"America's Next Great Restaurant"

[jsmeeker]

Who is going to watch this show? It premiers tonight on NBC. My TiVo is set.

Hosted by Bobby Flay, the show will award a winner a three restaurant chain (Los Angeles, New York City, and Minneapolis)

http://www.nbc.com/americas-next-great-restaurant/

Will be interesting to see what concepts people have and if any of them are truly original or unique.

[IndyRob]

Ok, you got me. DVR set, expectations muted. I saw Bobby on The Today Show pimping this thing. Why can't NBC pull talent from Bravo?

Well, we'll see I guess....

[RWells]

You know, not as horrible as I expected. Bobby Flay is one of my least favorite food people. That said he was toned down considerably. While they had some of those total losers, you know the drill, American Idol's ten people to laugh at for three episodes, they booted them rather than keeping them around. The obnoxious jerk, who pitched the wings and my great BBQ sauce got told that his wings sucked in 10 seconds and was booted out the door.

[jsmeeker]

With all the contestants, it was hard to even get a grasp of all the concepts that made the cut to the final 10. But I recall a few of them off the top of my head

Chicken and Waffles. I didn't catch what the third "W" was for (Wings, Waffles and something or other)

Grilled Cheese. I think this is interesting. Made him prepare a bunch fast. But he did it in a small panini press. I would think that is not the best way to make a lot in a hurry. Wouldn't a large flat top griddle be better? But I guess that is something that can easily be figured out

Tapas BBQ. I dunno how any tapas works in a fast food/fast casual place. Do you order it all at once and get it all and once and take it to your table in eat it? Make multiple trips to the counter to order? What about take out? Really, tapas works well when a server just brings you dish after dish

Sports wraps. Eh... I am not into wraps.

The calorie focused one. Do you order by number? Like "I want the 500 calorie meal"?

Custom Stir Fry. I think this made it through. Seems interesting, but I am conflicted over places that make the customer figure out how to combine ingredients to make a dish.

[azlee]

chipotle is already rumored to be working on an asian concept [nate appelman is said to be at the helm of the test kitchen], so i wonder if that means one of the other concepts won. saucy balls and tiffin look like strong contenders

[gfweb]

Meatballs 2:1

Chicken and Waffles 3:1

Grilled Cheese 8:1

Calorie-focused one 8:1

Southern Tapas joint 10:1

Rest of the field 20:1

The top two are already proven concepts in various locations and both of their promoters are likable and motivated.

[gfweb]

chipotle is already rumored to be working on an asian concept [nate appelman is said to be at the helm of the test kitchen], so i wonder if that means one of the other concepts won. saucy balls and tiffin look like strong contenders

Chipotle is part of the McDonald's empire. I'm not sure the founder is involved any more.

[jsmeeker]

Oh yeah.. The meatball one. Saucy Balls. That one could be fun to watch.

[azlee]

chipotle is already rumored to be working on an asian concept [nate appelman is said to be at the helm of the test kitchen], so i wonder if that means one of the other concepts won. saucy balls and tiffin look like strong contenders

Chipotle is part of the McDonald's empire. I'm not sure the founder is involved any more.

mcdonald's divested its investment in chipotle in 2006.

steve ells is chairman and co-chief executive officer of chipotle

Edited March 7, 2011 by azlee (log)

[gfweb]

Got me on that one.

Is Ells the guy on the show?

[Holly Moore]

Other than Limbo, weird taco fillings and the oxymorish shall bites, southern cooking idea, there wasn't an original concept in the bunch.

Does Curtis make anyone else want to instantly switch channels?

My money is on the Indian concept.

[gfweb]

I forgot Indian. I put Indian at 4:1.

[weinoo]

Sorry, but I found this the most tedious, banal show since, since...Guy Fieri.

Every concept seems tired. Hasn't the stir-fry thing been done before? Mongolian Barbecue, or something or other?

Meatballs, of course, have been done - and now it's 3 shops here in New York, so it's a great concept, if you like stolen concepts, and who doesn't?

Burgers, wings, wow. Limbo was an unusual idea, at least. Workable, probably not in the least.

However, since I'm a betting man, I'll take the Indian thing. At least it's somewhat original (though don't tell that to anyone in Curry Hill).

[mathewr]

im rooting for chicken and waffles, the third W i believe is from his last name. Like others have said, nyc has the meatball shop. if i want meatballs im going there. chicken and waffles sound the most interesting. lets go chix and waffles. im hoping we can get some asiago waffle with pulled pork.

[jsmeeker]

Obviously, a lot of these ideas like a grilled cheese place are ideas already working in a place like NYC. But is that a concept that can go national at a large scale? I think that is what they are *trying* to find. I don't know of any national grilled cheese place. I can't think of any national "meatballs" place either.

Some concepts, while older than dirt, seem to have no limit. Just look at burgers in the Dallas area. Already saturated with the major chains, we got Five Guys. Then a local "imitator" called Mooyah started to open up locations. Very recently, Carl's Jr. started to open locations here. In-n-Out is building a commissary here to support multiple new locations in the area. And supposedly, Fatburger is on the way as well.

Concepts that are new and different aren't always the same as concepts that actually sell. That said, I hope the winner isn't a burger place.

[Mark Muller]

Obviously, a lot of these ideas like a grilled cheese place are ideas already working in a place like NYC. But is that a concept that can go national at a large scale? I think that is what they are *trying* to find. I don't know of any national grilled cheese place. I can't think of any national "meatballs" place either.

I wouldn't really call two locations national, but it appears to be trying:

http://www.chedds.com/

And yes, I have been to the location in Austin, and I liked it.

[jsmeeker]

Interesting.

Thanks for that link.

[IndyRob]

This could be the best Food Network show of this type yet. The celebs just stuck to what they were there to do. My only complaint is the same one I have with other shows like Masterchef or even Top Chef. They start out with too many people to cover in a single episode. Make two episodes or a two-hour premier.

[jsmeeker]

It was certainly odd they spent time profiling some of the contestants that were to be booted right off the bat. The blonde girl with her soup concept? (I think she had the soup concept) They showed her working her current job and all that stuff. What was the point? Just to set expectations with the viewer so they could be un-done?

Anyway, now that we are down to 10, I think things will be much better going forward.

[RWells]

Ahh come on they presented the Guy Fieris up front and summarily booted them out the door. If you wanted to see banal click to the Food Network right after the NBC show. We were teased with a couple of "Chopped Judges get their butts kicked" promos so I tuned in expecting to see Scott Conant and Alex Guarneschelli floundering and what did I get? The battle of the Next Food Network Stars rejects!

[mathewr]

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/03/americas_next_great_restaurant.html

very funny take on last nights ep

[RWells]

Very funny indeed. He did forget my favorite though, "little wangs", the bad wings and worse BBQ sauce guy who thought he was God's gift to the world. Kind of like Bobby Flay come to think of it. Of course the best episode is where all of the judges, save Bobby shoot down a burger joint asking, "does the world really need another burger joint". To which Bobby replies "hey I have a chain of Bobby's Burgers." Doh!

[gfweb]

Bobby is OK. He's just a New Yorker. It doesn't stand out up there.

[mathewr]

Very funny indeed. He did forget my favorite though, "little wangs", the bad wings and worse BBQ sauce guy who thought he was God's gift to the world. Kind of like Bobby Flay come to think of it. Of course the best episode is where all of the judges, save Bobby shoot down a burger joint asking, "does the world really need another burger joint". To which Bobby replies "hey I have a chain of Bobby's Burgers." Doh!

yea i noticed he forgot him too. i kind of wish they kept him on for drama sake.

[RWells]

I think the woman he was giving crap to made the final 10 right before he got shot down in record time. I loved it when the Chicken/Waffle guy responded to his "Everyone loves wings" with "my wife doesn't". Wang responses to the guy who is twice his size that he doesn't know from a doornob? "She's not very smart." I think that the production staff should be commended for not keeping the creep around merely to stir the pot, ala Top Chef.

Karma however is a bitch. Or more correctly in the case of "reality" TV, editing is a bitch.

Edited March 7, 2011 by RWells (log)