Author: Mike Farley (Page 53 of 117)

Melissa D’Arabian: from home cook to network star

August 5, 2009 /


Melissa D’Arabian won Season 5 of “The Next Food Network Star” on Sunday, but what you may not have known was that since the finale taped (about two months ago, so we were told by the network), her new show, “Ten Dollar Dinners,” already has taped six episodes. The show premieres this Sunday, August 9 at 12:30pm ET/PT, and on the it Melissa will demonstrate how to create flavorful and interesting meals for a family of four for under ten bucks.

DArabian, who recently moved from Keller, Texas to Kirkland, Washington, beat out runner-up Jeffrey Saad of Los Angeles to take the title of Next Food Network Star, and we had the chance to participate in a conference call with Melissa this past Monday. Here are a few of the highlights of what she had to say…..

On her new show’s premise: “The challenge isn’t how to feed a family of four hot dogs on ten dollars. The challenge is how to feed them shrimp or a well-rounded meal that has several components. I think you’re going to be really surprised by the ingredients and by the recipes.”

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External TV, Interviews, The Next Food Network Star, TV

Hell’s Kitchen: Lovely = useless

August 5, 2009 /

As things literally heat up with tensions mounting in FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” some contestants, as they do each season, show us early on why they don’t belong. It’s almost like we are waiting for all the chefs who have no chance get eliminated so we can get to the good stuff. Anyway, as they recapped the previous week, Lovely and Tennille were spared because of chef Joseph’s disrespect for Gordon Ramsay. And Lovely made the comment that Ramsay “loves Lovely.” Uh, I don’t think so. And Tennille was still pissed that Suzanne made the comment, “If you sink our ship, I’ll be pissed,” during dinner service. Tennille told Suzanne that she could kiss her ass. Nice. But there was tension on the blue team as well, with Van and Kevin talking trash about Andy and how Andy was bringing their team down.

Then came the initial challenge, which was to make sausages. They had to do this in teams of two, and Ramsay made sure to pair Van with Andy and Tennille with Suzanne. Then before they started, the sexual references were flying….Ramsay asked Tennille if she liked sausage, to which she replied, “no chef, I don’t.” Van also made some comment about “pumping it slowly” and Ramsay told them all that “size matters,” which it did in this case, but still, did we need all the references?

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External TV, Hell's Kitchen, Reality TV, TV

The Next Food Network Star: survival is the key word

August 3, 2009 /

Last night’s finale of “The Next Food Network Star” featured two contestants in Melissa D’Arabian and Jeffrey Saad who were, frankly, both worthy of winning. So the challenge that they both faced in taping their own pilot would pretty much be the determining factor.

Being that this final episode was taped before a live audience, there was a lot of time to fill. So they began with shots of both contestants with their families back home–Jeffrey in Los Angeles selling real estate and hanging and cooking at home with his wife and two kids, who I believe they said were 13 and 9 years old. Melissa, meanwhile, is from Keller, Texas, and they showed her with her husband and four kids, all girls, between the ages of 1.5 and 4….are you kidding me? No wonder Melissa is so frantic all the time…they showed a shot of her driving a minivan with the four car seats. Yikes.

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External TV, Reality TV, The Next Food Network Star, TV

The Next Food Network Star season finale is this Sunday–who do you like?

July 30, 2009 /

This Sunday marks the conclusion of Season 5 of “The Next Food Network Star,” pitting Jeffrey Saad against Melissa D’Arabian. It’s hard to believe we’ve reached this point already, but I always say that after the 4th of July, the summer flies by faster than we want it to. Anyway, I’m pulling for Melissa and I think she’s got the goods to be a network star for a long time. Jeffrey, though, is no slouch by any means, and seems like he’s got incredible cooking chops himself. Below is a video preview of the finale, which airs this Sunday, August 2, at 9pm/8pm central.

So I ask you, who do you like and why?

External TV, Reality TV, The Next Food Network Star, TV

Top Chef Masters: six real masters compete

July 30, 2009 /

Last night began the finals of Bravo’s inaugural “Top Chef Masters,” and all I kept thinking was that if I was there in person, I would be more in awe than I was simply watching it. These six are some of the best chefs in the world, and here they were in the same room. Anyway, meet the contestants–Hubert Keller, Anita Lo, Rick Bayless, Michael Chiarello, Suzanne Tracht and Art Smith. There were similarities between some of them and yet each chef has a unique culinary point of view.

Their first (quick fire) challenge was another “Top Chef” favorite, the relay race. They divided into teams of three–Anita, Rick and Hubert against Suzanne, Michael and Art. The tasks were to shuck oysters, chop onions, cut up a chicken and then whisk egg whites until they hold for 5 seconds when the bowl is turned upside down. With four tasks, one person from each team would have to do two of them. The judge was “Top Chef” personality Tom Colicchio. Hubert and Suzanne faced off with the oysters and Suzanne was like a machine, making it look incredibly easy, but Hubert caught up to her eventually. Then Hubert and Art faced off with the onions and both were incredibly fast and efficient. Anita and Michael did the chicken, and Anita was a bit faster, but wow….I can’t even do this if I have an hour, and they were carving entire chickens in seconds. Finally, Rick and Art faced off with the eggs…they had to first separate them, and Art got hung up by having a stray yolk he had to remove from the bowl. But it didn’t matter…Rick whisked those whites into what resembled whipped cream in lightning fast fashion and he passed the 5 second test, giving his team the victory. That meant Anita, Rick and Hubert began with 5 stars, while Suzanne, Michael and Art began with 4 stars each.

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External TV, Reality TV, Top Chef Masters, TV

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