Hell's Kitchen

Food Network Fan · 03-26-2008, 10:16 PM

HELL'S KITCHEN

Let's go back to 1994. Nancy Kerrigan is whacked with a metal bar. ER and Friends debut on NBC. Kurt Cobain takes his life at 27. Forrest Gump is running across U.S. screens.
I am in NYC- a modern dancer performing with the Nikolais Louis Dance Company. My best friend, Christian, lives in Hell's Kitchen. Not today's Hell's Kitchen, with its fancy condos and gleaming, trendy restaurants, but a 90's Hell's Kitchen. It is a neighborhood of sirens, bodegas, shadows, and cat-sized rats.
Christian and I have a ritual. Since we are both from restaurant kitchen backgrounds, and since we brew homebrew together, and most importantly, since Christian has cable, we meet at his house with microbrew in hand and turn on the telly. There is a new network called the Food Network and we are entranced. It's like nothing we've seen before. There is this guy, Emeril Lagasse, and he is cooking (kickin' it up a notch) in a way we have never seen on television. It is what we now know as "edutainment". But, for two ex-kitchen guys like us it is a way to re-live the good ol' days and be inspired. Inevitably, it led us to the corner bodegas for supplies and a foraged dinner was prepared.

Let's flash forward to 2008. I am asked to present my wines at a benefit dinner. The chef for the evening is none other than Emeril Lagasse.

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ibcheft · 03-27-2008, 11:04 AM

Good blog, I am delighted to read about people with a passion for what they do and probably do well. They use to have on the FNL network a lady who did wine pairings, Even though I do not drink, I enjoyed her shows. I especially enjoyed the ones of winery's here in the US, featuring Texas. Maybe they will bring it back on another station someday.