Nosh Pit

Thierry Rautureau Returns to Top Chef Masters

The pro version of Top Chef arrives July 25.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on May 24, 2012 at 02:15PM 0 Comments

The chef—and his hat—are back for more.

Top Chef Masters returns with its fourth installment July 25, and today Bravo announced the lineup of well-regarded chefs who will face off in the soft-and-friendly version of regular Top Chef—all proceeds to go charity.

Seattle’s own Thierry Rautureau competed on season two of Masters and is back for more. Chicago and D.C. chef Art Smith is another repeat contender. The full lineup includes Chicago chef Takashi Yagihashi and offal whisperer Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco. Oh, and food writer Francis Lam is joining on as a judge, a development sure to inspire squeals from lady food geeks around the country (okay, fine, myself included).

Rautureau, proprietor of Luc and Rover’s, is a rigorously trained chef and a born showman, so set your DVRs, friends. Meanwhile, here’s a video previewing the new season.

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Tags: Thierry Rautureau, Seattle on TV, Top Chef

Video: Cooking Channel’s Hook Line and Dinner’s Seattle Episode

On April 19, watch host Ben Sargent hit up Mashiko’s Hajime Sato, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Anchovies and Olives, and more.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Apr 12, 2012 at 02:25PM 0 Comments

Cooking Channel show Hook, Line, and Dinner is airing a Seattle episode April 19, one week from today. The show features fisherman, seafood lover, and former purveyor of underground lobster rolls Ben Sargent on a tour of some oceanic local spots.

It should come as a shock to no one that geoduck gets some prominent screen time. According to the preview blurb, Sargent goes on an overnight geoduck harvest with Brian Phipps of Taylor Shellfish Farms. He then hauls his penile surf clam over to Anchovies and Olives, where he’s fortunate enough to catch Ethan Stowell in between restaurant openings so the chef can make him a crudo.

The host also dives for sea cucumber, then hightails it to Mashiko in West Seattle, where chef-owner Hajime Sato makes him some sashimi while discussing the importance of sustainability. In the clip above, Sato cautions that unless we get our act together, five years from now we’re going to be left with plankton rolls and jellyfish. The show airs at 8pm, April 19 on the Cooking Channel, which sent over the clip above. And thanks to the West Seattle Herald for the heads up on the show.

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Tags: Ethan Stowell, Seattle on TV, Hajime Sato, Anchovies and Olives, Mashiko

A Preview of Check, Please! NW

Recognize the three restaurants showcased in the first episode?

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Mar 07, 2012 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Thursday marks the debut of Check, Please! Northwest, the public television restaurant review show founded in Chicago and colonized in a handful of other dining-obsessed regions around the country. Host Amy Pennington just posted the first official preview, which is basically an invitation for you to watch closely to see if you can recognize the three restaurants discussed in the first episode (and to enjoy the hilarious faces Pennington makes in the course of a conversation).

I’ll refrain from spoilers; hit up the trailer below and see for yourself.

Check, Please! Northwest premieres tomorrow, March 8, at 7pm on KCTS 9. You can still apply to be a guest on upcoming episodes right over here.

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Tags: Seattle on TV, Check, Please, Amy Pennington, KCTS

Will Seattle, in Fact, Host Top Chef?

We’ll know in a few weeks.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 02, 2012 at 01:50PM 5 Comments

Earlier this week Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau president Tom Norwalk caused a significant uproar amidst food nerds locally and nationally when he let fly to KIRO’s Josh Kerns the fact that Seattle is a finalist to host the next season of Top Chef.

Norwalk confirmed to Seattle Met that our city is indeed one of two remaining contenders for the culinary competition reality show: “We got close last year and didn’t get the nod.” He says the final decision should come within the next few weeks.

At issue for this season, and any season, is whether the host city can pony up enough money to help cover production costs, an estimated $200,000 to $300,000. In exchange, Seattle would be the setting for at least 10 episodes of chef competition, culinary hijinx, restaurant wars, man buns, and the occasional on-camera meltdown. A Seattle-based season would guarantee lots of Space Needle, fish-throwing, and local chef cameos on millions of TV screens around the country.

Top Chef won’t share the identity of the other city vying for hosting rights, says Norwalk, though we’re hearing some (highly unconfirmed) rumors that Portland was also under consideration.

If Seattle doesn’t make the cut again this year, at least we’re still in for some local restaurant television action with the upcoming premiere of Check, Please! Northwest. There’s also the Top Chef season nine finale in Vancouver.

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Tags: Reality TV, Seattle on TV, Top Chef

Check, Please! NW Hires a Host

Amy Pennington hits your small screen March 8.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 24, 2012 at 09:00AM 6 Comments

Check, Please! Northwest’s new host Amy Pennington is already practicing the fine art of wine-fueled conversation. Photo courtesy of KCTS.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends of both public television and dining: KCTS has selected the person who will be guiding your conversations about Seattle’s restaurants on Check, Please! Northwest. And that person is…local gardener/author/cook Amy Pennington.

Food-focused Seattleites know her from her books Urban Pantry and Apartment Gardening, and her energetic Twitter persona (or maybe that recent piece in the Wall Street Journal?).

Pennington says the encouragement of a few friends helped nudge her into auditioning, a process that included shooting a mock episode with fake guests, a teleprompter and everything. While her only previous on-camera experience had been the occasional guest spot on shows like New Day Northwest, she says the new gig is “basically what I do every day of my life, which is sit around with my friends and talk about what restaurants we’ve been to.”

Shooting begins next week for the 13-episode first season, of which the Space Needle is the sole underwriter, and the first episode airs March 8 at 7pm on KCTS 9. You can still apply to be on the show right over here.

“When you work for yourself, you’re always looking for the next big project,” says Pennington. “And I grew up with PBS and I thought it would be such an honor to work with them.” An added bonus: The shooting ends right around the time gardening season revs up.

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Tags: Seattle on TV, Check, Please, Amy Pennington, KCTS

Molly Moon’s Gets Plugged in New Nokia Commercial

Molly Moon Neitzel has fans in high places.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 20, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Apparently an ad exec at Nokia—a former Seattleite—is so taken with Molly Moon’s balsamic strawberry ice cream, she decided to plug it in a TV spot. “She contacted us before Christmas about using our name/business for the commercial,” said a rep for Molly Moon Neitzel. Have a listen below.

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Tags: Seattle on TV, Molly Moon's, Molly Moon Neitzel

Andrew Zimmern’s Seattle Episode Airs February 6

See which area food destinations get air time.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 18, 2012 at 02:15PM 2 Comments

Here he’s eating a spring roll in St. Paul’s Hmongtown Market, but you can see professional TV eater Andrew Zimmern take on Seattle February 6. Photo courtesy of the Travel Channel.

Seattle is about to get another moment of fleeting food TV glory. You know, something to tide you over between November’s sad four-way elimination of our local Top Chef contestants, and the debut of Check, Please! Northwest on March 8. Food guy Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods America series premieres January 23 on the Travel Channel, and the Seattle episode airs on Monday, February 6.

Zimmern is usually described as a guy who spends his days eating opossum entrails and whatever other grossout oddities his producers can scare up in a particular country or region. But he’s also an articulate champion of local food cultures. Before joining Seattle Met, I interviewed the TV host on the heels of his Seattle visit and listened to him rave about a variety of spots, including Canlis. Though Zimmern dined there off duty, he did recently deem it one of his best meals of 2011.

The affable host recently did a conference call for reporters (dude is media savvy) to discuss the upcoming season, the first time Bizarre Foods has focused entirely on domestic destinations. The Seattle highlights he hit in the call included spending time in the kitchen with Modernist Cuisine mastermind Nathan Myhrvold and planting and harvesting geoducks with Taylor Shellfish Farms. Honestly, did you think Andrew Zimmern was going to visit our part of the world and not tangle with a geoduck?

His other Seattle stops included Seattle Coffee Works, Vashon Island’s Sea Breeze Farm, FareStart, and Maneki. It will be interesting to see which local favorites get screen time, and in what proportions. As always, air dates are subject to last minute changes.

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Tags: Seattle on TV, Andrew Zimmern

Check, Please! Cometh: Seattle Gets Its Own Restaurant Review Show

The popular PBS show will debut on KCTS March 8.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Nov 18, 2011 at 10:05AM 3 Comments

When I lived in Chicago, PBS show Check, Please! was a beloved institution amongst the city’s dining enthusiasts (including a charismatic state senator named Barack Obama). Later when I moved to San Francisco, the show’s Bay Area incarnation was a helpful educational tool in navigating a new city’s restaurants. Now the Chicago-based creators of Check, Please! have confirmed the show is expanding to Seattle. The first episode of Check, Please! Northwest will air on Thursday, March 8 at 7pm on KCTS 9.

The gist of the show is this: An episode features three guests, a varied trio of public television viewers, sitting down over a glass of wine to discuss their favorite restaurants. Each member of the group must dine at everyone else’s favorite establishment before the taping so guests can compare experiences. The format lends itself to some fish out of water hilarity, be it a rotund cop at a vegan restaurant, or a staid matron forced to endure thumpy club music at a sleek sushi lounge. However it also produces some diverse restaurant commentary, decorous debate, and a spotlight for unsung local establishments that get obscured by buzzier places. Check, Please! is a hyperlocal reality show that dates back to the days when that term referred to actual reality. And unlike Top Chef, nobody gets sent home.

The show (also in South Florida, Kansas City and Phoenix) is an absurdly good fit for Seattle, given our dual love of public programming and talking about food. If Check, Please! Northwest captures one tenth of the restaurant discourse that lives on Twitter, it will be compelling indeed.

David Manilow, the show’s creator, has long been eyeing our city. “I love Seattle,” he says. “The city’s beautiful and interesting, the restaurant scene is vibrant and creative, and the people are smart and discerning. I think that will be reflected on Check, Please!”

Manilow says the local production team is still in the early planning stages, but one of the first things to ponder will be signing on a host, usually a telegenic member of the local food community. Judging by other cities’ hosts, an affinity for wine doesn’t hurt either. Let the prognosticating begin.

According to KCTS 9 producer Nicole Metcalf, anyone interested in 30 minutes of local television fame can write to checkplease@kcts9.org or visit the application page at www.kcts9.org/checkplease. Each guest gets a meal stipend (supplied by Check, Please! sponsors) but appearing on the show isn’t exactly a meal ticket. Participants usually end up shelling out some cash of their own.

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Tags: Seattle on TV, Check, Please,

Does a TV Appearance Boost a Food Truck’s Business?

Not surprisingly, the answer is yes. But by how much?

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 10, 2011 at 01:29PM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Marination’s Kamala Saxton, TV star.

Recently Lee Scott of Snout and Co. found himself filming with the show Eat St. It’s not the first time the street food series has shot in these parts. Last year Where Ya At Matt landed considerable camera time, as did the ladies of Marination, Roz Edison and Kamala Saxton.

By this point those two were old hands at TV hamming—you’ll recall they made quite an impression on Good Morning America. Curious to learn how airtime affects business, I asked Saxton, What can Scott expect after his episode screens?

A surge in sales. “It happens almost immediately,” Saxton says of the boom in customers. She estimates sales climbed by 25 to 35 percent post-broadcast. When a rerun airs there’s also an increase.

Getting recognized in random places. Saxton recalls trying on shoes in Vancouver, BC when a salesperson stopped and asked, Do you sell tacos? She still occasionally gets comments.

Long, long lines. Other mobile outfits have found the onslaught of new customers disastrously overwhelming. Saxton didn’t find the response that unbearable but acknowledged: “There’s a good chance you’ll run out of food on a nice day.” Couple that with national attention and “you’re guaranteed to run out of food.”

A host of out-of-towners. Saxton largely credits the business boom to visiting gastrophiles. (She still laughs about the 75-year-old woman who saw the truck on the boob and came for tacos.) “It’s great for the city and obviously great for the business,” Saxton says. But when the lines are long and you’re running out of food, you have to be careful not to alienate your bread-and-butter base. “There is this feeling that I’ve got to feed the city I’m doing business in.”

More attention from national media. In December or January Marination is slated to appear on Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods. Marination also was spotlighted in Zagat’s best restaurants roundup for 2011.

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Tags: Celebrity Chefs, Street Food, Seattle on TV, Seattle Food Trucks

Don’t Forget That Seattle Chef Wayne Johnson Is Going to Be on Iron Chef This Weekend

Sunshine, smunshine. There’s television to watch.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 29, 2011 at 04:20PM 0 Comments

Seattle’s own Wayne Johnson competes on Iron Chef America. All you have to do is watch.

Photo: Andaluca

Program that DVR, people who have DVRs: Seattle’s own paella master, Wayne Johnson, is competing on Iron Chef America this weekend, and you know you don’t want to miss that.

Johnson, the executive chef at Andaluca and Oliver’s Lounge in the Mayflower Park Hotel, will take on Michael Symon of Cleveland’s Lola Bistro. If the secret ingredient is anything that you put in paella—and you can pretty much put anything in paella—Johnson’s got this one in the bag.

Iron Chef America airs on the Food Network, the programming details are on its website.

Who will win? We don’t know! We hope it’s our guy though, right? Of course we do.

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Tags: Celebrity Chefs, Seattle Chefs, Seattle on TV