NEW COOKING SHOW

FIRST COURSE Photo courtesy of: www.cookingchanneltv.com
Wanna Play with Fire?

If you order your chicken wings "hot" and you think salsa should only be sold "hot" and just can't get enough of everything SPICY, then Heat Seekers is right up your alley. Heat Seekers takes Chefs Aaron Sanchez and Roger Mooking hunting down spicy food across the country and they found a helping of hot stuff at three local restaurants in our very own MIA...

At Aunt I's, they sampled hot jerk chicken made naturally, with Scotch bonnet peppers. The pair ate spicy ceviche at CVI.CHE105 then headed to Mercadito for the "hottest drink on Earth" the Vato Loco. It's a tequila-based cocktail made with seven chillies, pepper-infused simple syrup and pinapple puree. The $12 Vato Loca is being offered for $7 after 10 p.m. Wanna try it? maybe you should bring an attorney since guests have to sign a waiver before ordering.

FIRST COURSE
Up on the Chopping Block

Following suit of hit shows like Hell’s Kitchen and Top Chef, NBC debut its own incarnation tonight (March 11th) called The Chopping Block. Those of you whom have been sitting in a depression induced comatose since the season finale of Top Chef are saved.

Hosted by Chef Marco Pierre White (who is as well known in Britain as his former protégé, Gordon Ramsay) the show offers a refreshing new format. The two teams of 16 contestants are made up of pairs — married couples, siblings, mothers and daughters — and they all have hard-luck stories and financial hurdles that lend a virtuous streak to their quests to open restaurants in New York. Kind of invokes that movie cliché’ of the Midwestern girl who packs it all up and moves to the big city in search of her dreams! Wait, no maybe, it definitely does. Where I typically expect white uniform donned snarling chefs, I find that NBC’s franchise lends itself to a more “The Biggest Loser” persona - with constant flashbacks and over the top montages of tears and triumph. Sigh. As corny as it sounds, it all actually works together in a batch of warm gooey reality TV goodness.