Well, the big news this week was the Hogtown visit by potty-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay. Here doing a book tour (and checking locations for a possible new restaurant) Ramsay had a busy schedule of interviews with pretty much every major media outlet. Except us. Oh, we asked. Didn’t quite lower ourselves to begging and pleading, though, and scored a consolation prize of a review copy of his latest book instead of some face time, but we did ask. I’ll keep my ranting to a minimum about how blogs and online news sites (on any topic) ARE TOO real media, but I can’t help but be a little put out that a devoted fan like myself (who has actually seen every episode of the UK series The F Word) didn’t get to burn toast with Gordo.
At the Toronto Star, food editor Kim Honey cooks a recipe from Ramsay’s book and bungs up the toast. The accompanying video seems a little sketchily edited, and at one point Ramsay asks if he’s been punked. Honey’s a great writer, but if you can make toast and actually set fire to it in a toaster oven (is that even possible? Don’t they have smoke alarms in the Star test kitchen??? Were they spoofing the highly-scripted shenanigans of Ramsay’s shows?), maybe food writing is not so much your forte. Rita DeMontis of the Toronto Sun chose not to cook for Ramsay but instead presented him with a spread of locally made delectables. Thankfully Beppi Crosariol of the Globe and Mail spares us the coquettishness and offers a straight-up interview with info about the potential new restaurant (corner of Yonge & Bloor if he doesn’t choose Vancouver instead), and fans who are so devoted they have the Hell’s Kitchen logo tattooed on their back. Yowza.
Continue reading What’s Cooking - Wednesday, April 30th »