2012:A Fat Boys Year In Review

    So 2012 is winding down and I got to thinking about where I have had the chance to eat, read and watched. So I decided that I would try my best to touch on some interesting things to the last year...Enjoy

    Last Christmas I received a copy of Brian and Michael Voltaggio book called Volt.INK and in the spring of 2012 the wife and I went down to Los Angeles to get away for a few days. It was on this trip that we not only had the chance to have lunch at INK.Sack but Mr. Voltaggio took a few minutes out of his schedule to sign my book.

    If you get the chance to have lunch at INK.Sack you have to order a bag of Crab Chips with whatever sandwich you get...Trust me this is one of the best things you will ever snack on!

    COCHON 555 is 5 chefs, 5 winemakes and 5 heritage breed pigs. This is a multiple city competition. In four years the COCHON Tour has served over 35,000 guests, harvested more than 1 Billion Media impressions for “heritage breed pigs & family farms” and featured over 1500 food pioneers supporting a better food system. When the tour landed in Boston the winner of the Cochon competition was Jamie Bissonnette owner of TORO and COPPA.

     July 1st and the state of Claifornia officially banned the sale of Fois Gras courtesy of animal rights organizations like PETA. If you do not know what Fois Gras (fatty duck liver). Foie gras is made from livers that have been plumped up to several times their normal size through force feeding, a process called gavage. There are California restaurants that finding loopholes to be able to serve it by bringing it in from out of state. What sucks is that restaurants could face up to a $1,000 fine per day.

     David Chang (Momofuku) gets his own show on PBS this year called "The Mind Of A Chef". I love this show because is the pages of the magazine "Lucky Peach" were to come to life this is what you would get. Daisy (my youngest daughter) and I will sit and watch this show as often as possible.

   For all those who are fans of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" he calls it quits with the Travel Channel but do not fret he has joined CNN for a new show and do not forget the cooking reality show he is doing on ABC.

   Here is a couple of stories from the 2012 Eater archives: Gordon Ramsay applied for the UK trademark for "The Spotted Pig," which is, uh, not his restaurant. It's April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman's restaurant in New York. Rumor has it Ramsey will be returning the trademark to it's rightful home. Zagat printed its 2012 guides to Bay Area restaurants with the name of the city misspelled "San Francsico." A restaurant in Moscow held a caviar eating competition in which twelve "lucky" souls had to eat a half kilogram of black caviar worth $70,000 as fast as humanly possible. The prize for winning? More caviar. And last but not least from the EATER universe Ghostwritingate: New York Times writer Julia Moskin claimed a whole bunch of celebrity chefs used ghostwriters; a whole bunch of cookbook authors (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Bobby Flay, and Rachael Ray) had a problem with it.

    Oh yeah I forgot to tell you I got a free pair of kitchen shoes and Chris Cosentino;s book "Beginnings" because not only do I watch to much Top Chef but follow cool people on twitter!!

   Well that is it for now....I hope everyone there has a great new years and remember no one eaters better then a fat boy!!

   Cheers!
 

Chef Fight Club....Some of the best feuds in the food world!

So with all the business with Anthony Bourdain and the Travel Channel I got to thinking about how many feuds exist between other chef. So I started with EATER and The Braiser and here are my top 5 favorite chef feuds!! Please not I am not trying to make mountains out of mole hills I just think some of this stuff is funny. Enjoy


5) Jose Andres v. Gordon Ramsey: I am the first to admit that I enjoy the trainwreck known as "Hells Kitchen". Every season seems to get worse. When Chef Jose Andres had taken to Twitter to voice his opinion of FOX "Hells Kitchen", ""Hells Kitchen is not making my profession look good. watching with daughters for first time, and I feel so ashamed! Don't treat people badly."

4) Alton Brown v. Adam Richman: Alton Brown slammed Man vs Food star Adam Richman for his "disgusting" show, in which he takes on local pig-out spots and their insane food challenges. "That show is about gluttony, and gluttony is wrong. It's wasteful. Think about people that are starving to death and think about that show. I think it's an embarrassment." My favorite thing was when The Food Network had Adam Richman as a judge on IRON CHEF.

3) Jamie Bissonnette v. Anthony Bourdain: Most people do not know Jamie Bissonnette. I wish I could live in Boston and work under him.  Bissonnette finds Bourdain to be highly entertaining but skewed in his perspective on Boston: "That fuckin' prick comes to Boston and he doesn't go to any restaurants, and he goes to fucking dive bars in Southie and then he goes on to say that Boston doesn't have any good fucking restaurants?

2) Eddie Huang v Marcus Samuelsson: Huang's main point seems to be that Red Rooster isn't true to Harlem in any sense. By presenting "upscale" soul food at a premium, Huang argues that the restaurant is both misguided and condescending. "By catering to diners outside Harlem and talking down to the ones who live there -- promising things like "elevated" soul food -- he treats the place like a museum exhibit," Huang writes. "He speaks in stereotypes, desperately trying to capture snapshots of villagers dancing, praying and bespoke-suiting to display in this playhouse of a restaurant."

And last but not least and my favorite feud is....
1) David Chang v. San Francisco Chefs: During a Q & A with Anthony Bourdain at the 2009 NYC Wine and Food Fest, Bourdain asked Chang about food trends that he hates. His response:"F***in' every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate. Do something with your food." After the SF Asia society cancelled a book tour event due to the comment, Chang stood his ground saying, "Why would people get upset? I'm not gonna retract what I said. I think everybody needs to chill out. People need to smoke more marijuana in San Francisco."