I pretty much only watch food network for Bobby Flay and Mario Batali. I used to like Jamie Oliver, but they put him on in the middle of the night.

I truly don't understand the vitriol over Bobby Flay. I've watched him plenty and just don't see the same thing as you folks. Of course, you probably all voted for George Bush, too.

I've made a bunch of Bobby Flay stuff and I liked it okay. I've been cooking for forty years and have tried everything. Currently I am working my way through James Peterson's french food cookbook.

You waste a lot of energy being negative about a chef. There are a lot worse people in this world, doing lots worse things than offending you by being themselves on a cooking show. What a weird culture we have.

Gahhh! You People Are Seriously Retarted! Bobby Flay Is a Very good Chef ! All Of YOu Over React This!!You all Need to Realize Food Network Would not have Picked Bobby Flay if is wasn't good! so Take That !

mario batali is so cute :)

did anyone else notice that bobby flay's sous chef was Patricia Yeo??

she's so damn cool... was the chef/owner at AZ (which isn't open to the public anymore alas), but i hear she bought the old barrio space on stanton street, the restaurant i miss the most in all the les

i hope she opens the new space soon!!!!

Zaelic, I love you. What a great post!

I'll take you up in your philly steak sandwich offering.

Alick, while we're on the subject of "$40 a Day," ever notice that wherever Rachael Ray travels to, one of the meals is always mexican? She could be in Rome, the south of France, Tokyo, and she'll still find a freaking burrito or quesadilla. What's the point of shooting the show in different locales when all she needs is Burritoville on 9th Avenue?

Buying pot from Bourdain was the extent of my acquaintance with him - he wasn't very popular, and as he admits in "Kitchen Confidential" he was an arrogant bastid at that point in his life. But CIA was a lot of fun in the late 70s. A lot had to do with fact that the drinking age was 18, and my, my, chefs do like to drink. The Chinese chef/instructor was exactly as Bourdain describes him. He used to teach about "German Chinese" food as it is served in Europe. Basically, lots of corn starch, MSG, brown sauce, came out of the kitchen in a solid lump. And that is what we had to eat that day for lunch. Yuck.

I wasn't even a student there, but I was playing in a band with three CIA students, my brother was a student there as well, so I was on their campus a lot. I remember howling in laughter one day while looking at the ornamental "butter bunnies" made from chilled butter by a class of twenty student chefs completely bombed out of their minds on LSD. Things looked more like "butter aliens."

Bourdain posts a lot on E-gullet http://egullet.com/

and presently there is an interesting series by one of Bourdain's colleagues, Chef Sam, who spent several years in prison. http://egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-chefsamwholetruth

If you are ever in Budapest and need a philly steak sandwich after midnight, I am the only chef in town that makes them...

Chen rocks! I'll never understand why they don't bring him to the international battles.

5 minutes into the first episode, and I'm not encouraged so far.

Will Chairman Kaga be there? Has anyone met him? And how did he get that eye-patch?

Bobby Flay is such an obvious insincere d---head. I don't exactly know how he got to where he is, except maybe by introducing New Yorkers to half-decent mexican food (which is f---ing impossible to find in that city). He wouldn't have lasted a day in San Francisco with that crap.

Anthony B. is the shizznit, and anybody who says otherwise is an idiot. Unlike Flay, who hides behind a polite facade, I get the sense that Bourdain's arrogance is actually an affectation necessary to deal with the self-important bastards in the NYC restaurant scene.

I'll be rooting for Batali, a homeboy from Seattle. And Chen Kenichi hardly gets any respect in Japan, who heap all their praise on that ringmold-and-truffle-sauce-addict Sakai. I'd take a chili stir-fry from Chen over foie grois from Sakai any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

the inventor of Dick Krispies?

How come no one has mentioned Jamie Oliver? The Naked Chef/Jamie's Kitchen are my favorites to watch on the Food Network.

Leslita - I hate the E.V.O.O. ALSO. When Jake mentioned he liked her, I almost retched on his IM window. We're so simpatico, it's scary.

oh yeah: same goes if he tries to pull a kovalev and suck about how the blender electocuted him or cut him, or whatever.

he doesn't know much about food, but he knows a lot about whine.

if bobby flay jumps up on the counter again, i'm personally travelling to NYC to kick his ass. that is, if morimoto doesn't fillet him first.

Morimoto's in philly is so best. Went a couple of weeks ago- drove to philly - met my bro who lives there-- all to go to Mori's. They key is to order the Omakase (che's tasting menu) basically its all a surprise- you don't know how many courses you get, or what's coming next. Eveything was so effing amazing- esp. the kobe beef w/ fois gras mmmmmm arteries clogging.

Plus you feel like you're underwater as the dining room is laid out really well- and the walls look like waves-- plus the colors of your booths keep changing-- but not in a sea sick I'm gonna ralph way.

Ate at mesa grill and I wouldn't wipe my ass w/ bobby flap's resume-- boy can't cook- needs to pack it in and move to square state.

How about some positivity for a change? Who else loves Chin Kenichi?

Yes, ziegfeld: Paula Deen!!! I'd rather watch her show than eat when I'm hawngry.

The $40 a day chick is Rachael Ray, spawn of the devil. If she says "E.V.O.O." one more time, I may die. Look her up on Friendster...hilarious. I believe she mentions a hankering for Tom Clancy novels.

And I agree. Bobby needs a Flaying.

what's up with the bobby flay bash-fest? damn, so much negativity.

What? No props for Alton Brown? Of all the Food Network personalities he gets my vote. Although at times I'd consider him more of a food science geek than a chief but Good Eats is definitely one of more creative and entertaining shows on the Food Network.

Plus Alton Brown has his own blog! He rules!

As for Bobby Flay, what I want to say about him has been said in the comments above, his arrogance just makes cooking not fun.

zaelic, Gothamist wants some Bourdain stories!

Another great thing about Bourdain is that he doesn't take anyone's shit. He calls Emeril an Ewok, but also admits succumbing to flattery and the like. Love Tony B.