What’s on TV?

So people always ask me if there are any chef’s I watch on TV and more often it is even a bit more direct.  “Do you ever watch Kitchen Nightmare’s with Gordon Ramsey, do chefs really act like that?”  From there my answer is pretty standard, “No I don’t watch the show, and yes some chefs really act like that, but so do some accountants and dentist”

So I guess the more interesting question is, do I watch any food shows and who do I look up to and trust what they are saying.   There is a short list of people and shows that I do watch and in no particular order they are Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations (on the Travel Channel), Alton Brown’s Good Eats (on the Food Network), Bravo’s Top Chef and Ace of Cakes (on the Food Network), outside of those four I will turn on the Food Network and just let it run while I am cleaning the house or doing other work.  So why these guys, I am not sure when I started watching these shows, but I know it has been a long time.

I ran across Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential while I was still in culinary school, and his voice was just so authentic that I could not put the book down, and his show No Reservations is much the same authentic voice I related to ten years ago and still do today.  He is eating honest, local food that is made by the corner butcher and world renowned chefs.  Plus, his show is as much a travel show as a food show, and I also love to travel.

The reason that I watch Alton Brown is much simpler, he knows more about food than I ever will, and every time I watch Good Eats I learn a bit more.  I watched it culinary school, when I was cooking full time, and still now.  And I believe when you want to be able to speak intelligently about a subject you love, you need to keep learning.

Learning is part of the draw I have to Top Chef, but I will tell you originally it was because the hotel that I worked at in Dallas has a Tom Colicchio restaurant and I need to know what he was doing and I felt a connection to the food our restaurant was cooking.  I will say that over the years the competitors on that show have shown more and more skill, and do things with products I barely know about that blow me away.  And if you were to ask me who chefs really act like, its not Gordon Ramsey, it is the competitors on that show.

Lastly I watch Ace of Cakes because it is fun and they do amazing work.  I always find myself laughing right in time with the bakery staff, but mostly it is the commentary by Mary Alice the bakery manager that keeps me coming back.

And no I do not want to tell you who I do not like, but there is a list of those people too, maybe another post down the road.

Tags: Ace of Cakes, Alton Brown, Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations, Tom Colicchio, Top Chef, TV