Looking for the latest in tasty television? Need to know the need-to-watch episodes of your favorite foodie shows? Chow Bella is here to help. We're reviewing the most delectable and dreadful with a handy, must-see schedule so you won't miss a thing.
Maybe when you're a 68-year old business magnate, TV host, author and magazine publisher who's done time in the pokey, you're willing to do almost anything that's new and different - even if it's pole dancing like you're an 18-year-old runaway in the red light district. Damn, Martha, incarceration taught you tons more than we thought.
This week's TV roundup and the weekend's must-see food show listings after the jump.
This week, TV Dinner saw Buddy the Cake Boss make a wild tribute to the Bronx Zoo's 110th anniversary. Chef Chuck Wiley, from Café ZuZu prepared a fabulous spaghetti squash dish on Your Life A-Z (even if we did have to watch the entire, painful hour to see it through to completion). And don't forget, tonight's the second-season opener of Kitchen Nightmares where Chef Ramsay will bring his patented brand of I-had-a-horrible-childhood-now-everyone's-gonna-pay-for-it personality to a host of angry, despondent, crying kitchen owners.
As for the bevy of other food shows out there this weekend, we've sorted out a list of the ones we think are worthwhile watchers. Be sure to check back on Monday for reviews and the week's tastiest telecasts.
Saturday (January 30)
Tyler's Ultimate: "Ultimate Po' Boys." A New Orleans-inspried game-day spread. Included: shrimp-and-oyster po'boys, Creole-seasoned sweet-potato matchstick fries, and sweet-potato pie. 10 a.m., Food Network
Mexican Made Easy: "Game Day Grabs." Mexican-inspired snacks are made, including baked tortilla chips with homemade guacamole, chipotle-shrimp skewers, sweet-and-spicy drummettes, and cold beer with salt and lime juice. 10:30 a.m., Food Network
5 Ingredient Fix: "Gourmet Pizza Night." White pizza is made, along with lemony romaine salad and mini strawberry-mascarpone tarts. 1:30 p.m., Food Network
Giada at Home: "Football Weekend." Football-party snacks, including twice-baked potatoes and cinnamon-flavored fudge. 2 p.m., Food Network
Sunday (January 31)
Guy's Big Bite: "Guy's Gridiron Grub." A football-party feast, featuring hot dogs topped with green-tomato chutney, roasted maple-bourbon turkey legs, cheesy jumbo pretzels, and bourbon-spiked sweet tea. 12 p.m., Food Network
Ten Dollar Dinners: "Football Fiesta." Preparing game-day eats, including cheese quesadillas, black-bean hummus, tapenade with tuna, and seasoned popcorn. 1:30 p.m., Food Network
Cake Boss: "Cars, Collapse & Couture." The team creates a life-size cake replica of a NASCAR race car for the Retail Bakers Association annual convention in Charlotte. 10 p.m., TLC
Iron Chef America: "Flay vs. Smith." Food Network Canada star Michael Smith battles Iron Chef Bobby Flay in Kitchen Stadium. Donatella Arpaia, Antonio Sebato Jr., and Anya Fernald will judge their culinary creations. 10 p.m., Food Network
* (Series Premiere!) Little Chocolatiers: "For Whom the Chocolate Flows." The married owners of Salt Lake City's Hatch Family Chocolates are ask to make a chocolate log cabin with a flowing river and snow-capped trees. The owners, who are little people, create a candy version of Russian roulette with chocolate-covered chili peppers. 11 p.m., TLC
Worst Cooks in America: "Are You Ready?" The final four recruits learn to cook a complicated dessert before teaching the dish to a group of high-school football players. Then the finalists must reinvent the terrible dish they cooked for Anne and Beau on their very first day. 11 p.m., Food Network
101 Chowdown Countdown: "Chowdown Countdown 20-1." The series concludes with a look at American's No. 1 place to pig out. 11 p.m., Travel Channel
