Chris Cognac

The whole "cardboard box smoker thing" he swears by....I have been pestering him to join up w me for a memphis in may BBQ team and he says that the cardboard box will really do the trick....Let hope he will agree to do it some day and we can all find out! The guy is really "that smart"....I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him to pitch "good eats" to food network those many years ago (in TV land years). by the way Thomas Dolby had a great minor hit with "europa and the pirate twins: here in L.A....whaty a cool song!

OK...stuff in Atlanta....Silver Grill and Silver Skillet...got that from some APD Cops....anyone got info, opinions etc...

Sandy, yea you are welcome to tag along....we should be able to use you on camera for something...Holly will have the shooting scheduale when we get it set.... Each city in the U.S. has its "flavor" they might not be for everyone but we intend to find out what the flavor is in each place we go....I am looking forward very much to the Philly shoot and the "meat on rolls" stuff...Holly has been and is going to be instrumental in the success of the show.....plus I have heard he is great on camera.... We should be open to folks coming and hanging out a bit...we will use everyone we can whether its for an "interview" or just eating stuff in the background.....its not all glamour but hey, at least the food will be free Holly, lets work on that place you told me about....with the lines iin the morning....we have pretty much scratched the Amish place as to "near the path".... Chris

careful, you don't want to give yourself away as a tourist (I don't think the camera crew will draw any suspicion... ) watch the terminology: I'm thinking back to the local lingo I hear around Philly and I don't think we don't put our meats on buns around here, I think we use rolls! ← Only cheesesteak I ever had in LA came with a choice of sprouts or avocado. So rather thay worrying about buns or rolls, I'm focusing on limiting Chris to a Whiz Wit, with nothing from the garden. ← You'll be taking Chris to John's Roast Pork too, yes? Depending on what time of day/day of the week you make this excursion, I might want to join you boys. We gotta roll out the welcome mat for Chris while he's here filming! ← Roll away and you are welcome to join us...The shooting scheduale will determine how many place we can go...I assume we could shoot the sandwich places pretty fast though...but a full on restaurant segment takes around 6 hrs....we have to set up lights, electric..do make up etc.... I think the theme of the city can be "Philly, not a vegetable in sight"

OK...Rolls it is....I must admit, some of the places out here get the rolls shipped from Philly and they are amazing....they hold in the grease and cheese nicely...Man I am really looking forward to making this trip.....Philly is gonna be the first shoot (after the Vegas pilot) and I have wanted to make the cheesesteak haj so much....its gonna be awesome and I know Holly is gonnna show me the best cheesesteaks around...oh yea baby...

The Amish place is the Dutch Eating Place in the Reading Terminal Market. Got another suggestion for breakfast. 5:30 AM on Delaware Avenue. Johnny's Hots. Your clue that it has to be good: Plant workers and truck drivers lined up for a sausage, fried egg, peppers and onion sandwich on a roll. ← That is right up my alley as well....the "on a bun" theme is begining to build up...ughh....530 am....is 230 for me....ugh, ugh...that time change is gonna kill me...maybe we can shoot that on the 2nd or 3rd day..

you guys are gonna kill me by the time this show is finished....does anyone know of a good heartburn medicine I can endorse? I spoke on the phone with Holly More today, I was interested on the Amish place....anyone been there? Holly said its pretty good and would work....Holly and I are going to do a Cheesesteak segment and maybe some other stuff involving meat and bread...

Welcome to the team....now we can all try to make sense of the masses of info eG people have given us!

Those guys are way more handsome than me!...I will be the fat bald guy in a cool aloha shirt...with a big smile!

How do you want us to send you pictures? What exactly are you looking for? Interiors? Exteriors? "Character" shots of the places we're recommending? Adjectives help. Thanks. ← a good "street" shot of the front, inside if you can....maybe an upclose and some pics of the food you order....that way we can go over stuff and plan ahead as much as we can.. Thanks a ton for anything you can do....post the photos in this thread if you can....that way we can all go over them together! and what a trip about Andrea's brother being our Director of Photography...small world! right now its looking like "Philly/Boston" as the first shoots starting July 26....but that could change.

Wow thats too bad, I loved battle hamburger, it was fun to see what they do with an "everyday" ingredient...I would have loved to have been a judge on that one!

OOOHHHHH! are the street signs really in Viet? I might go for some Mexican there as it will be the best of the trip except L.A.

This can be an excellent time of year to visit. Weather (if not unbearably hot and humid) can be very pleasant and conducive to walking around. So you want we should look into the kielbasa factory? There's also a great big Polish market (Krakus Market) that has really good frozen pierogies in lots of different flavors right there. Also good dive bars in that same neighborhood with good crabs (Bonk's or Byrne's) and pitchers of cheap lousy beers. Tacconelli's isn't far away either... ← We are looking int the polish thing ....dive bars....could work as I got a drink in the pilot...but we need a good one with cheap grub or a really cool drink, home brew beer, something like that....

I had the most amazing jerk chicken and lobster in Negril Jamaica with the Jamaica Gleaner critic Rosemary Parkinson (she wrote about it in the Jamaicain paper)...Jerk would work, but if Negril is trendy than we should find another place...is there a Jamaican consulate in DC?...Bet those guys know where to get some.... as for Philly....we are now thinking early Sept....as of today its going to be Chicago in mid to late July and then Charleston, Miami and Atlanta in late August (one big trip) then NYC/Philly next and then Boston and Houston then last but not least L.A....we want to finish 8 shows by Oct.....our first delivery is now Nov 1. It seams like a long time but I have to do this on my days off from work and a vacation I have planned for august (sans my week in Mexico w the family)...whew...gonna be a busy summer! IF you can can get some pics that would help a lot!

a wedge of chilled iceberg with blue cheese and crisp real bacon, with some cracked pepper on top and a bit of balsamic....oh yea!

Robyn, I think we are flying..... Busboy....find me some "jerk chicken" or some Jamaician patties mon!...i dont plan to do Mexican unless its stellar.....I could do salvadoran....I am looking for a good breakfast and dinner as well.....

Squids...I would be into doing lunch with some cubicle dwelling office worker bee's....its right up my alley and perfect for the show.....I love the take out thing too...think your boss would go for it? We are shooting Houston first....mid july it looking like...then maybe Chicago at the end of July, then around the 15th of August we will hit a 3 city swing of Charelston, Miami and Atlanta...hope that helps with everyones planning and research....Thanks a ton once again...now I am off to court in downtown L.A. for my real job...on my day off of course....uggh!

Let me tell you, he was hurting big time....he came and filmed w me in L.A. just after he fell....we drove around in my police car and everytime I hit a bump he would cringe in pain.....check out altonbrown.com and look at the photo that was taken right after the accident....he was a trooper though...we shot for about 10 hrs and he sucked up the pain so he could finish the show.....it was kinda funny though as we ate a giant burger and I had to hold it for him while he tried to eat it....but it was so big it just exploded all over the place... He told me that he is doing much better now and is riding again....

If carryout is a big thing in DC than we can feature it as its part of the "food culture" so we can look into some options....if you guys have any photos of places please feel free to post em or e mail them to me....

WE thought we were going to shoot the pilot in san diego and berta's was/is already on the radar.... I am hearing Houston is underwater today...that is gonna be our first city....its gonna be interesting shooting all summer with the weather situation in the east and south.... Busboy...I will look into DC, but dont really know much about it....is maryland far away from the DC area....I am a L.A. "Dude" and dont know much at all about D.C.

OK, I need Fried Chicken in Atlanta.....good, real southern fried chicken...a chicken shack type place is good....I am hopinig that the chicken is really "that good" in Atlanta (as opposed to the other places we are going)..

Robyn, we are going for quality, but with 5 segmants we would like to feature a good deal in at least 1 of them per episode...everybody loves agood deal....including myself!

I know next to nothing about DC, but I have lived in other cities where there are a lot of embassies and consulates. I always go round and chat up the staff to see if there are any good and cheap ethnic eats nearby. There is invariably an inexpensive cafe somewhere within walking distance that caters to the embassy staff. I particularly remember a Russian meal close to the Soviet embassy in Tokyo and a favorite Japanese restaurant close to the Japanese embassy in Panama City. So you might hit that angle in DC. Call some of the embassies and ask where the staff eats. That's certainly a unique and interesting aspect of DC. ← We think alike...I am on the same page...I have been trying to think of a way to get the local Japanese consolute folks to get me a reservation at the "secret" japanese beef place here in L.A.

Well...WE did! Tacconelli's has been on The Best Of... on the Food Network already, but it's worth a stop while you're here, even just for yourself. It's some damned fine 'za. Fat Guy will back me up on this one. You definitely have to try a Philly Surf 'n Turf hotdog while you're here. Fishcake mushed onto a hotdog. They're delicious and cheap and definitely not something you see anywhere else I'm aware of. Holly can direct you to the best of those, but I'll join you for that outing if I can! There's good cheap ethnic eats of all sorts here, but I'm not certain it's things that are that unique to Philly. The Polish eateries, bakeries and kielbasa factory in Port Richmond might be an interesting angle. There's a pocket of Ethiopian restaurants in West Philly. Dahlak's is my go to. Great Loatian/Thai place (Vientiane Cafe) out that way too. If you come while it's still warm out you can try some wooder ice (aka Water Ice or Italian Ice) from any one of a number of stands in the area. Those are good and cheap. Great hoagies at Chickie's Deli are somewhat off the beaten track. Let us know exactly what you're looking for and I'm certain if we don't already know about it, we'll help sniff it out! ← I just got off the phone with one of the producers (Sean) and we like the Polish angle and want to include it in the Philly show....I think we are gonna do Ethiopian in D.C....there are 5 food segments per show.....so 1 cheesesteak segment and I would like to get a "bargain breakfast" in a segment....and a good family dinner spot...so we have 2 more segments to go....I think the Polish will be one of them....I am excited about the Philly show....its looking good with all the info we have so far...thanks to you guys!