Food Network Star Season 9 Preview and Thoughts - Plus Episode-By-Episode Descriptions

This Sunday is the start of Season 9 of Food Network Star.  In the first preview, I gave you the details about some of the Food Network Star contestants and where you have seen them before (Chopped, Iron Chef, etc).  It also had the rule changes for the show this season.

Now I will just go through some random thoughts for this season based on the rule changes, and the debacle of last year's season.

• Last year, the winner was supposed to win their own 'Food Network show produced by their mentor.'  We all know that Alton Brown didn't produce Justin Warner's Rebel Eats special.  So the winner got a 1-hour special rather than a series, and it was not produced by his mentor.  We know how Bob and Susie like to constantly criticize contestants to stick to their POV (point-of-view).  Maybe they need to look in the mirror and stick to what they are offering to the winner and viewers.

Catch Marcela Valladolid on CBS and Robert Irvine Online Tonight

Photo - Facebook

Tonight, you can watch Food Network stars Marcela Valladolid and Robert Irvine on places other than the Food Network.

Marcela will be a judge on The American Baking Competition, which premieres tonight at 8pm on CBS.  There are 10 bakers on the show, and the winner will receive $250,000 and a publishing contract for their own cookbook. 

Fellow judge on the show, Paul Hollywood, recently split from his wife and the British tabloids are insinuating that it was because of Marcela Valladolid.  That is very big news across the pond, so I am sure they will be paying attention to the chemistry between the judges on the show.

Morimoto Vs. Garces - Iron Chef America Tournament of Champions

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The second semi-final battle of Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions had Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto facing Iron Chef Jose Garces, where the secret ingredient was liver.  Jose Garces defeated Marc Forgione to get here, while Masahuru Morimoto had a bye. 

With the new format of Iron Chef America, Chef Garces was ahead by 2 after the first dish for receiving a 14 for his first dish, while Chef Morimoto received a 12.  The culinary curveball was then announced, in which the chefs had to incorporate a juicer into at least one of their dishes.

Restaurant Impossible - Bryan's Smokehouse Bar-B-Q Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and crew are going to Lufkin, Texas to help out Bryan's Smokehouse Bar-B-Q and Catering.  The owner Lynn is dealing with 'a staff of misfits' and too much competition.  Poor service and a barbeque recipe that is not good are some of the key issues of Bryan's.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Bryan's Smokehouse to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found:

Watch Giada Raise The Roof and Get Lyrics Wrong on The Today Show

Al Roker posted a Vine video of Giada De Laurentiis today on the Today Show singing and dancing along to Fun.  In six seconds, Giada raises the roof, dances, sings, and get some lyrics wrong.  Enjoy!
Video is after the jump now:

Guy Fieri Gets Parking Ticket While Filming DDD in San Francisco

Guy Fieri was filming for new episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives yesterday in San Francisco and got some unexpected visitors.  The Department of Parking Traffic (DPT) of San Francisco issued Fieri's "FLVRTWN" Camaro a parking ticket (pictured below h/t Eater SF).

Someone tried to talk their way out of it, but not sure if they were successful.  The DPT has quite the reputation though, as most parking departments do.

McShane's From Restaurant Impossible To Close

McShane's Restaurant and Pub in East Syracuse, NY, which was featured in Season 2 of Restaurant Impossible, will close this Friday.  However, unlike other restaurants that have closed from the show, they plan to move away from the restaurant and plan to continue catering while starting a Food Truck.

A post on their Facebook Page stated "Closing this Friday . . look for our food truck "Chicken Bandit" . . .coming soon!" 

There was also a picture with a message thanking customers stating: 

Iron Chef America Frozen Meals Coming Soon

Iron Chef America is the next brand looking to capitalize on the frozen food industry.  A press release put out today announced a frozen food line called 'À La Cuisine' that will be in US supermarkets soon.  There are currently 8 different frozen meal kits that include: Butter Chicken, Spicy Szechuan Chicken, Chicken Garam Masala, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sesame Beef, Mongolian Beef, Thai Green Curry Beef, and Mandarin Orange Beef.

According to the website set up for the meals, they are not created by an Iron Chef, but rather inspired by Iron Chefs.  A chef named Anthony created the meals, and judging by the 8 flavors above, he only watched battle chicken and battle beef.

It looks like Ina Garten will have some competition for her Barefoot Contessa frozen meals.

Press Release Below:

Alton Brown Podcast Update

Photo - Food Network

Back in early March, Alton Brown announced he was launching a Podcast, and he taped the Podcast on March 8th.  Many have wondered when the podcast would be available, and Alton has updated everyone with that today. 

He stated on his website that "the Alton Browncast will be available at Nerdist.com and on itunes as well as the new AltonBrown.com which is coming to an internet near you."  However, he plans to have 5 podcasts taped before launching, so you will have to wait a few more weeks until more are filmed.

Symon Vs. Zakarian - Iron Chef America Tournament Of Champions

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The semi-final battle of Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions had Iron Chef Michael Symon facing Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, where the secret ingredient was wings.  Geoffrey Zakarian defeated Alex Guarnaschelli to get here, while Michael Symon had a bye.  Michael Symon has the best record of all Iron Chefs, and won season one of the Next Iron Chef, while Geoffrey Zakarian won season four.

With the new format of Iron Chef America, Chef Zakarian and Chef Symon were tied after both receiving a 12 for their first dish.  The culinary curveball was then announced, in which the chefs had to incorporate peanuts into at least one of their dishes.

Restaurant Impossible - Wagon Wheel Update

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and crew are going to Smyrna, Delaware to help out the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.  The restaurant has 'frozen food, outdated decor, dysfunctional family and disrespectful staff and the only thing keeping the restaurant alive right now is muskrat.'  If you do not know what muskrat is, it is a large rodent that lives in wetlands (pictured to the right.)  I asked Robert Irvine if he tried the muskrat while there, and he said 'Yep, Yuk!"  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about the Wagon Wheel to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found:

Marcela Valladolid Is All Over the British Tabloids

Photo - Facebook

Food Network's Marcela Valladolid is a judge on the upcoming CBS series The American Baking Competition, which is set to premiere on May 29th.  The show is a spin-off of the UK hit show, The Great British Bake Off, in which celebrity baker Paul Hollywood is one of the judges.  Paul also came over the the US to judge The American Baking Competition, and is known as 'the George Clooney of baking.'

It was recently announced that Paul has decided to split from his wife of 15 years, and that the decision came shortly after filming the show in the US.  The British tabloids then decided to insinuate that it was because of fellow judge Marcela Valladolid.  Marcela is referred to in the articles as 'pretty young US chef' and 'sexy US host.'   Paul is 47 years old with an 11 year-old son, while Marcela is 34 years-old and also has a son.

Doesn't sound like there is much evidence of a romance between the two, besides a working relationship, but I guess we will have to wait and see.  Here is an article from the DailyMail UK, which has over 200 comments already, so I guess this is pretty big news over there.

Amanda Freitag Opening a Restaurant and Guy Fieri's Book Release

Photo - Food Network

It was reported earlier today that Chopped judge and Next Iron Chef competitor Amanda Freitag will be headed back to the kitchen and is opening a restaurant in New York City.  Amanda hasn't been in the kitchen since 2010 when she left the restaurant Harrison.  The new restaurant will be in the Chelsea neighborhood and is scheduled to open some time this summer.  (Grubstreet via NYTimes)

In other news, Guy Fieri released his book Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown: America's Classic Joints and Killer Comfort Food today if you are into that kind of thing.

Flavorwire has a list of the 20 most absurd quotes from his book, such as: “My favorite line: ‘Do you get any tater with that gator? James Spader likes gator.’ (Ha ha ha, I kill me.)” and "“[They] make a porchetta that you won’t forgetta.”

Ristorante Barolo From Restaurant Impossible Has Been Sold

Photo - Food Network

Ristorante Barolo, which was featured on season 3 of Restaurant Impossible has been sold.  The restaurant was located inside the Bayview Hotel in Aptos, California.  The owners owned both the hotel and the restaurant, and have decided to sell the restaurant only and keep the hotel.  The restaurant is currently closed, and will reopen under new ownership and management according to Facebook Posts from the Ristorante Barolo page, which are referenced below:

Soup To Nuts Diner From Restaurant Impossible Has Closed

Soup To Nuts Diner, which was featured on Season 5 of Restaurant Impossible has closed as of yesterday after the close of business.  People on Facebook and Twitter have been saying that they were closing after yesterday, and I also got a few emails notifying me that they were closing. Also, the owner Sharon posted on Facebook Saturday, "Come to Soup To Nuts Diner tonight for the car show...LAST car show!!!"


I called the restaurant yesterday to confirm that they were closing, and the person that picked the phone up did confirm they were closing, and were closing for good.  When I asked the reason, I was told, "I think she's had enough," referring to the owner Sharon.

Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions - Garces Vs. Forgione

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The second battle of Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions had Iron Chef Jose Garces facing Iron Chef Marc Forgione, where the secret ingredient was peanut butter and jelly.  Jose Garces won Season 2 of The Next Iron Chef, and Marc Forgione won Season 3 of The Next Iron Chef to become iron chefs.  Coming into this battle, Chef Forgione had 5 wins and 6 losses in kitchen stadium, while Chef Garces had 11 wins and 5 losses.  Both chefs actually have competed in kitchen stadium on the same team in a Thanksgiving special against Michael Symon and Bobby Flay, in which they lost 59-54.

With the new format of Iron Chef America, Chef Forgione was ahead by 1 after receiving an 8 for his first dish, while Chef Garces received a 7 for his first dish.  Both dishes were disappointing to the judges.  The culinary curveball was then announced, in which the chefs had to incorporate straws into at least one of their dishes.

Restaurant Impossible - Mom & Dad's Update

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and crew are going to DeFuniak Springs, Florida to help out Mom & Dad's Italian Restaurant.  The owner Carolyn refuses to make any changes six years after her husband's death despite the  'ill-prepared food and mounting debt.'  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Mom and Dad's Italian Restaurant to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found:

Food Network Star Season 9 Website is Now Live

Photo - Food Network

Just an FYI for everyone if you are interested in learning more about the contestants on Food
Network Star Season 9.  The Food Network website has been created for this season.  The link to the website is here, and there are bios, videos, and pictures of each of the contestants if you are interested.  The videos contain the contestant's casting interviews as well as a quick demo, however it isn't very user friendly because you have to watch a commercial before each one.


Also, here is a previous post on this site that has a preview of the season and where you have seen some of the contestants before.

Alton Brown Announces Live Tour

Alton Brown posted a video on Twitter announcing a Live Tour called the Inevitable Edible Tour or the Edible Inevitable Tour.  There will be cooking, live music, and potentially messy experiments, and will be fun for the whole family.  See the video below describing the tour:



The current cities and dates listed for his tour are below:

Chopped After Hours - Episode 2

The second episode of Chopped After Hours is now available online.  This one is hosted by Ted Allen, and has judges Marc Murphy, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Maneet Chauhan making a dish from the entree basket ingredients from tonight.  They are carrot baby food, mustard greens, pork butt, and red quinoa.  The video is after the jump:

Guarnaschelli Vs. Zakarian - Iron Chef America Tournament Of Champions

Photo - Food Network

The first battle of Iron Chef America: Tournament of Champions had Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian going up against Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, where the secret ingredient was potato chips.  Geoffrey won  Season 4 of The Next Iron Chef: Superchefs, and Alex won Season 5 of The Next Iron Chef: Redemption to become iron chefs.

With the new format of Iron Chef America, after the first dish, Chef Zakarian and Chef Guarnaschelli were tied after each receiving an 11.  The culinary curveball was then announced, in which the chefs had to incorporate a french press into one of their dishes.

Chopped All-Stars Finale Preview - Winner Gets $50,000 for Charity

Tonight is the Chopped All-Stars finale, where the winning chef will win $50,000 for their charity.  Let's take a look at the finalists and see how they got here:

Episode 1 - This was the Food Network vs. Cooking Channel episode, where Nadia G was eliminated in the appetizer round, Gabriele Gorcos in the entree round, and Jeff Mauro in the dessert round.  Sunny Anderson was the winner and will compete tonight for N Street Village.

Food News for the Weekend

Photo - Food Network

Here is a quick update on some weekend shows as well as some random news to get you through the weekend:

• This Sunday is the Chopped All-Stars Finale at 9pm.  The finalists are Gavin Kaysen, Scott Conant, Laila Ali, and Sunny Anderson.  Looks for a quick preview on here this weekend.


• This Sunday at 10pm is the beginning of Iron Chef America Tournament of Champions.  The first episode has Alex Guarnaschelli going against Geoffrey Zakarian and the winner will face Michael Symon.  

Food Network Shows Nominated for 10 Daytime Emmy Awards

The 40th annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award Nominations were announced today, and there were 10 nominations for the Food Network.  Giada De Laurentiis and Giada At Home accounted for four of the 10 nominations, and the others nominated were Sandra Lee, Ina Garten, Guy Fieri, Trisha Yearwood, Bobby Flay and Best Thing I Ever Made.   The list of Food Network related nominations is below as well as the other shows they are competing against in their categories: