i was researching a few celebrity chefs and interested to discover most of them never owned a restaurant of their own and/or didn't stay employed as chefs anywhere for very long. thoughts?
Are all celebity chefs phony?
Started by
little frog
, Jan 20 2013 06:13 PM
45 replies to this topic
#5
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 08:39 PM
Certainly not all of them, though it might be somewhat dependent on what you mean by celebrity.
Ripert, Boulud, Colicchio, Puck, Pepin, Keller - even Gordon Ramsay and others all have earned their stripes, IMO.
Tony Bourdain? Kinda. Sorta.
Guy Fieri? Not so much.
#6
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Posted 20 January 2013 - 09:10 PM
to be fair .. i was watching the food channel and i looked up Anne Burrell and Chef Robert Irvine .. although they have both had some experience in restaurants neither have any impressive time as executive chefs. Burrell seems to have done a lot of jumping around, less than a year anywhere. Irvine was supposedly a navy chef .. ???
Fieri seems like a hack, sorry.
#8
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 12:42 AM
Irvine does restaurant impossible and used to do dinner impossible, he ran into trouble with the food network a few years back when it came out that he lied on his resume about being a White House executive chef... he then publicly apologized and I guess was rehired...
don't know much about Anne Burell but it seems like she's done a good amount of professional work... I think it's a different skill set to be a successful TV chef versus a real chef...
#9
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 11:56 AM
Irvine is a wind bag who from what Tabbooma has seen really cant cook for squat, Anthony Bourdaine is another windbag with all that hyperbole really is lame, thinks he is Hunter T, Guy's show is cool although he seems a bit large headed, Flay is another big head... Mario B, bare foot lady C, Top Chef and Iron are cool, love old Juilia, and cannot remember the guys name, he used to be a monk and turned chef, had a show years back.. Oh that chocolate dude is creepy as hell too. 
Anyway, all the shows beat watching the Jersey Shore. Hey maybe Snooki will get a show 
#15
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 02:33 PM
What ever happened to Yan Can Cook?
I loved Matin Yan!
"if Yan can cook, so can you!"
also had Wok with Yan as I recall, good stuff!
....... and the sexy british brunette Nigella Lawson.
Im totally in lust with that woman
Yup, where I realized food porn was not just an expression. She just has too hot a voice for me to focus on the recipe (besides it's all metric with her)
#16
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 02:35 PM
Irvine doesnt seem to be an experienced chef at all, Flay always loses his challenges, and on his own show, so I never put a lot of faith in his cooking ideas, lol. But my favorite "fake" chef had to be Sandra Lee, of Semi Home Cooking, her show is basically pulling cookies out of their boxes and then getting wasted!!! Every show includes a drink recipe, so its not all bad!
My favorite is Bitchin Kitchin, that chick can cook!
#17
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 02:38 PM
also had Wok with Yan as I recall, good stuff!
Yup, where I realized food porn was not just an expression. She just has too hot a voice for me to focus on the recipe (besides it's all metric with her)
I agree, she is thick, sexy, london accent and she can cook. Mmm
#22
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 05:49 PM
Irvine doesnt seem to be an experienced chef at all, Flay always loses his challenges, and on his own show, so I never put a lot of faith in his cooking ideas, lol. But my favorite "fake" chef had to be Sandra Lee, of Semi Home Cooking, her show is basically pulling cookies out of their boxes and then getting wasted!!! Every show includes a drink recipe, so its not all bad!
My favorite is Bitchin Kitchin, that chick can cook!
omg, she is such a "housemom" sorority leader with her own "cooking" show. 
COCKtail time...
she has the best rack on Food Network tho...
#23
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:16 PM
these are awesome reviews
i remember the cajun dude, most of these folks I've never heard of.
there used to be a show on called Great Chefs, i watched when my kids were young. they traveled all over the world and one chef from some famous restaurant would prepare one complete meal. still the best show imho.
I like Ina and Giada, simple fun recipes without the in your face feel that so many celebrity chefs seem to hide behind. I still love Julia of course. glass of wine with that?
#25
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:21 PM
Anyway, as far as phony chefs go, the only reason Giada has a show is because her dad is Dino Delaurentiis
Barbarella
King Kong
Conana the Barbarian
Cat's Eye
Halloween 2
Dune
Raw Deal
Silver Bullet
Year of the Dragon
Red Sonya
Blue Velvet
Evil Dead 2
Kuffs
Army of Darkness
Assasins
Unforgettable
U-571
Hannibal
Red Dragon
she got hooked up with a cushy gig, based on her dad, not on her italian cooking chops
#27
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 08:36 PM
some of our favorite recipes are Giada's. her beet and arugula salad, we make that all the time here.
Mario Batali cooked for me at Babbo one night years back. it's still one of the best, if not THE best, meal i've ever had. he's no phony.
a lot of Food Network stars are just that...FN stars. not chefs. most don't pretend to be chefs. just people with an interest in food and being on tv that have the right chemistry with the camera to make people want to watch them cook, or talk to others while they cook, or talk about cooking in general.
Irvine worked in Atlantic City for a while before FN picked up his show. he lived in the same town where i owned a home. his reputation among AC chefs wasn't the best, but certainly wasn't the worst. the lies on his resume definitely didn't help his cause but i wonder if he would've gotten the breaks he did without them :shrug:
#34
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Posted 21 January 2013 - 09:15 PM
some of our favorite recipes are Giada's. her beet and arugula salad, we make that all the time here.
Mario Batali cooked for me at Babbo one night years back. it's still one of the best, if not THE best, meal i've ever had. he's no phony.
a lot of Food Network stars are just that...FN stars. not chefs. most don't pretend to be chefs. just people with an interest in food and being on tv that have the right chemistry with the camera to make people want to watch them cook, or talk to others while they cook, or talk about cooking in general.
Irvine worked in Atlantic City for a while before FN picked up his show. he lived in the same town where i owned a home. his reputation among AC chefs wasn't the best, but certainly wasn't the worst. the lies on his resume definitely didn't help his cause but i wonder if he would've gotten the breaks he did without them :shrug:
i don't think i've seen mario batali cook, i'll have to check him out. i like to look up their bios when I see them, there are just a few i don't care for and when i looked them up i was surprised, or not surprised, to find they had little professional chef experience aside from their on air experience. not to say they can't cook a few good meals, i know plenty of non-professional chefs that can cook up a great meal.
#35
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Posted 22 January 2013 - 02:54 AM
Thuggee hit it on the head... Guy Fieri won the first season of "the next food network star"... I'm pretty sure everyone on that network takes him at face value. Personally, I've never seen anyone enjoy biting into a juicy burger more than Guy!!
#39
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Posted 22 January 2013 - 11:58 AM
Thuggee hit it on the head... Guy Fieri won the first season of "the next food network star"... I'm pretty sure everyone on that network takes him at face value. Personally, I've never seen anyone enjoy biting into a juicy burger more than Guy!!
it was Anne Burrell that actually made me start the thread. I've watched her cook a few times, didn't care for her much, but she seems to bill herself as an experienced professional executive chef who went to several prestigious schools and even taught at one, although she's been corrected several times on air for unprofessional techniques that I think every chef is taught. Simple stuff, like how to cut garlic. Now she has a cooking competition show teaching others how to be an executive chef.
If you're a home cook and you won a cooking show, good for you. I don't think you have to be a professional chef to have a cooking show or to have some great recipes. But if you're telling others that you're professional, that's a different story. Also, if you're a food critic and you have no credentials I think you're a phony too, I can critique food and I have no professional chef schooling. Big deal.
#42
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Posted 22 January 2013 - 08:21 PM
Jeff Smith (January 22, 1939 – July 7, 2004) the Frugal Gourmet ?
interesting tidbit on him...
In 1997 seven men filed suit against Smith alleging that he sexually abused them when they were teens. Six of the plaintiffs alleged that the abuse occurred in the 1970s while they were working for Smith at the Chaplain's Pantry; the seventh plaintiff alleged that he was sexually assaulted in 1992 at age 15 while hitchhiking.[4][5] Smith denied the accusations but his alleged actions had been the subject of much talk around the city of Tacoma for years. Smith was never charged with a crime but in 1998 he and his insurance company settled with the plaintiffs out of court a few days before the trial was to occur.[6]
#45
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Posted 13 February 2013 - 03:59 PM
i was researching a few celebrity chefs and interested to discover most of them never owned a restaurant of their own and/or didn't stay employed as chefs anywhere for very long. thoughts?
As with many things on TV: some, but not all.
