Chris Cognac

We are going to look into San Diego as a stand by city since we are traveling all around the hurricane zone and might need to change cities on a moments notice.....We found a place called "Hodad's" that looked pretty neat!! And that Pizza looks awesome...who knew Philly did pizza!

Now when I think Philly I dont think "Pizza"....whats the deal w Philly pizza, is it thin, thick, come with cheesesteak on top...fill me in!..better yet post a photo of some! On another note...We would love to find at least 1 great bargain in each city....example: in the Vegas show we found a BBQ place in a super 8 motel that serves a 1/2 rack of pork ribs, 1/2 chicken, plus beans, corn on the cob and garlic toast for only $6.95...it was huge and good.... We love that kinda stuff....uner 5 bucks....even better!

Man I could go for one now....nothing better on a late night in Tijuana after mucho cerveza's!

My money is on Houston at the moment....we are already talking Viet food.....Pho, Pho and mo Pho, Pho me and Pho you

Wow, if thats the case than they are moving fast! I am pretty excited as I have only been to NYC and all the rest of the places are new to me.....its a great chance to explore new places I have only heard about....I mean, how cool is it that I will be able to get a real cheesesteak in Philly, fried chicken in Atlanta and BBQ in Charelston!...then I will get to show you all of the places that I eat here in L.A.. The response from eG hs been great, we are ALL going to have a blast planning and shooting this show and lots of you will get some good behind the scenes looks at how its done...and get to eat some great food w me! Its the chance of a lifetime for someone like me.....and the culmination of an idea I came up with 4 yrs ago to save my sanity while investigation horrible crimes....and you know what...it worked!

The judges are a mix off "food people" like myself and celebs etc...I can no longer judge because I am now "talent" with food network, its a smart policy on FN's part...but a bummer for me!...oh well,,,maybe I can talk them into letting me lead and "ohta faction" like on the old Iron Chef! Pedie....thanks a ton, nice to meet a "reader" of my column!

OK, lets see if I can clear some stuff up....for this initial run of 11 shows we will be showing "off the beaten path places" in major cities, giving people an alternative to the chains and touristy places...we did the pilot in Vegas and went to 6 places that had never been on food network before....it ended up being really fun, with some great places discovered along the way....everything was "off the strip" which is the "beaten path" in Las Vegas.....we are showing that if you just go a little bit out of the way, there is a ton of real, honest food out there to be discovered. WE are going to highlight and feature places that might not ever get on TV otherwise and can really make a huge difference in some hard working chefs, and restaurant peoples lives... I choose places I eat with a "cops eye" looking for clues that would lead me to believe that a certain place is worth checking out....like if I am getting Arab food on the street...I will go to a mosque and start looking around the area for "halal" signs....talk to some locals....check out things like "awnings" and see if they are worn from weather...a sign that the place has been there a long time.....newspaper racks, which indicate that there is a crowd during the day because people by papers when they go eat breakfast, lunch etc.....stuff like that....I also rely on bloggers, foodies, chefs and other informants to give me ideas and clues.... We are featuring a good mix of ethnic, street food, family run places and the "old school" restaurants...plus places where people that work in the city and make the city run eat...such as the UPS guy, Cops, etc...and for good cheap eat....students and the like.... Its not going to be the "same old show" and it was stressed to us that this is to be the case....People can "learn" from watching the items prepared during the show by the people who know how to make them best....Its not an instructional show, but you can learn from it....some of us (myself included) really like to see great places we can eat when we travel to cities other than the ones we live in... eG folks have already come through with tons of great info...keep it coming in the individual thread being posted by my producer Jason! I am sure many of you will actually get to be in the show which is always fun! We will never be able to please everyone, but with everyones help here, we are gonna make a damn good show! Rock On!, Chris

Coffee , heck I am a cop, I live on that stuff (Igot back from NYC at 10 pm and had to work the streets at 5 am today) so trust me when I say I love it...and Cuban in Atlanta.....I am married to a Cuban so it will be interesting to see.....sounds like a really good option.... keep em coming! I am gonna try to post those threads for each city but am at my "real job" right now w no time....maybe later this evening...

That burger is insane! I wont get to Sacramento this season as its pretty much set in stone where we are going (list on earlier post)...but if you locals can start looking at places in those cities that are "worthy" then let myself or my producers Sean Omalley and Jason Levine know...we could be there soon!

OK...and the cities are!.....oh by the way we ate the the "Spice Market" with the VP for the dinner for those of you that wanted to know...pretty good too... 1. NYC (Manhattan) 2. Chicago 3. Philly 4. Boston 5. D.C. 6.Charleston 7.Dallas or Houston 8.Miami 9.Atlanta 10. L.A. and we already filmed Vegas ...My producers Sean Omalley and Jason Levine will be joining in the threads for research.... Away we go!

Ooh, ooh, please let us know! Where do the FTV guys eat when they can expense it? And is it good? And are you going to get a chance to visit the Big Apple BBQ in Madison Square Park this weekend? Mucho congrats on the show!!! ← No time to do ANYTHING cool...fly in at 4 pm...go to hotel, dinner tonight...meeting at food net and william morris tommorow, fly home at 6 pm get home at 1030.....work at 5 am next morning in police car! I am hoping it will be a cool dinner though...I will dish the dirt when I get back..gotta go hop a plane now...

We are coming to Atlanta and tell me more about the indian place? is it aa "dive", "trendy" or none of the above? are there "clues" that would make a person think its good without even eating the food first?

I will have a no donut rule!...If we can ever show it we will....but the first thing anyone see's in the demo we made was me standing infront of a giant donut....it was really funny....I would like to see an ad or something along the lines of "for this cop, its about more than just donuts".....heck "more than just donuts" could be a cool t shirt, or even the new foodie mantra! By the way, we are having dinner w one of the food net VP's tommorow night in NYC and I am dying to know where we are going...but he wont tell!

Just an idea ... when the various cities are set in stone, how about starting a thread in the specific geographical forum (i.e. "Chris's Show: Los Angeles" in the California forum; or "Chris's Show: Las Vegas" in the Southwest forum)? Questions for you Chris: Is this a 30-minute show? 60 minutes? How many places are you (i.e., The Food Network) planning to cover in each episode? Dare I ask this ... Is this the Food Network's version of a travel series, something like ... uhh ... Bourdain's series, with no Iceland or Vietnam? I'm sorry, Chris, if it sounds like I'm bashing ... ← Russel, you are not bashing at all, FN has just allowed me to "do my thing" all over the country instead of just my little corner of L.A.. Its going to be 30 mins with at least 5 different restaurants/food scenes....We did 6 for the pilot but it was too much information....We are going to try to keep the mix of food pretty broad with nice places and street food, with family joints and local "must try" places as well....I want people who watch this to get a look at "the rest of" what ever city we are in....which is why we did Vegas...Off the Strip for the pilot...it was great, everyone we showed it too had never seen any of the places we featured...even the Vegas locals on the crew were calling friends telling them about the places we were filming in thier own backyard... Thats the feel we want....if the locals of that city can watch and see new stuff... Yea, I mentioned the thread thing in an earlier post....I am going to do that next week when we get it all firmed up for the cities...that way we can all input stuff for the various places and not just in one thread...plus it will be easier for me to keep track of stuff....

Too funny, I actually wanted Witchita, and some of the other major cities that get over looked.... One thing I learned doing the pilot is "its a lot of work", and the food you eat is always freezing cold as its been prepared earlier and the lighting guys need to keep moving stuff around for the shots.... We can start thread for the individual cities when we have them set in stone....but the few I listed should be included....Miami and Dallas as well....

Wow, I actually had the opposite reaction, I sent the onion soup back and was so dissapointed with my tough steak I could not put it into words....that was my first NYC food experience and it was a major bummer....maybe it was a bad night! I am staying at the Gansvoort this Suday and might try it again

Tad...we will be shooting L.A. and you are my man here...maybe a trip to what thai? WE want Sand Diego too, but have to work on it...DC, NYC, Chi town, Philly, Dallas, Charelston, Boston so far....and we already did Vegas I heard there is a place called "Hay's" in Philly that might be up our alley..anyone heard of it?

I was a child abuse and sex crimes detective, but now I am back out on the streets as the scheduale is much better and I am not getting called out in the middle of the night...speaking of, gotta go to work now...

Its going to start airing in October...so we will be shooting most of the summer....and Holly...you are my go to guy in Philly...all I have to say it "cheesesteak" and not pats of geno's either.....I know you have got all the places down when it comes to good food in Philly! PS you guys rule!

The show will focus on just great places to eat regardless of what they are....we filmed the pilot in Vegas and did everything off the strip from chicken fried lobster at Binions to amazing pasta at Nora's on flamingo....its based on my "cops eye" of how to find great places....dives, hole in the walls, street food....stuff like that....we will still hit "normal places" but will feature things like where the chefs eat....where working people like cops, street workers, bloggers and the likes go.....if you watch the new Alton Brown feasting on ashpalt show you will get a taste of it as there is a day spent with me in a police car eating amazing "dive food".... I think the cities will be the major US place...Chicago, Boston etc...Nashville is a place I really want to go as I spent 4 yrs at Ft Campbell and cruised Nashville every weekend.....I am counting you the folks here to help steer us in the right direction...my only regret is I can no longer be a judge on Iron Chef America....man that is a major bummer as it was really fun! Oh yea, you can tell I am a cop by my avatar....its me in my police helicopter over L.A....just ask Holly Moore what its like....I got to fly him around L.A. for a night!

O.K. I guess its time to let the cat out of the bag. I have been a member of eG for a number of years and have had the pleasure of meeting many of you in person. I am a big fan of food, foodies, bloggers and the like and think that an entire new era of food journalism has arrived. Now I will cut the the chase, for those of you who do not know, I am a Police Officer in Los Angeles and also write a food and wine column in the Daily Breeze newspaper. I have a "few friends" at the food network and have been a judge on Iron Chef America and a few other projects...anyway....Its been in the works for a few months and I was dying to tell people about it (although not eager to get my every move disected by some people here) so here goes... I have been given a 10 episode prime time show from the Food Network that will focus on "off the beaten path" places and things to eat in the cities of America. Its actually just a giant version of my newspaper column..anyway, I am flying to NYC on Sunday to meet and discuss the cities we will visit etc....I would love to include eG and the fantastic folks here in the research and production of the show (some of you will be in it). I will have the list of cities we will visit next week and would like to start a thread on each city to discuss and figure out where in fact we can shoot, visit, feature etc.... I am putting myself out there and trusting the eG community to be honest and helpfull. I can take constructive critisism but am not lookin to be "bashed". The folks at Food Network are taking a chance and listening to what "we" as a community of food enthusiests,eaters, amatuer and paid food writers have to say, so with your help this can be a great show and we can feature some worthy and truely fantastic chefs, writers and just great people. So what do you think, anyone want to help? Thanks in advance. Chris

Dont forget Ellis Islands brew pub for great bbq with a view of the strip as well as hand crafted beers for $1

Good luck that is so cool! I dont get the show here in the US so please keep us up to date!

my friend dined there las week and said that the least expensive thing she saw was around $50...that said she stated that the meal was the most incredible off her life...so, it costs but its worth it...

What a great thing to do in order to help and I applaud you all for doing the good deeds ! I need to be a "Cop" for a second....I work a police detail that deals with the homeless and come in contact daily with the people living on the freeways etc...I must inform you that 99 percent of them are drug users or alcoholics. I must urge you to not give money as I can tell you it will go right towards the next hit or bottle....but giving the items you have suggested in this thread is wonderful....another thing they need often are a change of socks.....trust me, its important to them....anyway, just my 2 cents...keep up the good work!