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Pizza Hut Is Now Pasta Hut . . . or Is It?

YumSugar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:29:51 -0700

OK, I'm assuming this is a Pizza Hut's way of playing a practical April Fool's joke on all of its customers, but you never can tell these days. It could just be and oddly-timed marketing scheme.

This morning, the Pizza Hut chain unveiled new signage declaring they're now serving pasta so good that they've decided to change their name. The dishes that inspired the name change are the Creamy Chicken Alfredo and Meaty Marinara. The 3-lb. servings - that are baked in a blend of sauce and cheese - will be available for $11.99. Scott Bergen, Pizza Hut's CEO, said:

For 50 years we've been all about pizza. As we've prepared for the launch of our new line of Tuscani Pastas our customers have consistently told us these pastas are so good we should change our name to Pasta Hut. Starting tomorrow, Pizza Hut is Pasta Hut.

I can't imagine they would actually change their name, although I could see them doing it for a short promotional period. Surely the name change must be an April Fool's joke? Either way I want to know, are you curious about their new baked pastas, and would you buy pasta from Pizza Hut?

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Waaah? Anthony Bourdain Rejoins Food Network!

YumSugar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:19:57 -0700

Folks, straight from the mouths of our friends at Food Network, I have exclusive news that Anthony Bourdain is going to be rejoining the crew at FN. His current contract with the Travel Channel ends next year, and FN has wooed him back over to the "dark side." He'll be helming a new travel-like show, which will have him back behind the stove. In A Chef's Brawl - that's the "working" title - Bourdain will travel the globe and try to outcook some of the most famous chefs in the world. Our Food Network friends are describing it as, "Throwdown meets No Reservations, but with a twist of Mark Bittman." Although something tells me they won't mention the Bittman parts in the ads.

To find out what Bourdain had to say about their newly rekindled partnership, read more.

HA! April Fool's! Did you really think Bourdain would join Food Network again?

Although you know you'd watch if he did. Couldn't you imagine? He and Alton Brown could battle over whose travelogue-eating show reigned supreme!

Oh and if he does rejoin Food Network, don't forget that you read it here first!

Hope you have a happy April Fool's day!

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Let's Dish: Hell's Kitchen 4.1

partysugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:13:59 -0700

You know Gordon Ramsay and you've already met the contestants of Hell's Kitchen Season 4, but what did you think of the first episode? I'm incredibly disappointed. Since Ramsay is searching for a chef for his own restaurant, I hoped this season would be more serious than past years.

However, it ended up being like a bad April Fools' joke. It was uncomfortable to watch and I felt bad for the contestants. Watching them slip and trip around Hell's Kitchen was like watching a parody of Top Chef on Saturday Night Live. I miss the heroic, do-good Ramsay of Kitchen Nightmares. To discuss the episode in more depth, and check out my top five Ramsayism of the night, read more.

Throughout the show, I kept asking myself is Ramsay really going to hire an electrician or receptionist to head his first ever Los Angeles eatery? Other questions I had are listed below, so let's talk over the episode.

What did you think of Gordon's disguise?
Is Bobby the most annoying guy or what? Weren't Jason's comments completely sexist?
Isn't it funny when the diners in the restaurant get all pissy? Haven't they ever watched Hell's Kitchen?
What was with the crappy captains?
Don't you think the phrase "for the first time in Hell's Kitchen history" is totally over used?
Did Louross nominate the right two contestants for elimination?
Is it just me, or are the contestants strangely familiar? Bobby is an uglier Tre from Top Chef Season 3. Louross reminds me of Hung, also from Top Chef Season 3. Rosann could be Nikki from the current season of Top Chef's cousin. And Dominic, well he looks like Robin Williams.

Finally, if you missed the episode here are my favorite Ramsay quotes:

On Craig's oversized chef hat: Little boy syndrome downstairs?
On Petrozza's hen in a pumpkin: Let's see what we got for trick or treat, shall we? Right now looking at that mess, it makes me want to stick your f***ing head in there.
On Vanessa's horrible attempt to be a captain: Morning Vanessa, wakey wakey, get a grip.
On Matt's presence in the kitchen: He's standing there pissing his pants looking for his white chocolate caviar tartare crap.
On Louross stepping up as captain: Thank god someone has a f***ing set of balls.

Photo courtesy of Fox.

What Do You Know About PB&Js?

partysugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:01:51 -0700

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, and today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly day! To celebrate, I've put together a little quiz that tests your knowledge of the classic children's sandwich. If you love fun foodie facts, take the quiz now!

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Yum's April Must Haves

YumSugar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:29:51 -0700

No fooling around, April is here! I've gone through a bunch of products and have come up with a list of things you simply must have. So ring in Spring! Check out what we discovered for you by clicking the "Start Slideshow" button below.

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Top Chef 3.9 - Second Helping (aka RWII) Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:32:31 -0700

In RWII (Restaurant Wars 2), the cheftestants received a chance to correct their mistakes from last week's episode. They were still divided into two teams - Restaurant April (CJ, Brian, Tre and Casey) and The Garage (Howie, Sara, Dale and Hung) - and each team had to redecorate their restaurants and tinker with their menus in hope for a flawless evening. But before they could begin, there was (of course) a quickfire challenge. This time they were greeted by both Padma and Chef Tom. To find out what happened next, read more

The quickfire was a Mise en Place relay challenge. The first contestant had to shuck 15 oysters, the next had to dice 5 onions, the third had to break down 4 chickens and the last member had to crack and separate 3 eggs, then beat the whites until they were stiff enough to remain in a bowl upside down for five seconds. Brian smoked Howie on the oysters, but Casey ruined her lead by meticulously chopping her onions. Eventually her slow as molasses style chopping caused them to lose the lead and the challenge. The Garage is declared victor and they receive $200 additional dollars for wine, plus the assistance of a guest sommelier - which later turns out to be Stephen from season one. Did anyone else see this coming?

Next they head back to their restaurants and work on the style. Interior designer Christopher Ciccone - Madonna's brother - works with them to fine tune their design and although The Garage - soon to be named Quatre - looks much nicer and more put together, Dale says it looks like "Valentine's Day threw up all over it."

During the service, Chef Tom decides to stay in the kitchen while the other judges, including guest judge Geoffrey Zakarian and four former TC contestants, are seated up front. Back there he gets to see how Sara commands the kitchen as executive chef, and how Tre just lets things go out.

Meanwhile out in the front of the houses, the judges hate half of Restaurant April's food. They even call Tre's beet dish one of the worst dishes they've had in a long time. Over at the other restaurant, they wonder why in the world Dale is in a short sleeve shirt and jeans.

In the end the renamed Garage is declared the winning team and Sara, for her assertiveness in the kitchen, is declared the final winner. This means it's sayonara to either CJ, Brian, Tre or Casey. At this point I started panicking, I realized that Casey and Brian both received very little screen time, so it couldn't have been either of them. This meant it was either Tre or CJ - both of whom I thought would make it to the finals - who would be packing their knives. I couldn't figure out which would make me feel worse, but seeing Tre gracefully say farewell was definitely heartbreaking. Bravo you had me fooled! Even the blogging community assumed Tre had made it to the end, how could you do this to us?!?

Now, after wiping my tears, I have a few things to ask you:

Dale absolutely hates the designer, but is very professional about it. Would you have been able to be so nice?
Are Bravo's editors finally learning? Dale received so much screen time, I definitely thought he was either winning or losing.
Could you chop onions faster than Casey?
Was Stephen an addition to the team or an obstacle?
I know it's due to editing, but what did Brian do last night?
Did you love the scenes of Chef Tom eating in the kitchen as much as I did?
Were you surprised by Sara's assertiveness?
Wasn't it great when Joey said the lamb was undercooked and therefore must have been Howie's?
Who are you rooting for?

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