Show 302, December 15, 2018: Show Preview with Co-Host Andy Harris

Now a tempting preview of Saturday’s delectable show. We’re in the true Holiday spirit…It’s not, with profuse apologies, for dieters. If we’re successful we will always leave you incredibly hungry and thirsty. In our case, and upon careful reflection, that’s probably a pretty good thing…

Freelance food, libation and travel writer, Anne Marie Panoringan, is on the go, again, and with us in-studio. This time she is reporting for Coast Magazine (Orange County Register) and her travel destination is Healdsburg in picturesque Sonoma County wine country. Anne Marie graciously shares some worthy restaurant, winery, and lodging tips.

We’ve been in Las Vegas this week covering ment’or BKB Foundations’ Fifth Annual Young Chef and Third Annual Commis Competition held on the Campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The winners are awarded the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Lyon, France and support Team USA at the 2019 Bocuse d’Or International Culinary Competition Finale in January. Team USA will be defending their Gold Medal win from 2017 (an extraordinary achievement.) We’ll introduce the talented winner of the Young Chef Competition!

The new Toast Kitchen + Bakery in Costa Mesa (on the site of the revered Golden Truffle) is the creation of Chef/Partner John Park and restaurateur Ed Lee (Wahoo’s Fish Taco.) There is some incredible food, baked goods & desserts coming out of this kitchen. Think Hot Chicken and Hawaiian Malasadas for Brunch. We’ll meet the creative team from Toast.

After an incredible 46-year run Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino Ristorante will serve its last dinner on New Year’s Eve. Valentino is one of the pioneers of modern Italian food in Los Angeles. Valentino also is credited with introducing premium Italian wines as part of a deep cellar along with polished, unfussy wine service. Our own West Coast Prime Meats Meathead, Terry Hanks, along with Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio share some engaging memories.

Las Vegas Insider Eric Gladstone is the principal of The Feast of Friends. In Las Vegas Eric produces food festivals and provides creative marketing services to restaurants. His specialty is independent, chef-driven projects. Eric is the organizer of the inaugural Vegas UnStripped food festival in Downtown Las Vegas which will return in 2019. We’ll meet him.

Chef Steve Samson’s Rossoblu has been a resounding success since its opening Downtown mid-last year in the Fashion District. On Sept. 13th during service a small kitchen fire temporarily closed the establishment. The better news is that Rossoblu just reopened last week. Congrats, also, to Chef Steve and Dina Samson for having both Rossoblu and Sotto (his other restaurant) included in the closely watched Los Angeles Times’101 Restaurants We Love” list. Chef Steve is our guest.

Our own Chef Andrew Gruel joins us with another informative “Ask the Chef” segment. With the Holidays upon us it’s great to have a real working chef in our corner providing handy advice! Tuna in a can, a staple of everyone’s home pantry, is, incredibly, losing popularity with Millennials. We’ll open the can on this one and explain…

All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness on this week’s not-to-miss show!

December 15: Anne Marie Panoringan, ment’or BKB, Toast Kitchen + Bakery, Valentino’s Farewell, Eric Gladstone, Steve Samson

Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Anne Marie Panoringan, Freelance, Food, Libation & Travel Journalist
Segment Three: Chef Ian P. Cairns, Winner of ment’or BKB’s Young Chef Competition
Segment Four: Restaurateur Ed Lee and Chef / Partner John Park, Toast Kitchen + Bakery, Costa Mesa
Segment Five: Valentino Ristorante, Santa Monica
Segment Six: Eric C. Gladstone, The Feast of Friends, Las Vegas
Segment Seven: Chef / Restaurateur Steve Samson, Rossoblu
Segment Eight: Chef Andrew Gruel, Slapfish Restaurant Group & Co-host

Now a tempting preview of this Saturday’s delectable show. We’re in the true Holiday spirit…It’s not, with profuse apologies, for dieters. If we’re successful we will always leave you incredibly hungry and thirsty. In our case, and upon careful reflection, that’s probably a pretty good thing…

Freelance food, libation and travel writer, Anne Marie Panoringan, is on the go, again, and with us in-studio. This time she is reporting for Coast Magazine (Orange County Register) and her travel destination is Healdsburg in picturesque Sonoma County wine country. Anne Marie will graciously share some worthy restaurant, winery, and lodging tips.

We’ve been in Las Vegas this week covering ment’or BKB Foundations’ Fifth Annual Young Chef and Third Annual Commis Competition held on the Campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The winners are awarded the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Lyon, France and support Team USA at the 2019 Bocuse d’Or International Culinary Competition Finale in January. Team USA will be defending their Gold Medal win from 2017 (an extraordinary achievement.) We’ll introduce the talented winner of the Young Chef Competition!

The new Toast Kitchen + Bakery in Costa Mesa (on the site of the revered Golden Truffle) is the creation of Chef/Partner John Park and restaurateur Ed Lee (Wahoo’s Fish Taco.) There is some incredible food, baked goods & desserts coming out of this kitchen. Think Hot Chicken and Hawaiian Malasadas for Brunch. We’ll meet the creative team from Toast.

After an incredible 46-year run Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino Ristorante will serve its last dinner on New Year’s Eve. Valentino was one of the pioneers of modern Italian food in Los Angeles. Valentino also is credited with introducing premium Italian wines as part of a deep cellar along with polished, unfussy wine service. Our own West Coast Prime Meats Meathead, Terry Hanks, along with Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio share some engaging memories.

Las Vegas Insider Eric Gladstone is the principal of The Feast of Friends. In Las Vegas Eric produces food festivals and provides creative marketing services to restaurants. His specialty is independent, chef-driven projects. Eric is the organizer of the inaugural Vegas UnStripped food festival which will return in 2019. We’ll meet him.

Chef Steve Samson’s Rossoblu has been a big success since its opening Downtown mid-last year in the Fashion District. On Sept. 13th during service a small kitchen fire temporarily closed the establishment. The better news is that Rossoblu just reopened last week. Congrats, also, to Chef Steve and Dina Samson for having both Rossoblu and Sotto (his other restaurant) included in the closely watched Los Angeles Times’101 Restaurants We Love” list. Chef Steve is our guest.

Our own Chef Andrew Gruel joins us with another informative “Ask the Chef” segment. With the Holidays upon us it’s great to have a real working chef in our corner providing handy advice! Tuna in a can, a staple of everyone’s home pantry, is, incredibly, losing popularity with Millennials. We’ll open the can on this one and explain…

All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness on this week’s not-to-miss show!

Anne Marie PanoringanFreelance food, libation and travel writer, Anne Marie Panoringan, is on the go, again, and with us in-studio. This time she is reporting for Coast Magazine (Orange County Register) and her travel destination is Healdsburg in picturesque Sonoma County wine country. Anne Marie will graciously share some worthy restaurant, winery, and lodging tips.

A highlight was her stay at River Belle Inn located at the Russian River.

Ian Cairns and Bryn Rene are the winners of the 2018 Young Chef and Commis CompetitionWe’ve been in Las Vegas this week covering ment’or BKB Foundations’ Fifth Annual Young Chef and Third Annual Commis Competition held in the new Hospitality Hall on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The seven Candidates developed a unique recipe based on the selected protein for the competition which was one, whole Bone-In Lamb Saddle provided by Pure Bred. Each Young Chef candidate had a hand-picked assistant helping them during the competition. They had 2 hours and 35 minutes to cook and plate 10 tasting-size portions of the dish for the chef judges.

The winners are awarded the extraordinary opportunity to travel to Lyon, France and support Team USA at the 2019 Bocuse d’Or International Culinary Competition Finale in January. Team USA will be defending their Gold Medal win from 2017 (an extraordinary achievement.) We’ll introduce the talented winner of the Young Chef Competition.

John ParkThe new Toast Kitchen + Bakery in Costa Mesa (on the site of the revered Golden Truffle) is the creation of Chef/Partner John Park and restaurateur Ed Lee (Wahoo’s Fish Taco.) There is some incredible food, baked goods & desserts coming out of this kitchen. Closed on Monday and Sunday is Brunch service only.

Think Hot Chicken and Hawaiian Malasadas for Brunch.

We’ll meet the creative team from Toast.

Valentino Santa MonicaAfter an incredible 46-year run Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino Ristorante will serve its last dinner on New Year’s Eve.

Valentino is one of the pioneers of modern Italian food in Los Angeles. Valentino also is credited with introducing premium Italian wines as part of a deep cellar along with polished, unfussy wine service.

Many talented chefs with successful restaurants of their own now, polished their skills in the Valentino Kitchen. Piero launches a new restaurant on the Bay in Newport Beach (Louie’s) early in the New Year.

Our own West Coast Prime Meats Meathead, Terry Hanks, along with Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio share some engaging memories.

Eric GladstoneLas Vegas Insider Eric Gladstone is the principal of The Feast of Friends. In Las Vegas Eric produces food festivals and provides creative marketing services to restaurants. His specialty is independent, chef-driven projects.

Eric is the organizer of the inaugural Vegas UnStripped food festival which will return in 2019. Eric is also helping to organize a two-night benefit series for the Intuitive Forager, Kerry Clasby.

Steve Samson of Sotto and RossobluChef Steve Samson’s Rossoblu has been a big success since its opening Downtown mid-last year in the Fashion District. On Sept. 13th during service a small kitchen fire temporarily closed the establishment. The better news is that Rossoblu just reopened last week.

Congrats, also, to Chef Steve and Dina Samson for having both Rossoblu and Sotto (his other restaurant) included in the closely watched Los Angeles Times’101 Restaurants We Love” list. Chef Steve is our guest.

Andy Harris and Andrew Gruel at Cabana 14 at the Cove at Pechanga Resort and CasinoOur own Chef Andrew Gruel joins us with another informative “Ask the Chef” segment. With the Holidays upon us it’s great to have a real working chef in our corner providing handy advice!

Tuna in a can, a staple of everyone’s home pantry, is, incredibly, losing popularity with Millennials.

We’ll open the can on this one and explain…

Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Anne Marie Panoringan, Freelance, Food, Libation & Travel Journalist
Segment Three: Chef Ian P. Cairns, Winner of ment’or BKB’s Young Chef Competition
Segment Four: Restaurateur Ed Lee and Chef / Partner John Park, Toast Kitchen + Bakery, Costa Mesa
Segment Five: Valentino Ristorante, Santa Monica
Segment Six: Eric C. Gladstone, The Feast of Friends, Las Vegas
Segment Seven: Chef / Restaurateur Steve Samson, Rossoblu
Segment Eight: Chef Andrew Gruel, Slapfish Restaurant Group & Co-host

Show 241, September 16, 2017: Catalina Offshore Products 40th Anniversary

Tommy GomesForty years ago, Catalina Offshore Products owner Dave Rudie spent most of his days diving for sea urchins and seaweed in the kelp beds of Catalina Island, selling his harvest right off his boat. Eventually he opened a small processing facility in San Diego, making local deliveries throughout the region and later exporting to Japan. Catalina Offshore Products has since grown steadily into one of the region’s premier seafood purveyors and one of the largest seafood buyers in San Diego.

Catalina’s Choice Solid Pack Tuna in Olive Oil (new product) features U.S. hook-and-line bigeye and yellowfin, both also referred to as “ahi”.

This premium, responsibly harvested tuna is wild caught in the Eastern Pacific by U.S. fishing vessels, landed in San Diego and processed and packed in the USA. Hand-cut and cooked once, it is all natural, with no additives or preservatives.

Though Catalina Offshore Products fresh, local, sustainably sourced tuna has always been a big seller, canning any unsold product enables them to ensure the precious resource is even more well-managed. Additionally, it celebrates San Diego’s beloved history. The city was once known as the “Tuna Capital of the World”!

Tirelessly passionate about seafood, Catalina Offshore Products resident fishmonger, Tommy Gomes, is our guest. Tommy also oversees COP’s busy Seafood Nutrition and Education Center, which includes the retail fish market!

Show 212, February 25, 2017: Chef Louie Jocson, Vice President, Food & Beverage, California Fish Grill

Louie JocsonWe all know the experts suggest we get more heart-healthy seafood into our regular diet. How do you dine out and find quality seafood at affordable prices? Answering that need has been the Ambitious goal of California Fish Grill since the first location opened in 1998.

“Since 1998, California Fish Grill has been serving quality seafood at affordable prices to our loyal customers and their families. The vision for our restaurant came more from a simple question than the thought of a successful business enterprise. It is widely known that seafood is rich in nutrients and healthy omega-3 oils. The Surgeon General recommends that Americans eat 2-3 servings of seafood per week to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

“Why is it so hard to find a place that serves great seafood at prices someone could afford to eat 2-3 times per week?” That is where the concept of California Fish Grill was born.”

“Our menu consists of grilled and fried seafood to satisfy anyone’s palate. We also offer wonderful crisp, fresh salads topped with your choice of grilled fish or seafood. One of our most popular offerings is fish tacos. We offer the widest variety of fish tacos served anywhere. From grilled Mahi-Mahi, Tuna, Salmon and Shrimp to our fried selections of Arctic White Fish and Shrimp.”

It’s a fast casual concept. You order and pay up front and then your food is delivered to your table by a runner when it’s ready. There is a separate order counter for takeout.

Veteran Chef Louie Jocson, Vice President, Food & Beverage for California Fish Grill joins us with all the details.

Show 119, April 25, 2015: Chef Jet Tila

Jet Tila and a heritage pig at Cochon 555 in 2013Chef Jet Tila, the Emeritus Host of the “SoCal Restaurant Show” really needs no introduction. He’s the Royal Thai Government’s official Culinary Ambassador to the United States. Jet is the most-used permanent solo judge on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen with host Alton Brown.

Jet is with us to discuss his participation in Food Network’s upcoming “Chopped All-Stars Tournament.” A cool $75,000 is on the line for the winning celebrity chef’s charity!

Jet’s heat is “All-Stars Tournament : Part 4” where there is just one more spot in the Grand Finale up for grabs. Competing with Chef Jet are Rocco DiSpiritio, Fabio Viviani and Lee Anne Wong. “The All-Stars open the appetizer baskets and find a succulent seafood and an Asian pastry. In the entrée round, the chefs will need to get creative in order to cook a perfect piece of beef in time. And some fish-shaped snacks meet crystals that pop in the dessert round.”

Sherry Yard (ex-Spago) is the Culinary Director for iPic Theaters. She has just started a celebrity guest chef series there. In May Chef Jet will have a signature menu item available at the iPics in Westwood and Pasadena. It’s Tuna on Crispy Rice Cake. The beverage pairing is a Tokyo Iced Tea with jasmine tea-infused vodka, balsam, Riesling, and honey-pineapple-yuzu-lychee salsa.

Show 35, July 13, 2013: Mary Sue Milliken, Executive Chef & Partner of Border Grill

Mary Sue Milliken of Border GrillOn Monday, July 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at Border Grill Las Vegas, Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, and Border Grill Executive Chef Mike Minor are teaming up with Chef Rick Moonen of rm seafood and Chefs Collaborative to host a Trash Fish Dinner. The cocktail reception and dinner will feature tasty alternatives to the seafood we love and, unfortunately, eat too much of. Understand the fish is absolutely delicious…

The inspiration here is to show the discriminating guests (the proof is in the tasting) that there are incredibly tasty alternatives to the seafood we normally eat including tuna and salmon. Underutilized species include Pacific sardines, mackerel, California squid, farm-raised sturgeon, and porgy/sea bream.

Restaurants set the example as Mary Sue noted that 70 percent of the seafood we eat is enjoyed in restaurants.