EATS

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).