["The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 2]

I've had a problem with Rocco's stated purpose about the place all along, this stuff about not being proud of his Italian heritage, how he felt like he was looked down upon.  I grew up in the Northeast, and yes, there's prejudice there as everywhere.  But Italians and Italian-Americans are pretty well accepted.  And Italian-American food is one of the favorites of people who won't touch ethnic cuisine.  So it really smacked of insincerity to me.  Or maybe it was just Rocco himself.  Nothing wrong with saying, "I'm doing red-sauce Italian cause it's my mother to me and it's a straight shot to a lot of peoples' hearts."

Ingrid

Also, didn't Rocco cook Italian food on Melting Pot? That's why I thought his "I'm starting fresh with the food of my heritage" sounded odd.

["The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 2]

From TV Guide --

THE LAST COURSE: NBC has decided to dump the remaining episodes of The Restaurant on a night when most people will be holed up in a real restaurant. Episodes 4 and 5 will air this Saturday at 8 and 9 pm/ET, respectively, and the series finale will run on Saturday, June 5 at 8 pm/ET.   

What were the ratings anyway?

[Iron Chef America (Part 1)]

I disagree, Teaspoon.  I don't think it has anything to do with patriotism, but I do think there's a tendency among some to like what the ICJs created because it seems different whereas the stuff the ICAs create seems familiar. 

The tendency you describe may be quite evident. I was just objecting to what I interpreted as a call for American viewers to pull for the American chefs.

If some among us like the ICJ food more because it seems different, fine. The originial post to which I was responding said, " it's always the popular view to be against our own in any contest as this, or an unpopular war, ei Vietnam and Iraq etc.." I'd like to think that we here cast our Iron Chef votes based on food--not politics.

[Iron Chef America (Part 1)]

Barb48,

I don't think there has been a pro-American or an anti-American trend in the Iron Chef America posts. If anything, writers have demonstrated a desire for fairness, a strong wish that contestants not win simply because they are Americans and the judges are American.

In the end, this is entertainment. And we all want a little suspense.

[Iron Chef- Episode 2]

Zeppole is female plural (never with an "i" ending). Technically there could be a zeppolA...

Got it. I'm NOT Italian, so I looked around on the web and got my "zeppole, zeppoli" info from www.sicilianculture.com where they devoted a page to discussing them. And of course, there are few guarantees on the accuracy of what one finds on the Internet! Thanks for the explanation.

[Iron Chef- Episode 2]

Alton Brown or whatever his name is really annnoyed me with his horrid pronunciation of zeppole...."ZE- POLE-AYYY" instead of "ZEP-OLE-EEE"

Like come on.....

No need to insult Alton. Zeppole is one, zeppoli is many?

[Iron Chef- Episode 2]

I was under the impression Batali was trying to take a snapshot of Morimoto, it seemed aimed in that general direction.

If true, that's kind of endearing, don't you think? Mario has always struck me as such a no-nonsense guy.

[Iron Chef- Episode 2]

Did anyone else notice Mario holding a small camera near the end of the show? Would he have been getting a record of his own dishes?