Eight finalists have been named for “The Next Food Network Star,” a reality series to air this summer on the cable food channel, and Chicago is represented with the two-for-one entry of Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, a duo better known as The Hearty Boys Caterers. In a competition that fielded more than 10,000 entries, they earned a spot with a 3-minute videotape that showcased, McDonagh said, their food know-how as well as considerable on-camera experience.
“We do a lot of morning [television] shows and cooking appearances,” said McDonagh, who with Smith hopes to win the contest’s first prize: their own six-week series. “Our goal is definitely to have a running TV show.”
The pair flew to New York last week to begin taping the competition alongside rivals who include a private chef for celebrities, a personal chef/novelist and a high school culinary arts teacher who’s also a wrestling coach.
McDonagh, interviewed the day before leaving for New York, wasn’t too worried about the pressure: “Our goal is just to go … and show who we are. Because the rest will come. Neither of us feels like we’re doing a ‘Survivor’ show.”
Well, the Food Network may have something to say about that–there is a wrestling coach competing.
Magazines
Food & Wine profiles Chicago chef Grant Achatz and his highly creative approach to food, which will soon be showcased when his restaurant, Alinea, opens in the coming months. (Case in point: He’ll have a 30-item tasting menu.) Less pithy but no less appealing is that banana cake with mascarpone frosting that’s pictured on the cover; the recipe from pastry chef Lauren Dawson of Hearth in New York City is inside.
Bon Appetit’s March issue spotlights its annual “How America Eats” survey of its readers–an entertaining if highly unscientific read. Among its findings: 51 percent of respondents think the secret to a great party is to “cook the entree and buy everything else.” Yet the same issue contains “Objects of Desire,” recipes from pastry chef Emily Luchetti that we think offer a strong argument to make the dessert and skip everything else: chocolate-peanut butter cake with cream cheese and Butterfinger frosting; bittersweet chocolate and walnut fudge; dulce de leche ice cream sundaes, and lemon cheesecake with gingersnap crust.
In Real Simple’s March issue, “Meat and Potatoes” showcases six recipes for what it calls “the culinary equivalent of a wool blanket.” Our choice to get wrapped up in: beef and beer with yellow potatoes.