Food Network Star Makes Wise Decision

The new season of Food Network Star has begun (they dropped the “Next” from the title), and we’re three weeks in, which is enough to determine who we really don’t like, who we can tolerate, and who we want to root for. I’ll warn you now, if you haven’t watched it yet but plan to, you want to stop reading now. If you missed last night’s episode, you want to stop reading now. There will be spoilers. This season, Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Alton Brown have returned, but they aren’t mentoring teams as they did last season. Instead of a competition between the mentors, it’s a true competition between the contestants.

After the first week, the three front-runners as far as I’m concerned were Damaris Phillips, Stacey Poon-Kinney, and Rodney Henry. I like Damaris because she is from Kentucky (a culinary instructor from Louisville), she has a pleasant, down-to-earth personality, and she can cook. Stacey has previously been on Restaurant: Impossible, and Robert Irvine saved her restaurant. She seems more likable now than she did then, and she, too, can cook. Rodney is known as the pie guy, and since there isn’t a show devoted just to pies already on Food Network, he has an interesting point of view that could be fun to watch. He also has a pleasant personality and can cook.

Others that I could possibly root for include Chris Hodgson and Chad Rosenthal. The remaining ones at the bottom of my list are Lovely Jackson (she just seems fake), Nikki Dinki (she reminds me too much of Sandra Lee), and Russell Jackson and Viet Pham (who both need to clarify their points of view). While Viet does have to his credit that he beat Bobby Flay on an episode of Iron Chef America, he hasn’t shown enough personality to demonstrate he can carry a show.

Three have been eliminated. First was Daniela Perez-Reyes, and she didn’t make a lasting impression, and since that was three weeks ago, I don’t remember enough to say much about her. Next was Andres Guillama, who would have had a great point of view if he had focused on his weight loss; however, he didn’t want to focus in that direction, which left him a little aimless when it came to a point of view. He wanted it to be anything but the weight loss, but he only did well when he mentioned the weight loss.

Last night, finally, my least favorite of all was eliminated. Personally, I would have gotten rid of Danushka Lysek in week two and given Andres another chance. In week two, out of 100 possible guests to try her hamburger, Danushka had two people. While Andres didn’t have many more than that, Danushka’s personality was so flat and boring, that it was a chore to watch her for another week. She’s a former model, and she never looked like she was having any fun on the show. She was stiff and forced. In last night’s episode, she even openly acted bored during the star challenge. She didn’t attempt to revolutionize the basket ingredients in the Chopped-like star challenge. She made what basically looked like a poorly battered corn dog. I’m so glad they finally got rid of her, and now we can focus on contestants who are more interesting.

I’m still leaving Damaris, Stacey, and Rodney in my top three for now, but the remaining contestants (with the exception of Lovely and Nikki), could possibly earn their way up there. With Danushka out of the way, I’m looking forward to the remaining episodes.

To Watch or Not to Watch?

There are several television shows that are worthy of watching, and there are many others which are not. Here’s my take on what to watch and what not to watch.

First, the what-not-to-watch list. Keep in mind this is in no way an official list and it is based entirely on my subjective opinion based on the few shows I’ve seen, and I’ve only seen them usually because one or more of the children are watching them and I just happen to be in the room. And, to be fair and honest, some shows make the list based simply on what I’ve heard or inferred about them and I haven’t watched them at all. But it’s my list, so I can do that. The list is also in no particular order, just as the shows happen to come to me while I type.

Many of the reality series out there qualify as bad television and should be avoided. These include shows like Toddlers & Tiaras, Honey Boo Boo (I know that’s not the exact title, but I know you know what and who I am talking about), Teen Mom, and Dance Moms. This list could go on and on, and any shows that are similar to these would make the list. It seems to me that these shows not only exploit folks but also encourage others to follow in their footsteps based on the popularity of the shows. Yes, a show like Teen Mom has the potential to show how rough it is to be a teenage mother, but in its own way, it also glorifies it.

Other shows on the list of what not to watch include Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, and the new Beauty and the Beast. I can’t stand the character of Elena on Vampire Diaries. Pretty Little Liars is just about a bunch of sneaky and manipulative teenage girls. Switched at Birth had potential to be a good show, but after a few episodes, it just didn’t work for me. And the new Beauty and the Beast decision if based entirely on the fact that Kristin Kreuk plays Catherine. I couldn’t stand her as Lana Lang on Smallville and that has carried over to Beauty and the Beast.

So, what would I suggest for your viewing pleasure? In the realm of reality shows, Pawn Stars and Duck Dynasty will both make the list. When Rick and the guys call in their experts on Pawn Stars, I learn a lot of interesting trivia. When it comes to Duck Dynasty, the guys on there remind me of my brothers. I also like that they express some good, core family values. Many folks include Survivor in the reality series, but I think of it more as a game show, since there is a winner. Not every season of Survivor has been spectacular, but for the most part, they are fairly interesting.

Other shows on the list of what to watch include Justified, Dr. Who, Dallas, NCIS, Law & Order: SVU, Monk, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, and most of what is on Food Network (as long as it’s not Sandra Lee, Michael Chiarello, or Ina Garten). The Food Network competitions The Next Food Network Star, The Next Iron Chef, Worse Cooks in America, The Great Food Truck Race, Chopped, Iron Chef America, and Celebrity Cook-off are usually always fun and entertaining. Restaurant: Impossible, Mystery Diners, and Restaurant Stakeout are also interesting. In fact, on Food Network, it’s hard to go wrong. I catch a lot of Dr. Who, NCIS, Law & Order, How I Met Your Mother, and Big Bang Theory in reruns. I’m looking forward to the returns of Justified and Dallas, though Dallas will not be quite the same after they have to address the death of Larry Hagman.

If you want to go really old-school to find something to watch, then I suggest these oldies but goodies: The Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, The Facts of Life, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Growing Pains, Full House, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Little House on the Prairie, and The Waltons. I know I’ve probably left some out, but those are what came to mind off the top of my head.

I don’t really spend a lot of time watching television. Usually I just have it on in the background while I’m doing something else, or the kids have it on something and I just happen to be in the room. If, however, I’m in the mood to watch something, this list is where I would start when I’m flipping through the guide to see what is on.

Mystery Diners Have All the Fun

As many of you know, I’m a faithful viewer of programming on Food Network. Mystery Diners is a new show that has captured my attention. We also watched the short-lived Restaurant Stakeout, but I prefer Mystery Diners. The premise behind both shows is that the restaurants are struggling, getting bad reviews, and losing business. The owners want to find the problem, so in both shows, cameras are hidden and the daily life of the restaurant is captured on tape.

On Restaurant Stakeout, Willie Degel watched the videos, provided a report to the owner, and confronted the staff. On Mystery Diners, Charles Stiles sends in mystery diners in various roles such as employee in training, delivery truck driver, or customer, watches the video with the owner, and allows the owner to confront the staff in question. I think that’s why I like Mystery Diners better. When the owner confronts his/her employees, it seems a little less invasive. It’s not an outsider berating the employee; it’s the owner taking charge of his/her business.

It’s kind of sad in a way because even though I’ve never run a restaurant and never worked in a restaurant, the things these employees do wrong that are hurting business are common-sense things. One employee was running his own catering business out of the pizza joint where he worked, basically stealing his employer’s food to use for his on-the-side business. However, instead of seeing that as a common-sense thing not to do to, the guy’s response was, “It’s just food.” After being fired from the pizza joint, he eventually had to close his catering business. Guess it wasn’t so easy to run when he had to purchase rather than steal his food.

On another episode, a young girl drank shot after shot at the bar where she worked. When the Mystery Diners customers paid for drinks, she put it in the tip jar instead of the register. After the bar closed, she invited in 4-5 friends of hers for a party at the bar, and there they were on camera, drinking from the bar with nobody paying for anything. And the amazing thing? She, too, was shocked that what she was doing was not acceptable.

There have been numerous blunders like these that are so obvious, you would think anybody with a little common sense would know not to do those things. One waitress insulted a pregnant lady several times over the course of her meal. I guess it’s a good thing she was one of the mystery diners so she was expecting it. One guy purposely ordered the wrong kind of beer just because it was cheaper and then put one of the boxes in the trunk of his car.

I understand why all these folks became defensive when they were called in, saw the camera, and realized they’d been caught. It is a bit invasive, but the owner has the right to put cameras in his or her restaurant if he or she chooses to do so. The safest thing, obviously, is to not be stupid and do your job. But still, I can understand why they are offended that they were being taped without their knowledge. However, I can also understand why the owner needs to get to the root of the problem. They want to fix it before they end up on Robert Irvine’s show, Restaurant: Impossible. Even though I can understand why the employees are upset to learn they’ve been filmed and caught doing things they shouldn’t be doing, what I don’t understand is why they stand there and deny what they’ve done. It’s on film.

The one guy said he didn’t steal any beer, and they show him the footage where he’s putting it in the car. Afterwards, he did return it. One girl said she only had a little sip of alcohol while on duty, and they show her four or five clips where she’s sipping drinks. One girl said she didn’t eat the food off the plate she was putting in a to-go box, and after seeing the clip where she was, then just claimed that she was hungry, starving actually. I just don’t get why they go from mad and defensive to lying. Needless to say, all these folks lost their jobs, and the restaurants are all seeing profits again. The good news is that when employees do things right, that’s on camera too, and some employees have earned promotions based on their behavior.

What I find interesting, though, is when they talk about all the things that should or should not be done in the restaurant industry. And I know I’ll be driving Jimmy crazy with this, but now when we go to a restaurant, I’m watching the staff, and analyzing them according to the appropriate behaviors Stiles and Degel have described. Jimmy says that I secretly want to be a mystery diner. And maybe I do, but I think I’ll keep my day job.

New Food Network Show Reveals Restaurant Reality

The latest show on Food Network is Restaurant Stakeout. The show is similar to Restaurant: Impossible only in that the restaurants featured are in trouble. On the Robert Irvine show, the restaurant is failing and in dire financial straits, and it’s Robert’s job to remodel the place, upgrade the menu, teach the staff new recipes, and basically whatever it takes to improve the restaurant and make it successful. On the Willie Degel show, the restaurant is having problems, mainly with staff, and it’s Willie’s job to figure out what the staff is doing wrong and offer suggestions to fix the problems.

Restaurant Stakeout is a pretty interesting show. We’ve watched two episodes, and let’s just say that I hope we never end up in a restaurant like either of those.

To solve the problems, Willie first has to identify the problems. He has his team set up cameras all over the restaurant, and then he sets up camp and stakes out the restaurant, watching the staff’s every move. Sometimes he has the restaurant’s owner with him, and other times he doesn’t, but he makes sure to fill the owners in on what happens when they aren’t at the restaurant.

We’ve seen a variety of disturbing things so far. A waitress not only got into an argument with a customer, but she also threw a napkin at that customer, and when confronted about it, she denied it. It didn’t turn out so well for her after the video was revealed. Another waitress took the customer’s leftovers back to the kitchen to put in a to-go box, but before she put the order in the box, she helped herself to a bite from the plate. That was seriously disgusting. Not only did she have her fingers in the customer’s food that would be going home with the customer, but she was eating after complete strangers. The manager did not check on customers or seem to be aware of what the staff was doing.

On the second show we watched, several employees argued in front of the customers. One poured a drink on another. One waitress let a couple sit for twenty-five minutes before stopping to even ask what they’d like to drink. The bartenders were drinking shots with the customers, and after having a few, they were dancing on the bar; it’d be one thing if it was supposed to have been that type of restaurant, but it wasn’t. The manager here was no better than the manager on the other show.

We saw a couple of good things, such as the waiter who followed a customer into the parking lot to return the wallet the customer had left on the table and the waitress who refused to serve alcohol to a young lady who had forgotten her ID. However, on both episodes we watched, there was a lot more bad than good, and I really hope I never end up in places like those. The lack of management, both on the part of the owners and the managers they had hired, resulted in numerous problems. Had either the owners or the managers stayed on top of the situations and done their jobs properly, the other issues would have been stopped before they created havoc at the restaurants.

The thing about watching a show like this is when I eat out, now I’m thinking about all the things Willie suggests for a good restaurant. A lot of it really seems like common sense, but now I’m making it a point to see if the restaurants where I am are doing any of those things. Today, I ate at a restaurant that I believe would have passed Willie’s tests with flying colors.

Saul Good in Hamburg in Lexington is a great restaurant. The hostess greeted us warmly and with a smile when we entered and we were seated promptly. The waiter was there immediately to see what we wanted to drink, promptly returned with our drinks, and took our order. He also did an excellent job keeping our drinks refilled. Our food was delivered, and in a few minutes, the waiter was back to check on our orders. A little later, the manager was there to make sure we were satisfied with our service. Not only did our waiter seem to be doing a good job, but while watching the other waiters and waitresses, they also seemed to be doing a good job. When we needed a to-go box, he brought one to our table, which I personally think is a much better idea than taking it back to the kitchen to be boxed up.

There are a lot of restaurants out there to choose from, and people won’t go where they are insulted, where they are ignored, or where the staff doesn’t do their jobs. It’s a little scary to watch shows like Restaurant Stakeout because you want to believe that everyone in the restaurant business is honorable, and after you watch this show, you will discover that some of the horror stories you’ve heard about restaurants actually happen. The best advice I can give you is to be cautious when you choose a restaurant, and if it doesn’t look clean, the staff isn’t friendly, and you have doubts, leave and find another place to eat.

It’s Hummus vs. Hubris on Next Iron Chef

As you already know, my husband and I are huge Food Network fans. We have particular hosts we love to watch, including Giada de Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Guy Fieri, the Neeleys, and Robert Irvine, just to name a few. We also enjoy the competition shows, such as Next Food Network Star, Chopped, and Next Iron Chef. So, when this season of Next Iron Chef was being promoted, we anxiously awaitedthe  October 30 premiere of the Super Chefs. Of course, we had our favorite picked out the moment we saw the lineup. We’re for Anne Burrell all the way.

Ideally, I would’ve liked to see it come down to Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine in the final episode, with Anne winning. I like Robert Irvine, but I like Anne better, and I do enjoy watching her beat him, as she did on Worst Cooks in America and Chopped. I was hoping for showdown number 3, with Anne coming out on top again. Last week, when Chef Spike chose to put Anne and Robert together for a team, it was quite funny, especially for those of us who know their history. It was with great relief that we learned that they were not the bottom team and did not have to face off against each other in the premiere episode. There was hope that they still might get the chance to fight it out in the finale.

That hope died tonight when Robert Irvine was eliminated from the competition. I was speechless. Robert manages to complete Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible challenges all the time. Robert is very well respected among the chefs employed by the Food Network. How can it be that it is episode 2, and Robert is gone? For what it’s worth, which isn’t really much since he was eliminated, the decision wasn’t unanimous. At least one of the judges wanted Robert to stay. And I’m going to guess that more viewers would have liked for Robert to stay than for Chef Michael Chiarello to stay.

Robert Irvine is such a popular chef, it was startling not just to viewers but also to the other Super Chefs that he was eliminated so early. And as Alton Brown pointed out, because his hummus was too thick. Personally, I thought Chef Chiarello’s attitude was too thick. Of course, since this is Super Chefs, there are going to be some Super Egos to contend with, and while the viewers get to see all the comments the chefs make after their food has been evaluated, I’m guessing that the judges don’t get to see all those comments. And that’s probably a good thing since if I were one of the judges and I heard one of the competitors dissing how I judged, I’d be more likely to eliminate them.

Tonight’s episode was a huge wake-up call to fans and chefs alike. If a chef like Robert can be eliminated so quickly, anybody can. As for this fan, though, I still have a preferred order for elimination, which simply calls for all the chefs I’m not really familiar with or that I just don’t like as well to go first. The next ones I’d like to see go are Michael Chiarello (didn’t like his attitude), Elizabeth Faulkner (just don’t really know anything about her), and Chuck Hughes (don’t really know anything about him). After that, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, and Beau MacMillan would be the next three to go, leaving Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli to compete for the final spot. Since I can’t have Anne and Robert in the finale, then let’s have Anne and Alex and add a female Super Chef to the prestigious Iron Chef crew.

Of course after tonight, it’s hard to speculate about who will win this competition, but it’s certainly going to be interesting to watch, and it’s not going to be an easy task for the competitors. But since it is Next Iron Chef, it shouldn’t be easy for them. One thing I’m wondering, though. When this is over, will those who serve as Chopped judges be any more sympathetic to those competitors than they were before? That may be as interesting to watch as these episodes are.