Cooking Shows

Chris Cosentino on Winning Top Chef Masters and Helping Parkinson's Research

San Francisco-based chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto restaurant is the newly-crowned winner of Top Chef Masters Season 4. We predicted as much before the first episode even aired, but Cosentino tells SFoodie that he never felt like he had the competition in the bag as he discusses winning $282,000 fo ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Cosentino Watch, Episode 9

Welcome to Cosentino Watch, where we recap the moves of San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino as he competes in Top Chef Masters. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Episode 9 is called "Old School, New School." We've already seen from the preview commercial that the remaining three Masters (Chris Cosentino, Lor ... More >>

See Food: A Guide to Local Culinary Television

The successes of the Food Network and the Top Chef franchise have opened the doors for more food-related television both locally and nationally. Fortunately, with the assistance of DVRs and the fact that certain stations screen full episodes online, gone are the days when you'd have to wait until th ... More >>

The Great Food Truck Race Features Lame Truck Design, Tyler Florence's Neck Beard

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with food TV. This week, The Great Food Truck Race, a one-hour show that once saw a food truck drive past it, Sundays at 9 p.m. on the Food Network. Part of the fun of eating at a food truck is hanging around the trucks themselves, with t ... More >>

Extreme Chef: So Extreme We Had to Write an Epic Poem About It

Each week, we take a quick, caution look at food TV. This week, Extreme Chef, a one-hour show about watching the world burn, Thursdays at 10 p.m. on the Food Network. On the premiere Extreme Chef, seven chefs were dropped by helicopter to the "modern day hellhole" of the Salton Sea and asked to "en ... More >>

Top Chef Judge Krista Simmons on the S.F. Food Scene, and Her Path to the Judging Table

You never know where a passion for food will take you. For food writer Krista Simmons, it was the Top Chef judges table. It all started back in 2006, when Simmons was a junior at UC Santa Cruz. She took what she refers to as the "obligatory trip" to the Bonny Doon Winery Tasting Room, and was immed ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Cosentino Watch, Episode 3

Welcome to Cosentino Watch, where we recap the moves of San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino as he competes in Top Chef Masters. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Episode 3 is called "What Would Brian Boitano Eat," a play on the Olympic figure skating champ's Food Network series, What Would Brian Boitano Make ... More >>

Bobby Flay, if You Must Subject Us to 3 Days to Open, at Least Have the Decency to Scream and Rage

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with food TV. This week, 3 Days to Open, a one-hour show about empires crumbling to dust, Fridays at 10 p.m. on the Food Network. In the past few years the Food Network's programming moved from the time-honored strategy of having people c ... More >>

Tonight: Top Chef Masters Premieres With S.F. Chef Chris Cosentino

San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino (Incanto) represents the Bay Area on the fourth season of Top Chef Masters, which premieres tonight (July 25) at 10 on Bravo. Cosentino is competing to win money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Since he's often pigeonholed as the king o ... More >>

Baron Ambrosia Is So Full of Awesome WTF That We'll Even Watch The Cooking Channel

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with food TV. This week, The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia, a half-hour show about Aladdin Sane, Fridays at 7 p.m. on the Cooking Channel. In this space, usually I end up steering you away from cooking shows, not because I want to ... More >>

You Can Watch the Food Network a Full Day and Only See Five Shows

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's on going with food TV. This week we review Monday, airing Monday on the Food Network. Most cable channels can't withstand scrutiny. They're good to catch a quick show like Tommy Lee Goes to College but stay too long and the bottom drops out and yo ... More >>

Cupcake Wars: The Problem With a Cupcake Show Is That It's a Cupcake Show

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with food TV. This week, Cupcake Wars, an hour-long show about one thing, over and over, until death comes, Sundays at 8 p.m. on the Food Network. Cupcake Wars has been on the air just two years, but they're already finishing up their fif ... More >>

On Trisha's Country Kitchen, Trisha Yearwood Can't Stop Proving How Damn Country She Is

Each week, we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with food TV. This week, Trisha's Country Kitchen, a half-hour show of executives laughing at us, Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. on the Food Network. Trisha Yearwood is a two-time cookbook author with a new show on the Food Network about souther ... More >>

Worst Cooks in America: A Hater's Guide

​Each week (except last week) we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with televised cooking. This week: Worst Cooks in America, a one-hour documentary about Arizona, Sundays at 9 p.m. on the Food Network. The premise Imagine a competition in which the worst cooks in America -- let' ... More >>

Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off: The Food Network Craps Out

Each week we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with televised cooking. This week: Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off, a one-hour show about the debt ceiling, Sundays at 9 p.m. on the Food Network. There used to be only A and B-list celebrities, divided by movies and television. Then te ... More >>

Have Cake, Will Travel: If Fail Were a TV Show About Cakes

Not your best choice, even at 4 a.m.​Each week we take a quick, cautious look at what's going on with televised cooking. This week: Have Cake, Will Travel, a half-hour show about reaching for the bottom, Fridays at 4 a.m. on the Food Network. Dear Food Network, So it's four in the morning, ... More >>

Food TV Weirdness: Guy Fieri's Best Thing I Ever Made

​Each week we take a quick, cautious look at what is going on with televised cooking. This week: The Best Thing I Ever Made, a half-hour show about the end of the world, Sundays at 11:30 a.m. on the Food Network. The premise of Best Thing is simple: Each episode, a handful of chefs cook thei ... More >>

"Famous Food" on VH1: Guilty pleasure

​As we watched a real New Jersey housewife fight with a fictional New Jersey Big Pussy, we realized celeb-reality has officially taken over food TV. VH1's "Famous Food" is the latest food show to pop up on a previously non-food channel, a trend the Los Angeles Times wrote about recently. Th ... More >>

Top Chef: The Tour Quick-Firing at Embarcadero

Jonathan KauffmanThe Top Chef Tour's San Francisco stop.​Bravo TV trailers and "Top Chef" tents have colonized Justin Herman Plaza this morning. Is Bravo flash-filming a segment for the next series? Is Traci Des Jardins throwing a semi-celebratory Top Chef Masters gala? No -- it's the Top Chef Tou ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Nostalgic Finale Edition

Bravo TVHost Curtis Stone checks in with San Francisco finalist Traci Des Jardins.​Last night brought the finale of Bravo's Top Chef Masters and our SF-based Traci Des Jardins was in it to win it. On the line was $100,000 for the cheftestants' charity of choice. For those of us rooting for the ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Traci Des Jardins Hosts Her Own Party

Carina OstWatching Top Chef Masters from Public House.​ SFoodie got word that cheftestant Traci Des Jardins would be having a Top Chef Masters viewing party at her casual dining joint, Public House. It was, of course, open to the public, so we headed down there for a seat at the bar. The sound of ... More >>

The 8 Sexiest Women on TV Cooking Shows

Last week SFoodie brought you the hot and hunky men of food television. Today, the companion post so hot it'll melt your listicle, their sultry female counterparts, the women you've watched tying up your meat, sizzling your pot, and making you run your Tivo in slow-mo. We give you the eight sexiest ... More >>

The 8 Sexiest Men on TV Cooking Shows

Producers of food TV don't just care if a guy can cook ― most stars of cooking shows these days have to be hot enough to make viewers' plasmas sweat. Behold, SFoodie's countdown of the eight sexiest male chefs currently taking up space on our DVRs, dudes with the power to sear our tenderloins with ... More >>

Last Night's Top Chef: All-Stars Was All Conch, No Balls

usmagazine.com Padma's flotation devices can't even keep this series above water.​We thought we were out, but we got reeled back with a determination to finish what we started ― i.e., this awfully boring season. Last night's Top Chef: All-Stars was entitled "Island Fever" and it was fitting ... More >>

Top Chef Loses a Fan, San Francisco Sweets Gain THC

What's missing from this season's Top Chef? A little San Francisco magic, maybe.​Highlights from the blog this week:1. Carina Ost, our Top Chef chronicler, may be a devoted fan of the cooking show, but her patience with the series is wearing out. Quickfire, Bravo! Time to re-season this show. Mayb ... More >>

Top Chef: All-Stars, Week 10: Ironing Chef

Delfi Jingles/FlickrCookie Monster: "C" is for "kooky."​Last night's Top Chef: All-Stars began with Dale mouthing off. "I'm not like these new-school parents who are like 'we're all winners' ― f@ck that. That's bullshit, man! Who ever said losing is okay? In what country is that cool?" In ... More >>

Top Chef: All-Stars: Festival of Losers Brings the Heat

BravoTVEx-Absinthe chef (and former Top Chef loser) Jamie Lauren.​Last night was the premiere of Top Chef: All-Stars, and it was also the first night of Chanukah. For those of you un-chosen folks, you celebrate the first night by lighting the shamash (helper candle) that will light the first c ... More >>

My Moment with Yigit: The View from Top Chef's Victory Bash

Catherine BergstromThe author, in full-on gush mode with Pura.​Since Episode 1 of Top Chef: Just Desserts, I've been rooting for San Francisco cutie-pie cheftestant Yigit Pura. We admit it: The boy's rosy cheeks, dimples, well-thought-out desserts, and overall sweetness make me gush. So last ... More >>

Top Chef: Just Desserts, Week 3: It Was Glee All Over Again, Minus the Britney Crazy

1weddingsource.comIt's Sylvia, bitch!​Was the Britney Spears Glee episode this week not sweet enough for you? Top Chef: Just Desserts tried to carry out the same overhyped (school) spirit on last night's episode. Unfortunately, both Glee and Top Chef were misses compared to last week's crazine ... More >>

When You're Here, You're Family

Morimoto Napa Opens Today. Relive Some of the Iron Chef's Greatest TV Moments

Food NetworkMorimoto in his Iron Chef Japan fighting days.​Masaharu Morimoto debuts Morimoto Napa today, an event so momentous that Inside Scoop took the time and care to assemble a dossier on the topic and Eater SF has the pretty pictorial and menu. We instead would like to salute this newcom ... More >>

DVR Alert: Humphry Slocombe on New Food Network Show Outrageous Food

Tamara PalmerGotta get there early for Fetal Kitten.​Frozen dessert wonderland Humphry Slocombe is featured on Outrageous Foods, which has its premiere tomorrow night on Food Network. Hosted by Aaron McCargo (Big Daddy's House), the program focuses on the wildest eats in the country, beginning ... More >>

Melissa Perello of the Castro's Long-Awaited Frances: The SFoodie Interview

Melissa Perello was born in Nutley, N.J., lived in Houston, and went to cooking school in upstate New York, but San Francisco is where the 32-year-old chef formed her restaurant bones. She arrived here fresh from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., to gig with mentor Michael Mina a ... More >>

TiVo Alert: Bi-Rite Creamery on 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate'

Bi-Rite Creamery's Banana Split.If you think the line is bad now, just wait! Bi-Rite Creamery (3692 18th at Dolores) takes a star turn on tomorrow night's "Sugar Rush" episode of Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate."Sugar Rush" airs on Tuesday, July 7 at 9:30 p.m.; Wednesday, July 8 at 12:30 a. ... More >>

Ideas for Replacing TyFlo's Still-Missing Fork

Food NetworkWe're pretty sure it's been eating at you in those quiet moments, like when you wake up at 3 a.m. and just can't drift off to sleep again: Tyler Florence's ginormous fork is still missing from the sign of his Mill Valley tchotchke emporium. Fans of the Marin native and incandescent Food ... More >>

Season Six of 'Next Food Network Star' to Hold Open-Call Auditions Here

Kim in Cajun Country/FlickrNo, this isn't the real Guy Fieri, just a wannabe like you.Admit it: You bust out your Guy Fieri moves in front of the full-length when nobody's home. In July, you'll have a chance to do it where it counts -- in front of a Food Network casting agent. On July 26 at the W ... More >>

Boulevard Chef Calls Lineup for Tomorrow's Great American Food and Music Fest 'Interesting'

bernardus/FlickrNancy Oakes: Fearing a throwdown?Nancy Oakes told SFoodie she's not sure what to expect at tomorrow's Great American Food and Music Fest, the sprawling Shoreline event that brings together Food Network personalities, local chefs, and rock bands. The chef and owner of Boulevard is doi ... More >>

Upcoming Great American Food and Music Fest Features Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri, Marshall Crenshaw, Little Feat, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy -- and an Astounding Array of Eats

There'll be plenty for both foodies and music lovers to enjoy at the Great American Food and Music Fest, a one-day event running from noon to 10 p.m. on June 13 at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View.Chef and Food Network star Bobby Flay is the host, and will demonstrate his famed grilling te ... More >>

Vittles du Video

Throughout my television-viewing life there have been certain programs that I've obsessed over, planned my schedule around, discussed with my fellow zealots over water cooler and barstool and, in short, made a point to watch without fail, but nowadays there's only one show I can't live without, Top ... More >>

Casting Call: Bobby Flay Wants The Bay Area's Best African-American Grillers

Rock Shrimp has been casting the second season of the Food Network's Grill It! with Bobby Flay for more than a month now. The New York-based production company is now specifically looking on Craigslist for local African-Americans (who "appear to look between 21 and 45") with the ability (and reci ... More >>

Scoop! Rachael Ray to Air Show on East Bay – In Seven or Eight Months!

Rory, JAG-off, and Amy: the Surprise 'Next Food Network Star, Season Three' Ending

Rory, JAG-off, and Amy: the Surprise 'Next Food Network Star, Season Three' Ending

SFoodie: Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, No Reservations Analyzed

SFoodie: Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, No Reservations Analyzed

Knives Out

Bewiched

A top chef expands his brand, and we follow

Night Crawler

Eat, Drink, and Be Wary

Night Crawler