Courtesy of Food Network

Yesterday, Meal Ticket got a chance to jump in on a conference call with The Next Iron Chef America finalists Jehangir Mehta (NYC’s Grafitti) and Philadelphia’s own Jose Garces.  Following Sunday night’s exit of chef Seamus Mullen, only the secret ingredient (the Food Network preview clip makes it look like ribs) of Battle Imagination stands between one of these men and the job of Iron Chef. The chefs spoke on using strategy outside of cooking skills, how they feel about their portrayal on television and why peanut butter and jelly is as odd a pairing as fish ice cream.

Click For More »

After the jump, Erin Mae Szrankowski touches base with Food Network personality Guy Fieri to talk about his Guy Fieri Road Show appearance at the Merriam Theater this Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.

Click For More »

Not to jinx our dude or anything, but if you caught last night’s penultimate episode of The Next Iron Chef on Food Network, you’ll agree with us that Jose Garces looks pretty good to win the title of Iron Chef over New York-based pastry supervillain chef Jehangir Mehta. (Sorry we haven’t been following the series with the same vim as Top Chef — there are only so many two of us!) We have to admit that Garces, ever the master of downplaying himself, spoke with the slight lilt of a champion when we talked to him back in September, and now we’ve learned that he’s throwing a restaurant-wide viewing party at Distrito for the finale airing this Sunday. Interesting.

More on the Garces/Mehta matchup soon.

Photo | Drew Lazor

Stink Fisher, who owns Collingswood’s The Pop Shop with wife Connie, is also an actor, and he’s appeared in everything from The Sopranos and Tony Luke’s The Nail to football flicks like Invincible and The Longest Yard. Sharp-eyed Jen A. Miller caught our dude last night on 30 Rock. He was one of the talking heads on Sports Shouting, an Around the Horn-style show that always beats TGS in ratings, much to Liz Lemon’s chagrin. Check out extremely low-tech screenshot above (that’s Stink on the top right).

If you mention 30 Rock at The Pop Shop today, you’ll get a free soda or iced tea.

Connie tells Meal Ticket that her hubby has quite a few projects coming up, including an appearance on the new USA show White Collar and a part in Peter Jackson’s locally shot The Lovely Bones.

bravotv.com

Welcome back, Top Chef! I was getting tired of watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion show (parts one and two) On Demand over and over while I waited out your return.

Click For More »

Last week, the irrepressible Bravo network announced that they’re picking up Top Chef: Just Desserts, a spin-off of our favorite cooking competition show featuring pastry chefs battling for sweet-tooth supremacy. Let’s gloss over, for a moment, your desire to either a) celebrate more Top Chef in your life or b) complain about too much Top Chef in your life to address a more pressing question — there’s a casting call for the show at NYC’s Craftsteak this coming Sunday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Which local pastry chefs/dessert specialists do you think would do the most damage?

We’ve provided our list after the jump. Please share your thoughts/picks in the comments.

Click For More »

bravotv.com

Natalie Portman and Tom C make a lovely couple, don’t you think?

Click For More »

bravotv.com

Redeeming a late pass for this one. Blame it on the alcohol Phillies alcohol and Phillies.

Click For More »

Courtesy of georges’

Last night, French-born Jeremy Duclut (above), of georges’ in Wayne (503 W. Lancaster Ave.), bested chef Peter Karapanagiotis of PrivĂ© (246 Market St.), Lower Merion-based caterer Barbara Esmonde and one other competitor on an episode of Food Network’s Chopped. (The group filmed the show back in April of this year.) Karapanagiotis made it to the final dessert round — secret ingredients of sharp cheddar, Limoncello, parsnips and Saltines — where he was edged by Duclut, who walked with $10,000. What’s he going to do with the cash? “I have a wife, I will have to ask her,” he says in a statement. Aw.

Jennifer Carroll and Jose Garces aren’t the only Philly chefs repping on the small screen right now. This coming Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 10 p.m., check out Prive chef Peter Karapanagiotis and georges’ exec Jeremy Duclut duke it out on Chopped, the Food Network’s fast-paced cook-off show. (It’s basically an hour-long Quickfire Challenge, for any unfamiliar Top Chef heads out there.) Check out the description of the episode from the show site after the jump. Here’s hoping neither of our boys are responsible for this “oh-my-gosh mistake.”

UPDATE: Sorry that we failed to mention initially that there will be a third Philly rep on this episode — Lower Merion-based caterer Barbara Esmonde. (h/t Inqlings)

Click For More »