Chris Cognac

Last year I had a case that with the suspect in Chicago and this Chicago Detective did a whole bunch of work on it, took the bad guy to jail in Chicago etc....so us Detectives out here in L.A. decided to send him and his wife to dinner in Chicago..I was able to get ahold of Phil Vittel (sp) and he said the one place in Chicago to send someone is Crofton on Wells....Well, long story short, the Detective and his wife were amazed and called us raving about how good it was...the food was very new to them, but they loved it....if I ever get to Chicago, I am going to check it out for sure.

I have been dying to get a "Bender" from Futurama on the 30% Iron Chef episode...with him in his chefs whites...but I cant find a good image...thought about getting an "Elzar", but its too much like Emeril....also maybe a "Sarok the Preparer" from the Simpsons Halloween specials to go with the Homer I already have....

you must hit Ellis Island....the 4.99 steak dinner and the 6.99 ribs and chicken are to die for.....plus they brew beer on site!....I have pics off the food on my web site if you are curious.

Have you tried Tims Maui Onion? Tims pretty much "laid that smack down" along with Herrs in the chip test...

I really hated wine and never gave it much of a try until the last few years. Now I drink a few bottles a week and find I love a good Merlot. I am one who says that it will grow on you as you develop a palate for wine.....but I am also the guy who until this year was a "2 buck chuck man".

That is awesome....It makes me want to try and bake!

Here are the results... 1.Tims, Cracked Peppercorn 93.6% 2.Herrs, Steak and Worcestshire 85.3% 3.Tims, Jalapeno 85.0% 4.Herrs, Sour Cream and Onion 83.0% 5.Tims, Wild West Habanero 82.9% 6.Tims, Cascade (Plain) 82.5% 7.Herrs, Salt and Pepper 81.7% 8.Cape Cod, Jalapeno/Cheddar 81.0% 9.Tims, Wasabi 80.5% 10.Herrs, Jalapeno 77.1% 11.Tims, Sour Cream and Onion 76.7% 12.Utz, Honey BBQ 76.1% 13.Tims, Luau BBQ 76.0% 14.Dirty, Salt and Vinegar 74.2% 15.Herrs, Heinz Ketchup 72.7% 16.Kettle, Salt and Pepper 71.7% 17.Cape Cod, Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper 70.0% 18.Cape Cod, Sea Salt and Vinegar 70.0% 19.Yomayoshi, Wasabi Beef 68.3% 20.Herrs, Old Bay seasoning 68.2% 21.Utz, Crab Flavor Chips 67.3% 22.Herrs, Ripple 66.7% 23.Tims, Dill Pickle 66.5% 24.Kettle, Jalapeno Flavor 65.6% 25.Mike Sells, Salt/Vinegar 62.3% 26.Kettle, Classic BBQ 62.1% 27.Dirty, Mesquite BBQ 62.0% 28.Lays, BBQ 61.0% 29.Mike Sells, Jalapeno/Cheddar Flavor 60.7% 30.Utz, Natural Light Salt 60.0% 31.Utz, Kettle Classic Crunchy 60.0% 32.Kettle, Goat Cheese and Red Pepper Flavor 59.7% 33.Ruffles, Sour Cream and Onion 58.0% 34.Utz, Sour Cream and Onion 58.0% 35.Dirty, Spicy Cajun 56.3% 36.Kettle, Sour Cream and Onion 55.0% 37.Herrs, Crisp and Tasty 55.0% 38.Cape Cod, 40 Percent Reduced Fat 55.0% 39.Ralphs, Sour Cream and Onion 54.0% 40.Utz, Homestyle Kettle 50.0% 41.Tims, Hawaiian Kettle 50.0% 42.Japanese, Seaweed 49.2% 43.Dirty, Roasted Garlic and Herb 48.5% 44.Utz ,New England Mystic Chips 46.7% 45.Dirty, Sour Cream and Onion 42.5% 46.Utz, Chocolate covered 40.9% 47.Dirty, Honey Mustard 36.7% 48.Japanese, Camembert 25.8% 49.Japanese, Potato Butter 23.8%

We did the Carnival Pride last year and liked the food. The restaurant "Davids" was awesome, with great steaks, nice wine list and a wonderful cheese course at the end, plus it was gorgous! The hightlight off the cruise is always eating at "aye carumba" high up in the hillls in P.V. with and amazing view and amazing lobster!

Wow, that sound pretty good with some great potential if done right!

Yet another reason I must make the trek to Japan!

I think that Flay stuck to the squash theme much more than Armstrong did and thats why he won.

I just cracked open a bag of the yet unreleased "Luau BBQ" chips from Tims.....The Tims rep lives down the street (how convienient)! The flavor is a sweet version of a traditional BBQ, until about 3 seconds after you eat it...then a little heat kicks in...not too much...just enough! I will work on the chip tasting scores this weekend if I am not to sick (had to leave work early)

I dont know if you guys know about this but the L.A. group just did taste testing on around 60 different chip flavors and brands from across the country...Utz's Jays, Kettle, Dirty, Mike Sells....on and on...I have the data but am not much of a math guy so its going to take a while to get the numbers and ranki the chips but the stand outs where the Steak and worshestire chips and the Tims cracked peppercorn you can see photos in the L.A. Pie Tasting thread.. Chris

How about when you dream of making "The Haj" and its not to Mecca, but to Philly for cheesesteaks!

Dont be so sure...anything can happen in Iron Chef

Where are you going to be? Do you want local ethnic Mexican or Japanese? do you want a fancy meal? Would you like to sit at the beach and watch people roller skate by while you eat? L.A. is a big place, help us to focus it down a bit and we can give you some great ideas!

They come with the production crew on Tuesday....I will know alot more then...should be pretty cool!...I suggested a mini "kitchen staduim" to them...hope they go for it!

Gee thanks....I was looking forward to watching it on the west coast.....now I know who won...Damn east coasters and your stupid time difference!...but maybe I should have not clicked on the thread....oh well

I have had a bunch of Iron Chef talks with Juan, I think he would like to break the mold of being a healthy chef and really go for it. He did work as a "full fat" chef for years in the industry before he lost weight and went healthy...I keep telling him I am going to get a show where I take him out to eat and make him fat again...he can bring George along too! I do agree it would be interesting to see if he could pull it off....can you imagine if he did? If any of you care, my wife is on his "french onion dip and pigs in a blanket" episode. She said it was fun to film but a lot of work.

Actually Juan wants to do Iron Chef, he said he would be throwing the healthy cooking out the window and go full on butter and fat....

Here is the pantry list for Iron Chef America that I got from Food Network. IRON CHEF AMERICA PANTRY LIST SALT Iodized Salt Large boxes Kosher Salt Good quality Sea Salt Balene ok) Rock Salt Fleur de Sel OILS Olive oil Extra Virgin Olive Oil Vegetable Oil (any kind) Peanut oil Sesame Oil– not toasted Toasted Sesame Oil Walnut Oil Almond Oil Hazelnut Oil VINEGARS White Wine Balsamic Apple Cider Mirin Rice Sherry Red Wine FLOURS/GRAINS semolina unbleached AP flour wheat flour Rice flour Stone Ground Cornmeal Polenta Cornstarch SUGARS Granulated Sugar Confectioner's Sugar Dark Brown Sugar NOODLES Chinese Egg Noodles (fresh) Rice Vermicelli Noodles fresh Udon noodles the square ones Spaghetti couscous - regular and israeli fresh pasta sheets RICE Arborio Rice White Long Grain Rice Brown Rice Wild Rice Sticky Rice – good quality Jasmine Rice – good quality Sushi Rice BREAD/BREADCRUMBS white bread french bread boule dry plain breadcrumbs Panko breadcrumbs CANNED/JARRED Cans Whole peeled tomatoes Cans pureed tomatoes cans Tomato paste jars honey Salt packed capers Regular hot sauce Ethnic hot sauce (like sambal oelek or sriracha DRIED CHILES Arbol chiles – whole Birds Eye Chiles – whole Ancho Chiles LENTILS De Puy Lentils Green Lentils orange lentils ASIAN PACKAGED 3 different varieties of Soy Sauce large HS Tamari Chinese Soy White Soy tins wasabi powder Packages NORI Packages Konbu Large Jars Bonito Flakes CHOCOLATE good quality Belcolade or Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate block good quality (see above) Milk chocolate canisters Valrohna Cocoa or other NON dutch processed high quality cocoa HERBS AND SPICES: caraway seeds Arrowroot Allspice Cumin Coleman's Mustard Ground Coriander Whole Coriander Fennel Seed Ground Ginger Mace Whole nutmeg Paprika (sweet) SMALL TINS – Saffron Tumeric Chile Flakes Black Peppercorns SMOKED PAPRIKA – Pimenton Black and White Sesame Seeds – not mixed

That is SO me! I break out the big pot and buy a ton of stuff at the market and just "create". It makes me feel so good and then you get the "happy ending" cause you get to eat the soup you have just created.

The Tims rep stopped by my house and dropped off 2 cases of chips, including the new Luau BBQ flavor which is not out yet....plus the habanero chips...cant wait to try em all!

Go to Grace on Beverly at La Brea....Chef Neal Fraser is awesome, I ate there last weekend.

I have a slogan on my t shirts...Its "Dont fear the C"!