Runner-up Zappoli and his grandmother, who loves his zeppole.

Well, dear reader, we lied to you. We thought workaholic Ted Allen was taking a break this week, but the man and his crack team over at Chopped! are apparently in this one for the long haul. Last night’s episode, “Pods, Grills and Sticky Fingers,” included chefs Maristella Innocenti of Matilda restaurant; Joe Bayley, sous chef at Cobblestone Foods in Brooklyn; Matthew Zappoli of Tre Amici in Long Branch, New Jersey; and Moha Orchid, an NYC-based private chef who claims to have invented couscous sushi (”Instead of rice, it’s couscous!”). Judges this time around were “illustrious restaurateur” (Ted’s words, not ours) Geoffrey Zakarian, Amanda Freitag and Scott Conant. Read more »

Industria Argentina owner Stefano Villa, winner Natalia Machado and a big hunk o' beef.

Last night’s Chopped!—”A Prickly Situation”—featured the culinary talents of chefs Natalia Machado, executive chef at Industria Argentina in Tribeca; Yvan Lemoine, founder of iFoodStudios, a food-oriented media firm; and Ross Gill and Peter Klein of Home and Chow Bar, respectively. Judges for the episode were Aaron Sanchez, Chris Santos and Alex Guarnaschelli.

The appetizer round included the ingredient responsible for the episode’s title, sea urchin, along with brioche and fennel. Gill delivered a sea urchin chowder with fennel-frond salad and brioche croutons, but failed to get his roasted fennel bulbs onto the plate in time. Machado scored presentation points for serving her urchin in a spoon (and flavor points for keeping the roe raw), while Lemoine put forth what has to be one of the most hackneyed dish names we’ve ever heard: “Salvador Dali’s…Um, Spring Afternoon…Sea Urchin Feast.” Keep in mind, this guy runs a company that sells marketing concepts to food brands. Read more »

Julio Lazzarini and his friend the blender.

Last night’s episode of Chopped! demonstrated that, despite the New York–centric nature of the program, even chefs from as far as Wilmington, Delaware, have a shot at the title. That chef—Julio Lazzarini of Orillas Tapas Bar—was joined by Mark Spooner, a veritable mountain of a man and chef with Great Performances catering, “the fourth largest catering company in America,” Massimo Felici of DeGrezia restaurant in midtown, and Christine Campbell, a butcher and private chef working on Long Island. Judges were Aaron Sanchez, Scott Conant and Amanda Freitag—who sported a wispy, almost Shirley Temple–esque ‘do. Read more »

Jason Zukas, executive chef of Bocca Fina in Forest Hills, god of bald men.

Last night, the Food Network rang in the new season of Chopped! with a bevy of sea beans, Thai chilies and according to their tease, “Mexican-inspired desserts” (which translated to ones that included pepitas and jicama). The chefs ran the gamut in terms of name recognition and included chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt, David Rotter, executive chef of Campo on the Upper West Side, Jason Zukas, executive chef of La Bocca Fina in Forest Hills (the self-described “Rocky Balboa of the competition”), and Cheryl Perry, an instructor at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. Judges for the episode were Alex Guarnaschelli, Chris Santos and Marc Murphy. Read on for the blow-by-blow. Read more »

If Ted Allen’s fervent zeal on the Feed’s recent visit to the Chopped! set is any indicator, tonight’s second-season premiere of the Food Network’s competitive cooking show should be just as entertaining as the first. Slated for the inaugural episode are chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt, David Rotter of Campo, Jason Zukas of Bocca Fina and culinary-school instructor Cheryl Perry, all of whom are tasked with deftly handling mystery baskets filled with an “unusually salty vegetable,” Thai chilies and more. Grub Street reports that Rotter will be watching the show from Campo with specials, including $4 beers, $5 well drinks and $8 bar-menu items. We’ll be watching from the comfort of our worn-in couch, hopefully with a bag of $2.89 Giant Cheetos. Check back for the recap tomorrow!—Zachary Feldman

The second season of Food Network’s answer to Top Chef—Chopped—is almost upon us. We were ardent supporters of the first season, and with the show coming back for a 26-episode run, we couldn’t wait to see what Ted Allen had in store for round two. But we didn’t have to wait it out with the rest of y’all. The Feed recently visited the set of Chopped, on location at Eastlight Studios in Long Island City. Watching the procession in real time, from cooking through judgment, was a food-TV enthusiast’s dream; our impressions, after the jump. Read more »

"I was a young punk once too."—Scott Conant

We sat down for the season finale of Chopped! with a tear in our eye. The memories of Hosea’s decidedly nonepic win of Top Chef are starting to fade, and The Chopping Block was an out-and-out failure. Without a weekly dose of Ted Allen, what will we be left with? Dinner: Impossible won’t fill the void…Lord, no. With that in mind, we delighted in last night’s viewing. Read more »

Winner James Briscione with Ted Allen.

It was a time for mac and cheese, cola and bacon on last night’s Chopped!, which included the show’s first West Coast contestant, chef Gypsy Gifford of L.A.’s Cafe Pinot. The other contestants were David Goldwhite, a “private, personal” chef for an Upper East Side family; William Lustberg, a sous chef at the Waldorf-Astoria; and James Briscione, an instructor at ICE whose style is “French cooking with a Southern drawl.” For the first time, both Aaron Sanchez and Alex Guarnaschelli were absent from judging. Usually, they come as a pair, or there’d be one or the other, but last night’s lineup of Chris Santos, Amanda Freitag and Marc Murphy was pleasantly Food Network employee free. Read more »

Last night’s episode, “Coconut, Calamari, Donuts,” turned out (according to Ted Allen) to be “the closest decision ever on the show.” But first, there was a lovely group of competitors: Francesco Peluso of Peluso’s Italian Specialties; Mina Newman, executive chef at Christos Steak House in Astoria; David Ogren, executive chef at Ammos in midtown (and, full disclosure, an acquaintance of The Feed); and Gwen Le Pape, executive chef of all the Frederick’s restaurants. Judges were Alex Guarnaschelli, Aaron Sanchez and Chris Santos. Read more »

Boxer-cum-chef Chris Coleman delivers a KO to his Chopped! competition.

Last night’s episode of Chopped! was a veritable tempest of canned peaches, rice cakes and beets. The contestants were all over the map, from Chris Coleman, the Jamaican boxer-cum-chef, to Cindi Avila, the vegetarian catering manager who—like all vegetarians?—was intent on showing carnivores that they’re, like, totes stupid for eating meat, for really reals. The rest of the cast consisted of Staten Island chef Robert Burmeister and Lucas Manteca (translation from Spanish: “Lucas Lard”), an Argentine surfer who gave up some sexy hang-ten shots for his intro. Judging was courtesy of stalwarts Aaron Sanchez and Alex Guarnaschelli, as well as Chris Santos from Stanton Social. Read more »