Last night's episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent ("Salome in Manhattan") featured a plot revolving around a young, once-hot chef struggling to make a comeback while biding his time as host of a morning cooking spot on a local TV station. His girlfriend (and socialite daughter of a possible investor) is murdered, and detectives Wheeler and Nichols* catch the case. While there wasn't as much cheffage as I would have liked (look to "Death Roe" [Season 4, Episode 15] for a more chef-heavy—and dark—episode), the show did feature enough NYC restaurant-world verisimilitude to entertain. There's the young chef whose first restaurant was critically acclaimed but financially doomed, thanks to a bumbling business partner. There's a hip-hop star turned... More