caught up with Claire for our own fix of her foodie inspired tips, tricks and inspiration!
RadarOnline.com: Where did your love of food begin?
Claire Robinson: It’s funny. Food has been such a big influence in my life since I was a little kid. I was one of those really nerdy, geeky kids. I'd come home and instead of watching Scooby-Doo, I would watch James Beard, and all those old school cooking shows like Great Chefs, Great Cities. This was before Food Network even existed. I remember when Food Network started and I thought it was just the coolest thing in the entire world. My mom said that when I was a kid, I would just live in the kitchen. I would stay there. My first word was “hot” because she was always trying to get me away from the oven.
Cooking Channel Announces What’s Cookin for 2010
RadarOnline.com: When did you start experimenting and cooking in the kitchen?
CR: My mother is kind of a hippie. She’s a surreal oil painter. So, she was very supportive of a little kid thinking, “Hey, I want to make Martha Stewart berry muffins from scratch and make a huge mess in the kitchen!" She would go and get all the ingredients for me and I would go crazy cooking. It was really great to have that freedom and for her to let me play. But, I didn’t cook as a career at first. I actually did other careers and finally I was like, “I want to do what I love most,” and quit my whole life and chased my dream.
Food Network Tastes Glamorous Life: Private Chefs of Beverly Hills
W Los Angeles-Westwood
Posted on Apr 13, 2010 @ 06:20PM - Add a comment
While Los Angeles residents may be buzzing over the new W property in Hollywood, the Westwood location of the hotel has re-polished its own jewel:
With a new look and acclaimed Executive Chef Monique King at the helm, the restaurant continues to be a cool, sophisticated space (though the cutlery cupped in the middle of the table and the TV at the middle bar is out of place with the refined setting) in which to unwind with a robust glass of wine and equally vibrant food.
The menu is set up in a way that can be tailored to any dining experience:
whether it be cocktails and appetizers, a late light meal, or a decadent repast.
The Cooking Channel Announces What's Cooking
The small plates (which recall the tradition of the Spanish tapas) pack a lot of flavor in little bites. The Roasted Brussels sprouts with smoked duck, tomato, lemon and toasted pecans are a can't miss. These Top Chef-worthy appetizers are also easy on the wallet at ten dollars per option.
The medium options continue the trend of colorful flavor profiles imaginatively brought together. From warmed brie with caramelized shallots and charred jalapeno on grilled olive bread to the grilled Caribbean shrimp with mango, arugula, caramelized plaintains and coconut curry, these dishes send your taste buds on a delightful vacation.
Santa Monica Loews Hotel
We then skipped the pizzas and went straight for the large items. The grilled lamb chops were cooked perfectly medium and the spiced flavor of the meat was perfectly balanced by the smooth poblano mashed sweet potatoes. The Cuban flat iron steak was another revelation. The caramelized plaintains (we only wish there were more!) were authentic and delightful and the steak was tender and moist.
While the food is good for the tummy and the soul, it is apparently also good for the economy and environment. The restaurant supports local farms, sustainable seafood, and uses organic products when possible.
Overall, the food is a colorful array of inventive food that has a delicious touch of whimsy and the restaurant is a warm, inviting place for good conversation and for a good meal.
