From the group Improv Everywhere, filmed at the Trump Tower atrium for a segment on The Today Show.

 

 

Celebrity Chef Tour Brings Bravo's Top Chef  Season Five Trio to Cook at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel

Who:  Celebrity Chef Tour benefitting the James Beard Foundation

What: Multi-course dinner featuring Bravo's Top Chef Contestants Carla Hall, Fabio Viviani and CJ Jacobson

When: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 7pm

Where: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20036

Cost: $170; to RSVP call  720-201-1853 or email jeff@celebritycheftour.com

Details: The Celebrity Chef Tour comes to D.C. for what promises to be a great night of food and drink. Join popular Top Chef contestants Carla Hall, Fabio Viviani and CJ
Jacobson as they collaborate and prepare their favorite seasonal dishes. Chefs will be available for a post dinner "talk back" to answer questions about the meal and about their current projects.

About the Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation:

Since its inception in 2004, the Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation has become a favorite event for both the chefs to participate in and guests to attend. The Celebrity Chef Tour brings James Beard Foundation Award winners and other celebrity chefs to private clubs, resorts, and other exclusive venues around the country for spectacular dining events. The tour was created to benefit the James Beard Foundation and to promote the culinary arts across America.

About the James Beard House and the James Beard Foundation:

James Beard is widely recognized as the father of American culinary arts. Throughout his life, he pursued and advocated the highest standards, and served as a mentor to emerging talents. The James Beard House is where Beard lived, taught, and welcomed friends and colleagues who shared his love for food. Shortly after he passed away, a group of friends sparked a drive to save his home and create a living memorial and a center for the culinary community. It has become what Founding President Peter Kump envisioned it could be, “a culinary place to see and taste the work of this country’s most talented chef’s, wine makers, cookbook authors, and teachers.” The James Beard House’s sister non-profit organization, the James Beard Foundation, whose mission is to “celebrate, preserve and nurture America’s culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence,” furthers Mr. Kump’s vision by providing scholarships and volunteer opportunities for aspiring culinary professionals, educating today’s youth on the importance of good food and essential nutrition.
 
For more information: http://www.jamesbeard.org
 

From Grub Street New York: Some good news for the commenter who wanted to see more of Gail Simmons in this season of Top Chef. According to Reality TV World, Bravo has renewed Top Chef Masters, which managed to average 2.22 million total viewers. Yes, Kelly Choi will be back, and this time around, Gail Simmons will join Greene, Oseland, and Rayner as a judge. Yay. 

From Lisa Jennings, Nations Restaurant News: Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. plans to install solar panels on about 75 of its restaurants during the next year in an ongoing effort to create a more eco-friendly chain, the company said Tuesday.

The parent to about 886 fast-casual restaurants has partnered with Standard Renewable Energy, a company based in Houston, to install the panels, which will produce an estimated 500 kilowatt hours of electricity.

The goal, Chipotle said, is to reduce each restaurant’s energy consumption during peak hours — 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. — when pressure on the energy grid is the greatest, potentially eliminating more than 41 million pounds of carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions.

Chipotle joins a growing number of restaurant chains that also have taken steps to become more environmentally friendly, or green, including Arby’s, Carl’s Jr., Subway and Yum! Brands Inc. subsidiaries KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Officials at Chipotle say their commitment to solar power will make the chain the largest direct producer of solar energy in the restaurant industry.

“Our effort to change the way people think about and eat fast food began with our commitment to serving food made with ingredients from more sustainable sources, and that same kind of thinking now influences all areas of our business,” Steve Ells, Chipotle’s founder, chairman and co-chief executive said in a statement. “Today, we’re following a similar path in the way we design and build restaurants, looking for more environmentally friendly building materials and systems that make our restaurants more efficient.”

The solar panel installation has already begun on units in select cities, including Denver and the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. Selection of participating units was based on evaluations of the individual restaurant’s electricity consumption, local utility solar rebates and access to direct sunlight.

The solar initiative is one in a series of steps Chipotle has taken to reduce its carbon footprint. Chipotle, for example, was one of the first restaurants to receive the highest level LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for a unit in Gurnee, Ill. That restaurant has an on-site wind turbine and underground cistern to harvest rainwater for irrigation.

All new Chipotle restaurants also aim to use environmentally friend materials or systems, including paints and sealants with low VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, as well as recycled drywall and stainless steal, regulated lighting and insulated window glass.

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=374722

From Eater.com: In a pretty rare move, an anonymous Top Chef staffer has been spilling all kinds of behind-the-scenes details in an impromptu Q&A session on Reddit. The ex-Bravo employee claims to have worked on the New York season of Top Chef as a "low level crew member" which involved "going on field shoots, set (kitchen) shoots, and working at the cast house." The entire thread is quite lengthy, so for your convenience, we've taken the liberty of highlighting the juicy parts.

1) Padma is indeed a "major diva" who required her own trailer for Season Five. She got along best with Gail, who everyone likes. On the other hand, Padma and Tom Colicchio ("super cool guy") were like cats and dogs.

2) Oh, but Pads wasn't the worst of the bunch: "Rocco DiSpirito scared us. Intense guy ... kind of picky and easily-offended."

3) To ensure that no chefs are cheating or exchanging recipes, Bravo monitors phone calls and their (hand-written) mail. No email was allowed.

4) Regarding elimination, judging and the network's role, there is a list of people that the producers hope will last for most of the show.

5) The Bravo overlords assumed eventual winner Hosea would make it to mid-season but they didn't think he'd actually win.

6) Speaking of the Bravo suits, they were furious when so many spoilers leaked out on the internet about the New York season (Sorry, kids).

7) During the New York season, eliminated contestants were exiled to Jersey, where they were isolated to a house that wasn't anywhere as plush as the Top Chef house. You do hate to see that.

I worked behind the scenes on Top Chef Season 5 (New York) [Reddit]

From ESPN's Eric Angevine: Adam Richman, host of the Travel Channel series "Man v. Food," grew up in Brooklyn idolizing athletes. In the first two seasons of his show, he has participated in eating challenges across the United States, including in college football hotbeds such as Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio. He has run the food triathlon in Durham, N.C., with NFL star Dhani Jones as a teammate. And, in an episode that will air Wednesday, Richman indulges his passion for baseball by visiting three minor league ballparks that dole out bizarre variations on classic ballpark food, in true "Man v. Food" style.

Page 2 talked to Richman about how to eat like a man but still meet women, what a bacon cheeseburger inside a doughnut tastes like and how he differs from Paul Newman.

Page 2: The concept of your show is something that every guy recognizes. It's basically, "I double-dog dare you to eat that giant hamburger." How did you end up accepting dares for a living?

Adam Richman: I'm glad you picked up on that because that's exactly the vibe. It's not like, "Let's roll out the giant eating machine!" The aplomb with which I approach these challenges is just like you and your boys on a road trip -- you see this cool place to eat, you pull over and suddenly you see a sign that says, "Finish the ______ and everyone in your party gets a T-shirt." Then your boys start punching you in the arm and saying, "C'mon! You can totally do it!" And then it becomes this shared story.

I always wanted to say this if I got interviewed by ESPN: You just have to play them one game at a time. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains. I'm just happy to be here, and hope I can help the ballclub.

It's weird; I never did an eating challenge before the show started. I had a food background and an acting background, and I found out about the opportunity to host the show through my agent. I auditioned and ended up with this great job. I didn't know I could do it; they didn't know I could do it; and, quite frankly, I still sometimes wonder if I can live through it.

You make it clear at the beginning of the show that you are not a professional competitive eater. How does an ordinary guy prepare for one of these challenges?

Prayer. Have Zantac, will travel.

Truth is, I eat extraordinarily healthfully when I'm not doing a challenge -- which I think is the biggest component to any success I've had, in terms of staying alive and staying somewhat appealing to the fairer sex through Seasons 1 and 2 of "Man v. Food."

Hydration is really big, and, for the big-quantity challenges -- people think I'm full of it -- exercise. I do a very heavy leg and back workout, which gets my metabolism just screaming. It really helps.

Competitive eaters are often pretty lean.

Generally speaking. That's because adipose tissue [body fat] restricts the expansion of your stomach. That's something I've learned while doing the show. So you want as little fat on your stomach as possible.

How long does it take to recover?

Depends upon the challenge. It's a different recovery from quantity than it is for spice.

Aside from the eating, you also get to tour American towns large and small. How do you choose your destinations each season?

Generally speaking, the challenges are our point of departure. There's no episode without a challenge. Once we find a good challenge, we contextualize it with the other episodes to find out what will make a great season. From there, these cities have varied options of where else to go, a nice culinary panoply of things to try. The other stuff comes through due diligence and research.

I see Springfield, Ill., on your list of upcoming episodes. How'd that town get slotted in with the likes of Austin, New York and Honolulu?

The food challenge in Springfield is one of the oldest in America. I always say it doesn't matter whether I win or lose, it's all about being part of the culinary folklore of a city -- and since this is one of the oldest, it was something I couldn't really pass up. It's also a place that people don't usually go on vacation, but it's an important part of our country. It's the boyhood home of one of our most iconic presidents [Abraham Lincoln]. It has an identity. For better or for worse, to shine a candle on a place we can take pride in is something we can cherish.

The sandwich in Springfield is called "The Horseshoe," which is just found in south-central Illinois, and I don't think it's ever been shown on TV before. So the opportunity to showcase a new food is really cool.

If you're on a real cross-country road trip, you're going to stop in places like that to eat.

That's the thing! It's just on Route 66. The original corndog is from Springfield, and the birthplace is still standing.

Most of the challenges boil down to a "Cool Hand Luke"-style "eat a lot of something very fast" or "eat something very hot and somehow manage to finish it." Which is tougher?

Let me make a distinction. The "Cool Hand Luke" comparison kind of works, but that was about eating multiples of something, which is more like competitive eating. I think "Man v. Food's" sine qua non is one big burger or one big pizza, one big sandwich. So it's not 50 eggs. I'd have to eat an ostrich egg.

I'm telling you right here, they're all tough. I love my job -- the challenges, the actual experience. But the actual doing is very difficult. If it were easy, it wouldn't be a challenge, right?

Do you ever get a chance to enjoy the way something tastes?

Oh, absolutely I do. Most of these challenges are freakin' ridiculous because they taste so good. Half of the time when I win on these big-quantity ones, I'm coasting solely on taste. Even with some of the spicy ones, it's the taste that actually propels me onward. It's not like I'm a rapacious eating machine; it's more like, "Damn! I want to keep eating this cheesesteak! I want another bite!"

You're headed out to the ballparks in an upcoming episode. You can get the standard hot dogs and peanuts just about anywhere, so what types of unique foods are you focusing on?

Definitely, there were lots of variations on a theme. I love minor league ball. My favorite sports are probably college hoops, college football and minor league baseball. There are some major league teams I root for -- I'm a Yankees fan, I'm a Dolphins fan -- but I love minor league baseball. I always have, I always will. I find it to be truly the love of the game made manifest. It's very much about the fan, very much about the experience. Regardless of whether it's a franchise team -- like the West Michigan Whitecaps or the Charleston RiverDogs -- or whether it's an independent Frontier League team like the Gateway Grizzlies. It's athletes who play with all heart.

So I find that the food in minor league ballparks is all about personality, rather than price point, which is so endemic to the major leagues. I'm a New Yorker, and we have these two teams that tank in the postseason but just got new stadiums with top restaurateurs. Then you go to someplace like Charleston, S.C., where they've done something so brilliant as to give each hot dog stand its own personality and its own signature dog. It makes each snack bar a destination instead of just another place to plunk down your credit card and get a beer or a hot dog in that little foil thing. DayGlo cheese sauce -- hell no!

It's like, "You can get the Homewrecker dog over here! The Hickory dog over here! The Carolina dog!" When was the last time you were at a ballpark and got a hot dog with wasabi, pickled okra and sweet potato mustard? Or Philly cheesesteak nachos, or a hamburger between two halves of a Krispy Kreme doughnut? They can do that at a minor league park, because it's about the experience.

I've heard of celebrities getting body parts insured. Have you considered taking out a policy on your stomach or taste buds?

I have health insurance, but nothing crazy like Barbra Streisand insuring her nose. If anything, I would assume it would be my teeth or my mouth rather than my gut.

The bottom line is I'm still going to eat even if I'm not doing "Man v. Food," but not those kinds of portions. That's the great thing -- because we generally shoot a challenge a week, we don't do a bunch in a row, so I have time to recover. It's actually helped me adhere to my diet more than I did before. My cheat days are built in, so I'm less likely to be stupid. Sure, it sucks walking past the pizzeria in summer, when I'd love to grab a slice. But I know before long I'll be back on the road with chili, burgers, hot dogs and fries; it's like I'm perpetually at a sixth-grader's birthday party.

Then I know when I go home I can have vegetables and stuff. And when I'm at my breaking point and I want to do something naughty, along comes "Man v. Food" and I can indulge.

It's important for me to stay in shape. If I start looking really, really bad, folks will start to worry, and they won't enjoy the show. Plus, I want to have sex! So that motivates me.

Any plans to take the show outside of the U.S. in the future, or is sport eating more of an American phenomenon?

Absolutely not just an American thing. There are no concrete plans to do that yet, but we've uncovered a plethora of international eating challenges. You've got Australia, Japan, Germany, Polynesia, China -- there's quite a lot of them! There are cultures that extol these competitions. There's been ample talk and investigation, but we're still trying to figure out how it will work within the context of a season. I feel the sheer expense and effort of putting together an international episode is so huge that, for a half-hour show, we'd have to film multiple episodes on one trip. Hope springs eternal for Season 3! My passport's valid. I'm ready to go.

Given that we're in a recession, your show seems perfect for someone who wants to discover America on a budget. Is this a really affordable way to have a good time?

Absolutely, and I'm proud that on my show we're not going to Guam or the French Riviera or Monaco or Trieste [Italy]. We're going to Pittsburgh or Springfield. These are the destinations that don't require a travel agent or a reservation. They require putting the car in drive and stepping on the accelerator. A family of four can go to a place that's in their own backyard, and have meals that are unique and special and made with love and tradition. They can read the menu and speak to the waitress but still be in a place that's different from home. It's too great of a gift to look away. As someone who has worked in these types of restaurants and comes from working-class roots in Brooklyn, I love that we're bringing an audience to these mom-and-pop places and building a sense of national pride at a time when that pride may be wanting. It's the best feeling in the world.

From Lori Midson of Denver Westworld: Beginning Thursday, October 1, Hosea Rosenberg -- Bravo's Top Chef: New York conquistador and Jax-Boulder exec chef -- is launching www.whereishosea.com, to more or less announce his five-month sabbatical from the house of aquatics that made him famous.

The new site, explains Bryce Clark, marketing director for Big Red F, the Dave Query restaurant group that owns Jax, "will be a combination of a blog that Hosea will write himself, Twitter and Facebook feeds, recipes, travel guides and pictures and videos of his travels."

Late last week, Leah Cohen, the contestant on Top Chef: New York best known for swapping spit with Rosenberg in a PG-rated sex scene while filming the show (they've since denied a relationship), suddenly upped and vacated her exec chef position at New York's Centro Vinoteca to "continue her culinary education by studying in Southeast Asia and Spain." Her departure, coincidentally, comes at the exact same time that Rosenberg plans to "travel all over the United States and to South America," which he'll be doing in between "attending the Latin Food and Wine Festival in Florida, cooking at a James Beard dinner in Wisconsin and touring Louisiana for the best food and drink," says Clark.

All of which leaves us to wonder where Rosenberg and Cohen will hook up in between their worldly jaunts.

Nah, not really.

Far more important is who'll be cooking in the kitchen that Rosenberg is leaving behind. And that person, says Clark, is none other than Sheila Lucero, the exec chef at Jax-Denver, 1539 17th Street. "Sheila and Hosea have been collaborating for some time now, taking both of their strengths and and infusing them into the menu at Jax Boulder. The current menu in Boulder is actually a bi-product of both of them," notes Clark.

Lucero will put in equal time at both kitchens, while Rosenberg will "still be in the kitchen as much as possible, popping in for special dinners and jumping on the line while he's in town," Clark promises.

 

From Greg Morago of The Houston Chronicle: It's a face easily remembered. The superstar chef's handsome mug has popped up as a guest judge on Top Chef. It has lit up shows hosted by Martha Stewart, David Letterman and Ellen DeGeneres. It has graced the glossy pages of numerous cooking magazines. It's a familiar visage to in-the-know foodies.

But Eric Ripert, whose Le Bernardin is recognized as one of the world's great seafood restaurants, has been the rare top toque without his own television show. Until now.

Starting Saturday, Ripert's Avec Eric, a lifestyle, travel and cooking show can be seen nationally on PBS stations. Avec Eric marks a new chapter for the classically-trained French chef who up until now has resisted jumping into the food television fricassee, partly in favor of minding the store at his seafood temple (he's kept Le Bernardin's four-star rating from the New York Times longer than any other chef now cooking in New York).

We were able to chat avec Ripert about his show, which, surprisingly, isn't about seafood but embraces Ripert's own love for culinary travel.

Q: Why did you wait so long to get into food television?

A: We couldn't find a network that would do the food I wanted to do. Food Network has a different audience and different views than the PBS audience. It took us a lot of time but we finally we found the right producer, the right partners and PBS picked up the show. It's a format I like very much. I can cook in a kitchen the way I like to cook.

Q: And cooking not just fish and seafood?

A: Although I'm associated with fish, I know how to cook everything. I like cooking meat. I'm very good with it.

Q: As a young chef, you went from La Tour d'Argent to Joël Robuchon then to Jean-Louis Palladin then to David Bouley. That's quite a start before you went to Le Bernardin. I think it would be fair to say you've only worked with the best chefs.

A: For sure. When you work with those chefs who are amazing, you learn high standards, and it becomes a part of you.

Q: Do you think about four stars and maintaining them? Is it on your mind?

A: No, if you do that, you die. You die of a heart attack. I don't think like that. I wake up in the morning and I drink my coffee like everyone else. I walk for 45 minutes in Central Park and then I go to work. I never think about the pictures of me in the magazine. My focus is on the aspects of the cuisine and running a restaurant. My priority has always been to focus on what is my job, which is to be a chef.

Q: You are known for fish and seafood, and it's great that Americans are eating more seafood. But not all of us are good with fish. What are we doing wrong?

A: The problem in lot of the regions of the country is that people buy cheap stuff, not fresh. Fish should never smell like fish. The shopping part is very important. We buy fish that's old, and we have a tendency to kill the smell by overcooking.

Q: But we're also in a recession, and seafood is expensive.

A: If you're on a budget you can cut a protein. Have a smaller portion of good-quality protein, and eat more vegetables and more starch. In Europe, it's the way people eat. They never eat huge steaks. Everything is much smaller there. You don't really need to eat so much protein.

Q: What was the most difficult part of doing your first show?

A: To read a script. I cannot have a script. I lose my concentration. I am not good at repeating lines.

Q: The promo for Avec Eric says your show is not about what to cook but why. What do you mean?

A: If we believe that cooking is artistry, you have to be inspired by something. Obviously what inspires us is interaction with people when I travel. Growers, farmers, winemakers. The show is an extension of my lifestyle. The show is a very natural process to me. We're filming what I do usually in my normal life. That translates to an inspiration to cook something that is meaningful to me and my guest.

Grub Street New York: The Food Network announced details of its new season today and, having seen the first episode of The Next Iron Chef, we urge you all to set your DVRs for 9 p.m. on October 4. In the first challenge, the chefs (including Nate Appleman, Jose Garces, and Amanda Freitag) must first cook something from their past, and then show fearlessness by cooking with scary ingredients. (And we mean scary. Scary like unhatched eggs.) We’re also looking forward to Butter chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli’s new show, Alex’s Day Off. The first episode, “Early Morning Breakfast” features dishes like “cheese fondue hashbrowns and homemade doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and hot blueberry jam,” which will do wonders for future hangovers. See the complete rundown below.

**All Times ET/PT**

**FOOD NETWORK OCTOBER 2009 HIGHLIGHTS**

‘THE NEXT IRON CHEF’ BATTLES FOR SUPREMACY IN OCTOBER
Season Two of ‘The Next Iron Chef’, Special 90-Minute Premiere
New Daytime Series “Alex’s Day Off” with Chef Alex Guarnaschelli
New Specials: ‘Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri’ and ‘Good Eats 10th Anniversary’

NEW YORK - September, 2009 - Kitchen Stadium once again opens its doors to find a new culinary warrior in the season two premiere of The Next Iron Chef on Sunday, October 4th at 9pm. Hosted by Alton Brown, the series challenges ten top chefs from around the country in a series of demanding situations, testing their culinary skills and mental toughness. Popular Food Network personality, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli shares her cooking style as a professional chef, working mom and passionate home cook, inviting viewers to cook down-to-earth recipes with sophistication and sass in new daytime series, Alex’s Day Off premiering Sunday, October 18th at 9:30am ET/PT. Alton Brown celebrates ten years of culinary exploration with a one-hour special, Good Eats 10th Anniversary on Saturday, October 10th at 10pm and Guy Fieri throws down the gauntlet to teams battling for tailgating supremacy in Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri on Saturday, October 17th at 9pm.

FEATURED SERIES

The Next Iron Chef- Season Two
Kitchen Stadium once again opens its doors to find a new culinary warrior in the sizzling primetime series The Next Iron Chef. Hosted by Alton Brown (Good Eats, Iron Chef America), the reality competition challenges ten top chefs from around the country in a series of demanding situations, testing their culinary skills and mental toughness. The winner will join the ranks of Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon, and be launched into instant fame as a member of the Chairman’s team on Iron Chef America.

Premiering Sunday, October 4th at 9pm- SEASON PREMIERE!
“Episode One”
In the season premiere of The Next Iron Chef, 10 chefs arrive in Los Angeles to compete in a series of globally-inspired cooking challenges that will test their abilities to master culinary styles from around the world. The chefs are greeted by host Alton Brown (Iron Chef America, Good Eats), who gives them their first two tests: Memory and Fearlessness. For Memory, the chefs are asked to use an ingredient that has played a significant role in their lives to create a dish that expresses their culinary style and heritage. Next, the chefs are assigned exotic ingredients from around the world that test their iron wills and stomachs. They must showcase their fearless nature through their approach in using these ingredients as the centerpiece of two dishes. The first chef is then eliminated.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2009/09/fill_up_on_food_networks_fall.html?e=grubstreet--20090918

From Grub Street Chicago: Spoiler alert: if you don't already know who won Top Chef Masters [Aug. 19], we are amazed by your ability to evade information. Because basically everyone within 20 miles of the intersection of Clark and Illinois streets is being psyched (or recovering from being psyched) about Rick Bayless's epic victory on last night's season finale. And boy is he ever reaping the benefits: as of this morning, the next available reservation at Topolobampo is September 20, odds are good the lines at Frontera will be out the door for a good while yet. But even more lucky is the yet-to-open Xoco, Bayless's casual churros-and-tortas concept that's scheduled for a September 1 open, which will surely prosper from this mountain of publicity. We can't help but note an interesting coincidence: Xoco was announced with an anticipated opening date of April '09. As for Top Chef Masters, the show wrapped filming back in March, so Bayless has been sitting on the secret of his victory all this time. It'd be a simple matter to delay Xoco's opening to coincide with the inevitable media blitz his victory would gain - and he's already admitted that everything's been in place for the opening for a while now - so we're going to chalk this up to some brilliant synergistic strategy. Or conspiracy theory. Or whatever you'd like to call it. Either way, congratulations, Mr. Bayless. http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2009/08/victorious_on_top_chef_masters.html  

From Cassell Bryan-Low, The Wall Street Journal: On the reality TV show "Kitchen Nightmares," foul-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay helps unknown chefs turn around troubled restaurants. But the brash advice he dishes out to others hasn't helped keep his own fine-dining empire out of trouble.

As well-heeled diners went into hibernation, four of Mr. Ramsay's high-profile restaurants -- in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Prague -- "were starting to hemorrhage" cash last year, Mr. Ramsay said. He breached terms on £10.5 million, or $15.7 million, in loans that were partially backed by his personal fortune. An auditor recommended his company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd., file for bankruptcy. Mr. Ramsay sold his Ferrari and considered unloading his multimillion-dollar London home.

"All of a sudden, this whole thing was nothing to do with cooking," Mr. Ramsay said in an interview from the Los Angeles set of his show. "I had my own personal nightmare."

Now, Mr. Ramsay is being forced to restructure. The 42-year-old chef has exited Prague and handed back ownership of the kitchens in Los Angeles and Paris to the hotels they are housed in, though he still supplies the chefs and menus. He has fired about 15% of his roughly 1,200-person staff and is swapping out rib-eyes for cheaper cuts like shank and brisket. Mr. Ramsay and his father-in-law have plowed £5 million of their own money into the business.

The tousled-haired Mr. Ramsay runs one of the biggest global networks of expensive restaurants, with 20 outposts from New York to Tokyo. During the boom of the past decade, Mr. Ramsay amassed 12 Michelin stars, making him the third-most-decorated chef behind France's Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse. His success helped Britain put to rest its reputation as a culinary backwater and win a reputation as a serious destination for foodies.

The super-chef's current troubles illustrate the intense pressure facing high-end restaurateurs these days. Diners are eating out less often and spending less when they do, particularly on wine and spirits, where the fattest profit margins are. Corporate entertaining, which can account for as much as a third of a luxury restaurant's business, has fallen sharply.

Annual revenue growth in the roughly $1.5 trillion global restaurant industry is expected to slow to 1.1% this year, down from 4.9% in 2008, according to London-based research firm Datamonitor Ltd. The figures include restaurants, cafes and fast-food chains, but industry insiders say the priciest restaurants are among the hardest hit.

FULL STORY From Wall Street Journal

From the Baltimore Sun's Elizabeth Large: With the opening of Julie & Julia [Aug. 7], we ought to prepare ourselves by watching the real thing. I wasn't a regular viewer when Julia Child's half-hour cooking shows first aired on PBS, but her cookbooks were my bible for many years. Now PBS has posted full-length episodes of The French Chef with Julia Child online. You don't want to go to the movie without reminding yourself how fabulous the original was. On the site, viewers can also share their Julia stories and get tips, recipes and tricks of the trade.

Airing in August, Julia Child Memories: Bon Apetit!...