Show 31, June 15, 2013: Brock Radke, Food & Web Editor for Las Vegas Weekly

Brock Radke of Las Vegas WeeklyBrock was back with us to provide insight on what’s new on the always dynamic Las Vegas dining scene.

Gourmet burger spots fronted by celebrity chefs are continuing to proliferate on the Strip. It’d just been announced that both Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali are bringing gourmet burger concepts to the Venetian/Palazzo complex. Every Strip hotel has a high-end steak house so the new trend is to have a celebrity chef driven burger restaurant, too. Gordon Ramsay’s burger place arrived on The Strip late last year.

The big noise in Las Vegas right now moves to Downtown. The “Life is Beautiful Festival” has been announced for the Weekend of October 26th and 27th. In addition to big name musical acts on five stages there will be an exciting culinary program on equal footing with the music. The Culinary Advisory board is headed by Bruce and Eric Bromberg of the Blue Ribbon Restaurants in New York and Las Vegas (at the Cosmopolitan).

Oct 20: Zov Karamardian, Barbara Fairchild, Daniel Nelson, Melissa’s Produce Guru

Podcasts

Segment One: Zov Karamardian Part One
Segment Two: Zov Karamardian Part Two
Segment Three: Barbara Fairchild Part One
Segment Four: Barbara Fairchild Part Two
Segment Five: Mixologist Daniel Nelson of The Writer’s Room
Segment Six: Produce Guru Robert Schueller and Food Republic’s Jason Kessler

Zov Karamardian or Zov's in TustinIf there is a dynasty in the Orange County restaurant business it has to be Zov Karamardian and her hard-working Family. They took a small space in the Enderle Center in Tustin and over the years have grown the enterprise into the largest food tenant in the center at 12,000 sq. ft.. It’s a bakery, gourmet specialty food store, cafe, restaurant, and catering space under one large roof. Zov is just back from Istanbul, Turkey and will discuss the food scene there.

Barbara Fairchild is the long-serving Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit Magazine. She retired when the publisher abandoned their original Los Angeles base. Barbara will be highlighting her recent culinary adventures in Kauai, Hawaii’s Garden Isle. It’s the best in joints to fine dining!

Mixologist Daniel Nelson (The Writer’s Room) then joins the party. He’s part of Fog and Smog Films latest YouTube hit, “Mixologist.” He’ll be telling us about pairing cocktails with food and how a good master bartender can really enhance the dining experience for the guest.

Robert Schueller of Melissa's World Variety ProduceDo you wonder about what “organic” fruits and vegetables are all about? Produce guru Robert Schueller of Melissa’s World Variety Produce is with Jet to explain what it’s all about.

Finally the L.A. based and always opinionated Jason Kessler of Food Republic blog fame has the last word on an unexpected restaurant in Buena Park that he goes way out of his way to frequent. You’ll hear why…

Podcasts

Segment One: Zov Karamardian Part One
Segment Two: Zov Karamardian Part Two
Segment Three: Barbara Fairchild Part One
Segment Four: Barbara Fairchild Part Two
Segment Five: Mixologist Daniel Nelson of The Writer’s Room
Segment Six: Produce Guru Robert Schueller and Food Republic’s Jason Kessler