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I have lived in Pittsburgh all my life and I cannot understand why people love Primanti's. The sandwich is very dry from the french fries.

Anthony Bourdain is an intelligent guy that cracks me up when in interviews, but his show bores me to death.

Giada's food sucks. It has no flavor! What the heck is AB thinking? Please get rid of Sandra Lee, I get a headache when I hear her speak. I feel like everyone is just repeating catch phrases that the other person said. We need ppl that actually know what they're saying. Bring back Mario, Emeril, Wolfgang Puck, hell even bring back Ready Set Cook!

@gabagool
The Barefoot Contessa was the name of the Hamptons gourmet food store that Ina bought years ago. Her husband spends his week at Yale and comes home on Fridays. Her friends are a little creepy, but so what!

Paula Deen is probably a decent home cook; she tells you that she isn't a chef ~ which is obvious to anyone who ever cooks anything that isn't loaded with butter, cream cheese and sour cream. And/or deep fried. That stunt with the Krispy Kreme donuts as the hamburger bun, still makes me gag a little. I do find her antics mildly amusing and sometimes grossly embarrassing

A couple things here.

Who, in their right mind and in Gods green earth would EVER, EVER pick Ida (hubby, I need my bills paid) Garten (the barefoot part makes me vomit just a little) over Paula Deen? Just who? Well besides a guy who loves reminding his viewers every friggen week about how many drugs he did or how much he loves drinking.

Ida Garten (does she EVER wear ANYTHING but denim shirts big enough to wrap a house in?) does NOTHING. Besides making sure that all the viewers know she is a happening, PC, fag hag.

Deen, on the other had, represents a small part of what southern hospitality is all about. Yeah, it might not be healthy (though wait a few years, it will become healthy, everything does or vice versa) I think the fact that her food represents those backwards nasty southern states may be a good chunk of the reason she gets so much flack.

Kinda like the reason our Bigfoot COntessa is so well liked. "OH you must use GOOD salt, the kind that costs $$$ a pound! Its the GOOD stuff. Yeah ok. Keep selling $35 hot chocolate mix that includes a spatula you bought at walmart.

I give AB a pass because he understands the GREATNESS of Batali. BUt after that.....I don't know. For someone that fits the FN profile of all show and no go.............he should pipe down......don't SOME drugs make you mellow?

Anthony Bourdain is so opinionated that inspite of his inebriation in this video he clearly and concisely provided spot on analysis of what troubles Food TV. He recognizes the limited talent on the network and I am proud to say that I agree. He is an alcohol fumed and formerly smokey breath of (fresh) air. Isn't it a shame his type of candor hasn't pervaded more of our society!

I caught this guy on TV one night. he was in Egypt and was acting sooo rough. Whew-hew! I couldn't turn it off. He explores the real life of all these countries-and satisfies the my sometimes obsessive curiosities about what really goes on behind the tourism brochures. I really look forward to journeying with him to all these countries-and boy does he make me want to cook. Frankly, Rachel Ray, Nigela, etc-boring! Anthony-cool dude!

Daaa charlie dude! anyone that's from pgh. knows the joke of spelling it "stillers"!!!! You obviously do not!

GO STILLERS!!!

i waited a long time to go there. i went to the one in rosslyn farms. i was so dissapointed. asked for fried onions and fried green peppers..what a joke... they were heated in the microwave. shame on you! gonna try the one on the strip. the only good thing there was the soda pop!

In defense of Sandra Lee: Her style of cooking fills a need. Not everyone in the US is a gourmand, who aspires to perfect the making of scratch puff pastry, clarify their own chicken stock using egg whites and shells, or make their own demi glace using 25 lbs. of beef bones. Many of the cooks in the US are kids who cook for self preservation, because mom and dad work, or mom simply hates to cook and they loathe the thought of another night of Mack and Cheese. I have no problem with Giada, Paula, Mario, Bobby, or the erstwhile Emeril. I've gotten good ideas from all of them. I have been using a Wolfgang Puck roast turkey recipe, from one of his old shows, for years. Unfortunately, RichardCrystal is correct. The Food Network is no longer about food; the shows are about personality and providing entertainment. The Food Network SHOULD air shows that appeal to a variety of cooking levels, and pocket books. Alas, today, in their effort to make everything appear effortless, the Food Network has dummed everything down to the most basic of levels, leaving serious cooks to hunger (excuse the pun) for shows that are more substantial. Despite its shortcomings, I do watch. Michael Chiarello is a personal favorite and watching Cat Cora lay waste to opponents in Kitchen Stadium is an event not to be missed. And despite her plebian affectation, Rachel Ray is the one to watch if you want to make something that is tasty and uncomplicated. One of her ideas, serving crudités’ in a flower pot, was a terrific inspiration. I served a simple spaghetti meal to some friends and served everyone’s individual antipasto/crudités in a clay flower pot. It made for a most charming presentation. I just wish the Food Network would give us less “Paula’s Party” and more of Wolfgang Puck.

Primanti's is the best. My friends and I used to cut school and explore Pittsburgh back in the day, and Primanti's was always on the list (we were from the sticks). Also, they served me a beer once when I was *ahem* not quite of age :-P. I really miss Pittsburgh, and even though there is better food to be had in the world, nothing really compares to something you enjoyed during your formative years.

My daughter is now 3 and a half and since a trip to Spain at 15 months, her favorite food has been olives. And she decided too put grated parmesan cheese on her cherry tomatoes. Parents can offer food but they cannot make kids enjoy it.

my boys are now 25 and 20--the 25 yr old lives with his father somewhere in south america where they have a restaurant--dad also had a small place in the south of france when 25 yr old was young. Enough said for him... 20 yr old grew up with me and as a single mother i tried my damndest to everything fresh and from scratch--i was then and still am a personal chef- and when he was a toddler all of my friends wanted to know how i "programmed" the boy to wolf down all these vegetables, brown rice, okara patties, tofu stir fry, grilled salmon and the like. I dunno, i'd answer, i just cook these things and he eats them, i'd say. Then enter Grammy. Even in the wonderful farmer's market fresh and organic pleasures of the Bay Area she found Jack in the box. (crack in the box, as i came to call it) Day-glo mac and cheese. wrench (haha) dip for broccoli and carrots--previously unwanted ... I can remember taking son #2 to Hobee's restaurant on saturday mornings for our leisurely breakfasts and how the sweet waitress we always had never batted an eye when son asked for "spicy" with his lentils and rice. (Tabasco.) Now at age 20 and a college student, he's always on the run. eats a lot of pizza. (groan). works in the local healthfood-wholefood grocery co-op where i cooked in the cafe when he was younger. Still comes to my home for meals occasionally, but is always there for the meatloaf and mash, which is usually turkey meatloaf and garlic-parmesan mash; still likes that white stuff on his "crudites". Oh well. he's happy. i'm happy. what else matters? BTW, i certainly don't think that baby Bourdain will grow into an elitist snob because she has an adventurous dad with a great palate. I can just see No Reservations, the second generation, Tony and baby doing the world and happily eating street food together.

My kids, who are now 19 and 17, will eat anything and always have. The "rule" has always been - you don't have to eat it if you don't like it, but you DO have to taste it.

My daughter recently got a job waiting tables in a local "Italian" restaurant and she was commenting yesterday on how picky most PARENTS are about their kids' meals.

She said the kids want to try stuff, but the parents are ordering their pasta dry (would YOU like to eat dry pasta?) or they want all these weird substitutions. One lady told her there wasn't anything on the menu that kids would like and my daughter told her that SHE had been eating there since she was a baby and that she had tried everything on the menu by the time she was 5, thank you very much. She then made some recommendations for the lady's little girl and the little girl ate everything.