RMeierdirks

My wife and I are spending a few days in New Buffalo, Michigan over our anniversary. We're willing to travel 10 or 15 miles for a real nice anniverary dinner. Any suggestions?

Hello, I am the chef at Mint Julep Bistro in Palatine, IL, just opened in September. We are still taking reservations for New Year's Eve: Appetizers (Choose one): Smoked Oysters Rockefeller or Chicken Andouille Croquets soup She-Crab Soup Salad Endive-Mesclun Salad with Roasted Pear Dressing Entrees (Choose One): 8 ounce Filet Mignon with Jezebel Sauce Truffled Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes Sauteed Haricot Vert or Seared Duck Breast with Pomegranate Reduction Cornbread Pudding Sauteed Asparagus or Butter-Poached Monkfish with Shallot Beurre Blanc Sauteed Broccolini Potatoes Anna Dessert (Choose One): Sarsaparilla Tiramisu or Persimmons Torte Also including: Gourmet Coffee or Tea And a Champagne Toast! $75 per Person Call 847.934.3000 for reservations! Chef Rich Meierdirks Mint Julep Bistro 53 W. Slade St. Palatine, IL 60067 Low-Country Cuisine and Southern Hospitality. Mint Julep Bistro

One more thing. Was it just too much effort to find someone from Chicago to judge a Chicago-style pizza contest? I mean, they were IN Chicago, after all. Not even someone from Uno's, since Uno's apparently paid to be on the program? No, that's a terrible idea, let's get that carpetbagger Rocco from New York to judge the pizza. OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Go Cubs! - Rich

I too have found that Tom seems to shoot from the hip without really knowing what he's talking about. I have had picatta in breadcrumbs, as well as dredged in flour or flour-egg-flour-fry. For some things, there is more than one "right" way to do something. How many variations of BBQ can you find from the Carolinas to Memphis to Kansas City and beyond, there is a lot of variation, but they can all call themselves BBQ. Also, like last season's "classic dish" challenge, Tom whines when the dishes adhere too closely to the classic presentation as well as when they diverge from the classic form. I guess he can only tolerate so much innovation. Switching from lemon to orange in the Picatta didn't seem like a huge leap to me. It's still citrus but it didn't fly with fussy eater Tom. - Rich

I have it on pretty good authority (a friend of mine from Georgia) that Paula Deen does not exaggerate the accent. My understanding is that Paula is from deep rural Georgia and that's just the way she talks. -Rich

To be contestant would seem to have more appeal to someone at the sous-chef level or below, although the the publicity from the show wouldn't hurt someone who is already an executive chef at a restaurant or has his own place. At least, it won't hurt as long as he didn't get bounced too early. I ate at Scylla, Stephanie Izard's place once and thought it was great. Most memorable was the foie gras creme brulee appetizer and the cashew financier for dessert. She should do well. As a fellow Kendall alum, I'm hoping Valerie goes pretty far too. -Rich

Ok, just caught up on last two episodes. I know there are always going to be those little twists, but to cut their prep time in half at the last minute? Yeah sure, Tom, they just called and said they're coming earlier; the producer didn't plan that at all. I can't imagine booking a party of 20 - 30 people and calling up 3 hours before and saying we'll be there in 90 minutes so you better be ready. Most chefs obsessively plan their days out , allowing time for each task to get things done right. It's an enormous insult to demand someone to sling hash like that and then criticize the end product for being sub-par. Sure, some of them were able to compensate for the shortened time and put out great dish, but I would rather see every cheftestant get the opportunity to do their best, not just the best they could do given the circumstances. Yeah, things can go wrong in a kitchen that necessitate some extra hustle and inventiveness, but an event like this would have been set in stone 3 days ahead. I didn't think the Lia's polenta was so unreasonable, it's similar to the shell of a tamale. If it wasn't done right, that's criticism enough. She was trying to use Latino ingredients with cooking methods she was familiar with. I am getting tired of Hung reacting to every criticism, particularly when food is overcooked or not seasoned properly, with "That's your opinion." Newsflash: the opinions of your customers matter more than your opinion of yourself. Micah again complaining about not knowing American food. Fine, you didn't eat it at home, but you went to an American High School, what did you eat for lunch? Almost all of the American comfort foods have something relatively analagous in other countries, .eg., Mac 'n Cheese in Italy is Fettucine Alfredo. Cassoulet is a more upscale, high-end french cousin to franks 'n beans. Someone mentioned before that South African Bobotje is similar to meatloaf. I agree that Ilan has become an obnoxious tool. I don't think he made one truly original dish on the show. The fideos that were raved about were lifted wholesale from the tapas place he worked at. Ilan may be a very good cook, but he is not a chef. He should put the money in the bank and work at a few more restaurants to get more experience.

I just watched the clip with Emeril. Though he did only say "congratulations" directly to Amy when he shook their hands, when he addressed the audience, he did congratulate them both by name.

I don't understand why FN has such a problem with Amy's use of French terminology since she generally explains what it means. Why do they think this is a turn-off for their viewers? If you were trying to convince someone to come to your house for a dinner party, what would sound more enticing: Stewed Chicken or Coq au Vin? Do FN viewers merely want to watch people cook or to learn something? Emeril frequently uses French culinary terms (more often on Essence than on Live) just as Mario Batali doesn't hesitate to speak Italian on his show. If Amy comes off as snobby, that has more to with how she presents herself ("that's a fancy, fancy word for...) than just because she throws in a little French here and there. Most foodies know French cooking techniques are not reserved for French restaurants and can be used in any cooking application even if you're only cooking for 30 minutes.

But how did they come up with the foods to avoid list. When you look it up and see chicken has more cholesterol than lobster sans butter, there's no reason to ban it. Again, why not have a nutritionist there to calculate the values rather than just assume. P.S. After consulting my Top Chef decoder ring, the secret message from last week was "Don't forget to take your Vytorin." A crummy commercial. Son of a bitch!

In the first two seasons, from the first episode on, the contestants were doing demos in front of a camera, so by the time the weaker contestants got weeded out, the rest had gotten a little experience under their belt and had more of an idea of where they wanted to go and how they needed to improve to get there. This season, however, started off more like Top Chef - the wedding dinner, cooking for an army, etc. These episodes emphasized cooking chops over being smooth on camera. Then when they started doing cooking demos, a level of perfection was expected that was not reasonably attainable, given how much less experience they had compared to contestants from the first 2 seasons at this point in the show. I agree with other posters that it's absurd when they criticized Colombe for "not cooking anything" when they've got Sandra Lee working for them. (I once saw her make a bread ring from frozen roll dough with ranch dressing powder baked on top. It looked as nasty as it sounds.) I also think Tushy and Suzie have a condescending view of their audience. Most people watch a cooking show to learn something - new recipes, professional tips, etc. My favorite cooking shows - Julia Child being the best example, challenge their viewers to try to do something they might think is too hard, but really isn't. I doubt most FN viewers need Rachael Ray to teach them how to boil store-bought tortellini and a recipe is not too complicated for the home cook just because it has more than 5 or 6 ingredients. This is my biggest problem with Food Network Star. I think JAG's dish last week would have seemed less complicated if he had as much time as on a regular show to present it. Haven't we all seen Emeril fly through a dozen or more of those little portion cups ("and about 40 cloves of gahhhlic!"). Again, this goes back to the contestants needing more time to polish their on camera persona in the early stages of the show. That being said, I don't care much for either the Hearty Boys or Guy Fieri so maybe this isn't the best way for them to find new hosts. At least Bob Blumer, the Surreal Gourmet, is coming back to FN this week.

I wasn't sure what the judges were looking for. The people that tried to turn the "classic" dishes upside-down and otherwise re-interpret them, were criticized because the dishes diverged too far from the "classic" presentation. On the other hand, those that simply did lower-fat/cholesterol versions of the "classic" presentation were slammed for not being innovative. I suppose Dale's chicken and dumplings did split the difference the best, being a healthy variation on the dish, non-traditional yet recognizable as what is was supposed to be. As for the lobster issue, if cholesterol was the main issue, why didn't they have a nutritionist in to calculate the fat/cholesterol for each recipe as they did for sugar content in the diabetic camp episode? Then they would have had to adjust their dishes to meet nutritional criteria, rather than rely on the possibly incorrect assumptions of the judges, whose expertise is in flavor and presentation, not in nutrition.

Also, rather than blaming the olive pit on the lack of dishes bought by Michael, they should have gone after the person who bussed the table.

Yes it does have that disclaimer. At the reunion show for he first Top Chef, I recall Tom Colicchio and or Gail making a point of saying that the producers have not influenced the voting in any way. But if that's really the case, then why print the disclaimer? Hmmm...... I thought Lee Anne was robbed, too.

Just watched first episode of Top Chef 2. It seems the producers again put in some really inexperienced people that seem out of their depth (Michael and Suyai being the Miguel and Candice). It's not quite as bad as American Idol putting tone-deaf people on national TV just to humiliate them, but it strikes me as unfair to put a line cook still in school up against exec chefs with years of experience. On the other hand, one of those exec chefs almost got cut, so who knows. As for the new chefs, I don't have as strong an impression as I did from the first show. I had immediately hated Stephen and liked LeeAnne, Harold, Dave and even the rest all had fairly strong personalities. Either the producers were looking for similar types of people as the first show or contestants were consciously trying to fill those "roles". (e.g., Marcel being the Stephen of this group, Michael is the Miguel, etc.) They just seem a little less colorful and interesting so far. After one episode, TV Guide slammed Padma - "her delivery falls flatter than an undercooked souffle." Well, I think she is already better than the monotone Katie. Did the editors at TVG watch any of the first season? The challenges at least were not as unfair and unrealistic as some of the first season - the kids, the gas station, the time limit twist on the wedding. My thought for the elimination challenge was to bread the frog legs with the cornflakes, dirty rice with the chicken livers, a ratatouille with the eggplant and a satay dipping sauce with the peanut butter. No idea for the snails, but hiding the american cheese in the potatoes was probably the best option, rather than puttiing on top for an escargot melt. Hoping it gets better. - Rich