EATS

Chuckwagon chef Tom Perini gets some newsstand time this month in both Saveur -- great pic! -- and the Food Network Magazine, which touts his Angus beef hamburger as the best in the state. I judged a beef cookoff with his wife Lisa at the restaurant show this week and she says Tom is one of three chefs from across the country invited to make their burgers on the Today Show. Get up and at 'em on July 9 if you want to catch him.
And if you haven't made the trek to their Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap (head west on I-20, hang a left at Abilene), get busy.

The Saveur blurb was written by Cheryl and Bill Jamison of Santa Fe, who have a story coming up next week in GuideDaily. Check back Wednesday for that.

Blog content from Reagen Anderes, a participant in the SMU Creative Writing food writer's workshop.

Most of us can agree, Anthony Bourdain has the BEST job in the world. On his show No Reservations, Bourdain travels around the world as hosts from each locale help to expose their unique culture and cuisine, however wacky or mundane.

It is my fantasy to be Bourdain's Dallas episode tour guide and my mission to MAKE him like Dallas (or Texas, for that matter). With his dry sense of humor, irreverent persona, passion for the culinary arts, and insatiable thirst for alcohol, I'm certain we will be fast friends.

The phrase, "I would definitely take Bourdain here" has been incorporated into my everyday vernacular as I constantly refine my 'No Reservation itinerary'. Needless to say, when the Travel Channel comes knocking at my door to host 'No Reservations: The Dallas Episode', I'm ready to go!

First stop: Fuel City. Tell me where else you'll find a gasoline station with roaming longhorns, a swimming pool complete with bikini-clad women, and a karaoke truck (just in case you might want to belt out your favorite Latin tunes) as the setting for a 24-hour taco stand with surprisingly authentic al pastor and barbacoa tacos.

Next up: Tillman's Roadhouse for Dallas' twist on a Texas staple. Amongst wooden animal heads and over-sized chandeliers, we will feast on venison Frito pie and braised buffalo short ribs in culture-ridden Oak Cliff (I can hear Bourdain's raging commentary now).

Then onto Rattlesnake Bar in the Ritz-Carlton for a margarita and to scope out Dallasites at their finest. Gotta go to Fearing's to sample southwestern fusion cuisine at its best, after all Dean Fearing has been an icon for so long that he is woven into our Dallas tapestry.

On the hole-in-the-wall circuit will be Odom's for BBQ, Chapman Chile Kitchen for Texas chile and stuffed jalapenos, La Hechizera for chicken tinga huaraches (pictured above) and ice-cold Mexican soft drinks, and the Old Monk for beer and mussels. Then, with an invitation from Ricardo Avila, we will enjoy Avila's brisket chile rellenos and throw back shots of various tequilas until we are salsa dancing down Maple Street (or until our stomachs can take no more).

But to dispel Bourdain's stereotypes of Dallas, I'm gonna need some help. As only one of many Dallas foodies, I need other's opinions of what sums up our unique city. Tell me your 'No Reservations itinerary'!

To learn more about Reagan and her food opinions, check out Everything's Yummier In Dallas.

If you want you audition for the next round of The Next Food Network Star, plan on being Austin Friday, July 17, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. That's when the crew will be on hand for the Texas stop on the national audition circuit for the sixth season of the show. For application, contest rules and submission instructions, go to www.FoodNetwork.com/Star. Click on "Casting Call."

VALERIE JARVIE weighs in on The Next Food Network Star:

If you watched the second espisode of The Next Food Network Star battle, you know Keller resident Melissa D'Arabian (stay at home mom with four kids) made it through another week, but took a beating.
Round One: the contestants were challenged to create a dish to be featured in Esquire magazine, using two mystery ingredients you'd find in a typical Esquire man's pantry. Poor Melissa was doomed from the start, drawing chicken thighs and maraschino cherries (yuck! It might as well have been cough syrup!) Eddie, working with beer and strip steak, won the heat.

Round Two was a holiday themed cook-off at Good Housekeeping. Jamika, looking poised and radiant, prevailed with Collard Greens and Cornbread to celebrate New Year's. Melissa's "Mothers Day Scrambled Eggs and Orange French Toast breakfast" was well-received, but she was chastised when it came to light that Brett and Teddy helped her with the plating (hence the tears in last week's previews). This revelation came about when, after offering to help her prep, Brett and Teddy ratted her out in the final evaluation with the judges.

All the challenges took place in a tight time frame, so there were lots of shots of everyone racing around while the clock ticked down like a bomb was about to go off. It's hard to see what the point of this is --- one would hope a Food Network star would put more than 45 minutes worth of prep into each of their shows. Just once, I'd like to see one of the contestants tell the judges, "it's going to be a few more minutes 'til dinner, cool your jets", just like you'd do at home.

As it turns out, not so much like the June Cleaver-esque publicity shot distributed by the Food Network. (Scroll down to see it.) This is her on Saturday during a demo at the Art Institute of Dallas, where students got a preview of the first episode of The Next Food Network Star, sans ending. (Melissa survived to cook again next Sunday.) With her are daughters Valentine, 4, on the left, and Charlotte, 3.

From Valerie Jarvie:

Who caught the opening episode of The Next Food Network Star last night?

DFW is once again represented. (You may recall, last season, in the final episode, Dallasite Lisa Garza lost to Aaron McCargo, Jr.)

This summer, Melissa D'Arabian, a stay-at-home mom (to four daughters under 5!) from Keller is one of the 10 contestants vying to convince Food Network executives that she has the goods to carry her own show.

The series kicked off with a cook-off between teams of contestants catering a gala for bigwigs in celebration of the Food Network's 16th anniversary. Melissa did well, lucking onto the functional Green Team, who pulled together to pull off her ambitious apple tart dessert, which Judge Bobby Flay declared his "favorite dish." Pity the poor members of the opposing Red Team, led by take-charge caterer Debbie Lee, whose budget-cutting and "executive decision" dessert swapping left them scrambling to improvise with limited provisions.

The show ended with judges eliminating contestant Jen Isham, who defined herself as "Housewife 2.0," for a weak showing in her not-too-exciting green bean dish, and identifying three contestants who clearly stood out: our Melissa, "the ultimate home cook;" Jeffrey Saad, a California real estate broker with a restaurant background, who managed to salvage his contribution despite Lee's budget chopping and kept a smile on his face, throughout; fun, flamboyant "Global A Go-Go" Michael Proietti, who is sure to be around for a good part of the series because he's such an over-the-top character, if nothing else (which doesn't seem like a bad strategy).

What do you think? Who will prevail? And what did you think of Melissa?

Late-breaking news from Jay Jerrier of traveling pizza oven fame. Here's Jay's message verbatum:

Hey all...

It will obviously only be on in the Dallas area - but you should be
able to see the video on the link below after it airs...

http://www.nbcdfw.com/around_town/dining/Mobile_Pizza_Oven.html

Jay

Want to take a look inside? NBCDFW sent reporter Meredith Land to do a story.

Wow. Food Network personality Ted Allen is one nice guy. You can't say that about many celebrities. When he met last night with the winners of a contest sponsored by Robert Mondavi Winery (Allen is an ambassador for the Robert Modavi Private Collection wines as well as Chopped host), he was fun, charming, responsive and approachable. No prima donna, he, behind those Buddy Holly frames.

He talked about wine-and-food pairings with the Mercy menu and the PC wines, and answered some of the questions people submitted to win a spot at the VIP dinner.

Thank you, readers, for pointing out the error in the last post. The episode was filmed in January, and blogged about by our own Christopher Wynn. They must be closed for watching the show, or partying, or...?

A friend, driving by the new Twisted Root in Richardson, snapped this photo. The restaurant closed for the day because the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" is filming for tonight's episode, "A Burger, a Bowl and a Slice."

The Food Network sent us a pic of Melissa d'Arabian, as well as a bio. She's one of ten finalists for The Next Food Network Star, which I just wrote about here.

Here's what she says about becoming a finalist: "I am unbelievably thrilled to be a finalist on The Next Food Network Star this season. It's such an honor to work with Food Network while representing my hometown of Keller as well as women and moms across the country. As a home cook, wife, and mother of four, I look forward to sharing my knowledge and passion about approachable family cooking."

Here's the bio:

Melissa, 40 (Keller, Texas), pairs her varied culinary and life experiences to provide food lifestyle solutions and approachable recipes for today's families. As a stay-at-home mom to four young daughters, she efficiently budgets time and money to prepare the finest in fresh, home-cooked meals every day. Melissa finds culinary inspiration in family, friends, cooking classes, and world travels.

She is married to Philippe, whom she met working in Paris. She has four daughters: Valentine just turned 4; Charlotte just turned 3; Margaux and Oceane are the twins and are 18 months. She was born in Anaheim, Calif. She moved to Keller, Texas, in June 2006 with her family.

Photo: Courtesy Food Network

Melissa d'Arabian, who lives in Keller, is one of ten finalists for The Next Food Network Star series, which kicks off Sunday, June 7 at 8 p.m. local time. On that show, according to the press release, "the finalists cater Food Network's 'Sweet 16' party with network talent and media there to judge." A network executive also promises "the biggest and toughest challenges the show as ever seen." We'll be pulling for our hometown contestant.

In other foodie show news, Fort Worth's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro chef Tim Love is among Bravo's Top Chef Masters, and will compete Top Chef-style, with 23 other celebrity chefs from across the nation when the show premieres Wednesday, June 10, at 9 p.m. They'll be competing for money to be donated to a favorite charity. Check out the complete list of chefs on the jump.

From DARLA ATLAS:

Six years ago, Paula and Franson Nwaeze started pursuing their dream of opening a restaurant. They were the perfect combo: He's a chef, while her background is in financial planning and marketing. But there was one problem.
"The banks wouldn't give us a loan for a regular restaurant," Paula says. "But they would give us a loan for a gas station, so we took it."
The Nwaezes, proud owners of a Conoco station and convenience store in Watauga, added a kitchen with plans of starting a catering business.
"But people were coming in and smelling the food, so we started giving them a plate," she recalls. "The next day they came in and brought a friend."
Eventually, someone asked to see the menu. "We just kind of looked at each other and said, 'Well, it's at the printers,'." Paula says. "We didn't plan that it would be a restaurant."
Today, the Chef Point Cafe is busier than ever, keeping its customers happy with huge portions of Italian-American fare such as lobster bisque, chicken scaloppine, rib-eye steaks and more.
Thanks to the efforts of loyal customers who continually e-mailed the Food Network, the restaurant will be featured on tonight's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, airing at 9.
Now that the place is a hit, it seems like the gas station-restaurant was simply meant to be.
"I like the idea of people coming in and getting something they can't get from Turtle Creek," says Franson, who is from Nigeria. And when a customer tells him his lamb chop is better than anything he's eaten at a high-end establishment, "that's my payday."

Chef Point Cafe is inside the Conoco at 5901 Watauga Road, Watauga. 817-656-0080.

In case you missed the "Explosion of the Celebrity Chef" segment on ABC's Nightline on Tuesday, here's a link. There are fun clips of Wolfgang Puck as a young whippersnapper, plus snippets of Tom Colicchio, Jose Andres, Gordon Ramsay and more. Hard to believe, but when Puck talked about his restaurant empire, he forgot to mention Five Sixty in Dallas. Could it be on the cutting room floor?

More from Laura Jacobus:

Talked to Louis Canelakes last night, and he said the joint was slammin' Tuesday, and his phone hasn't stopped ringing since the show aired. He even heard from an old buddy of his from Waukegan that he hasn't talked to in years.

But my favorite story about the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives crew was about what happened one day after they finished shooting at Louie's all morning. Lou and Chris decided to go to Avila's on Maple for lunch, which they do often. They discovered when they arrived that the Diners crew had gone straight from Louie's to Avila's, so it was closed. (Richard Avila is the one who recommended that the crew shoot at Louie's, by the way.)

Lou decided to just walk in the back door and crash the party. Guy Fieri spotted him first and said "What are you doing here?" to which Lou replied "First you ruined my morning, and now you're going to ruin my lunch?" (with a few expletives thrown in). Guy said he'd fix them lunch and proceeded to cook them Avila's brisket gorditas himself, which Lou said were the best he'd ever had there. Guy even waited on them.

Lou, who started out calling Fieri "Hairdo," said he's a good guy -- "one of us," meaning a restaurant guy who just happened to go into showbiz.

Night owl Laura Jacobus of our Business department reports:

Louie's restaurant and bar on Henderson was featured last night in a new episode of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The episode's a little tricky to find it because the promos on the Web site are wrong -- they say the "Family Favorites" episode includes Massey's in Fort Worth.

The Louie's segment, which has a few shots of Louis Canelakes at the bar but mostly interviews his brother Chris in the kitchen, focuses on the pizza, natch, but also shows them making and serving everything from crab claws to Mulligatawny soup. Watching host Guy Fieri trying to say Mulligatawny was pretty funny. Guy seemed to really like the food. Louie's got the last -- and longest -- segment, and Guy said he wanted to eat a whole pizza himself and might just take one to go.

The Food Network's site says it will re-air on April 17, 18 and 19. Set your Tivos.

We're trying to pin down run dates for all the segments that were filmed locally earlier this year.

Are you desperate to hear from TV's Marcia Cross? Looking for an easy way to help feed the estimated 36 million Americans at risk for hunger?
Here's your chance to meet both goals with a few computer key strokes.
Beginning today Mott's, owned by Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group, will offer consumers who visit Motts.com a chance to sign up to get a wake-up call from Cross, who stars as Bree Van De Kamp-Hodge in ABC's Desperate Housewives.
For every call placed, Mott's will donate one dollar to Feeding America, one of the nation's largest hunger relief organizations. The donations will be used to help provide up to one million meals to children and families.
At Motts.com, consumers can send a pre-recorded wake-up message from Cross to themselves, or a friend, for free.
The company also plans to unveil new TV and print ads featuring Cross. It's slated to be the brand's largest campaign in a decade and marks the first time Mott's will use a celebrity to push its juices and apple sauce.
No word yet on whether the Housewives writers will find a way to work apple sauce into the gripping drama on camera.

This time, Dallas fave Casey Thompson takes a turn as a judge in season five's Top Chef finale tomorrow night, according to a press release. The ex-Shinsei chef was a fan favorite during season three and traveled to New Orleans for the final showdown. Bravo TV says the show is on Wednesday at 9 p.m. CST; the release says 10 p.m. CST. So be on alert at 9.

Meanwhile, Casey's got her own Web site now, all Casey all the time: www.chefcaseythompson.com.

No, seriously. Here's a shot from today's TV shoot with the spiky-haired host at Twisted Root Burger Company in Deep Ellum. As Kim Pierce reported previously, the crew also made the rounds to Avila's on Maple.

The segments are all for an upcoming episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

And now for something really tasty ...

Bobby Flay is taking his cooking to the radio. The Food Network star's launching a radio show to help men with everything from cooking to dressing. The call-in show starts Thursday on Sirius XM Radio for what's going to start out as a five-week stint for the two-hour show. Never fear, food will still be the focus of Bobby Flay Radio. Flay says he's open to continuing the show after the initial run. His wife, actress Stephanie March (Law & Order: SVU), will sometimes join him.

(Photo by Darron Cummings/Associated Press)

The new season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations starts tonight at 9 on the Travel Channel. The first episode is about Mexico with Tony getting a tour care of Les Halles chef Carlos. This season will also include visits to Venice; Washington, D.C.; Azores; Chicago; Philippines; Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Tonight at 9 on Channel 13, KERA-TV, actress Gwyneth Paltrow joins chef Mario Batali on a culinary journey: Spain: On the Road Again.

Along with food writer Mark Bittman and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols, they take a 13-episode jaunt around the country where Gwynnie spent a year as a high-school exchange student (she is fluent in Spanish and says she loves the food and wines of Spain).

Read more about it here, and check out the AP video.

(Photo courtesy of PBS)

Gotta love this slogan: "No Guts, No Ganache."

If you're a fan of The Ace of Cakes, you might want to check out a new series premiering this Sunday, Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. (CDT): Amazing Wedding Cakes, on WE tv:

The six one-hour episode series takes viewers inside the world of high-end cake-making, from larger-than-life designs to the over-the-top personalities who create them, and features some of the best bakeries in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

See the show's website here.

Good Deal Food Network star Dave Lieberman will appear on Channel 4 KDFW-TV at 8:50 a.m. today. He will demo one of his new tapas recipes, Fresh Chorizo and Piquillo Pepper Bites With Shaved Manchego Cheese, finished with Spanish olive oil.

Afterward he'll go to Channel 8 WFAA-TV where he will demo Lemon Poached Shrimp With Spicy Gazpacho. This demo will take place after 9:30 a.m.; stay tuned for the show time.

If you want to really take in the bucks as a chef, you need a TV show. That's one lesson learned from the Forbes list of top-earning chefs.
Rachael Ray is at the top of the pile, earning an estimated $18 million a year for her tv shows, magazine, products and, don't forget, the Dunkin' Donuts endorsement. And the dog food, now available at Wal-Mart.
Wolfgang Puck comes in second with $16 million, mostly from restaurants and sales on the Home Shopping Network.
Check the top 10 list here. No Dallas chefs made the top 10, but Tom Colicchio of Craft and Nobu Matsuhisa both have restaurants here, and Wolfie will soon take over the restaurant at the top of Reunion Tower.

He didn't win The Next Food Network Star, but that didn't stop the cable channel from giving Adam Gertler his own show, too. The Philadelphia native will debut Will Work for Food on Sept. 30, a show in which he will emark on a, "fearless journey to learn about a wide variety of unique food jobs," according to a news release sent out today.
"On The Next Food Network Star Adam exhibited a unique combination of quick wit, passion for food and an engaging personality," Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network, said in the release. "He earned millions of fans across the country who have let us know that we have a second star in our midst."
Hmm. Seems like there's someone else in that final three that may be wondering when her show is going to debut.

I'm sure all the food blogs are throwing this up simultaneously, but Top Chef-er Casey Thompson just sent out this email:

Chef Casey Thompson and Shinsei Restaurant Amicably Part Ways

"My years as executive chef of Shinsei have been a wonderful experience. At this time, I am currently exploring a variety of culinary opportunities. I appreciate the opportunities provided to me at Shinsei and wish them all of the best for the future."

- Casey Thompson

More info to come ...

Night owl Nancy Nichols over at D mag/SideDish noticed a reader comment that tipped her off to the fact that the Food Network had posted info about the winner of its Next Food Network Star reality show three days early. Wow, nice work, gang. Remember when Food & Wine mag did the same thing with the Top Chef finale a couple years back?

The Food Network apparently got their act together around 1 a.m. CT and re-jiggered their web site to conceal the spoilers.

But too late. Word is out. We're not tellin', though. But if you really, really wanna know if Suze co-owner Lisa Garza wins her very own show or not, TG revealed all in her post on the subject. But I'm warning you, don't click if you don't wanna know ...

Lisa Garza, co-owner of the Dallas restaurant Suze, advanced to the finals of The Next Food Network Star on Sunday night as the cooking reality show provided a twist for viewers. The surprise is that she'll be joined by fellow competitors Adam Gertler and Aaron McCargo because the judges deemed it to difficult to give someone the boot during the penultimate episode, forcing the show's first ever three-way final. Look for a tale-of-the-tape comparison of the finalists Thursday in GuideLive.

Lisa Garza, our local competitor on The Next Food Network Star, made it to the final three at the end of Sunday night's episode, knocking out plucky but inexperienced Kelsey Nixon to become the only woman left standing. She's joined by Adam Gertler -- good on camera, unpolished in the kitchen -- and Aaron McCargo -- pretty solid in the kitchen, improving on camera -- in the finals.

So who will move on next week? My money is on Lisa and Aaron. Lisa clearly knows the most about food of the final three, but in some ways that has been her down fall. The Food Network has never been about gourmet, but that seems to be the culinary position she's taking. Still, she comes off as the most authoritative of the three when it comes to food knowledge. When watching the show, Aaron's food has been the one that I want to taste the most week in and week out. And he's getting better on camera, especially the last two weeks. If he can just learn to talk and cook, he'll be in good shape.

That leaves Adam. Unless he builds on his food victory from Sunday night (and learns how to make more than mac and cheese) I have a feeling he's done for after this week. But he's clearly the best on camera, so I think Sunday we're going to find out just how important that is.

Who do YOU see as the final two?

Keep it hot, keep it clean, keep it lubricated.
This is advice from grill guru Steven Raichlen on how to grill chicken breasts, of course.
On a recent swing through Dallas, he gave freelance writer Tina Danze (nice apron!) a grilling lesson. What I really want to know is, how do you get those perfect cross-hatch grill marks? Easy: Let the bird (or steak, or whatever) cook long enough to get a nice set of stripes, then flip it, giving it a crisp quarter-turn in the process. Like this. You can see the results in the photo.
Get more on Steven Raichlen here.

Who is she? Angie Dudley, a baking blogger from Georgia. She's fearless, judging from the projects chronicled on her blog.
Catch her here cooking with Martha Stewart. Is it my imagination or do they have the exact same haircolor?

It's the last Top Chef blog post of the season. Spoilers (more specific than the one in the headline) below.

Important hint to future finalist cheftestants: Don't use pork belly in your crowning meal. Much more after the jump.

Did my favorite, Richard Blais, nab it? Answer after the jump. (How respectful am I being to you vocal people who hate to see spoilers?)

Chef Rocky Durham, Culinary Director at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, was in Dallas yesterday to demonstrate how to make New Mexican comfort food in a class backed by Central Market Dallas and the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Rocky, born and raised in New Mexico, was entertaining and full of history about the food he prepared. We couldn't wait to eat the chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce, cheese enchiladas with red chile sauce, posole (a hominy-like food made into stew with green chiles and pork), and finally, capirotada (much like bread pudding, but with pine nuts, Madeira-soaked raisins, and a topping of shredded cheddar and caramel that's browned in the oven).

The dishes were paired with Martin Códax Albariño and a Mibal red made of 100 percent tempranillo, both at Central Market.

Catch Rocky today at the Galleria, second level, across from Chico's. He'll be there all day, so stop by and ask him about his technique for skinning chiles, how he takes his Frito Pie, or where to eat in Santa Fe (the food last night warrants a visit to the city).

He'll also be on Good Morning Texas on WFAA-TV (Channel 8) tomorrow morning with a lesson in preparing cool Santa Fe cuisine.

This episode kinda irked me, both because of whom among the final four got voted off and also the way the whole thing was edited. It felt especially formulaic and predictable.

I got nothin' else but spoilers, so let's get to it.

Well, y'all, I've been riddled with deadlines and just this minute finished watching last night's TiVo'd TC episode. This was the final round in Chicago before the cheftestants regrouped for the finale in Puerto Rico, as announced by a spliced-in Padma voice-over with a bad sound quality match-up. I'm so happy about who went home. More on that after the jump.

The Food Network is giving home cooks a chance to ask questions of nine favorite TV chefs. Those whose questions are selected will get them answered in an episode of the new series, Dear Food Network.

No, they do not want questions like, "Giada, how do you get your hair to look so good?" The network's looking for queries on "all kinds of cooking challenges -- from Thanksgiving disasters, to holiday cooking blow-outs, to summer grilling gaffes. ...Don't know why your turkey always comes out dry? Want a simple and delicious champagne cocktail for a sparkling New Year's Eve? Are you having an army of family and friends over for a holiday dinner and need some fresh ideas? Need help perfecting your grilled ribs?"

Aw, yeah. Just when viewers were convinced that the much-loved Restaurant Wars challenge had been replaced by a wedding catering gig this year, along come the dueling restaurant concepts after all. This episode went quickly (I wish they'd made this one, rather than Wedding Wars, the extra-long installment), but it was one of the most satisfying of the season thus far.

Spoilers begin the very first sentence after the jump.

OK, so maybe you groaned when you heard that Cowboys tight end Jason Witten is hooking up for a TV show called Cooking With the All-Pros.

But wait: Jason really is interested in food. We know this personally because we sat on a food-judging panel with him a while back.

This contest involved choosing between Mansion executive chef John Tesar and Fort Worth chef Tim Love, in an all-star culinary throwdown. This was staged at American Airlines Center before the NHL All-Star Game...outdoors, in January, on a 40-degree morning, with gusting wind AND pouring rain.

My hooded down coat might have been unfashionable, but it probably saved me from pneumonia that day. Jason sat next to me at the judges' table, and he was an awfully good sport about the whole weather thing, just as the chefs were. Plus, he was seriously into the food, which was seriously good stuff.

The Mansion will host the first three of Jason's five shows, and John Tesar tells me that he "will appear as a judge and be contributing to a large part of formatting the show." The other two shows would be shot at a local Market Street store. Lubbock-based United Supermarkets LLC, Market Street's parent company, expects to be a primary sponsor of the show.

New Orleans superchef Emeril Lagasse will kick things up a notch with new episodes of Emeril Live! on the Fine Living Network (where Martha Stewart also holds court).

The show spent a decade on the Food Network, and those older shows also will find a home on FLN. According to the press release:

The all-new premiere week airs Monday-Friday, July 7-11 at 7 pm ET. Special encore presentations will air Saturday and Saturday, July 13-14, at 7 pm ET. Beginning July 14, a new episode of Emeril Live! will premiere on FLN every Monday at 7 pm ET, with episodes from the Food Network library re-airing in that time slot on FLN Tuesday through Sunday, giving a new audience a taste of Emeril seven nights a week.

A fresh round of hostility breaks out during Judge's Table, but the biggest news (other than, to me, the surprise cheftestant going home) was that Restaurant Wars happen this season after all - next week! These folks are really trying for some blockbuster ratings this season. (And apparently getting them: Bravo TV sent out a release after last week's show that Wedding Wars was the most highly watched non-finale episode of Top Chef since Season 2.)

Spoilers galore right after the jump.

Top Chef season two hottie, er, cheftestant Sam Talbot will be the guest judge on tonight's episode. I've been all aflutter since I saw the preview for this during last week's episode. And I'm not alone: In that preview, current contestant Antonia said something like, "Tall, dark, handsome – and he can cook!"

Talbot, who's diabetic and wears an insulin pump, will help judge health conscious versions of the quick fire challenge (rumored to be about salads) and the elimination, which features the remaining contestants serving Chicago police officers.

I've really enjoyed the guest judges this season, but not just for the eye candy factor. Anthony Bourdain, Wylie Dufresne, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Ming Tsai, Johnny Iuzzini and Gale Gand have appeared so far. I can't wait to see who Bravo has lined up for the rest of the season.

If you've been watching Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America, be sure to tune in for the finale on Tuesday (8 p.m. Central). The next-to-last episode repeats just before it at 7 p.m.

No spoilers here, but the two remaining couples face a pretty daunting challenge in France as they try to be the last of nine pairs remaining and win their dream of opening a restaurant under the tutelege of chef Raymond Blanc.

Among those judging the final efforts are Raymond's mother -- looking even sterner than Rocco DiSpirito's mama in The Restaurant.

I had the pleasure of speaking with food and wine expert Ted Allen on Wednesday morning. He was in Puerto Rico where he's filming the final episodes of Top Chef (and trying to squeeze in some vacation time). He discussed his Sunday appearance at Taste Addison and talked a little about what's coming on Top Chef. His not-exactly-a-spoiler: "Whatever you may think or however you might want to handicap it, remember it doesn't matter who the best chef is. There are front-runners in this cast. But it doesn't matter." You can read the rest of my Q&A with him here.

He had a lot to say – as you can imagine if you've seen him on Top Chef, Iron Chef America or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. And there wasn't enough room in the paper. So I'm sharing some leftovers. Click below to read more about his advice for aspiring oenophiles and his love-hate relationship with his Top Chef blog on BravoTV.com.

Last night spotlighted two classic pivotal Top Chef challenges: The Relay Race and the Big Team Challenge - which usually would have been Restaurant Wars, but became Wedding Wars this year. One little cliché the producers should contemplate: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This bonus-length episode was fine and all, but these are restaurant chefs. Let 'em put on a restaurant again next season. Save Wedding Wars for the inevitable catering spin-off ...

Spoilers every which way after the jump.

Chances to see Gordon Ramsay on TV are endless -- Hell's Kitchen every Tuesday on Fox (Channel 4), various BBC America showings through the week of the British version of Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word .

But it seems I can't get enough of the potty-mouthed super chef, so I added to the load by reading about him in his autobiography, Roasting in Hell's Kitchen. It's an engaging look at a complicated guy, with insights on why he's such a driven entrepreneur. The book details his desperately poor upbringing with a cruel and mostly absent father, his injury-thwarted soccer career, and what it took to build his culinary empire.

He comes off as a pretty earnest and dedicated person -- much like when he's trying to save those disaster restaurant owers on Kitchen Nightmares from themselves.

Starting in May, guests at the Harrah's Casino Tunica in Mississippi will be able to chow down at Paula Deen's Buffet. The room will be divided into stations, including a Hoe Cake & Biscuit station and Little Jack's Corner (desserts, of course).

I was unable to find an online version of the ad from the May/June issue of Cooking With Paula Deen, which reads in part, "Get your eatin' clothes on." You'll have to take my word for it.

Only a $10 budget to cook a healthy meal for a family of four? Ouch. And after they'd already used rice prominently in the Quickfire challenge? Brutal. I may try and do this challenge myself when I'm next on vacation. Obviously, that budget didn't include kitchen staples they were allowed to use - olive oil, salt, pepper, etc.

But I was surprised how much food these folks procured at the grocery store (at Whole Paycheck, nonetheless) for 10 measly bucks. Must have been some good sales that week ... or some reality show trickery. Didn't Padma, Gail and Oprah Chef Guy AND Tom in the kitchen AND four kids eat that food? Suspect.

Fun challenges last night, though, took things in a different direction. As someone who doesn't mind a little colorful language in the kitchen, even I was glad to see the chefs were around kids this episode so they weren't cussin' so much. Loved that one youngster who surprised Colicchio by knowing the term "sweating onions."

Anyone out there know Colicchio personally? He seems like such a cranky bully on this show, more than ever this season. I can't help but hope he's a gentler soul in real life.

We head right to the spoilers after the jump ...

I'm not sure who was a bigger draw at the Pillsbury Bake-off this morning in Dallas --- the Doughboy or Food Network staple Sandra Lee.

Michael Granberry took a break from his reporting chores to snap this shot of me (on the left!) and Assistant Taste Editor Misty Bailey with the Doughboy. Inside info: He has a motor. Kinda creepy.

Check back Tuesday morning to find out who wins the million bucks.

Remember HBO's Six Feet Under? This year's Top Chef reminds me of how every season of SFU would start: Really slow. And then, about four or five episodes in, ba-boom, the set-ups would start to pay off and the rest of the season would be riveting.

No guarantees like that for Top Chef, but this was the year's juiciest installment yet. Spoilers below ...

FrontBurner foodie maven Nancy Nichols says that Dallasite Lisa Garza is headed to reality TV on The Next Food Network Star. Lisa's a designer, and also the wife of Gilbert Garza, co-owner of Suze.

What are y'all thinking about Top Chef thus far? I'm kinda tepid myself.

Project Runway is so much more satisfying a reality show to me, maybe for obvious reasons: Fashion is about the visual, and food, while also being visual, primarily involves other senses . So the intensity of the competition and the judge's scrutiny never translates as well in cooking as it does in fashion.

(Warning: spoilers start after the jump)

Leave it to the folks over at Page Six to pounce on Nigella Lawson's alleged weight gain, which they claim is causing videographers for her TV series to get creative.

The problem, in their words, is: "The sexy British chef famous for batting her eyelashes, jiggling seductively while grating Parmesan and licking a spoon the way Tina Turner handled a microphone --- has waaaay overeaten."

And we thought Britney Spears was under the microscope. Back-off, at least Lawson can cook.

Pick up the cuisine queen's latest book Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast (Hyperion, $35) at Sur La Table, 4527 Travis Street in Dallas

People magazine named TLC's Curtis Stone "sexiest newcomer," and now Green & Black's is sponsoring a cooking contest that will land the winners a trip to New York to shop and cook with the Australian chef, host of Take Home Chef and tickets to the James Beard Foundation Awards.

All you have to do is submit an original, five-ingredient recipe using at least 2 ounces of Green & Black's chocolate. Entries must include a photo of the dish and a short essay about your growing taste for organic. For details go here and click on "Chocolate Challenge with Curtis Stone" after you enter the United States side of the site. Deadline is April 21.

Well, hello again, that was quick. Season 3 of Bravo's Top Chef ended the first week of October, and already we're onto Season 4, which takes place in Chicago. The first episode, premiering tomorrow night at 9 p.m., makes it clear that this group of 16 is more ready for a rumble than last season's (mostly) mellower, focused contestants. It's Chi-Town, so you can probably guess which of the city's ubiquitous dishes inspires the first quick-fire challenge ...

No Dallas chefs in the mix this time, though I've written before about two of the chefs in other cities - one very briefly, one more extensively. Erik Hopfinger, 38, is the executive chef of Circa's in San Francisco's Marina neighborhood, a yuppy epicenter. Circa is a groovy restaurant/lounge with a DJ booth and sprawling bar area.

Here's the quick graf I wrote about Hopfinger's food in a preview column for The San Francisco Chronicle:

Chef Blythe Beck reports that she and Hector Garcia, owner of Hector's on Henderson, are in partnership with Warner Bros. on her Naughty Kitchen TV show. A crew will be in town shooting the whole month of April. Lucky Blythe: They'll follow her everywhere -- home, work, play. (Shameless plug: They actually arrive in time to shoot the Taste wine panel on March 31.) Warner Bros. will then pitch the show to networks.
In other news, Hector will will be handed the Dallas Film Commission Advocacy Award from Women in Film.Dallas this weekend.

The St. Petersburg Times published a detailed story this weekend about Robert Irvine, chef of the Food Network's Dinner: Impossible series. Apparently some aspects of his bio don't stand up to close scrutiny.

I decided to kill some time before Top Chef: Chicago starts on March 4 by sampling BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing. The premise: A group of couples -- husbands and wives, siblings, etc. -- are given an empty restaurant to open in a week's time. The couples who do the worst compete in a separate challenge to determine who gets a second chance and who shuts down their restaurant. I liked that the setup wasn't that it was just another chefs-cooking-beautiful-food-I-don't-get-to-eat show.

But I couldn't make it through last Tuesday's two-house series premiere. All the fighting/ whining/ crying was too much. Maybe I was just not in a reality show kind of mood. I'll give it a second chance tonight when there will be pairings of the second and third episodes on from 7 to 9, 10 to midnight and midnight to 2 a.m.

Anybody else catch it? Love it? Hate it? Who are you rooting for?

Or something like that. I'm just going to paste highlights from the release and let you figure it out yourself.

"NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) today announced it has reached an agreement with Chef Emeril Lagasse to acquire the assets related to the business of Emeril Lagasse, other than the restaurant and foundation-related assets, in a transaction that pairs one of the biggest brands in food-related content with the established leader in "how to" lifestyle information and content.

Under the terms of the transaction, MSLO is acquiring the rights to the Emeril Lagasse franchise, including:

-- Television Programming: The Essence of Emeril and syndication episodes of Emeril Live on The Food Network, and food correspondent segments on ABC's Good Morning America;

-- Cookbooks: library of twelve cookbooks, including Emeril's Delmonico and Emeril's There's a Chef in My World;

-- Internet: emerils.com Web site;

-- Licensed Kitchen Products: Emeril-branded cookware by All-Clad, cutlery by Wusthof, and tableware by Wedgwood; and electrical appliances by T-fal;

-- Food Products: includes Bam! B-Q sauce, spices, marinades, coffee and more.

Lagasse's eleven restaurants and corporate office, which is called Emeril's Homebase, will be unaffected by this transaction and will continue to operate in New Orleans with full staff. The company will continue to expand into new locations."

(More stuff here about Emeril, and then:)

"The purchase price is $50 million, $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock, at closing, and could reach up to $70 million if certain performance targets are realized in 2011 and 2012. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter."

Photo of Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart courtesy of The Martha Stewart Show.

Set your TiVos, gang – the second season of Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie premieres tomorrow (Saturday the 12th) on KERA at 5 p.m. Diary stands out among food shows for its non-glossy, global exploration of nitty-gritty cooking. (I haven’t watched too many of Anthony Bourdain’s shows, but it’s in that vein, minus the outsized personality guiding the adventures.)

The paper received a promo copy of the season’s first episode, which focuses on the cooking of Southern India. I was struck by how un-styled everything was: The houses where the people did the cooking didn’t resemble anything close to fancy, and the food, though obviously labor-intensive, looked humble … but deliciously real, and like nothing you’d find in a restaurant. Mission accomplished, I guess: The sequence made me want to head to an Indian grocery and master these dishes. (Some of the recipes are on the magazine’s web site .)

Upcoming topics for the show include goat cheese-making in New Zealand, North Carolina barbecue, Mexico’s Baja peninsula (dubbed “the new Provence”), Parisian bread and a show focusing on bloggers that will air, I believe, on February 16.

Jennifer LaFleur snagged an interview with Duff Goldman, madcap baker on the Food Network's Ace of Cakes.

The new season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations starts tonight at 9 on the Travel Channel. The globe-trotting chef and author visits Singapore, and his stops include a surgery-themed restaurant. Tune in early to catch a marathon of episodes from the previous season, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

...and getting beaucoup bucks for it, too.Yes, RR has found a way to make R&R pay. The Food Network just signed Rach to a two-year contract for a new prime-time series called Rachael's Vacation, to launch next month.

Following the model of her "eating on $40-a-day" travel show, Rachael will spend this program chowing down, rather than actually cooking.

What does this mean for Life As We Know It? As one of the commenters on USA Today's blog noted: "The fact that this woman keeps getting shows and offered contracts is surely one of the signs of the Apocalypse."

Tre Wilcox, the Dallas chef who attracted national attention this year
as a Top Chef contestant, is leaving his position as chef de cuisine at
Abacus.

Read more from Restaurant Critic Bill Addison.

But does that mean he won? I’ve learned better than to reveal that at the top of the post. You Tivo-ing readers are vocal and legion.

So here’s a recap of the Top Chef holiday special featuring Tre Wilcox of Abacus, who by most opinions got voted off of the show’s recent third season too dang early.

Yup, our guy Tre is back in competition action on tonight's Top Chef holiday special, which airs at 8 p.m. on Bravo TV. Tre is one of eight contestants from TC's three seasons duking it out for $20,000.

Sadly (and this isn't a spoiler, only a hunch), I don't think Tre wins. Why? Television psychology: He's been featured prominently in the special's ads, proclaiming that he's gonna win. That never bodes well for a favorable outcome.

The other returning contestants from season three are Tall CJ and Sandee of the double e's and the female faux-hawk (Dale, of course, had the male version).

Ina Garten, the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa, signed copies of her cookbooks today at Central Market.

Watch a video interview with her

Read about her holiday favorites

If you're a Rachael Ray fan (and face it, somebody has to be buying all those cookbooks and magazines and watching all those TV shows... right?), here's your chance to meet the Delish Dish in person. But she's only here for 30 minutes.

(No, we're just kidding. A little 30-Minute Meals joke there, folks.)

Here's the 411: RR is making a pit stop by the Williams-Sonoma store in Southlake (172 State Street) on Saturday, Dec. 8, and she will be signing books from 2 to 4 p.m. Her latest cookbook is Just In Time (Clarkson Potter, $19.95).

And yes, it's full of EVOO, BLDs, MYOTOs, Double Duty Dinners, Date Night meals, Kids Will Eat It meals, Fancy Fake-Outs and all the other Rachael specialties you have come to know and love. Or hate. Whichever.

Not to mention the recipes for RR's new 15-minute meals. Coming next: RR's 5-minute meals! (Oh no, Rocco DiSpirito's already done that one. Never mind.)

UPDATE: We've just been informed by Williams-Sonoma that "Tickets for the Rachael Ray book signing event have sold out. People can still come and see Rachael Ray, but without a ticket will not be able to have their books signed."

Emeril Live, which has been on TV for a decade, will cease production in two weeks, according to Food Network publicist Carrie Welch.

However, New Orleans superchef Emeril Lagasse's other show, Essence of Emeril, will continue production. The network also will air reruns of Emeril Live.

(AP file photo)

The final episode of Food Network's The Next Iron Chef is Sunday at 8 p.m. The final cheftestants who will face each other in a showdown in the Kitchen Stadium are John Besh and Michael Symon, who – not to brag – I've favored since the beginning. Fine, fine, I picked him because he's cute. But he's been cooking well, too! However, right now he's behind in the polls for who will join the ranks of Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto and Cat Cora. Schoolgirl crushes aside, I think Symon would be a good addition to Iron Chef America's Kitchen Stadium. His dishes have been inventive, and he stayed in good humor even when he was seriously in the weeds. Best thing about the finale: It looks like from the previews and commercials that the secret ingredient may be swordfish. It'll be fun to watch no matter the challenge or the winner.

Many Top Chef fans were disappointed when Hung Huynh won the big prize in the live season finale. You may not love him or his food, but no one can deny that the man's got some serious knife skills (even if he did tend to flourish his cleaver a little too near his fellow cheftestants).

Want to learn to chop, slice and julienne like Hung? Check out this instructional video from New York Magazine's Grub Street: ‘Top Chef’ Winner Hung Shows Off His Knife Skills. He wields his knife with lightning speed, but he takes time to explain how to do it, too. Just remember: Safety first.

Rachael Ray is searching for the best home cook in America, and one of the contestants is from Dallas. You can read an interview with Ms. Ray and Dallas contestant Ben Starr on GuideLive.com on Saturday. Then, tell us: Do you love her or hate her? And, in your experience, do her recipes really take only 30 minutes?

Read Texan Ben Starr tests his cooking skills with Rachael Ray

Whoooo-eee! Catfight in foodie land!

Vinegary chef and writer Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential; No Reservations) is lambasting the Food Network's ubiquitous Rachael Ray for endorsing Dunkin' Donuts.

The New York Post reports that Bourdain went all ballistic about "Rach" in next month's Outside magazine:

"She's got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books -- I'm guessing she's not hurting for money," Bourdain told Outside, according to the Post. "She's hugely influential, particularly with children. And she's endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. It's like endorsing crack for kids."

Bourdain modestly calls himself "not a very ethical guy. I don't have a lot of principles. But somehow that seems to me over the line."

He was just getting warmed up.

"Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don't have necks. And she's up there saying, 'Eat some [bleeping] Dunkin' Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit -- eat another doughnut!' That's evil."

OMG. We love this stuff, don't you?

Rachael's flackies, meanwhile, kept their claws sheathed and had this to say:

"Anyone who knows Rachael and watches her on TV is aware she promotes balance and moderation, instead of living life in extremes. Her work addressing kids' and families' nutritional needs speaks for itself, so we respectfully disagree with Anthony's opinion."

Dallas chef Casey Thompson didn't win the title of Top Chef, but she was voted fan favorite Wednesday night by viewers of the Bravo cooking show.

She won $10,000 and a pricey set of cookware, awarded at the end of a reunion show for the third season. The Shinsei chef, who finished third, also was featured in several segments of clips and viewer questions.

She took some ribbing about her knack for buddying up with competitors in the episodes where they ultimately got the ax. One of those chefs, fellow Dallasite Tre Wilcox of Abacus, got screen time as well.

Top Chef is over, but the Food Network is offering another culinary reality show to fill the void. It's The Next Iron Chef, which should tell you everything you need to know about the plot and the end-of-show prize. Eight already top chefs -- no home cooks or hobbyists here -- compete; Alton Brown provides commentary and chairman Mark Dacascos will, I'm guessing, dramatically reveal the challenges like he does on Iron Chef America. The judges are Donatella Arpaia, Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appétit and Michael Ruhlman.

I've already picked my one to watch: Michael Symon, who you might remember, as I do, as the chef with the fabulous laugh from the Cleveland episode of No Reservations, which by the way also featured Michael Ruhlman. Call it "The Six Degrees of Anthony Bourdain."

The Next Iron Chef debuts at 8 tonight on the Food Network.

Read Bill Addison's take on the conclusion of Top Chef.

What do you think? Did the judges make the right decision?

Casey Thompson, executive chef at Dallas restaurant Shinsei, is one challenge away from potentially winning Bravo TV's third season of Top Chef.

Despite leaving her elk chops a little too rare, and serving a cauliflower side dish criticized by lead judge Tom Colicchio, Ms. Thompson made it to the final round of the competition during Wednesday night's episode.

Read the full story by Bill Addison.

And if you’ve watched previous seasons of this show, the context clues throughout this episode pretty much told you who was going home before the final pronouncement.

But this stressful challenge, the one where the final person gets cut before the Final Four head off to Aspen, starts with the merry band of five strolling the streets of Manhattan whilst the editors speed up the atmospheric film to emphasize the cliché that everything in New York moves faster, faster, faster.

If you've only seen Gordon Ramsay in action on Fox's Hell's Kitchen, you might dismiss him as a high-decibel, foul-mouthed tyrant. He had a few nice moments this last season, showing generosity to Julia and regard for Jen, but the bleeps and bluster can be off-putting.

There's a softer side of the Brit chef in view on the addictive Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, the BBC show that airs on BBC America (digital cable and satellite). An American version debuts Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox. (Channel 4)

Fun elimination challenge tonight: Make a delicious meal for first-class airline passengers.

But first, Padma tromped into the sleeping chefs’ rooms and awakened them in full-on giddy mode. The Quick Fire? Make her breakfast.

Not an overly riveting episode this week, IMO. After three seasons, the arch of the show is getting predictable: Tom Colicchio starts beating the drum about how the group in generally under-achieving; Padma’s facial expressions grow evermore grave at each judge’s table gathering; and the editing increasingly intensifies the quirk’s of each contestant’s personality.

If you missed the "Paula Deen Live" show at Fair Park on Saturday, rest assured it was pretty much one big love fest. The cavernous Music Hall was packed with fans who hooted and hollered not just for the Food Network star, but also for her husband, Michael Groover, and her bachelor son, Bobby, who both accompanied her. They ate up Paula's salty, down-home humor, even if they weren't among the eight lucky audience members who got to eat up the meal she prepared onstage.

Actually, Paula didn't so much cook the meal as supervise it. Her chef de cuisine: Fort Worth restaurateur Tim Love (Lonesome Dove, Duce, Love Shack), who recently appeared on Paula's Party and showed up to surprise her with, among other things, his skill at juggling raw eggs (photo, above).

Tim (along with one of Paula's kitchen assistants) cooked the onstage meal of pork chops, collard greens, mac-and-cheese and skillet cornbread. He brought along his family, too: wife Emilie, son Tannahill, aka "T," and twin daughters Anna and Ella.

Look for a full story and photo spread about Paula's visit next week in Taste.

DMN photo by Special Contributor Rex C. Curry

Sad to see Dallas' Tre Wilcox pack his knives and go on last night's Top Chef. The talented and affable chef de cuisine at Abacus seemed destined for the finals on this Bravo cooking show. (The promo promise of a surprising result actually came true!)

In the end, he seemed too easy-going as executive chef of his team, and the group fell to Sara and her recharged bunch. In his farewell, Tre talks again about a restaurant of his own in the future.

Now Dallas' hopes are pinned on Casey Thompson, exec chef at Shinsei. And she had just talked about how she and Tre were starting to rely on each other. Now she'll have to find another buddy. They all keep getting kicked off!

(DMN file photo of chefs Casey Thompson and Tre Wilcox
by Special Contributor Jason Janik)

That's right ... everyone stayed in during the big Restaurant Wars episode where the eight remaining finalists break into two teams and create a restaurant in 24 hours.

The judges were disappointed with both teams. How can they not be? TWENTY-FOUR HOURS to put together a restaurant: establish a tone for the place, design a four-course menu, decide who'll play maitre d', buy the necessary items to decorate the space and put it together, and buy, prep and cook the food. If memory serves, the judges are disappointed every year.

Hell's Kitchen crowned its third winner last night, as Virginia executive chef Rock bested California personal chef/nanny Bonnie. The finale set up in the men vs. women format that we saw all season.

Rock really should have picked Julia for his team instead of the hapless Josh, but it all worked in the end.

Rock and his beautiful family will get to move to Las Vegas, where he will run a new Italian restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa. We'll see how his signature surf and turf with crabcakes figures into that menu.

As for Bonnie ... maybe Rock needs some help. And he could steal her linguini recipe. After all, don't all chefs aspire to Vegas these days?

Fairly fun episode last night: It started with the chefs challenged to make a fresh, fun mix-in combination with Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. Not a huge fan of the Cold Stone action myself, but Dale’s winning peaches-and-cream number looked summery enough.

Hubris Hung was at the bottom of the pile for incorporating (among other things) cauliflower foam into his ice cream collage. When interviewed, he was all, “I guess we were supposed to make something for the common people.” Common people. Wow, Hung.

Hell's Kitchen is getting a lot of hate in the media these days. And I do prefer Top Chef. But Fox's Gordon Ramsay show still has a lot of appeal.

The winner will be announced during next Monday's show (8 p.m., Channel 4). Will it be the sly nanny/personal chef Bonnie? Or chef Rock, who likes to talk about himself in the third person?

I used to think Rock would prevail. But after last night's episode, in which she won a cook-off in front of her prospective employers, I think cunning Bonnie has snuck up on everyone, including Rock, and is more determined.

This was the most compelling episode of the season thus far, and the Dallas chefs figure prominently. So if you didn’t watch it, catch one of the gazillion reruns. Recap:

Reunion shows can be mixed bags, but last night's Top Chef, with several contestants from the first two seasons and castoffs from the ongoing third, was worth watching (and you can catch it in numerous reruns on Bravo).

The high point came at the end, with previously unseen footage of a second-season spoof of the judges. Also, an answer to the Padma scar question!

So Chef Ramsay has a heart, after all.

Waffle House cook Julia has been a bright spot in this Hell's Kitchen season, and she scrapped her way into the final 4. But when it was time to go last night, after winning a school lunch challenge but bombing out on "veg," host Gordon Ramsay said goodbye with a hug and a gift of culinary school training.

And he told her to come back and win this thing. She just might do that.

The finale of the Next Food Network Star is tonight at 8, and it seems like Food Network is trying to stir up some drama. Instead of making it a showdown between the finalists – Amy Finley and Rory Schepisi, who were left after Jag withdrew from the competition because his culinary school and military records were questioned – the ad instead plays up a judge asking, "Do we actually have a star here?" That seems to be the theme of this season. Alton Brown asked episodes back if they could send all the contestants home and start over. But the show does have one fan – and an unlikely one at that. Chef, writer and Top Chef guest host Anthony Bourdain confessed his love – okay, like – in a blog post on buddy and fellow chef/author Michael Ruhlman's Web site.

On last night's Top Chef, I was afraid it might be adios to Casey Thompson of Shinsei, one of two Dallas chefs in the Bravo reality-competition show.

She was summoned into the bottom-four roasting by the judges, but managed to survive despite judges' critiques of overcooked rice, dry chicken and a coffee sauce they didn't like. Instead, it was time for her pal, Lia, to leave.

Tre Wilcox (Abacus) was a hit again this week, and survived the tests of frozen pie dough and a Latin-themed feast for telenovela stars.

Padma's strange scar/tattoo was in evidence this week, as was the distracting prominence of Tom Colicchio's soul patch.

I watched Top Chef: Miami, the third season of Bravo's culinary competition series, yesterday, and I was happy that Dallas' own Casey Thompson (executive chef of Shinsei) won the Quick Fire Challenge. But later, I wondered if that win had anything to do with what seemed like a lack of team spirit in the Elimination Challenge that followed the QFC. Sure, she was stuck with Joey and Howie, two guys not exactly sunshine and sweetness, but right from the get-go she seemed cranky and disengaged in a team effort on preparing a trio of tuna dishes. I mean the physical signs were all there: the whatever-eye rolls and shrugs. The funny thing for me was to see Joey and Howie, who took jabs at one another in a previous episode, actually find common ground in wondering if Casey's immunity, thanks to her Quick Fire win, was going to her head in the Elimination Challenge. As Howie said, "Casey does not have as much at stake as Joey and I do."

Our own Tre Wilcox of Abacus had a rocky start with the Quick Fire challenge (which was to make a delicious dish using catch-it-yourself seafood) when he got a bum selection of sea critters.

So, after winning the first round of the Season Three competition last week, our boy Tre Wilcox (of Abacus) landed himself in the bottom four. But, wait: Do they usually have a bottom four? Isn’t it usually bottom three? Did they pull in four people because it was a tough choice deciding who to send home, or because the show’s producers wanted a little extra drama?

What a choice last night on Hell's Kitchen:

Should Chef Ramsay give the boot to Joanna, who "could've killed someone" serving spoiled crabmeat (of course, what was it doing in the kitchen in the first place, Gordo?).

Or should he spike Jen, who took spaghetti out of the garbage can, washed it and then figured another boil would kill the bacteria. Oh yeah, and she overcooked 14 beef Wellingtons, shutting down dinner service.

Season Three of Top Chef commenced last night with a win for Dallas: After being one of the bottom three in the kick-off Quick Fire challenge, Tre Wilcox of Abacus won the first round with a spice-crusted and seared ostrich dish that included abalone and heirloom tomato risotto. As host Padma Lakshmi pointed out, the two chefs who won the first rounds of Seasons One and Two went on to win the competition. Way to make the home city proud, Chef.

Photo: Tre Wilcox cooking up a storm at Abacus