Laila Ali welcomes four feuding chefs who had their well laid plans ruined by their careless partners. In the first round, accomplished New York restaurateur Adam Sobel seeks to publicly humiliate Boston-based chef Matt Jennings for "accidentally" ruining Adam's dish at a contentious football tailgate event. In the second round, Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley calls out elite competitor Chef Mei Lin for allowing Mei's pet pooch to befoul her chef coat before an event and sets out to prove that Mei Lin isn't above the law in a coastal seafood battle. Judges Jet Tila and Maneet Chauhan decide which chef achieves redemption, not to mention $10,000 and their opponent's favorite chef knife.
These days, breakfast can be so much more than cold cereal and toast. On the sweet side: the Boston sweet treat so otherworldly, it beat Bobby Flay; in Philadelphia, waffles meet with cake and in the Twin Cities, a hot and hearty pancake that's an engineering marvel. Savory breakfast fans, get a look at the egg and cheese in Los Angeles with real star quality, the Vietnamese twist on bacon and eggs in Austin and the classic New York bagel gets an update with beets. Plus, the breakfast special in Atlanta which is like a buffet on a plate! Get ready to start your day with a bang with these best breakfasts ever.
Grab a seat at the bar and enjoy a pint at these tasty taverns! A French-trained chef is slinging quality Mexican fare in NOLA and a tavern in Chicago is serving up big beer and bold burgers. Next, the beer flows freely in Tacoma, Washington's, oldest microbrewery and a spot in Sherman Oaks, California, pairs brunch indulgences with their signature cocktails. Then, burgers get smothered and shakes get spiked in a New York tavern and nonstop partying doesn't stop a Daytona Beach, Florida, tavern from serving fun, creative food. Finally, a Boston tavern brings international flavors to its offerings and a Boulder, Colorado, pizza joint reveals their secret for what makes a great tavern truly great!
The folks from Iron Chef will happily hop out of bed if it means starting the day with their favorite breakfast! Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian dreams about the waffles and quiches at Balthazar in New York City. Iron Chef Gauntlet competitor Jonathon Sawyer kick starts his day at Dove's in Chicago with their Southern-inspired Mexican food. Iron Chef Gauntlet competitor Sarah Gruenberg greets the day with a savory bacon and egg sandwich and a slice of blueberry cornmeal cake at Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe in Santa Monica, Calif., while Iron Chef winner Brad Farmerie is a big fan of the fried chicken and hash at the Country Cat in Portland, Ore.
Adam Gertler is hot on the trail of some of the most unusual cakes ever to be baked, fried or frosted. Line up at New York City's popular Doughnut Plant, where the traditionally round pastry turns square, made with fresh cranberries and coconut. Or get fired up with the house specialty, the Creme Brulee Doughnut. Take a trip to the Danish village of Solvang, CA to scale the Kransekage, an Old World 16-layer tower of cake that is making a comeback. Then in Monroe, WI, find out how the bakers at The Swiss Colony are remaking traditional red velvet by rolling a 60-foot pastry into a Red Velvet Swirl Cake.
Hundreds of terrible home cooks came out for the nationwide auditions, but only 16 of the country's worst home cooks travel to New York City to compete in a culinary Boot Camp run by Food Network chefs Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine. For the first Skill Drill, the recruits have 60 minutes to prepare a dish from scratch, and after sampling the terrible cooking, each chef chooses a team of eight for the other chef to teach. For the first Main Dish Challenge, the recruits must butcher a whole chicken and replicate an entrée as taught by their chef. Things get fiery, and the competition heats up as the least successful cook on each team is eliminated.
Four top sugar artists meet in Beaver Creek to create an amazing four-foot tall sugar showpiece. The theme? The great outdoors. The twist? This is an elimination competition. There are three rounds and competitors must demonstrate specific skills such as sugar pulling and sugar blowing. The challenger who doesn't impress the judges after each round will be eliminated. At the end of the day, only two of our sugar artists will be left standing. And only one of those will go home with $10,000 in their pocket.
Competitors:
Kaushik Chowdhury Head Pastry Chef JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort Phoenix, Ariz.
Doug Basegio Pastry Instructor California Culinary Academy San Francisco, Calif. www.baychef.com
Louise Chien Pastry Chef Montage Resort & Spa Laguna Beach, Calif.
Chad Pagano Pastry Instructor Institute of Culinary Education New York, N.Y.
Judges:
Judges:
Robert Bleifer Executive Chef Food Network New York, N.Y.
Patrice Calliot World Pastry Champion/Pastry Consultant Las Vegas, Nev.
Donald Wressell Pastry Expert Los Angeles, Calif.
Chocolate bridges over sugar moats, ice cream cone towers rising from cake-filled castles--and that's just a taste of what you'll see when four confectionary architects joust for the Challenge crown and $10,000! But sugar and chocolate aren't stable like steel and stone, so as walls crumble and sugar shatters, the clock becomes the enemy as the competitors race to bring their fairy-tale fortresses to life.
COMPETITORS:
Susan O’Boyle-Jacobson Fridley, Minn.
David Goldberg Art Institute of New York City New York, N.Y.
Robert Sobkowski Sensational Chocolates Coral Springs, Fla.
Jenifer Witte Wynn Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nev.
Judges: Nicholas Lodge
Kerry Vincent
There is something so American about an afternoon tending the grill and Bobby Flay continues that tradition with some luscious stateside treats, like his Grilled Soft Shell Crab Sandwich topped with Red Slaw and sweet Yellow Tomatoes. Then Chef Flay crisps up a treat from his city childhood with his version of everyone's favorite lunch on the go, New York Street Cart Dogs with Onion Sauce and Grilled Red Pepper Relish. The true magic of American fire-cooking is achieved with his low and slow Smoked Prime Rib topped with a Red Wine Steak Sauce that evokes the red leather banquettes of a classic steakhouse. A Sweet Cherry Slushy brings refreshment and color to this feast celebrating the delicious Red, White and Blue.
Mat Arnfield has been flipping fish and chopping potatoes since he was a kid in his father's chip shop in Northern England. Today he fries up his critically acclaimed Fish and Chips at A Salt and Battery in New York City, and customers are utterly hooked on his special recipe. Mat thinks Food Network has asked him to show off his culinary skills for a hungry crowd at Chelsea Brewing Company. But just as the beers are poured and the fish get frying, Bobby Flay appears and challenges Mat to a surprise Fish and Chips Throwdown! Can Bobby's recipe compete against Mat's time-honored tradition? It's sink or swim, as Yanks and Brits alike judge this ultimate battle for the batter, and a challenge for the chip.