BuzzDraft

Just watched the Philly show... I really enjoy this premise and format. Who else but a detective could walk the beat and dig up clues that lead to the best hidden food places in these cities? And who has a better reputation for appreciating mom-and-pop neighborhood places than a cop? One thing only a late Eisenhower-era child like me can appreciate is the scene transitions - the music and spinning graphic is borrowed right from the original Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. That show was right in my wheel house, and I appreciate the tip of the cap. It's like Chris is solving a crime by the Riddler. "WHAM!" "Holy Cheese Whiz, Hungry Detective!" P.S. Do you have a marketing deal for the shirt line yet? P.P.S. When are you going to introduce me to Nigella?

I agree that Target's suppliers are of a much higher quality than your WalMart/KMart chains. I use the Super Target just outside my subdivision as my personal refrigerator - I stop in on my commute home every day depending on what I want for dinner that night. The Target brand Archer Farms is very good acroos the board in all aisles of the store. The Blue Ginger line I spoke of was in their Oriental food section (dried goods and jars). Everything I got from the Blue ginger line was always very good. The packaging of Tsai's prepared product line is significantly different, so I easily could have overlooked it. I will double check in the other section tomorrow.

Boy I just got lucky. I was channel surfing and found Alton Brown doing a Good Eats on grits/polenta, and a commercial for the premiere of Hungry Detective came on. Late notice, but it's on at 10:30. I have the dvr programmed for every Tuesday at 10:30. Then I dub it to DVD blanks.

The Blue Ginger line had been available at my local Super Target in Roswell, GA for a couple years now, but they seem to have decided to discontinue it. There are a few items left on clearance. I picked up some sesame oil for a very good price but its all gone now. I didn''t realize this would have been news to everyone.

Excellent story, thanks for posting it. I remember your email exchange seeking advice for being on Sara's show, too! I love this site.

I say keep it simple. I bought a homemade cookbook with recipes donated by all the local grandmothers and moms at the Greek Festival at our local Atlanta Greek Orthodox Cathedral, proceeds went to the church's charities. It doesn't have all the marketing muscle of Madison Ave. publishers behind it, and the fancy photography, but THIS is the REAL stuff! I suggest you check out your local event calendar. As a matter of fact, our Greek Festival is only a couple weeks away. Thanks for the reminder!

They've traced it to the unfortunately named "Natural Selection Foods" in California. Talk about natural selection... The organic movement bemuses me. Just because new food processes involve advanced technologies, like irradiating products to kill these bacteria, doesn't mean you will consume residual radiation too and are going to get cancer. I welcome high tech approaches to making our food supply safer. Organic means I'm at the mercy of mutated organisms and natural selection. I prefer the odds to be totally stacked in my favor.

Why use Excel to create what is nothing more than a static schedule table? There isn't a single math formula in it, which is what Excel does. I could see using Excel to summarize shopping lists due to scaling for the number of people attending, or selected weekly menus using macros, but this? You could do just as well using word or powerpoint in the MS domain - or just a ruler, pencil, and piece of paper and sticking it on your refrigerator with a bunny magnet. Where's the value-add using a math tool like Excel for such a routine everyday task?

Wow thanks....now I have to see it even more!...damn I have been waiting for months to see it and cant....arrgh! ← Chris - I've been working from 7:30a-6p, then from 9pm to 1am every day for over a week on 3 engineering projects, and didn't get a chance to watch this episode until tonight. You are my HERO my friend! Not only are you a real-life Hero as an officer, but your ability to present good eats to AB was just awesome. You are the most memorable personality AB visits on the entire series. AB lives up this way, and I wish I could have joined his tour on my own motorcycle. But I couldn't have taken that much time off from my work. I'm sorry you missed the episode - I live in north ATL and wish you would have publicized your presence here. I coulda bought you a Sweetwater beer, or a donut from one of the oldest Krispy Kreme's, on Ponce de Leon. However, since it's too late for that, I recorded the episode on my DVR/DVD recorder, and I would be happy to peel you off a copy if you want to PM me. GREAT SHOW!

When I see his photos, the first thing that comes to mind is "Junior Bear goes K-Fed"

So, "Baby Huey" Keith was right about what he told Ramsay when he handed over his jacket and got bleeped?

What Bourdain is showing is respect for the culture and hosts he's visiting. The guest of honor is offered these "delicacies", and it would be the highest insult to the host to turn it down. That's like receiving a gift and telling the giver, what a piece of crap, dropping it on the floor, and asking who gave him that awful haircut. In Saudi Arabia back in the 70s, we visited a Bedouin tent and they offered my father and me the testicles of a goat. Had to do it. Easy for Dad, he'll eat anything and follow up with a story about the depression if you make a face. So, beating heart of a cobra, seal eyeballs, various organs, beverages fermented with spit, or even wolf nipple chips (actually that's from Life Of Brian)... Props to Bourdain for sacking up, bracing himself, and respecting the gestures everywhere he goes. Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats.

I don't know. Maybe you all should get on a motorcycle and see the world from his perspective before you start turning your noses up at this project. Until you've experienced your surroundings on a bike, by being actually in them instead of insulated from them, you just don't get it. I live near AB north of ATL. I have a Triumph Thunderbird Sport, and I am enjoying this show immensely. Mine is more of a classic style than a touring bike like his BMW 1200, but I get out on weekends and venture north into the mountains for a few hours. You stop where you can, and on two lane roads, it's places like he is highlighting on this series. You develop favorite routes and places. He is doing what I only dream about, namely taking a sabbatical and ride two lane roads across the country, stopping in at all the roadside mom and pop places that actually capture the tastes of the locals, like it was before the interstates bypassed the real America. You drivers will traverse entire states without having to step out of your air conditioned Land Rovers for fuel and even then, you're not more than a hundred yards off the interstate and not mixing with the locals like you have to on a bike. On a bike, you really do smell the cut grass, and blossoms, and you can smell the barbecue from miles away. This is more real than most of the other foodie shows I've seen for a while. Thank you, Alton Brown, for an inspirational show. I wonder how many critics secretly envy your freedom and courage to do this. If I can find a more comfortable saddle, I will try to stretch my range a few more hours because of your compelling presentation.

Everyone in the place knows it's a TV show. I've seen girls go up to Ramsey at the counter before. I think it's simply a case of a hopeful actress looking to get exposure. ANY exposure.

Be careful how you choose to travel. It occurred to me that you and your camera crew driving around could easily be mistaken for a group of militants looking for a target. A camera could be mistaken for a weapon. The IDF knows what they're doing - and they don't miss often. Take care and return safe.

Yikes! Reminds me of 1975 when my dad moved us to Dhahran Saudi Arabia for his government job right when King Fahd was assasinated by his American-educated nephew. If there was trouble in Saudi, Beirut was our "Safe haven" to escape TO. Please get your "Shooting" done quickly and get the hell out of there. The Salzkammergut area in Austria would be a great alternative show.

Bainbridge? Well, Gifted, you're casting your line a might further than I expected! I agree we should focus on unique to Atlanta southern, both classic and nouvelle. At least we intersect at Mary Mac's and Thelma's... I'm ready to make the circuit tomorrow starting with breakfast. After thinking about all this, I'm ravenous! Ma Hull, get ready.

I dearly love the Flying Biscuit! I think we need to think of some great southern "meat-and-threes" as well ... ← I added ideas to my post above. Flying Biscuit has the best biscuits in town - we always have them at our Tech tailgate parties when there's an early game requiring breakfast or the annual game we have fried chicken delivered in from Wallhalla SC. I brought scratch-made green peppercorn sauce for the last Wallhalla Chicken and Flying Biscuits party we had. I'd be interested in hearing others' ideas for the top five meat-and-threes in the metro area. I figure any Atlanta show should represent a unique balance of both classic southern food stereotypical of the old south, and nouvelle southern cuisine with the influx of talented chefs we've had over the past 20 years. Every other city boasts similar excellent ethnic Thai, Mexican, Italian, etc. places. Now I'm hungry... Edited for clarity

Madame Gifted Gourmet - If we could limit the cuisine to some specifics, I could provide some off-the-beaten-path input. As great as they are, I feel there are better places than Fat Matt's and Tamarind for candidates for their categories. I don't remember visiting Watershed. I wanted to nominate "The Varsity" to outdo Rachel Ray, but then I also expressed my wishes for Thomas Keller to copy the old Red Barn motif at his new burger joint. The finest Mexican food I've had anywhere, including California and the border area into Texas, is Nueva Laredo Cantina on Chattahoochie St. in NW Atlanta. I take all my out of town business associates there. The Vortex in Little Five Points has the best burgers/pub food in town. For Vietnamese/Thai, have you been to Saigon Cafe on Jimmy Carter (the best Pho)? For barbecue, have you tried Swallow At The Hollow in Roswell? I still prefer Touch Of India for the food and atmosphere in midtown, too. Pastis for authentic Provencal food on old Roswell square (my sister's firm help them with their visas). Canoe for their impeccable wine list. Thelma's Kitchen for Southern/Soul. Mary Mac's Tea Room on Ponce and Bobby and June's Country Kitchen on 14th for meat-and-three or breakfast, or Aunt Fannie's Cabin in Marietta for southern comfort (cliche, but the kind of places that have the traditions and stories the Food Network would eat up) All of these are Top Shelf, Gifted Gourmet, Top Shelf! If you'd like, I would be pleased to meet you at any of these locations to Chew and Discuss. (And this isn't some cheap come-on, as far as you know) Edited to add more ideas

Congratulations, Chris. If Atlanta is on your itinerary, I'd be happy to support in any way. I think Gifted Gourmet has me outranked, so I'm happy to be a good soldier.

This is news? I see people with their dogs seated at restaurant sidewalk tables all the time in Atlanta. On my first return visit after graduating from my boarding school in the small village of Faistenau bei Salzburg, Austria back in the 80s, I immediatey went to my favorite restaurant. I noticed an elderly couple at the next table with a very well behaved dog sitting quietly at their feet while everyone around them ate. This was INSIDE. I envied them because I would love to bring my dog out with me. The dog had impeccable manners. It reminded me how civilized the old world countries can be. Then I returned to the US from my vacation and sat in a restaurant where the booth next to me had a screaming kid who needed to blow his nose and wash his hands, gleefully throwing things and reaching over the seat and trying to touch my guest. There's an old saying that should really be taken to heart... "Always assume no one likes either your children or your pets." Words to live by, but if given the choice, I'll take the dogs, thank you very much.

I use New Basics (second in the Silver Palate series by Rosso and Lukins) more than any of my other books for everyday cooking (the old classic Better Homes and Gardens is second). The tips and suggestions in the margins and text boxes on herbs, wines, cuts of meat, and just about everything else is invaluable. For specific cuisines, I regularly use Gourmet's Old Vienna Cookbook, Provencal Light and Mediterranean Light (Martha Rose Shulman), Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Cooking, The Fine Art of Itialian Cooking (Giuliani Bugialli), Culinary Journey Through China (Martin Yan), and The Best Of Vietnames and Thai Cooking - Recipes From The Lemongrass Restaurant (Mai Pham). Toss in the Jeff Smith series (I Highly recommend The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors), Alton Brown, and even The Eastern European Cookbook (Nelson) out of about 100 others, and I'm pretty well covered! I've compiled all my favorite recipes with my changes and markups from these and many other sources and restaurants into my own personal cookbook in a Word file. It's the kind of thing I wish I had gotten from my grandmothers and relatives. In addition to documenting the custom recipes, I don't have to go digging through books trying to find a specific favorite. I just click in the table of contents, or search on ingredients I have if I'm looking for ideas. Lately I've been going out of my way to try recipes from The Les Halles Cookbook by some bum named Bourdain.

Well, now I have to check this show out for its hilarious awfulness. Any show that cross-promotes on "Deal Or No Deal" and gets ridiculed this week by Joel McHale on The Soup is worth a few minutes of my time! edit: looks like I'm too late... RATS! Or is that Rats-a-riffic?

Hmmm. Tonight is Batali vs. Besh, confirmed on TVGuide. Upthread claimed that was the one Chris Cognac was judging. I just have had no luck posting here this year! I'm going to go away and shut up. Edit:Well, we all know what happens when you "Assume"... and after looking upthread I did just that. It doesn't say Cognac is judging the Batali v Besh... just that this is the first new battle this season. My apologies.

Don't forget, Chris Cognac judges 9pm EST tonight! Looking forward to it.