Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

If a place like Ruby Tuesday's can't do a good burger it has no reason to exist. Generally, chains like RT or Chili's make decent burgers and fries, the kind of comfort food that you know isn't good for you but still satisfies. The main problem with these places is the tables full of screaming kids, overbearing decor, and indifferent service. That's why I prefer to seek out local joints.

I rated the final three in order as Adam, Aaron, Lisa. I felt that Lisa was just too rigid, and her "Beautiful Dining" or whatever it was gave me queasy reminders of Amy Finley's "Gourment Next Door," and we know what a disaster her selection (by the public) was last year. I thought Adam had a great TV personality and a natural ease on camera> If they really wanted the person most ready to start taping his own show, that was Adam. Plus he would fulfill a demographic FN doesn't touch - young, urban, hip. There seemed to be a prejudice against him from the beginning. They kept questioning his "passion" for food, but he owned and cooked for a restaurant. How much more passionate can you be? They also questioned his food knowledge, but in the episode where had to answer questions at various food venues he got more right than anyone. I think Aaron was the pre-determined winner based on programming decisions, but good for him. I actually would prefer watching any of the top three, and even a couple of earlier eliminated contestants, over some of the reigning food network "stars." How many years have mainstays like RR, Giada, and Paula Dean been on the air? Not to mention overexposure from hosting multiple shows. It's time for change.

KFC was my junk food of choice in college and always retained a certain nostalgic appeal. But after not having eaten it for many years I took my son to a local KFC and was appalled. The chicken was so soggy with grease it was almost inedible. After building this up to my son I felt embarassed. So maybe that was just an isolated experience but I haven't felt any desire to go back since.

I've found that some supermarkets that have in-house cooked food do a decent job with fried chicken. Especially if you get it soon after it's cooked and not when it's been sitting around for hours.

Aaron was clearly the pre-determined winner this year. All series long the judges talked up his strengths and glossed over his weaknesses, including a glaring lack of technical food knowledge, allegedly the reason the judges dismissed several contestants. His performance on the second Vegas episode was a complete disaster, both his cooking and his performance, yet they made a special exception to have all 3 contestants back for the final. Where they had their "pilits" produced by Gordon Elliot, who produces Down Home with The Neelys. Clearly FN saw Aaron as a way to piggy bank on the success of that show. Seems like a nice guy and apparently some of the food he cooked on NFNS was really good, but he lacks communication skills and I don't see anything innovative or particuarly interesting about his food. The judges yapped all season about "culinary point of view." Aaron's, excuse me, "Big Daddy's," is "big bold flavors." What the heck does that mean? Bottom line, this show will be no worse, no better than all the other filler on the FN.

Aaron is now the winner and he has Lisa to think. She saved his bacon in the this show by reminding him to do the chicken parm. Funny, because in an earlier show she completely ignored Kelsey's simple question because she didn't want to give any aid to the competition. Maybe this was Lisa trying to soften her image, as the judges kept telling her. If so, she may have shot herself in the foot. Hope Aaron sends her a dozen roses out of his FN salary.

It is not the least bit racist to propose that Aaron won because the FN execs were looking at big ratings for The Neelys and wanted to have another black show host with a similar personality. It's just the reality of the TV business. And had Adam won I would have said it was because they decided a young, urban, Jewish host would appeal to the widest audience, and if Lisa won it would have been because of the Martha Stewart wannabe demographic. Are people naive enough to think that any competition "reality" show is decided solely on merit?

Aaron wouldn't have been my choice, but I think he will do fine, because remember - what we see in the challenges has nothing to do with the actual business of producing a television show. What finally airs is an edited end product, filtered through teams of producers, writers, consultants. Which brings up how silly the whole Next FN Star concept is. Could any of their reigning "stars" deftly handle the challenge of cleaning a squid without any preparation or coaching? Could Rachel Ray give a technically correct description of some dish she'd never seen before? (The contestants are told to avoid meaningless descriptions like "fabulous" and "delicous." What about "yummo.") Most of the challenges were similarly irrelevant. Shane got the boot in part because he could not relate to an 8 year old girl. Who cares? Is this the Next Nickelodeon Star? (A low point of the season was Shane being mocked by the judges for never having been to France. That was elitist and just plain creepy.)

There are some legitimate reasons to feel that Aaron's choice was predetermined. There is no denying that he bombed in Vegas. He was embarassing in front of the live audience, and his buffet was universally judged the worst of the three. Since cooking was supposed to his strong suit over the other two that should have signalled his elimination. Then there was Susie F.'s earlier "our buddy Aaron" comment, which I actually thought was condescending and somewhat demeaning. On the final show, if the ultimate critera was truly, as the judges said, who could step in front of the camera immediately, then the order of finish should have been Adam, Lisa, Aaron. But then the winner is Aaron, who had said that the cameramen made him nervous. Just another example of the inconsistency from the judges that dominated the entire season. Adam's passion for food is constantly questioned, when the guy owned and cooked for a restaurant. (And when Adam won the buffet challenge, Bobby Flay grudgingly said, "well, he got to do the one thing he knows, smoking meats. Did anyone else detect a note of jealousy?) Some contestants are raked over the coals for not having extensive food knowledge, but then Shane, a graduate of the Culinary Institute, is criticized for having too much book learning. (For that matter, the show's producers are the ones who choose to have 19 or 21 year contestants, who are then criticized for lack of real world experience.)

All in all, this season was not as much of a train wreck as last year, when the "winner" was Amy Finley, who spent the entire series crying that she didn't want to be there, quite once, then was eliminated, then got brought back after the JAG scandal so they could have a final two and won in a sympathy vote. I actually think that any of this year's final three are capable of having a show. In fact, I would prefer any of these three, as well as Shane and Kelsey (maybe teamed together?) to some of the current "stars." Today was the debut of Ask Aida, an "interactive" show, the same concept Adam proposed. Aida is pretty and apparently has an impressive professional resume, but she was completely wooden in front of the camera and way less entertaining than Adam. Maybe all Food Network host should be forced to compete for their jobs a al Next FN Star.

PS - Aaron got his official FN introduction today on Downhome with The Neelys. So if you call people who suggest his pick was based on demographics "racist" then you should call the FN racist for putting him on with The Neelys instead of Giada or Sandra Lee. The Neelys talked about how much they related to Aaron, their similar family backgrounds etc. So clearly there is a strategy to say, hey if you like The Neelys you'll want to watch Big Daddy. That's not racism or affirmative action. That's show business!