Cooking Shows

Aaron May Opens Over Easy Locations in Mesa and Gilbert

When chef-restaurateur Aaron May and his partner-dad Brad opened the first Over Easy in 2007 in a former Taco Bell on 40th Street, they had an instant hit on their hands. Even though they'd added on a small shaded patio -- bigger than the restaurant's interior -- they still had long waits on the wee ... More >>

Epic Chef: A Cooking Competition Meets a Drinking Game

The first episode of Epic Chef, the brain child of extreme cooking show Epic Meal Time, hit the internet last week. If you're already familiar with the work of Epic Meal Time and the Sauce Boss, then nothing here should be surprising besides the amount of verbal abuse the team seems ready to dole ou ... More >>

Beau MacMillan Stars in New Game Show "Beat the Chefs," Premiering Thursday, August 23rd

See also: Beau MacMillan To Appear On Premiere of Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Made Beau Mac -- executive chef of Elements at Sanctuary Resort -- is our local celeb-chef and certifiably famous TV star, the high-energy, fast-talking BoSox buff who's truly in his element on the small screen. ... More >>

Eating Smart

Kevin Binkley, Shinji Kurita, Kelly Fletcher, and More Scheduled for Beau Mac's 2012 Lunch & Learn Series

You know it's summer in the Valley when celebu-chef and flat leaf parsley fan Beau MacMillan brings some of the stars of the culinary world out to the Paradise Valley resort Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain for his popular Lunch & Learn series. Beginning Saturday, July 14, food fans can hook up wit ... More >>

What's Your Favorite and Least Favorite Cooking Show?

Welcome to Chow Bella's Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you'd like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. Miss a question? Go here.Whether it's for education, entertainment, or a d ... More >>

Blades of Glory

Am I a Food Snob? (A Flowchart)

From time to time, Zach Fowle will provide a visual guide to every day and extraordinary situations ... and (because he has bad handwriting) Claire Lawton will illustrate them. Welcome to Charted Territory: The world of a food snob is an often-confusing world of trends, vocabulary and kitchen app ... More >>

Beau McMillan and Nine Other Celebrity Chefs to Compete on The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs

​If an Iron Chef is "a king among chefs" then what's a king among Iron Chefs called? A SUPER CHEF, YO, THE ONLY TITLE THAT MATTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In a move that has nothing to do with sagging ratings, the fourth season of The Next Iron Chef, premiering October 30 on the Food Network, ... More >>

Sweet Republic's Toffee Banofi Sundae to Be Featured on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate

Sweet Republic's toffee banofi sundae gets TV time.​Looks like Sweet Republic, the artisan ice cream haven in Scottsdale, has caught the attention of the national media -- and it hasn't been the first time. Prior to celebrating their third birthday last month, Jan Wichayanuparp and Helen Yung ... More >>

Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain's Lunch & Learn Series Returns With Celebu-Chefs Aaron May, Robert Irvine, and Marcus Samuelsson

Sanctuary Camelback Mountain​When it comes to giving our brains something else to do this summer besides think about how crazy hot it is, award-winning chef Beau MacMillan of the Scottsdale resort, Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain, is bringing back his popular Lunch & Learn series with lots of ... More >>

Kimberly White of Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe Dies Too Young at 34

​Kimberly White, granddaughter of Mrs. White of Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe and brother of Larry White Jr. of LoLo's Chicken & Waffles, passed away Friday at the age of 34. "She was sweet, not an enemy in the world," her father, Larry White Sr., told me this afternoon. "Kimberly was t ... More >>

Make-A-Wish Kid Snubbed by Barefoot Contessa; Two Food Network Chefs (One Is Beau MacMillan) Come to the Rescue

​Enzo, a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with life-threatening leukemia, wanted to spend an hour or two of the few he might have left with his idol, Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa (bed-ridden, he watches her Food Network show with his mom). But when the folks at the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked Ga ... More >>

Tonight: Over Easy on The Food Network

Over Easy's Waffle Dogs get some television love.​Christmas comes a little bit early for the folks at Over Easy, who will be featured tonight on The Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Chef Aaron May's retro-inspired diner, which started off as a breakfast joint but now serves equ ... More >>

Now Open: Los Taquitos

​There's a new, second location of Los Taquitos -- a brand recently acquired by JNK Concepts (Roka Akor, Bombay Spice, etc.) -- in a space at 16th Street and Glendale that previously housed San Gabriel Cafe, another South-of-the-Border spot that was owned by JNK. The original Ahwat ... More >>

Dear Top Chef: Just Desserts, Please Kick Ass in TV's Pastry Playground, Start With Warring Cupcakes

​On Wednesday, September 15, at 11 p.m. ET/PT, Bravo will launch Top Chef: Just Desserts, spin-off of the 2010 Primetime Emmy-nominated and James Beard Award-winning Top Chef. "Pastry chefs have a different brain than savory chefs," says the show's host and judge of Top Chef for the past seven se ... More >>

Food Network's 24 Hour Restaurant Battle Is an Eternity of Boring

​Dreams are awesome. Especially the ones with zombies and double rainbows (oh my God!), but what about the waking dreams we have for our lives? Losing weight, running a marathon, starting a business. Those are cool, too. And for the most part, they take planning. Which is why Food Network's new ... More >>

MasterChef, the American Idol of Cooking, Premieres This Tuesday -- Prepare for Stomach for "Funeral Potatoes"

This Tuesday on Fox, Mr. needs-a-nap chef Gordon Ramsay brings the world's biggest cooking competition to America with MasterChef. Featuring home cooks competing for $250,000 and the chance to publish their own cookbook, this American Idol of cooking shows doses out more drama than the wildly pop ... More >>

Cook Like an Iron Chef with Michael Symon Starts With Dissing The Food Network

​Iron Chef Michael Symon breaks out of Kitchen Stadium this Thursday with his new show on The Cooking Channel, Cook Like an Iron Chef. Symon, who owns Lola, Lolita, Bar Symon, and the B Spot restaurants in Northeast Ohio, as well as Roast in Detroit, says the show is for people who've watched ... More >>

Adam Richman, Host of Man v. Food Takes On Chompies, Los Reyes de la Torta, Alice Cooper's Big Unit, and Scottsdale Guilt This Wednesday on The Travel Channel

​This Wednesday, former All My Children actor and current host of Man v. Food, Adam Richman, travels to Phoenix to stop at Los Reyes de la Torta and Alice Cooperstown, before taking on the Ultimate Slider Challenge at Chompie's. The challenge, which will air Wednesday night at 9 p.m. on the Travel ... More >>

The Next Food Network Star: Let's Just Cut to The Finale, OK?

Unlike reality show cooking competitions in which it's all about the food and one bad dish can send a front-runner packing, The Next Food Network Star is more about on-air personality -- and that ain't anything that's gettin' fixed overnight. That said, this season looks pretty clear cut, so let's ... More >>

MasterChef With Gordon Ramsay, The American Idol of Cooking Shows, Coming to Fox in July

With no restaurant experience, a passion for cooking, and a dream of one day working as a professional chef, 50 just-like-us contestants will test their skills and palate in hopes of becoming the winner of MasterChef, the cooking competition show coming to Fox on July 29. Gordon Ramsay, the show's ... More >>

Where it's Cat

First Lady of the culinary world visits

Top Chef, Ye Olde Bravo Standby, Comes To Snoozeville (Washington D.C.)

Hearts across America have barely started to beat regularly again after last week's amazing finale of Top Chef Masters (congrats, Marcus Samuellson!) and now comes Season 7 of Top Chef. The time-tested Bravo standby will premiere this week, take place in our nation's capital, and, once again, feat ... More >>

Top Chef Tour Heads for Phoenix

​Bravo is bringing their Top Chef show to Downtown Phoenix's public market with the Top Chef Tour 2010. Admission is free and gets you access to get autographs from "chef'testants,"samples of food, and the chance to win Top Chef prizes. Top Chef Tour 2010 will hit Phoenix Public Market on Jun ... More >>

Hell's Kitchen Season 7 Opener: Continued Abuse, Crazy Contestants, and a (Yech!) Chef Ramsay Make-Out Session

Another Hell's Kitchen, another ride on the Chef Ramsay roller coaster. In last week's first episode, it didn't take long for Gordo to send food flying all over the kitchen, repeatedly kick defenseless stainless steel appliances, and shout out such gems as, "You're gonna blow someone's mind off!" ... More >>

New Summer Foodie TV: Four Season Openers, One Spin-Off, and One Super-Shameless Rip-Off From Food Network

Oh, TV, how did you get so smart? Just when the temperature starts to rise on another fiery Phoenix summer, you go and give us a bunch of new and returning foodie shows to keep us safe from sunburn, hanging out with you in air-conditioned bliss. Plus, yesterday's launch of the Cooking Channel (lat ... More >>

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern in Arizona Is Made Even More Bizarre, Thanks to Confusing and Creepy Play-Date With Chris Bianco

​So last week, Andrew Zimmern goes on a quest for real Sonoran cuisine in Arizona on Bizarre Foods and hooks up with Chris Bianco, the wait-in-line-for-two-hours pizza guy of Pizzeria Bianco. Huh? What? Why? Were all the Mexican foodies in the Valley busy? Did Silvana Salcido Esparza, owner of Bar ... More >>

Let's Have Our Own Top Chef Masters Office Pool!

Oh man, are there Top Chef Masters office pools out there? If not, there should be. Wait, what are we waiting for? We could totally make our own, kinda, through the world wide interweb -- whee! Sorry, still psyched up from last Wednesday's Top Chef Masters on Bravo. The classy reality show ... More >>

TLC Launches Best Food Ever (or Yabba-Dabba-Done-to-Death)

Napoleon Dynamite: This is pretty much the worst video ever made. Kip: Napoleon, like anyone can even know that. Let me go, I need to narrate. Wilma!​Kip's right. How can anyone know what's the worst (or the best) of anything? TLC's hoping we'll trust their judgment with its new show, Best Food ... More >>

Food Network's Private Chefs of Beverly Hills Is Further Proof of Programming Coma, in This Week's "TV Dinner"

Like any ginormous corporation, you can't blame Food Network's faults on the folks in the trenches doing the real work. You have to look up, way up. To the millionaires calling the shots, keeping the company profitable at any expense, and wringing their hands in anticipation of their next bonus chec ... More >>

"Sophisticated" Reality TV Returns with Top Chef Masters, and Tucson Makes Food Wars Watchable, in This Week's "TV Dinner"

Wading through the grease pit of bland food, cooking, and eating shows focusing on cheap shopping, bogus belly busters, and chefs more familiar with cursing than conjuring up a decent dish, we've paid our dues to the TV gods (Kraken release avoided!) -- at least for the time being. In return, we ... More >>

Cat Cora Event With Chow Bella and Changing Hands, Coming Soon!

​Yes, you read that right. Iron Chef Cat Cora will be the star of our next Chow Bella event, on June 23 at 7 p.m. We're thrilled to team up with our favorite local bookstore, Changing Hands, for a special night of cooking and chatting with Cora, who'll give a food demonstration and will ... More >>

Newsflash: You Have to Be Bitchy to Make it in Beverly Hills, in this week's "TV Dinner"

If TV has taught us anything about Beverly Hills, it's that it's full of super-rich, catty a-holes who are beautiful, own Chihuahuas, and are anti-Clampett. For once, can't somebody tell these folks where they can stick their Chanel? Hey, maybe someone on Food Network's new scripted reality show, P ... More >>

Huntington, West Virginia, Needs More Than Jamie Oliver, in This Week's "TV Dinner"

Ding! Ding! Ding! America, thanks to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (the best reality show on TV right now) we now have a winner for the Glad-I-Don't-Live-in-This Hellhole award: Huntington, West Virginia! Great job, Huntington! What's your secret? Children who don't know how to cut food with a knif ... More >>

Bobby Flay's New Foray in This Week's "TV Dinner"

Photo by Jason Kempin, Getty ImagesBobby Flay and Stephanie March​Wow, being asked to join a major network like NBC must be quite an honor. Imagine being in the same category with respected show hosts like Jay Leno and Regis and Kelly. Looks like the Food Network's own cutting-board jumping/Mo ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain's Spring Break Plans, Food Wars Flops, and This Week's Must-See Shows, in "TV Dinner"

OMG! Spring breaaaaaaaaak! Quick, pull out anything Abercrombie, Hollister, or Forever 21 and get your ass down to Dos Gringos Tempe Trailer Park for Jägerbombs, now. And don't worry about Anthony Bourdain. He'll just be in China for the fourth time, eating, suffering through cold temperatures, eat ... More >>

Guy Fieri Is Too Crazy for All of Us, and This Week's Must-Watch Shows in "TV Dinner"

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 with reviews of the most delectable and dreadful, and a week-long, must-see schedule so you won't miss a thing. Whoa. Is NBC sure it wants Guy Fieri to host ... More >>

Valentine's Day Break-Up Gift and Everybody-Wins-Nobody-Loses-Time-Waster-Show, in "TV Dinner"

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. How exciting! A box from your sweetie has arri ... More >>

Worst Cooks in America Contestant Kelly (Johnson) LoCascio on Chef Beau, the Show

For the past two Sundays, we've been hooked on Food Network's new show, Worst Cooks in America. Maybe it's because this gem stars local celeb-chef Beau MacMillan. Or the fact there's a contestant from Scottsdale. Or maybe it's just that we all had an Aunt Mildred or Grandpa Joe or hec ... More >>

Your Meal Ticket to Combat Cookery & Destination Dining

​Love Food Network's combat cookery shows? In this week's Meal Ticket dining newsletter, find out which upcoming competition will be hosted by Iron Chef America winner Mark Tarbell of Tarbell's Restaurant, and which two local chefs will battle it out in the kitchen. We've also got the wo ... More >>

Open Casting in PHX for Next Food Network Star

The Food Network has certainly found its fair share of TV fodder from Valley restaurants; will it find a future TV personality here, too? Maybe so -- the popular reality series The Next Food Network Star is coming to town July 8 for an open casting for its 2010 season. "We are looking for pe ... More >>

Phoenix Phoodies: Chef Beau McMillan Took Out an Iron Chef, Now He's Headed Back to TV

Chef Beau MacMillan, Beau Mac to his friends, is down to earth. Which is actually no small feat, since as of late, he's had his share of face time on TV. Best known for his stint on the Food Network's Iron Chef America, Battle Kobe Beef, where he made quick work of Iron Chef Bobby Flay, he's sti ... More >>

Mesa Gal's Recipe Lands Her on The Food Network

That Guy Fieri is one busy dude. It seems like he has a lot on his plate hosting Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives (a Chow Bella fave for all the local indie restaurants it's featured), which takes him all around the country, and Guy's Big Bite. But he's also hosting Ultimate Recipe Showdown, now in i ... More >>

Top Chef: The Tour

Local chefs on national TV

Mark Tarbell on Iron Chef!

Main Dish Antenna