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Iggy Lena and Bob Kutnick knew it was a good idea — open a medically themed sports bar with unfashionable menu items, such as Chili Chest Pain Fries and The Heart Stopper, a three-pound burger. Decorate with a heart defibrillator and sharps containers. Make the tables look like wheelchairs, put salt and pepper in pill bottles and present the bill in a plastic first-aid kit. The result is their 6-week-old Heart Stoppers Sports Grill in Delray Beach, where the menu warns that "consumption of our food will definitely lead to obesity" and there is a standing offer of free food...

I thought I would be in a better mood in 2010. I mean, you can't do much worse than 2009. But after only 24 days, I'm deeply cranky about several things on the food radar. Watercress-gate: Earlier this month, Food Network aired an episode of "Iron Chef America" starring White House chef Cristeta Comerford competing with Bobby Flay against Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. The hook: The chefs were to use vegetables harvested from the White House kitchen garden started by Michelle Obama. Only they didn't. Sure, they showed the four chefs tromping through the garden picking and snipping and...

...Fieri's meteoric ascent is impressive, but it also makes him one of the culinary world's most polarizing figures. For as many fans as Fieri earns—Dora Long, the creator of Fieri's biggest fan site, says she gets “hundreds of emails a week”—he draws equal detractors. Like Rachael Ray or Emeril Lagasse, Fieri is a food personality who has rapidly outgrown the food, walking the narrow line between technique and celebrity that makes so many in the industry nervous. His recipes have names like “No Can Beato This Taquito,” and “Mac-Daddi-Roni Salad,” and he often effuses about the greasy meals he eats...

Alton Brown, the host of "Iron Chef America," fell into the turnip patch just before the show began taping several scenes outside the White House in late October. (The best stuff always happens off camera.) On the episode, which will open the show's new season on January 3 on the Food Network, two pairs of chefs will compete: Cristeta Comerford, the White House executive chef, and Bobby Flay go up against the combined forces of Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. In a collision of politics, cooking and popular culture, Michelle Obama will reveal the secret ingredient that the chefs must...

Father Leo prepares to Flay an Iron Chef. (Grace Before Meals) Would you like to see a Catholic priest challenge chef Bobby Flay to a fajita cook-off? Tune into Food Network’s “Throwdown! With Bobby Flay” tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern to see Father Leo Patalinghug take on the Iron Chef. Father Patalinghug, who serves as director of pastoral field education for the seminary at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., has a ministry called Grace Before Meals, which is dedicated to fostering stronger communities through stronger families, one meal at a time. “With God as my witness, I’m not...

Father Leo Patalinghug was making the marinade for his fajitas in front of a crowd at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., where he serves as director of pastoral field education for the seminary — and TV cameras. He thought the Food Network was filming a show about Grace Before Meals, his ministry dedicated to fostering stronger communities through stronger families, one meal at a time. But the priest-chef wasn’t just cooking for the gathered crowd or TV that June day.“I was talking and I realized that standing two feet away listening to me was Bobby Flay,” recalled Father...

The intriguing reality is that neither of these two finalists of the Next Food Network Star, Melissa or Jeffrey, have any extensive food background. Which some would say makes it all the sweeter. The contenders were good but the Korean, the Creole or the Healthy could not beat the cooking of the 2009 Next Food Network Star finalists and their charming on screen presence. My choice for the winner. All with pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

Guy Fieri chows down on camera with such relish that, on occasion, he can get hungry just watching himself eat. Fieri, the tattooed, spiky-haired Northern California dude who hosts three Food Network shows, frequently fields calls from fans struck by insatiable munchies while watching late-night reruns of his foodie travelogue "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." After two years on the road visiting restaurants for more than 80 shows in the series, Fieri has steeled himself to withstand his own handiwork in most cases. There are times, though, when the memories are too tasty to ignore. "Most of the time, I can...

FORT LEE, Va., July 16, 2009 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Brad Turner, also known as “The Grill Sergeant,” often treats others using his culinary expertise. But recently, Turner got a treat of his own. Army Sgt. 1st Class Brad Turner, known as “The Grill Sergeant,” takes a look at what Chef Bobby Flay cooked up for an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," filmed at Fort Lee, Va., July 2, 2009. The episode will air on the Food Network later this year. U.S. Army photo by Kimberly Fritz   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Turner recently returned here,...

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Rachael Ray has undergone surgery to correct a problem with her vocal cords, according to People. A rep for the talk show host and all-around foodie said she had surgery last week. “After several months of vocal therapy and on the advice of her doctors, Rachael decided to have a benign cyst removed from her vocal cord,” rep Charlie Dougiello told People, which first reported the news. Dougiello said Rachael is taking it easy following the surgery. “According to Rachael’s doctors the minor, non-invasive procedure was a success and she is already resting at home,” he...

The rise of the Food Network from an obscure channel to cultural phenomenon and the explosion of celebrity chefs changed people’s perceptions about the culinary industry. Today, cooking and the culinary arts have become hip and sexy. The explosion in popularity has reached beyond television. Today, more and more people are seeking careers in the culinary arts. “Over the past three or so years, the number of people enrolling in culinary training programs grown tremendously,” said Shelly Ford, director of communication for The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Washington, located in Arlington, Va. The Art Institute launched...

The “laaahd” will flow as Michelle Obama joins genteel food maven Paula Deen on an episode of “Paula’s Party,” Sept. 20 on the Food Network. On the show, “Grease is the Word,” the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate meets up with Deen “on the campaign trail” to make the TV chef’s famous fried shrimp and Creole french fries. According to the network’s press release: “Michelle gives Paula a taste of her family life on the road to the White House and shares fun facts, including the first meal she made for Barack, what kinds of local foods the family...

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) _ Michelle Obama took a break recently from the campaign trail to get her hands messy breading shrimp as she helped prepare a deep-fried dinner with the Food Network's first lady of Southern cooking, Paula Deen. The wife of Democrat Barack Obama got cozy with Deen in the kitchen during a recent taping of the Savannah celebrity cook's TV show "Paula's Party," scheduled to air on the cable network Sept. 20. Michelle Obama and Deen swapped stories about their families' favorite meals as they cooked fried shrimp and french fries at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.,...

It's down to four on "The Next Food Network Star" and there's six left in Hell's Kitchen. We've got pics and VIDEO you'll find nowhere else on the Internet plus fine reviews of both shows for yon cooking afficiandos.

So here's the latest review of "The Next Food Nextwork Star" and "Hell's Kitchen" 2007. Pic montages and actual videos that you'll find nowhere else on the Internet. Chef Ramsey hosts a wedding and the Food Network gang face more cooking challenges. Predictions of winners.

Here's the weekly review of Food Network's "The Next Food Network Star" 2007 and Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" 2007. Lots of pics, and VIDEO! you'll find nowhere else on the Internet and a wannabe cook's review of all the action. Also we peeked into "The Next Best Thing" and got some notes and pics from the world of celebrity lookalikes.

We continue to watch the 2007 "Next Food Network Star" series and so far it's been great fun. Also, right along, we're watching "Hell's Kitchen" and fun? Not so much. With pics you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

Fans of the Food Network hit show 'Iron Chef America' will be in for a real treat this Sunday November 12th as Rachael Ray (with Mario Batali) matches up against Giada DeLaurentiis (with Bobby Flay) in a "Cranberry Battle" on the set of Kitchen Stadium. "Cranberry Battle" preview -http://wms.scripps.com/library/Food_Network/67673.wmv (windows media player) Giada DeLaurentiis - Giada DeLaurentiis profile Rachel Ray - Rachel Ray profileBobby Flay - Bobby Flay profile Mario Batali - Mario Batali profile --- Episode info - In a special Iron Chef America presentation, Food Network All Stars Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis come to Kitchen Stadium...

Thursday February 2, 5:44 pm ET E.W. Scripps Posts Fourth-Quarter Loss of $603,000 on Costs; Shares Rise 4.2 Percent CINCINNATI (AP) -- The E.W. Scripps Co., a newspaper publisher and owner of the Food Network, Home & Garden Television and other cable networks, swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on costs for writing down its Shop At Home unit and consolidating newspaper operations in Denver. Scripps lost $603,000 during the quarter, but broke even on a per-share basis. That compares to earnings in the year-ago quarter of $91.3 million, or 55 cents per share. Revenue grew 17 percent...