'The Next Iron Chef': It's Jehangir vs. Jose

For Chef Jose Garces, it was a curdled flan. For Chef Jehangir Mehta, it was the grape leaves.

The last two chefs standing in the battle to become "The Next Iron Chef" say they are haunted by such flops as they head into Sunday night's finale on the Food Network. The Season 2 winner will join an elite stable of champions including Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay and Cat Cora. These culinary warriors are the ones to beat on the popular Food Network game show "Iron Chef America."

But the title goes beyond a TV game show. The winner gains immediate fame thanks to a singular standing on the Food Network platform, and fortune is not far behind.

That's a chief reason why many of the competitors -- all successful chefs in their own right -- risked all to join the competition.

"It's a huge risk to go on the show and possibly be eliminated early ... or be displayed in a negative light," said Chef Garces. "But [if you win] it brings a lot of prestige, it's an honor and a privilege to be an 'Iron Chef.' ... It's very good for business as well, let's be honest. I have six restaurants, so having that title would be great." Read more here:

Photo: Chef Garces, left, and Chef Mehta. Photo credit: Food Network

'Twilight: New Moon' giveaway

Got "Twilight: New Moon" tickets?

Jamba Juice is giving away tickets to tonight's 10:10 p.m. showing at the Universal CityWalk Cinemas. The giveaway takes place from 8-10 p.m. -- or until all tickets are gone -- at the Jamba Juice at Universal CityWalk. (Click here for our review of the new movie.)

According to the Jamba Juice news release: "'New Moon' stars Ashley Greene and Dakota Fanning are big fans of Jamba smoothies, so ... Jamba Juice has stashed 300 world premier tickets at 3 California Jamba Juice locations to hook up those special fans in desperate need of last minute tickets."

Tickets were given away last night in Oakland, and will also be given away in San Diego from 2-4 p.m. at the Jamba Juice at San Diego's Mission Valley Mall, between Mission Valley Road and Friars Road. The tickets are for the 7 p.m. screening at the nearby Regal Jack London Theater.

--Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

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Cookalong -- and dine late -- with Chef Gordon Ramsay

Chef Gordon Ramsay is inviting himself over to your house for dinner.

And you're doing the cooking.

The "Hell's Kitchen" overlord launches a new special  Dec. 15 on Fox -- "Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live." The audience is invited to do just that. Patterned after Ramsay's UK show, the Michelin-honored chef will walk viewers through a three-course meal for four that they will prepare within one hour's time. (If your knife skills aren't up to par, don't worry. Chef Ramsay can't throw you out of your own kitchen.)

So what do you think? Game or lame?

Details, and your shopping list, here

--Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

Photo credit: Fox

Crooner and restaurateur Andy Williams talks about what Alpo tastes like

When the late Ronald Reagan was president, he proclaimed that singer Andy Williams was a “national treasure.” That's a strong a description, but Williams certainly has been treasured by audiences around the world for more than 60 years, first as member of the Williams Brothers quartet and then as a solo act.

Williams, now 81, has recorded 18 gold and three platinum certified albums. Among his memorable hits are “Canadian Sunset,” “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses." The Iowa native also hosted a musical-variety series on NBC from 1962-71 and has been a staple at the Branson, Missouri resort since 1991 when he opened his Moon River Theatre. Two years ago, he opened the Moon River Grill adjacent to the theater. Williams recently published his autobiography, “Moon River and Me”, and Sony Music has also released the CD “Moon River: The Very Best of Andy Williams.”

But that is not the only reason Williams has been in the news of late.

Despite his strong friendship with the late Bobby Kennedy, Williams is a longtime Republican who accused President Obama last month in the Daily Telegraph in England of “following Marxist theory” and “wanting the country to fail.” But on a recent afternoon, Williams was more in the mood to talk about the comfort food found at his restaurant than politics.

Q: In your memoir you say that you ended up eating dog food when you first went solo in the 1950s because your career was struggling.

Cafe Habana: Why Malibu?

The 'Bu seems an unlikely spot for a new branch of Cafe Habana -- a New York-based mini-chain of hip Cuban cafes located in Manhattan's Nolita and Brooklyn's Fort Greene. But the way partner and bar impresario Rande Gerber (Whiskey Blue, Stone Rose) sees it, he and his family -- including wife Cindy Crawford -- needed a place to eat besides Giorgio Baldi.

"I live in Malibu and have always wanted to open a restaurant here in the neighborhood for my friends and family," says Gerber. "Something casual, family-friendly, a place you can go on a date, or with the kids at 6 o'clock, or for a late-night meal.

"I think there are a few good restaurants in Malibu, very few. You can have a great Italian meal, there are a few places for sushi, but no place you'd really want to go more than once a week."

So Gerber approached Cafe Habana owner Sean Meenan, who says he jumped at the opportunity. "Rande had been to the restaurant and dug it, and he found the space," Meenan says. "There had been a few other offers, I'd been thinking about the Country Mart in Brentwood. I wasn't in the right mindset. But I'm so excited to be opening up in Malibu."  The Malibu Cafe Habana, at the Malibu Lumber Yard shopping center, is set to open "at the very beginning of the year," he says.

Meenan has a place in Venice and calls the drive from Venice to Malibu "one of the best drives in the whole world, especially for a New York guy; it's like 'Wow, this is God's country.' " Expect a Venice Cafe Habana to follow.   

-- Betty Hallock

Photo credit: Cafe Habana

Alton Brown, Alicia Silverstone and Tom Colicchio issue a call to arms

The New York City Wine & Food Festival was a foodiot's dream: The Rachael Ray burger bash; the wine, beer, hard shots and margaritas that flowed at the all-you-could-imbibe supermarket tasting; and the orgy of dishes served at Paula Deen and Katie Lee's Down South Up North party. It was enough to make you momentarily forget the point: 100% of the proceeds from the four-day event will be used locally -- by Share Our Strength and the Food Bank for New York City -- to eradicate hunger.

But away from this spotlight, there was another party of sorts being thrown. And the hosts were an unlikely trio: Alton Brown of "Good Eats," Tom Colicchio of "Top Chef" and actress Alicia Silverstone. These gatherings were a bit more sober -- alas, no free-flowing alcohol and no food -- but with a stirring message that challenged those in the audience to take a skeptical look at everything they put in their mouths, or on their children's plates.

The message? We've heard much of it before. Eat seasonally. Eat locally. Enjoy food in moderation. Learn to cook and nourish yourself and your family -- it's the single most important thing you can do for them. Teach your kids to cook. Eat with gratitude -- consider the source of your food, whether it's the person who prepared it, the farmer who brought it to market, or the cow that gave of itself to deliver that glass of milk (or steak). Don't rely on government to monitor your food -- you need to monitor what you eat, and where it originates. If you pick up a packaged item at the supermarket -- stop and look at the label, read the ingredients, check the nutritional values. And ask yourself: Is this something you can make yourself out of fresh ingredients? And if not, do you really want your family ingesting it?

If that all sounds boring, it wasn't. It was the unexpected delivery -- well, actually, the celebrity messengers -- that added the fresh perspective. Brown, for one, sounded like an evangelist (he recently lost 50 pounds) and his new outlook on a healthful life offered insight into why "Good Eats" -- at least in its current incarnation -- might not be long for this TV world.

The highlights from each of these three sessions are after the jump. (And if you were in attendance, please share your thoughts:

Jamie Oliver to the rescue?

British celebri-chef Jamie Oliver has a big new job on his hands: He's dropping into Huntington, W.V. -- billed as America's unhealthiest city -- to help them slim down their eating habits. It'll be a new reality show for ABC.

But of course, there's already controversy. Huntington chafes at being called the country's fattest city, and some say it's not really an accurate label.

(Seems like if it's even kinda, sorta, could-be an accurate label, the correct response would be, "Thank you for saving us from ourselves." But that wouldn't make very good TV now, would it?)

One thing that will make good TV will be all those accents and ... Oliver's colorful language. Pukka! This is one English-language show that might need subtitles and footnotes.

Read more here from the Associated Press' story about the new show, and the flap.

-- Rene Lynch 

Photo credit: Sang Tan / Associated Press

Michelle Obama brings home the kale, eggs, peppers and more from farmers market

I don't know many people who go to farmers markets if what they crave is a celebrity spotting. Unless the celebrity is a chef, or the market is in Hollywood.

But at the market near the White House, shoppers got to see Michelle Obama on Thursday, the market's opening day. A major figure and fresh tomatoes. Not bad.

According to a pool press report, several hundred people gathered at the market, which is run by FreshFarm Markets. Co-director Ann Yonkers said 18 farmers and producers would sell products at the newest outpost, at a corner of Lafayette Park.

Obama has been promoting healthy eating, in public statements and with a garden at the White House, where a group of elementary school students have worked.

According to the pool report, Obama was greeted by wild cheers when she said,"I have to say, I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables. This is a very, very good thing, and it's raining outside and everybody's pumped up."

Obama also did some shopping -- black kale, eggs, cherry tomatoes, peppers, pears, fingerling potatoes, cheese and chocolate milk, according to the White House.

Other speakers included U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who noted that there are more than 4,700 farmers markets in the country, and Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

The new FreshFarm Markets will be open Thursdays through October, from 3 to 7 p.m. The nonprofit organization operates eight other markets in Washington and Maryland.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama at the farmers market near the White House. Credit: Associated Press

'Top Chef' Ilan Hall goes downtown with the Gorbals

What kind of restaurant name is "The Gorbals"? We'd better let Ilan Hall, Season 2's winner of "Top Chef," explain:

According to the handsome and bespectacled chef, who was born to a Scottish father and an Israeli mother, that would be serving a variety of small plates heavily influenced by his mixed ethnic background -- but without adhering to any rules of tradition or decorum when it comes to their creation. One such dish is a bacon-wrapped matzo ball, which could be the punch line for a joke beginning, "A rabbi and a pig walk into a bar . . . ."

But the menu as a whole is not a gag. Read more here:

Photo caption: Patrons sit at the counter of the Gorbals restaurant while chef Ilan Hall, back, is busy during opening night in downtown Los Angeles. Photo: Stefano Paltera / For The Times

 

'90210's' Shenae Grimes loves her Pinkberry

Actress Shenae Grimes has been away from her native Toronto for only a year, but she's quickly getting up to speed on all things SoCal. She's starring in the CW's Beverly Hills-based series "90210," which begins its second season Sept. 8, and she now calls West Hollywood home. Here's how she spends an ideal weekend in L.A. (Hint: It involves a mochi-mango.)