[Rain]

I've recently started to watch hells kitchen and kitchen nightmare (us edition). Gordon Ramsey really grows on you lol. I'm a lifelong abstainer from cooking, but felt inspired to create some food recently!

3 appliance later (bread maker-not bad, still using, though bread hardens in 1 day, slow cooker - realised now I'm more a pressure cooker kind of person, pizza machine - still in box), I realised I'm not cut out to be a chef. But Gordon Ramsey is very watchable! And it sounds like his food is fantastic too. Are there any other celeb chefs with shows I can watch on hulu?

Btw, I watched on www.hulu.com - they don't really have recent episodes or all seasons, but enough to give a taste.

Oh, and if anyone knows how to get to visit Hells Kitchen restaurant, I want an invite!

[jdonn]

One of the coolest things about living in Vegas is so many of the celebrity chefs have restaurants here. Example (and shameless plug): I work in MGM which has restaurants run by Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, and Joel Robuchon. For my stepfather's birthday one year, my brother (who did tech support for food and beverage cashiers here at the time) was able to score an autographed Robuchon cookbook. That was pretty sweet.

I think I have eaten at all the celebrity restaurants here, and out of those I enjoyed Bobby Flay's the most. I don't care for his personality, but the guy (er, his employees) can cook!

[Rain]

How expensive is it to eat at these restaurants, and is it easy to get reservations?

[jdonn]

Rain, on Feb 17 2009, 01:17 PM, said:

How expensive is it to eat at these restaurants, and is it easy to get reservations?

Robuchon ridiculously expensive ($385 for the full tasting menu), Wolfgang the cheapest (can easily get lunch for $15). If you want reservations, call and ask.

[Winstonm]

jdonn, on Feb 17 2009, 01:06 PM, said:

One of the coolest things about living in Vegas is so many of the celebrity chefs have restaurants here. Example (and shameless plug): I work in MGM which has restaurants run by Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, and Joel Robuchon. For my stepfather's birthday one year, my brother (who did tech support for food and beverage cashiers here at the time) was able to score an autographed Robuchon cookbook. That was pretty sweet.

I think I have eaten at all the celebrity restaurants here, and out of those I enjoyed Bobby Flay's the most. I don't care for his personality, but the guy (er, his employees) can cook!

I used to live out there, too. If you can find a wormhole to 1997 and visit Sam's Town that would be me running the poker roon.

[mr1303]

I like Heston Blumenthal. He got an honorary degree from the University of Bristol at the same time as I graduated there, and he did a lecture on the science of cooking. Really interesting.

[vuroth]

jdonn, on Feb 17 2009, 01:06 PM, said:

Example (and shameless plug): I work in MGM which has restaurants run by Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, and Joel Robuchon. For my stepfather's birthday one year, my brother (who did tech support for food and beverage cashiers here at the time) was able to score an autographed Robuchon cookbook. That was pretty sweet.

My wife wanted very badly to try Robuchon's L'Atelier last time we were there, price tag be damned.

If I ever end up in Vegas, I'm sure dining will be front and centre to the experience.

V

[hrothgar]

My favorite celebrity chef has to be Ken Oringer who owns Clio and Uni in Boston. I'm lucky enough to be a regular at Uni and I've found that knowing the kitchen personnel really adds to the dining experience.

Rick Bayless runs a real close second. I adore Topolobampo. Fantastic food. If you are ever in Chicago you MUST eat at Topolo.

I've only been able to eat at Le Benadines a couple times. However, I was very impressed by the food. Ripert definitely has a way with fish.

I have a mixed impression of Charlie Trotters. Some of the dishes were to die for. Others were less than impressive. He went WAY overboard with the foam on one dish, which definitely detracted from what would have been a very nice soup. Also, his kitchen felt soul less. The place felt more like an assembly line than a restaurant. (The fixed menus obiously has its pluses and minuses). With this said and done, I desperately want to check out Bar Charlie next time I'm in Vegas.

I've eaten at Nobu a couple times. It was definitely good, but I was hoping for more...

[Lobowolf]

I like watching Emeril Lagasse and Alton Brown. Self-imposed dietary restrictions (I'm about 98% vegan) prevent me from getting the full benefit of the genius of any of them, but for any other BBO vegans...she may not be a celebrity, but if you're in So. Cal., check out one of Tanya Petrovna's Native Foods restaurants. Yowza.

[Elianna]

I REALLY like watching Alton Brown's show "Good Eats". If you can get that on hulu, you should watch.

[babalu1997]

i like ming tsai.
i learned to cook chinese food from him.
plus he has an engineering degree from MIT.

[matmat]

GALLOPING GOURMET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Elianna]

I also love Ming Tsai, but haven't seen him in any recent show. I used to watch him ages ago as a teenager (in "East Meets West"); I loved his voice. He also makes food that looks very tastey.

According to his webpage, he went to to Yale, though, not MIT.

[mike777]

I am very lucky to live in a tiny town where we have real gourmet/culinary University that will graduate students to not only the world but too my tiny town.

These brilliant students bring a vibrance to our town at a cost I can afford. Thank you.

We have a Puck and a Palm and Morton and a Trotter but it is nice to experiment on the cheap in these times.

I have no idea about many of these gourmet names posted but the reviews sound good so far. I would list some names but these guys are 20-30 year old no names from my local culinary univ.

[helene_t]

The best place to eat at Lancaster campus is the Fylde coffee shop which offers stuffed jacked potatoes for two quid, and sandwiches for a little less. Soup is 60p. The rest of the places suck, I have tried them all. Especially the fish&chips bar is really disgusting.

[blackshoe]

During my three years in England (early 1990s) I really enjoyed the fish and chips shop in Alverstoke. The downside was that I gained 30 pounds!

[helene_t]

Tell me about it, last week I visited my old colleagues in Amsterdam, when my exboss saw me his reaction was "hey you have become a lot fatter"

[y66]

Favorite celebrity chef who is also a bridge player? Jeff Roman

His chef credential is ABR (all but restaurant) but his passion and talent for cooking are real and would easily earn him a top spot on Iron Bridge Chef, if that show ever gets off the ground.

[kfay]

Elianna, on Feb 17 2009, 09:20 PM, said:

I REALLY like watching Alton Brown's show "Good Eats". If you can get that on hulu, you should watch.

YES! Alton Brown is the man. As someone in science I love it when he goes into all the chemistry of cooking/baking. Very interesting.

He's also very good as the host of Iron Chef America. I don't know of anyone else who would be nearly as qualified as he is for that position.

[Winstonm]

Gordon Ramsey but only on Kitchen Nightmares - the act on Hell's Kitchen gets somewhat repetitive.