Madison Wing Dings

For me and my partner 2009 was the year of the chicken wing. A side effect of our impending parenthood dictated we ate a low carb diet so we became regulars at Buffalo Wild Wings aka BW3 (I know that’s not their name anymore but deal with it, I’m a creature of habit) and Quaker Steak & Lube. While our carb restriction has eased since the kid came into the world, we still pick up the occasional wing and have now included Madison’s newest wingery, Wingstop. So in honor of 2009 it seemed like a good idea to do a little comparison.

Wing Quality
The key to a good wing for me is the meat and how it’s cooked. It should be pretty hard to fuck up a wing but if you’ve ever sampled Pizza Hut’s version you know it can be done. Quaker has ok meat quality. I often find wings with little to no meat and their boneless wings are simply grilled chunks of breast meat that are visually unappealing. BW3 also is inconsistent with their traditional wings all though I’d say the quality of meat in their boneless is excellent. Unfortunately their boneless wings are often over breaded. Wingstop came out on top for both traditional and boneless. The traditional wings are always meaty and the boneless have good quality meat with the perfect amount of breading. The amount of sauce on both is perfect too as BW3 is too inconsistent (over and under sauced) and Quaker’s traditional are often over sauced.
Winner: Wingstop
Runner Up: BW3
Last Place: Quaker

Sauces
Wingstop is limited to eight sauces which doesn’t make it much of a fight against the numerous offerings of both Quaker and BW3. I’ve only sampled two sauces at Wingstop, and the Cajun sauce with dry rub is perhaps my new favorite in town. That being said their limited list and my own inexperience with said list leaves them at the bottom of this category with an incomplete. Quaker is solid in the sauce area but not spectacular. The Arizona Ranch is a unique sauce that I’ve never had anywhere else. The Buckeye BBQ is a good hot BBQ sauce but certainly not destination dining worthy. The Blazin’ sauce at BW3 is my favorite of the super hot variety and their spicy garlic is my partner’s favorite. I’ve probably worked my way through about two thirds of their sauces and the only negative experience I had was with their Parmesan Garlic (which should have been evident in retrospect).
Winner: BW3
Runner Up: Quaker
Incomplete: Wingstop

Sides and Other Menu Items
Wingstop smartly limits their menu and in doing so is able to focus on cooking those wings just right. I’ve only sampled their skin on fries but they are excellent and have a nice spice mixture served over them. Their coleslaw is supposedly equally as good but I haven’t tried it yet. BW3 has both potato wedges and circular “chips” that are usually pretty good. Again the various BW3 kitchens seem to have a problem with consistency but when they’re good they’re good. Their other menu items do not fare as well. The burgers are overcooked with buns that are too pronounced. Their ribs are a crime against BBQ enthusiasts everywhere and are way overpriced for their subpar meat. Quaker on the other hand has an extensive menu that is executed professionally and has exceeded my expectations over and over again. Their steaks are all grilled nicely and have good flavor. The burgers tend to overshadowed by their toppings but are still well done. While I usually prefer thin onion rings, their traditional “fat” ring is one of the best in town. Their salads are also done well with good fresh produce. The only negative is their fries which are pedestrian at best and lack seasoning.
Winner: Quaker
Runner Up: Wingstop
Last Place: BW3

Service
I wonder how the execs at BW3 feel about becoming the poster child for every restaurant service jab I’ve heard over the last year. Even though they have their to-go bags inspected they constantly fail to accurately bag up an order. Likewise their table delivery in house is similarly troubled. “The customer is always wrong” seems to be their motto. Take for example an experience I had this summer. I was calling in our weekly pregnancy take out order and was told by the staff that since it was 49 cent wing night I could only order take out in person. I asked why and was informed that it would not be fair to put my order ahead of someone dining in. I agreed and said I’d be happy to wait but that I’d rather wait in the comfort of my home as opposed to their hard stiff chairs by the door. Again I was told this wasn’t a possibility. I explained that I’d been ordering wings from them about once a week for almost nine months and that their food had been a savior for my pregnant partner. Apparently this loyalty meant nothing to them. When I asked to speak to the manager I was hung up on. When I called back and spoke to an assistant manager I was hung up on again. Calls and emails to both their corporate office and to the head manager were never returned. In short BW3 lost me as a loyal customer that night. This is just one example but I’ve heard enough similar stories from friends and associates to know this a trend. On the complete opposite side are Quaker and Wingstop. Quaker also has a cheap wing night and I’ve never had a problem getting take out from them. In addition they are always happy to accommodate special requests. Wingstop clearly knows they’re the new kid in town and are putting their best foot forward. They’ve been giving out free samples of their sides to folks and their staff shows great patience with new customers. They have counter service only but their servers are more polished than the wait staff and bartenders at BW3.
Winner: Quaker
Runner Up: Wingstop
Epic Fail: BW3

Final Verdict: If you’re looking for purely a wing experience I’d rank them 1) Wingstop, 2) Quaker and 3) BW3. If you’re looking to dine in I’d rank them 1) Quaker 2) Wingstop and 3) BW3. While I’m sure 2010 doesn’t hold as many wings for me, two of these three places have certainly earned my repeat business and the third will still probably get some if only out of habit and curiosity.

Best of 2009

Best TV Drama of 2009: Lost
The show perfected the act of telling stories in different spaces and times. Whether it was with the Oceanic 6 back in LA or the folks left behind on the island, you always felt like something important was happening. Clearly the best season since the first, and an ending that was both mystifying and completely open ended. That my folks is Lost at its best, TV that makes your brain work almost to the point of madness.

Best TV Comedy of 2009:Modern Family and Parks & Recreation (tie)
I was late in coming to the Modern Family crowning but now I absolutely worship at their feet. A great ensemble packaged with smart writing that often has you rewinding to see what jokes you might have laughed over. While Parks & Recreation started out slow in the Spring, Amy Pohler and company have stepped up their game in season 2 and given us numerous fall out of the chair laughing moments. The episode “Practice Date” is my favorite 30 minutes of TV this year. Funny that both of these shows use the faux doc storytelling tool and do so successfully despite the feeling that The Office has ruined that trick for everyone.

Best Reality TV of 2009: Top Chef
While the end of season five of Top Chef was boring and uninspiring, season 6 aka Las Vegas was the finest season yet. Sure it could have used some Tony Bourdain or Eric Ripert sightings but the quality of the big four Jen, Brian, Mike, and Kevin made this season the most mouthwatering yet. The quality of food really came across our LCD and plasma screens and made me want to travel around the country to enjoy all these chefs.

Best Ongoing Comic Book of 2009: Batman & Robin
***Spoiler Alert***
When Grant Morrison moved Bruce Wayne off the chessboard he did so in such a convoluted way that many readers couldn’t care less who the new Batman was. Thankfully Morrison righted the ship quickly and has given readers the successor we always wanted and a Robin who we never knew we wanted. The inverted dynamic between Batman and Robin is refreshing and the reader finds themselves more wrapped up in their story than worrying about the inevitable return of Master Bruce. It also doesn’t hurt that Morrison has an all star team of artists working with him including Frank Quitely.

Best Limited Series/Graphic Novel of 2009: Blackest Night
Hard to believe in this day and age that something actually lives up to its hype. After a somewhat disappointing DC event in Final Crisis many were suffering from event fatigue. Geoff Johns however managed to find the cure for that fatigue by focusing an event on the core DC characters acting like core DC characters. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen have never been better. While I’m reading many of the tie-ins it’s completely possible that you could enjoy this series all on its own. Best part is that we’re only through issue 5 of 8.

Best Movie of 2009: Inglorius Basterds
Certainly this was a polarizing pic. I’ve heard the phrase self indulgent and unfunny thrown around over and over again. With respect I’d have to disagree and say this was escapism at its best. Tarantino continues to grow with every picture and I loved how this time he didn’t just pay tribute to one genre, he threw a bunch in blender and the results were spot on. He also continues to draw performances out of unexpected people. Who knew Eli Roth could act? (Avatar and/or Up in the Air could change this category over the next few weeks)

2009 Entertainer of the Year: Lady Gaga
At the beginning of the year I heard “Just Dance” and thought it was ok. Then I heard “Poker Face” and I was intrigued. “Love Game” was an instant download and by the time Lady Gaga hit the stage at the MTV Awards to do “Paparazzi”, I was on the edge of my seat. That performance along with her Saturday Night Live gig made me devoted fan. Her music is great but her performances are unique events that you feel like you can’t miss. Throw in the video of the year and song of the year “Bad Romance” and you’ve got someone who I’ll forever identify 2009 with.

First Impressions: Cafe Porta Alba

When Café Porta Alba opened downtown Madison a few years back, I never had the chance to visit. Based on the ruckus raised when it closed I clearly knew I had missed out. So ever since it was announced that Café Porta Alba would be reopening in Hilldale, I’ve been stalking the empty space.

Since we did takeout, we can’t speak to the whole dining experience but we can certainly cover some basic thoughts. My partner stopped in to get our order and remarked that the space was warm and inviting. She also said it was packed. Clearly I wasn’t the only one stalking the space. She also noted that owner Vincenzo Pugliese was in the house giving every dish coming out of the kitchen a thorough look over.



While the pizza was the star, we did start with two salads. The caprese had amazing tomatoes for this time of year and the balsamic vinegar was of outstanding quality. The fresh mozzarella however did not hold up as well to the other ingredients. The bresaola salad on the other hand was a four star knockout. Again it was simple but the key was the balance of top quality ingredients. The bresaola itself was just as it should be. The paper thin dried beef had the color of a beet and a salty flavor that was only accentuated by the shaved parmigiano. As for the pizza, I always have a margherita pie on my first visit to a Neapolitan pizza joint. The same fresh mozz that was a disappointment in the caprese salad was a stand out on the pie. The crust was perfectly salty and cooked to perfection in its 900 degree oven. We also tried the salsiccia pizza with their wood oven sausage and mushrooms. The sausage was so good that while I know that minimal toppings are a trademark of Neapolitan pizza, I was ready to throw that rule out the window. Even the mushrooms were of noticeable quality. The menu also features some pastas and some deserts that I will definitely be back to try.

While some might argue that if you’ve had one Neapolitan pizza you’ve had them all, I find the joy lies in the differences. It is inevitable that comparisons will be made between Café Porta Alba and my other Madison fav, Pizza Brutta. I will say that while a Neapolitan pizza is not intended to travel, Pizza Brutta’s does travel better than Café Porta Alba. On the other hand I must say the sausage from Café Porta Alba is superior. The pies from Café Porta Alba are larger. On the flip side while I know it’s traditional not to slice a Neapolitan pizza, I appreciate that extra step from Brutta. I also love the flatbread that accompanies Brutta’s salads which is something that was missing from Café Porta Alba. Differences between the two places sure, but certainly enough room for both in my stomach. Without a doubt Café Porta Alba has already established a place in my rotation of favorites.

Café Porta Alba, 558 N Midvale Blvd, Madison WI 608-441-0202

Top Chef Restaurant Wars Past and Present

While I no longer do weekly recaps of Top Chef, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk some Restaurant Wars. This challenge has been a highlight of many a season and has often resulted in some surprise winners and some surprise departures. As the Las Vegas crew speeds toward their dinner with destiny I thought it would be a good chance to recap past seasons’ wars and preview Wednesday’s episode.

Season 1
The original Restaurant Wars episode not only introduced the concept but also was the home of season one’s most memorable line as Dave told Tiffani, “I’m not your bitch, bitch.” Despite the lack of team harmony Dave, Tiffani, and eventual winner Harold took the challenge leading to Miguel’s departure. It was also the episode with guest judge Jeffrey Chodorow who might be best remembered as the jerk that wasn’t Rocco DiSpirito on The Restaurant.

Season 2
In episode 10 we saw another edition of Restaurant Wars although the term was not used. This was one of the few wars where the eliminated chef was probably the least talented at the time as Mike went home. Overall though both sides turned out really lackluster products that left the judges flummoxed. This episode again produced one of the most memorable moments of the season when lady-killer Sam tried to talk trash about Wylie Dufresne. Karma kicked Sam in the butt down the line.

Season 3
This was the season where Restaurant Wars truly became the defining point of a Top Chef season. After both teams initially turned in horrible efforts the judges declared no winner or loser and said let’s do it again. This was also the challenge where we saw a favorite to win head home. Tre who had been neck and neck with eventual winner Hung, took charge of his kitchen and thus took the blame when his team failed. I remember feeling just horrible as he packed his knives and walked out the door especially considering some of the riff raff that remained. I still wonder what a Tre/Hung finale would have looked like.

Season 4
No one seemed to learn from Tre, as Dale stepped up and then stepped out. His failure to harness his kitchen which featured classic Top Chef villain Lisa ended his rather promising tenure on the show. He also paired scallops and butterscoth...yuck! Meanwhile, the other team scrapped out a win in large part thanks to future winner Stephanie. This was really Stephanie's coming out party as a contender. My favorite part of this episode was that Anthony Bourdain filled in for Chef Tom although he did dial down the venom a bit.

Season 5
Looking back on last season, I’m more and more impressed with this year’s crop of chefs. The New York cast was mired in mediocrity and that really showed when they did Restaurant Wars. Leah was pigheaded and ignored the most talented chef on her team and Radhika chose to work the front of the house despite it being her concept. It came down to these two and Radhika exited thanks to her horrific service and complete loss of control in the kitchen. Sadly this episode will also be remembered as the one where Hosea and Leah did the tongue tango.

Season 6
Wow season 5 had some slim pickings in terms of quality. On the other hand season 6 features a top four of chefs that cannot be rivaled from season’s past. For that reason I’d expect the B team of Mike Isabella, Laurine, Eli and yes even Robin to survive (speaking of surviving did you hear that Robin survived breast cancer). I’m guessing we’re going to see one of the big four exit this week. From the previews we can see that the Voltaggio brothers are on a team and Kevin (aka Yukon Cornelius) and Jennifer on the other. This will be about who can manage their staff better. The brothers will have to contend with Robin based on the preview, so that could be dicey. Early money is that unfortunately one of them is going home.

Madison Restaurant Review: Bucatini

This past weekend my partner and I had our first “date night” since the birth of our child. Dinner and movie seemed like the simplest of plans. Little did we know that dealing with our 3 month old would be easier than a meal at Bucatini in Middleton.

The service on our visit was so bad that it became laughable and certainly overshadowed the food. On a previous lunch visit that was close to the restaurant’s opening, I thought the service was a little rough but chalked it up to opening irregularities. Now nine months later I must say nothing has been ironed out, in fact it is much, much worse. The place seems to do a brisk business but thanks to its size, waits are few and far between. Perhaps the management should either reduce the number of tables or increase wait staff because we learned that just because we got seated, didn’t mean we’d get served. After 15 minutes of no water and no waiter, my partner went up to the two hosts. Neither apologized upon hearing the news and one asked which table we were. My partner pointed me out but the hostess that had seated us asked again for clarification. This time my partner pointed me out once more, and said, “We’re the only table in our area with no food or drink on the table." To top it off we had two tables surrounding us that were seated after us enjoying their drinks already. After a few more minutes we were greeted by a waiter whom I will call Weapon X. Just like Wolverine himself this guy had horned hair and while he did not have adamantium claws, he did have finger nails that protruded at least 4 inches from the end of his fingers. Weapon X welcomed us with a “Gooood evening” that sounded like he should be answering the door at Daddy Warbuck’s house. Switching to a hushed tone he did apologize for the delay, but he also provided an excuse. He explained that our intended waitress was serving a large group and that we got lost in the shuffle. Note to servers, apologies go a long way but excuses don’t. We ordered both our drinks and entrees and thought our meal was back on track. Weapon X returned quickly with our drinks but our confidence in him took a shot when he asked me to repeat my order. Still our salads and entrees arrived very quickly. While I’d love to move on to the food, I must sadly share another service mishap. We finished our meal and I noticed the movie started in 40 minutes. While my partner thought we had plenty of time, I said we should pull out our payment for the next time Weapon X stopped by. Unfortunately I was right as we waited another 25 minutes before he stopped by again to check on us. Adding insult to injury was the fact that he checked on an adjacent table 5 times while we waited. In review it was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had service wise and if we weren’t so caught up in enjoying our one night out, it could have turned out far worse.

There was of course food involved as well and while it was mostly positive, it was marred by inconsistency. Our house salads were made with very fresh greens, a simple balsamic dressing, and some of the very best shaved parmesan I’ve ever enjoyed. However I’d question the $3.99 price tag. On a previous visit I had enjoyed a rigatoni with pancetta, artichoke hearts in a white wine sauce, so this time around, I wanted to sample one of their red sauces. Their version of eggplant parmesan provided me that opportunity. The eggplant was cut perfectly thin but unfortunately was over breaded. When I complained, my partner reminded me that our state motto could be “when in doubt, add more breading”. Despite the over breading though, the accompanying sauce was satisfying and hit all the right notes. The highlight though, was the simple penne with fontina cheese sauce that accompanied the main dish. It was creamy without being rich and the saltiness played well with the marinara sauce on the eggplant. My partner opted for a bacon wrapped filet with gorgonzola cheese. Advertised at 7oz. the dish arrived with a piece of meat that was undercooked and no more than 4oz. We tend to order medium rare and don’t mind when the kitchen delivers something more on the rare side, however other patrons would not be as forgiving and no one should forgive that small of a piece of meat especially at a cost of $18.99. Again though the stars of the plate were the sauces. The gorgonzola cheese sauce around the steak was mild yet tangy and the porcini mushroom sauce that enveloped the accompanying risotto was exceptional. Too bad the risotto was overcooked and mushy. In short the kitchen excels at sauces but seems to miss the boat on the main items on the plate. Furthermore, this type of inconsistency does not make one forget about questionable service as other kitchens can.

Bucatini is in a space that formally housed a Macaroni Grill in Greenway Station. While they could have taken the easy route and slipped into the building, I must credit the ownership in making plenty of physical changes so that the restaurant sheds any comparisons to the chain uniformity that once marked the space. Unfortunately I cannot give them much credit for anything else.

Bucatini, 1611 Deming Way, Middleton, WI 608-824-0004

Madison Restaurant Review: Picasso's

Picasso's is a restaurant with ups and downs but the ups are food related and the downs aren't enough to chase away customers...yet. Located off of Verona Road on Madison's Westside, Picasso's sits in an unassuming strip mall. The space itself is nice with an open kitchen centered in the room. There are tables on both sides and then a huge covered open-air patio off the dining room. While the center kitchen makes for good eye candy the heat of the giant pizza ovens creates some interesting climate situations. On multiple visits the front door has been propped open to let the heat out. This helps the tables to the left of the room but can leave some of the tables on the right a bit chilly. Also this certainly lets the flies in. The tables are rather barren and don't even include silverware. For the quality of the food you'd expect silverware at the table.

Speaking of the food this is certainly the best part of the place and since it’s a restaurant that's a good thing. The fried portabella mushrooms are a nice starter and certainly tasted fresh. The Creole dipping sauce was a little off though as there was a tanginess that didn't seem to belong. Pizza is a strong suit for Picasso’s when it comes to both traditional pies and more gourmet ones. Their homemade Italian sausage stars on your more normal pies, as does their sauce. The mac and cheese pizza is one of the best I've had although the fettuccine that came on top instead of traditional macaroni was a bit odd. The gorgonzola rib eye pizza was the favorite on our last visit. The thinly sliced meat stood out against the rest of the ingredients but the bite of the cheese was still there too. The same combination is featured in a pasta along with haystack onions and a garlic cream sauce. The steak was again amazing and made me wonder what the kitchen could do with a piece of meat all by itself. Another winning pasta dish was the cannelloni stuffed with the aforementioned sausage. You can choose your sauce and I went with the alfredo, which had outstanding flavor and avoided the pitfall of being too heavy. The fish fry has a lake perch option that always excites me and Picasso's delivers a lightly battered rendition that is very tasty. The coleslaw is solid but the fries are pretty pedestrian. While I have not had it at the restaurant, the stuffed chicken breast is another winner. Picasso’s catered one of the best wedding meals I’ve ever had and served the chicken stuffed with gouda and accompanied by risotto. The two dishes juicy and creamy respectively. The burgers and hot dogs that round out the menu are ok but not in the same league as the entrees and pizzas.

Service is inconsistent at best. On one visit we were forgotten about after our drink order. On another refills of water and silverware delivery needed double mentions. Then again the owner is almost always present and he makes a point to visit each table. This helps the place achieve a neighborhood vibe that almost makes you forget toilets that are often dirty or the odd temperature fluctuations.


Picasso's, 5266 Williamsburg Way, Madison, WI 608-271-8440

Pop Has Eaten Me

As you can see I've given the old blog a fresh coat of paint and with it I've gained some perspective. When I started this blog, I had just come off an enjoyable but unsuccessful run in independent film as a writer and producer. I thought the blog would be an outlet for my writing and it certainly has been. However, somewhere along the line I stopped thinking of popwilleatme.com as an outlet for my writing and more as a second job complete with income possibilities. Over the last few years I've junked up the blog with ads, t-shirts, and more ads all in the name of making a few bucks. Also I've treated my writing as a chore instead of a joy. Take for example the fact that I recently tried to cover three reality shows in weekly columns. Reality shows tend to be easy topics as they are filled with idiots and drama, but they also demand quick turnaround from viewing to posting. Back in the day I focused on more on movies and narrative TV shows. Now I've become a slave to reality TV and I think it shows in my writing and my enthusiasm.

With that said, popwilleatme.com will still exist and I still plan to post often, but I'm going to focus more on quality and less on quantity. The greatest joy I've had in recent months has been writing my restaurant reviews. These will certainly continue even though I know many loyal readers live outside the Midwest haunts I frequent. Also if you've grown to appreciate my rants on reality TV, don't worry. Just because I'm not going to write weekly columns, that doesn't mean I'm axing reality shows out of my diet. Beside the occasional column I'll certainly be tweeting up a storm at twitter.com/popwilleatme on reality shows and all other manners of pop culture.

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."- Sir Winston Churchill

“If reality TV has taught us anything, it's that you can't keep people with no shame down.”- Liz Lemon

Runway Roundup: Week 3

A rough week had filled me with piss and vinegar but thankfully last night’s episode of Project Runway brought a smile to my face. Praise the TV! Unfortunately it did not return the brain cells I’ve misplaced so this roundup will be brief and bulleted.

• Overall the surf challenge was a fun use of this season’s LA location. Although, I thought that many designers however missed the surf aesthetic.

• How cool was it to see Tim in sandals at the beach? I loved that he changed back into loafers by the time they all got to Mood.

• Any designer stupid enough not to see a second look being added to a team challenge deserves to go home.

• Is Nicolas’ accent real or fake? I just can’t decide yet. He and Gordana had some struggles but I liked the wrap around pants look in theory just poorly executed at the bottom.

• Thought Logan and Chris would blow this out of the water but surprisingly that giant hat stole the show.

• I also had high expectations for Althea and Louise and instead their looks were just ok.

• Loved Shirin and Carol Hannah’s looks. This only further cements my belief that Shirin is our early front runner.

• Johnny finally made a decent look and I think he owes a lot to Irina for that. The causal look was my favorite of the night.

• Ra’mon won despite being teamed with Mitchell and despite throwing together his looks rather last minute. While I don’t think Ra’mon deserved to go home, I don’t think he deserved to win either but whatever.


• Epperson and Qristyl never got on the same page but I did like Epperson’s causal look. It was flawed in the back but as the judges said it fit great up top and the print was handled well.

• So glad Mitchell went home over Qristyl. I haven’t been impressed with Qristyl but Mitchell has done absolutely nothing and I couldn’t stand to see him skate by another week. Can’t wait to watch Models on the TiVo to see how Fatma handles all this.

I Refuse To Call Them Cheftestants: Week 3

Last night’s Top Chef bored me in the beginning, irritated me in the middle and entertained me in the end. I think the irritation in the middle however ruined the episode overall for me.

The boring comes into play with the Quickfire Challenge where the folks are tasked with creating an “out of this world” potato dish. While I appreciate the variety of potatoes that were made available the challenge itself seemed rather blah. I was once again shocked at how new contestants appear oblivious to past seasons as Ash tried to use the ice cream maker. No matter what season the Top Chef kitchen ice cream maker always seems to fail its user. Ash was in luck though as his sweet potato “custard” came out with a nice consistency that the judges deemed to be of high quality. Jennifer took him top prize again and she’s clearly this season’s Stefan. Question is, can she continue to grow as a chef throughout or will she plateau in the final stages. The only real excitement in the challenge came as Preeti used Ashley’s gnocchi water to cook her asparagus. Ashley quickly schooled her but apparently not enough for Jen who further foreshadowed an eventual kitchen blow up.

While the Quickfire was boring, the Elimination challenge was downright annoying. I’m so tired of these military themed challenges on reality shows. It provides an hour-long ad for the armed forces and requires the contestants to stick their noses up Uncle Sam’s ass. Furthermore, while last week’s challenge was centered on an exclusionary institution (marriage) this week’s challenge was based around an institution that is exclusionary and fosters hate crimes against the LGBT community. Could someone please grow a backbone and talk some smack? I’m so sick of soldiers making comments like “I wish I could get this in Iraq.” Hey guess what, you volunteered to serve so if you get second-class food look in the mirror for someone to blame! It’s not even that I hate the military but there is no need for this kind of mindless worship especially when there are other groups you could center these challenges around. How about Project Runway designs clothes for some women at a battered women’s shelter? How about Top Chef cooks for a homeless shelter? How about Design Star refurbishes a historical home that’s been run down? By the time Preeti declared that “9/11 inspired me to be a chef” I was about ready fly my toy X-Wing into my TV and create a 9/11 in my living room.

Thankfully judges table pulled me back from the abyss. The strong dishes were pretty clear and predictable given the chefs. Yukon Cornelius and Eli made very tasty looking bbq pork. Brother Michael did a great pork dish as well and deserved the win just for thinking of braising the slab bacon that was the base of his lettuce taco. On the bottom though there were three equally valid contenders. Non-brother Michael thought he was safe since he cooked with brother Michael but since this was an individual challenge and he cooked a non-Greek Greek salad his ass was on the line. Boy was he not happy about that as he rocked back and forth like a guilty child. Preeti and Laurine however made sure he was safe by choosing to make a pasta salad. I can't ever remember seeing a pasta salad on Top Chef; much less one that looks like it was made from a Simply Salad box. Preeti refused to take responsibility for a sub par dish and argued with the judges for a second week in a row. Laurine forgot she was on Top Chef but at least she didn’t pick a fight, so she was safe in the end after taking a serious verbal lashing from Tom. Preeti wandered off into the sunset mumbling about being misunderstood. Meanwhile, Jesse and Ron pondered why there were still there. Never fear guys next week looks like a double elimination.

Fall TV Preview: Wednesday

New Shows:
Cougar Town, 8:30pm CST, ABC, Premieres September 23rd
I know the title of this show is horrible. Actually it’s beyond horrible. It’s so bad that I almost discarded the show before it aired. I’m thinking that might be a mistake though given the creative pedigree behind the show. Bill Lawrence, who created the inconsistent Spin City and the at times brilliant Scrubs, is behind this effort about a middle aged woman getting back in the dating game. Throw in Courtney Cox Arquette who dazzled last year on Scrubs and proved she still has her comedic talents and my interest is piqued. A supporting cast that includes Scrubs vet/ Lawrence’s wife Christa Miller, Ian Gomez, and Busy Phillips only adds to the idea that despite the title this show could be damn funny.

Returning Favorites:
America’s Next Top Model, 7pm CST, CW, Premieres September 9th
Unofficially dubbed the Shorty Season, ANTM brings us petite models for the first time ever. The auditions for this season included the infamous melee in NYC where girls went nuts all in the name of Tyra. I’ll be interested to see if that’s addressed at all. Guessing it will be and that Tyra will play the martyr. Also interested to see if she comes up with an opening entrance that somehow mocks the girls’ size. I’ve got images of the two Jays dressed up as munchkins and Tyra coming in as the Good Witch of the West.

South Park, 9pm CST, Comedy Central, Premieres October 7th
Not sure if anyone noticed but South Park was fucking hilarious last year. I hate to say South Park is back because I don’t really think it went anywhere but I’ll certainly say that Matt and Tre’s poking stick is sharpened and they are taking aim at America’s underbelly. I used to think that the show would become stale after a few years but instead they’ve kept it topical and fresh.

On Thin Ice:
nip/tuck, 9pm CST, f/x, Premiers October 14th
I think nip/tuck has already fallen through the ice for me as last season I gave up on it when Christian and Liz started up and Sean went through his 18th midlife crisis. Still this is the beginning of the final season and I’d be lying if I said I don’t care how it ends. Based on the previous years of quality I’m willing to give it a shot but if any combination of Kimber, Sean and Christian are in bed together by episode three then I’m out…for good.

Fall TV Preview: Intro and Monday/Tuesday

A sure sign that you are aging is the amount of new TV shows you’re willing to add to your Fall schedule. An even bigger sign is when you start cutting shows out that are still airing. Last year I dropped Family Guy and The Simpsons. While I’ll still catch them every so often and certainly in reruns, neither show was worth my time or my TiVo’s time any longer. With that in mind I’m splitting my Fall preview up into three categories this year: New Shows, Returning Favorites, and On Thin Ice. The thin ice category features shows that might be this year’s casualties of Fall. Remember these certainly aren’t every Fall TV show, just the ones that catch my lazy, lazy eyes.

Monday
New Shows: None

Returning Favorites:
Gossip Girl, 8pm CST, CW, Premieres September 14th
Gossip Girl fought through the typical second season doldrums and went out strong last spring. The return of Georgina was just the thing to spice up the kids’ lives and make the audience forget about the multiple episode arc with Dark Jenny. Sadly Georgina’s portrayer, the awesome Michelle Trachtenberg, is starring in some kind of medical drama for NBC so we’ll only get bits and pieces of her this year. Also the show faces the challenge of keeping Chuck and Blair fresh now that they’ve gone all Sam and Diane on each other. Point of fact, anyone who uses a Cheers reference when writing about Gossip Girl should probably not be writing about Gossip Girl. Oh well, that’s why it’s a guilty pleasure I suppose.

On Thin Ice:
Heroes, 7pm CST, NBC, Premieres September 21st
This is it. I swear if Heroes doesn’t start making logical plot lines and better use of their quality cast I’m out. Sadly the outlook is dim as we’ve been promised more time travel which means more plot lines that never get resolved. Also the show is going to the circus and I can’t say that sounds like a good idea either. Watching the actors do their press this summer at the comic conventions it seemed most of them are losing patience as well. Hard to believe this show once had such promise.

Tuesday
New Shows:
Melrose Place, 8pm CST, CW, Premieres September 8th
I tried 90210 last year and was quickly turned off by the awkward mix of the new and old cast. I hear the show found its legs toward the end of the season but by then I was long gone. I’m hoping Melrose Place watched and learned. More than likely the show will be a colossal waste of time but my nostalgia bone is tingling and I think it won’t hurt to give it a shot.

V, ABC, Premieres November 3rd
Speaking of nostalgia it doesn’t get any more geektastic than a new version of the 80’s classic V. I still remember watching the mini-series, sequel, and short lived series like it was yesterday and while it was full of cheese it was also great fun. The new version looks less cheesy and that could be its downfall. Production was just shut down for a couple of weeks while ABC retools the series and that’s never a good sign. On the plus side I'm looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Mitchell get a starring role after her Lost run.

Returning Favorites:
The Hills, 9pm CST, MTV, Premieres September 29th
Not only is this in my returning favorites category because I still got much love for The Hills gang but also because it’s got one of my favorite returning reality stars in Kristin Cavallari. Sure I’ve always been solidly on Team LC but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the drama that Team Kristin brings to the table. Meanwhile I’m hoping the LC’s departure opens up more time for my favorite Lo and that we get to see more Stephanie dysfunction. Sadly we’ll also be getting more Speidi but I guess you take the good with the horribly horribly bad.

On Thin Ice:
The City, 9:30pm CST, MTV, Premieres September 29th
When Whitney Port left The Hills for her own spin off last January I thought it was genius. Other than Lo I couldn’t think of anyone that would be interesting enough for their own show (sorry Audrina). Unfortunately the execution was just not there. Whit Whit did not play the fish out of water well and you could just see she had a tough time dumbing herself down every week. Her supporting cast was mostly bland and that didn’t help. BFF Erin was quite possibly the weakest Laguna/Hills/City character ever and boyfriend Jay was a not so bad boy. The best “character” was Neville the cousin of Whit’s coworker Olivia. Neville was a gigantic ball of drugs, alcohol, self importance, and oddly enough, wisdom. Unless Neville starts dating eating disorder model Allie, the show’s prospects appear dim.

Design Me A Star: Week 7

Maybe it’s the fact that higher quality reality programming like Top Chef and Project Runway are back on the air, or maybe it’s that I’m also writing columns on those two shows, but whatever the reason, HGTV’s Design Star is becoming more and more bland every week. Even a couple of “firsts” in last night’s episode didn’t spice up the show for me.

With only four designers left, the producers threw a curve ball and set up a group challenge instead of an individual one. All the designers had to work together to design and landscape a huge backyard from scratch, a Design Star first. “35” year old ex beauty queen Torie took on a leadership role that turned out to be in name only. Almost instantly Antonio took command of the team as they walked around the barren space. The clients wanted a modern oasis and it was clear that they’d be lucky if they just got a finished space.

The design and work tasks were pretty much split down stereotypical gender lines. Dan and Antonio were mostly relegated to yard work while Torie and Lonni did the shopping. Dan and Antonio did little in terms of actual design but did a ton of manual labor to make sure the yard was done and useable. Dan’s feeble attempt at river rock art was wisely snuffed out by Antonio while Antonio missed the chance to spruce up his concrete pool patio. Dan and Antonio were at the center of the other “first” in this episode as they helped the team go over their budget. Of course HGTV stepped in and saved the day with money but the mistake was pretty big as Dan signed off on a ten grand pergola when he only had five grand to spend. Antonio contributed to the confusion as well by messing with Dan’s pretty head about the 5 versus 10 figures. Team leader Torie was oblivious to all this as she continued her proud tradition of shopping poorly. She came back with a mish mash of furniture sets that did not fit the modern style of the clients. Lonni was the only designer who stood out for an actual design element as she made some smart plant choices to create a living wall.

When it came to elimination, the $5000 mistake was certainly a deciding factor. Lonni was safe based on her on camera work and plant shopping. Antonio had another strong camera performance which saved him. Dan and Torie were then left and it was clear who had to go. While Dan certainly screwed up, he was not the one in charge of the budget. Also, he really improved on camera this week and he looked cute with his shirt off. Torie was an absentee leader and also came across as a vacant talking head in her on camera, so it was time for her to exit.

Next week it’s a celebrity challenge with Jason Priestly, Tiffani Amber Thiessen and Kathy Griffin. Looks like Antonio gets Griffin which should make for some entertaining times and hopefully some livelier competition.

Runway Roundup: Week 2

I have to start out by saying that after two weeks, the move of Project Runway from Bravo! to Lifetime is a dead issue. Last night as I tuned in it didn’t even occur to me that I was on a different channel. On a side note, hey Charter Cable can we please get Lifetime in glorious HD so we can see all those loose hems (and reruns of Mother, May I Sleep with Anger).

Challenge number two brought a new twist on the design for a celeb standard. A very pregnant Rebecca Romijn joins a for once not pregnant Heidi on the Runway, and introduces the first maternity wear challenge in the history of the show. Having just observed my partner go through a pregnancy I know firsthand how difficult it is to find decent, stylish, maternity wear so this was a challenge that instantly grabbed my attention. All the designers looked a bit crestfallen though as I’m sure they thought “yay celebrity, boo maternity.” I was also a bit shocked that there was no additional twist to the challenge. I’d have loved to see the designers create a non-maternity look inspired by the original piece.

***I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to address the Stamos situation. How many times do you think the designers had to redo their confidentials because they’d refer to Rebecca as Romijn-Stamos and not just Romijn. I know I muttered it wrong at least 3 times during the broadcast. Sorry Jerry O’Connell it’s just not the same.***

Alright let’s get on to the designs shall we. I thought some were really refreshing and well done. Gordana, whose name sounds like it should proceed “vs. Mothra”, did a wonderful job and as the only mother in the group clearly had good insight. Week one winner Chris did a fab job as did Weapon X himself Logan. Then we had the top three which included Shirin, Althea, and Louise. Althea’s dress was beautiful but was not the type of look that the judges were necessarily looking for despite the open door they implied. Her color choice though was spot on. Louise captured the best part of whimsy in her nightgown dress. The intricate lace, the dye work and, the thank god for Tim, under fabric, all made this a knockout that made up for the fact that it had limited wearibility. Shirin was my pick in the workroom and the judges on the Runway. Her jacket along with the detailed waist instantly jumped out at me. Christopher and Shirin are both shining early to me as both have executed strong in the first two weeks.

The bottom three could have easily been the bottom five. I thought Johnny must have gone back on the meth with his grim drab dress while Epperson’s tribute to Karate Kid had me questioning his taste level. The bottom three left those fools out though and instead included Ra’mon whose dress was identified by folks in the workroom and the runaway as a bowling ball bag. Worse yet it was sloppy and the amount of puckering was giving me stomach cramps. I am going to say Ra’mon stayed because of his awesome shout out to season 4’s Stella and her affection for “leatha”. More likely though it was the weakness of his fellow bottom three members, Mitchell and Malvin. Mitchell had a decent concept but again this guy hasn’t designed or made clothes in years and it shows. His shorts looked horrible and somehow he didn’t realize that until a couple of hours before showtime. Malvin meanwhile went out on a limb, a limb that is so far out he might have actually broke the space-time continuum. His egg concept was intriguing but the minute he told Tim that he wanted to make his model look like she had chicken thighs I thought goodbye. Of course that’s just what happened as Mitchell once again benefited from a designer taking risks while he just makes poor clothes. Meanwhile no one suffers more than us viewers as we’ve lost two characters in two weeks. I was just beginning to love you Malvin and you will be missed. Next week we’ve got our first team challenge which means plenty of claws are coming out and boy I can’t wait to see who gets paired with Mitchell.

I Refuse to Call them Cheftestants: Week 2

The second episode of Top Chef seemed like a carbon copy of the first. For the most part the chefs that shined last week shined again and likewise, the chefs that failed last week failed again. On top of that we got another 2 or 3 ceviches which brings the total this season to 5…I think. I swear to god if I see another ceviche or twist on ceviche I’m going to lose my culinary mind. Oh, and gazpacho I’m watching you too.

The Quickfire Challenge was one of the surprising points of this episode. While the chefs were somewhat constrained by the dice dictated amount of ingredients, they had a great deal of freedom in what type of dish they cooked. This is the second challenge out of four where I believe they’ve gotten a chance to really cook what they choose. That ratio seems way out of whack compared to seasons past and if it keeps up should help the cream of the crop rise to the top. Jennifer (yes, I’m going to try and use real names this week) looked very strong again as did Yukon Cornelius (sorry Kevin but unless you shave that awesome beard your nickname is sticking). Jesse once again seemed to plan well but her execution was lacking. Kevin aka Brother #1 won the challenge with a gazpacho that had a nice twist with the liquid nitrogen.

The Elimination Challenge was the first of what I predict will be multiple Vegas wedding themed episodes. Ashley had some good points about the show celebrating an institution that discriminates against so many Americans. Tom Colicchio had some excellent points as well on why the show chose the wedding themed challenge that you can read here. As for the challenge itself the idea of the men cooking for the bachelorette party and the women cooking for the bachelor party was pretty pedestrian. Although having the chefs pair their dishes with shots, and not all typical shots, was a nice twist. I loved Jennifer’s outrage over the battle of the sexes theme and had to wonder whether it was because she thought it was sexist or because she knew that except for her, the women underperformed in week 1. If it was the later, then her concerns were well founded.

The men all seemed to have their act together with a few exceptions. Ron and Mattin both seemed to sputter again and should be thankful to their team members. Yukon Cornelius did well as did Hector who bounced back from that horrible deep fried steak debacle from week 1. Eli did a fresh take on tartar (season 4’s ceviche) and brother #1 Kevin did a nice dessert. I’d love to try that goat cheese cookie dough. In the end though it was brother #2’s (Michael) dish that was the top choice of the judges and made me want to jump into my TV and taste it. His sweet and salty macaroon was just inspired, a complete reinvention of a classic tequila pairing.

The women were certainly the opposite of the men this week. While there were a couple of strong dishes headlined once again by Jennifer, there were many weak performances. Ashley made one great dish and then screwed it up by making a second dish of unset panna cotta. Her one great dish saved her but hopefully she learned from her mistake. Jesse once again conceived well but executed poorly. She was saved this week as well which means I’ll most likely be typing that previous sentence again next week. Preeti had a visual mess of a dish and according to the judges one that was a mess of flavors as well. Then, she goes and basically argues that the guests’ tastes were better than the judges. Oooh child, you better watch yourself or Padma will go off. Preeti was saved however by Michigan’s lone representative Eve. Once again Eve screwed up shrimp which is a sure sign she needed to go home. Furthermore she knew the flavors of her dish were off and did nothing to fix them. Upon her exit, she pulled out the old “the judges don’t understand my flavor combinations” excuse. Eve, honey, you went home because you made a series of poor dishes with a relatively forgiving ingredient not because your Michigan cuisine is too complex for the likes of Tom, Padma, or Gail. A predictable exit on a rather predictable episode.

Madison Restaurant Review: Casa Del Sol

Eating at Casa Del Sol this past weekend turned into a welcomed walk down memory lane. I can’t tell you how many times I ate at their sister restaurant, Casa De Lara on State Street, when I was student here in Madison. Over the years Madison has gained many more Mexican restaurants and while I certainly would rank some better, the folks behind Casa Del Sol and Casa De Lara do make an enjoyable version of Mexican comfort food.

Located in Fitchburg, Casa Del Sol is a mammoth space. The interior though is smartly split up into many small rooms that still maintain an open flow. Their outdoor space manages to avoid the suburban trap of simply overlooking a highway and instead has some green space in play. Service in such a huge space can sometimes be problematic but this is a finely tuned team. We had our newborn in tow on our visit and received great help and also had our food in front of us before we knew it. The place is certainly kid friendly based on the large table we saw in the adjacent room.

The food instantly brought back nostalgia to those old Casa De Lara visits. The complementary chips and salsa at Casa Del Sol are among the best in town. Warm chips and slightly spicy salsa are complimented by picked carrots, onions, and peppers. I could eat those veggies alone. We tried the homemade corn bread for an appetizer. The bread was light and fluffy and amongst the best in town ranking second only to the Hubbard Street Diner's. The only downside was the lone butter packet which was not enough for the bread and the guava jelly which was overly sweet. My partner went for the burrito Monterrey which was filled with shredded beef. The beef was tender and flavorful and reminded my partner of the best brisket she’s had. The "spicy" red sauce was not very spicy but still had a nice balance. My chili verde had huge chunks of pork which came out a bit overcooked. The sauce however was outstanding and so were the accompanying flour tortillas. The rice and beans were alright. The rice had a nice fluffiness but lacked flavor. The refried beans were textbook but good. One regret we had on this trip was not sampling their cactus based dishes which is something I remember Casa De Lara doing very well. My margarita was good not great, but was a relative steal at $6.50 compared to some of our other favorite places. All in all it was a great comfort meal and at under $35 it seemed like a steal.

Design Me A Star: Week 6

This season of HGTV’s Design Star has flown by. Hard to believe last night’s episode consisted of only five designers and even harder to believe Butthead look alike Jason was still one of them. With such a small group it was about time we got another individual challenge and even more importantly about time we got these fools in front of the camera.

The challenge itself was redesigning rooms for kids and you knew instantly that some folks were going to struggle. Despite their reputation for being difficult clients Torie was predictably excited. Strangely the odd children were the older ones. Nico, Lonni’s client, was a 17 year old baseball player who apparently never wants to get any action as he wanted a baseball themed room. Meanwhile, Jason gets a 17 year old girl who wants a princess room…17 years old. The younger kids were more grown up as Dan’s wanted a green room and Torie’s wanted an artist’s loft. The designer’s were given carpenters to complete their designs and you could just see Antonio not give a crap. Jason fired his carpenter on the first day which I didn’t even know they could do. David Bromstad visited the designers as they worked and offered some pretty boring advice. That didn’t stop Dan from jazzing his pants a little bit and giving us a preview of how he’d be in front of the camera.

The top rooms were from my expected final two. Antonio had a five year old and did a great job creating a fantasy room full of dinosaurs. His description of the room as a "little man cave" was spot on and while his on camera performance was just ok he certainly showed promise. Lonni is quickly becoming the dark horse of the competition despite her uneven performance. Her on camera was great and she managed to make a passable room for Nico despite taking his love of baseball so literally. Torie fell in the middle as she had a strong camera performance but a horribly uneven design. She had a huge dead spot in the room and had some poor fabric choices hanging from the wall. On the plus side her bed set up truly accomplished the artist loft feel her client wanted.

The bottom two included one predictable contestant and one surprise. Dan who has been strong throughout fell apart a bit. First off he admitted he’d never designed for a kid which clearly intimidated him. His green room had some nice touches but he tried to work too many colors into the room. I thought his repurposed gumball machine was a daring move since his client said that was her favorite part of the room. Luckily that turned into a success but Dan’s on camera performance was not. The nervous energy the guy put out there made him almost unwatchable. His giggling was just annoying. Jason meanwhile was ok on camera but once again failed miserably in his design. From his poor choice to leave the room pink to the reliance on a rug he didn’t have, Jason made poor choice after poor choice. Perhaps the most egregious design piece was using placemats as a headboard and holding them up with multicolored pushpins. His design was also once again unfinished with tape stuck to the walls. Predictably he went home and now we’ve got a final four where anyone…except Torie has a chance of winning.

Runway Roundup: Week 1

Hard to believe that after all this time Project Runway is finally back. Of course the elephant in the room is the whole move to Lifetime instead of Bravo. Except for the annoying Lifetime logo in the lower right hand corner I’m happy to say the changes were minimal. The minute Tim said “thank you Mood” I felt like we were right back at home.

Just like Top Chef the night before we got way too many contestants but I think we can all agree that this might be the best collection of names in Runway history. Gordana, Malvin, Epperson, Althea (the oldest looking 23 year old I’ve ever seen), Qristyl, Shirin, and crazy two name Carol Hannah. Those are some seriously fucked up names and I love them even if they will drive my spell check crazy. Of course the names got overshadowed in the first two segments by former meth addict Johnny. I was so bored with him after the third speech about addiction and then he played the drama up so he could get a pity hug from Tim. Ugh.

The red carpet challenge is a great way to start the season because it really gives the designers freedom. Of course that also means finding a bottom three can be way too easy since you’re leaving the designers to their own devices. Qristyl made a mess out of her dress but you knew she was safe compared to her fellow cellar dwellers. The minute Mitchell explained that he had been working on the business side of the industry; I thought he was in trouble. When I saw his Victorian collar I knew he was in trouble. His pantyhose dress was reminiscent of a dress that belonged on the 1970’s version of Battlestar Galactica except you didn’t see any ass. One way you can tell the names must be great is when a name like Ari Fish doesn’t make the cut for crazy names. However Ari quickly made her mark by declaring that she doesn’t sketch but instead meditates. Then she went and made a shiny soccer ball dress that looked like it was for a space hooker. I prayed that she survived so she could make it to a celebrity challenge where they have to present sketches and instead she would just stand on her head in a corner. The beauty of watching someone like SJP deal with that would be priceless. Sadly that will not happen and we’ll just have to rely on someone else to go bat shit crazy. Johnny made the top 3 but I think the fumes off of guest judge Lindsay Lohan must have gotten to Michael, Heidi and Nina. It was 70’s disco glam and not in a good way. Ra’mon’s dress was pretty boring too yet he made the top 3 too. It certainly was a fine garment but nothing special. His fellow Minnesota resident Christopher had my favorite dress of the top 3. I thought Michael described it best when he called it cute and edgy. Outside of the top 3 I also loved Irina’s gown but Shirin’s glamour/flapper dress which was gimmicky yet functional was my favorite. I thought she did the best but I can’t imagine that her duo purpose style could carry her to the finale. In fact no one jumped out as a favorite. Overall there was a lot of promise but I felt like a lot of the designs reminded me of past winners so hopefully these cats won’t turn out to be of the copy variety.

I Refuse to Call Them Cheftestants: Week 1

I'm so happy to have Top Chef back and there is no better place than Las Vegas for this season considering the explosion of both new cuisine and celeb chefs. Of course I'll take that back after they do their 13th buffet challenge.

The worst thing about these early episodes is the obscene amount of chefs. In light of that I will only refer to the chefs by nicknames until we get a reasonable amount of chefs. I was hoping that the Quickfire would eliminate someone right off the bat. Unfortunately they did the opposite and gave someone a free pass. We'll call the gold chip winner the big coward for now because she turned down the chance to give up her undeserved immunity to win some cold hard cash. Instead the rest of the chefs competed in the classic relay race Quickfire. I'd be happier to see this if Top Chef Masters hadn't just pulled it out a couple weeks back. Anyway at least they added a twist and let the winning relay team fight it out for an additional $15,000. I liked pierced lady's dish best and was surprised to see the millionith ceviche in Top Chef history win.

I thought that the Elimination Challenge was almost too broad. The lack of restrictions or structure clearly left some chefs floundering. The minute I heard wheat gluten I knew the bland "hot tempered" chef was going home. My only hesitation came after seeing the war crimes committed against shrimp and scallops by the "only chef in Michigan". In the end though the crime against chile releno sent the anger bore home. I'm excited to see more from the Yukon Cornealius look alike as well as the cook brothers. I think we certainly have a group of talented chefs and other than Michigan I don't think there is much fat to trim.

Minneapolis Takeout Review: Burger Jones

Since I no longer live in the Twin Cities, my dining choices every visit are usually split between old favorites and new spots that my friends and family share with me. My latest visit last week had a bit of a twist as I was now sporting around my newborn kid. While he’s a breeze at restaurants, mom and dad get a bit tired at the end of the day and takeout often sounds like the best option. Thankfully Burger Jones, one of the new places I wanted to try, was not only a stone’s throw away from where we were staying but also hype their takeout.

Located in a former Applebee’s just off Lake Calhoun, Burger Jones is the latest venture from the Parasole restaurant group. While we opted for takeout, I must say that the design of the place is appealing enough to grab folks as they wander in. The modern diner look might be a little to clean and glossy but you’ve got to love a bar wall that’s full of PBR tall boys and Maker’s Mark. Their outdoor patio also looks lovely although your lake view is a bit obstructed by the insanely busy street it directly overlooks. I can only speak to the service aspect from the takeout point of view and it was fast and friendly mixed with confusion. While our order was ready in less than 15 minutes, a shock given how busy the place was at 6pm on Friday night, we watched the hostess pick up the phone and call us as we sat in front of her. Apparently the other hostess had not communicated to her that we were already there. However, this was more of an amusing incident than an annoying one.

With a name like Burger Jones, it’s obvious who the star of the menu should be. We sampled three of their burgers and the results were mixed. While none of the burgers were bad, two of three had a real disconnect between meat and toppings. I opted for the White Trash Burger solely based on the promise of chicken fried bacon. Of course the cheese curds, Velveeta, and onion ring that also topped the burger didn’t stop me from ordering it either. The result of all this deep fried goodness was mixed. The bacon lost its flavor in the deep fryer and was also painfully dry. I’m wondering if they precook the bacon before frying. Meanwhile, the cheese curds were made of an outstanding cheese but were borderline cold while everything else was piping hot. Also they lacked a sufficient amount of salt. The meat itself though was done quite nicely. Mine was a perfect medium rare and the meat had quite a distinguished flavor despite the mountain of toppings. The bun also stood up well. My partner tried out their Black and Bleu burger and found similar results. While the meat and caramelized onions were great, the cold slab of bleu cheese didn’t integrate well into the burger. Finally our dining companion went with the bison burger and was probably the most pleased of all of us. The cabernet onions were the best topping of the three burgers and the bison which can often be dry was as moist as our beef burgers.

Of course with burgers, there must be fries. In the interest of sampling Burger Jones wide variety we ordered the tri-fry tasting tower which included a traditional fry, a maple-bacon sweet potato fry, and a parmesan waffle fry. The traditional fries were good but not something I’d run back for on their own. The sweet potato fries though were some of the best I’ve ever had and that’s coming from someone who usually passes on such a fry. The crispness and the sweet/salty balance were perfecto. I found the parmesan waffle fries to be an epic disappointment. Some of the fries were undercooked and except for the top two fries, the parmesan was nowhere to be seen. Along with the fries came 3 dipping sauces. The chipotle aioli which was the stand out of the three. The seasoned sour cream lacked seasoning and was a poor comparison to your average sports bar seasoned sour cream (Legend’s on East Hennepin has the best). The last sauce we tried was the night sauce which tasted like a cousin of Heinz 57.

In the end Burger Jones is in a great location and has a great concept but the food just isn’t there yet. Except for the waffle fries nothing was flat out bad. However, except for the sweet potato fries nothing blew my socks off either. Much has been made of the prices but I think they’re reasonable except perhaps for the $6 shake that barely filled up my to-go cup. While my s’more malt wasn’t anything amazing, the touch of having it topped with a roasted marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate was another sign of potential which is something Burger Jones has plenty of.

Burger Jones, 3200 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 612.746.0800

Design Me A Star: Week 5

Since this is a day late and a design short, let’s just hit the high and lowlights of this week’s HGTV Design Star.

• Team challenges are all well and good but how about another individual challenge (spoiler alert: looks like next week I get my wish).

• The old trusty military family challenge is similarly played out. “Thanks for volunteering to be in the military let’s reward you with a new living room.”

• The way the teams broke down made the outcome academic. No way were Lonni, Jason and Nathan going to create anything worthwhile.

• Lonni did actually show me something for the first time this season with her chevron wall. At first I questioned her choice because what happens to the symbolism if the soldier gets promoted or more likely killed. However in the end it’s a striking graphic that made for a stand out design accent.

• The rest of Lonni’s team was horrible. Jason continued his streak of average work mixed with incompetence. I thought it was hilarious when he started off the episode noting how all the fat had been trimmed off of the group of designers. Hello Jason, you are still here. His decision to nail in curtains along with his wall of keepsakes would have been enough to send him home if not for one slow ass teammate.

• Nathan was one of my favorites to win after week one but it’s clear now that Dan was the driving force on that team. After spending the entire challenge on one entertainment center I expected Nathan to reveal a stunning final product. Instead it looked like a cheap solution that may have worked for staging an open house. Also his decision to skip the desk, a primary element of the room, made his cancellation a slam dunk. While I think he may be more talented than Jason I have a hard time disagreeing with the judges once again.

• Antonio continues to surprise and frustrate. Loved his color scheme and the entertainment center. However he let himself get pushed out of shopping once again and still has not had a coherent complete design. He was right to push back on the colors and he should have pushed back on the shopping too.

• Dan continued to be the Rick Bayless of Design Star. His helpful attitude and peacemaking skills were certainly put to the test this week as Torie and Antonio had their dust up. He also managed to create a wonderful table/study area that was my favorite piece in the room.

• Torie took a small step forward this week. Her inability to see beyond the walls in reference to the client’s soft request for warm colors made her a target for possible cancellation. However she finally had a successful shopping trip. I felt like the couch wasn’t great but I loved the accents including those wood panels that flanked the TV area.

Quick VOD Review- Green Lantern: First Flight

Caught the latest animated feature from DC and Warner Brothers over the weekend and I’ve got to say this is by far the most impressive attempt since the old Justice League TV show. Green Lantern: First Flight is a complete effort and delivers enough winks to diehard Lantern fans while still being a great stand alone story. The story opens with a brisk origin segment for Hal Jordan and the speed in which this was delivered was a relief considering a similar version was just told in the animated adaptation of JLA: The New Frontier. Once that is out of the way, the story picks up at a pace that suits the 78 minute running time. Hal is brought out to space by a group of Green Lantern Corps members, meets the Guardians, and is soon out on patrol with his new mentor Sinestro. The rest of the story takes some liberties with the DC cannon but the important thing is that it feels right. The scope of the GL universe is huge and the film certainly captures that by displaying the diversity in the both the universe and in the Corps. The animation is top notch especially in the space battles. The final piece to the film’s success is the voice work. Christopher Meloni does a great job of capturing the cockiness of Hal Jordan while Victor Garber gives us a definitive interpretation of Sinestro. If they ever attempt to adapt the Sinestro Corps Wars storyline, WB and DC need to sign Garber. Finally Michael Madsen does a wonderful Kilowog and I’m hoping he gets a shot at voicing the eventual CG version in the live action film. All in all this is clearly the best film the Bruce Timm animated team has done and it’s got me super excited for one of my all time favorite Batman/Superman stories coming this Fall.

Design Me A Star: Week 4

Double elimination…is there any sweeter two words in the world of reality TV competitions? Last night’s HGTV Design Star teased us all week with the promise of just such an event and it delivered, all be it in predictable fashion. Predictable was the buzzword for the challenge itself as well.

Having our final eight designers redo garages into useable extra rooms was one of the more creative challenges I’ve ever seen on the show. Unfortunately the two couples resided in Boringville and asked for designs that but me to sleep before even seeing them. That said the two teams really seemed to embrace the challenge. Janey and Lonni both stepped up and took leadership of their teams during the planning stages. Unfortunately we learned that neither of them is very good at leading. Once again Antonio and Dan stepped up and became de-facto leaders but also took on the biggest tasks. A quick thought on Antonio: he must stop volunteering to do the construction and carpentry tasks. His design input is not coming across in these team challenges. Dan on the other hand has to stop being a mother hen. He endangers himself by helping and assisting others when he should be working on his own tasks.

Team Dan looked particularly shaky early on thanks to two things. On one hand you had Dan’s daft idea of building a platform in a tiny garage with a low ceiling. It was an interesting concept to solve for the floor but reducing the overall size in any direction of that room was a poor decision. In my sophomore year of college my roommate built a false floor into our tiny rectangle of a dorm room and while loved the hidden storage space (you could put your weed in it although we mostly just but our moving boxes in there), it did make the room feel smaller. The other major obstacle on Team Dan was Tashica. It was like grade school all over again when the designers split into teams and no one wanted to include Tashica. In her smartest move all season, Tashica just stayed put knowing that one group would have to stand where she was. Once the challenge began she proved to be utterly useless once again. Her lack of skills held up Dan. Her inability to come up with any design elements turned her into an irritating idea regurgitation machine. The rest of the team really should have got points for just completing their design with her on the team. For a while it certainly looked like that might not happen but in the final two hours they slapped together their Spanish style garage. The results were underwhelming to say the least. In addition to the odd platform, Team Dan chose not replace the old garage door that didn’t even lock. This is not a good thing when your garage has been loaded up with new furniture and a new flatscreen. The colors were ok but it looked like a garage that had been cleaned up rather than a true separate room.

Team Antonio faired a little better in terms of their finish but their design details were lacking. They had the burden of the more difficult clients who wanted an office, home theater, and work out room all in one, while done in the overdone boring ass style of the Hamptons. Antonio came up with a brilliant fix for the uneven floor but made a huge mistake in deciding to buy but not put together an elliptical trainer. Instead they stuck the box in the corner and put a rather unsightly bow on it. Janey and Torie made the majority of the design choices and they were as boring as possible. It’s clear that Torie does not work well with others and that Janey just graduated from design school. Butthead look alike Jason coasted by this week by being Antonio’s right hand man on the construction projects.

While the double elimination was satisfying the results were predictable. The spiciest moment came as Vern Yip did his best Vito Corleone impression and called a mid evaluation confab of all the judges. This juicy moment came in the middle of Tashica spinning a web of lies that even confused me. Anyway Clive delivered the news and Tashica was finally sent packing. As for the other elimination it came down to Janey and my early favorite to win Nathan. I think Nathan was being sent a message by the judges as his biggest commitment to his team, a Spanish mural, looked cheap and unfinished. Of course he was safe though and Janey took her text books and left the building.

Quick DVD Review: Watchmen

My movie viewing habits have been off to say the least over the last few months. During the time leading up to becoming a first time dad, my priorities began to change. So much so that I just now got around to watching a movie I’ve dreamed of seeing for over 15 years…Watchmen.

Loyal readers will know that I’m not only a film geek but a comic book geek. Watchmen is one of my all time favorite stories and I’ve followed all the twists, turns, and false starts as it’s transitioned to the silver screen over the years. While I never saw 300 I was apprehensive when Zack Snyder was announced as the director simply because he was an unknown to me who seemed to value style over substance. That apprehension quickly dissipated over the last year when footage began to air and when news emerged that Snyder chose to cast relative no names in the leads. I never could quite see Brad Pitt in a fat suit playing Night Owl II. The first trailer set to a classic Smashing Pumpkins tune had me very excited as it seemed Snyder was going to be very true to the book. Turns out he was and it still wasn’t good enough.

Watchmen the movie is a faithful adaptation that leaves you devoid of feeling while still marveling at the skill of the filmmakers. Count me as a fan of Zack Snyder as I truly think the man did everything he could to make this book translate to screen. My only complaint in the production was the over the top use of pop music to indicate shifts in time. On the plus side, the cinematography is brilliant. The cast strong and the flow of a difficult narrative is pulled off. The shot for panel match ups are amazing. My jaw dropped as I see every panel of the comic brought to motion. Notice I say motion and not life. The film feels very mechanical and lacks soul. I really don’t think you can blame Snyder or the cast I think this was just an unwinnable job. The book is dense and the characters are drawn far deeper than most in comics. While the film does deviate on some plot points, I think the changes work and are certainly not the cause of the failure of the film. I’m coping out a bit here as I have not firm reason for the lack of emotions the film produces. It just doesn’t connect but I think huge kudos go to Snyder for trying.

Design Me A Star: Week 3

Episode 3 of HGTV’s Design Star evoked memories of an old TV favorite and memories of designs from past seasons of Design Star. The first individual challenge was introduced and it was the white room challenge. This year’s twist: all the shopping had to be done at a grocery store. Still with a $1000 budget and two cans of paint this didn’t sound too bad to me at all. It screamed Project Runway rip-off but then again how many variations are there to reality show challenges. Watching Clive set the shoppers of on their way brought back memories of Supermarket Sweep. This used to be my favorite distraction from studying back in the college years.

Anyhoo, I saw all sorts of questionable choices during the shopping period. Nathan says he’s going to poor milk on the walls and my first reaction was “gross” and the second was “it will never work.” Lonni’s choice of using plastic cups seemed predictable to me as I thought she’d use Solo cups to cover something. The only one that jumped out to me was “35” year old Torie’s choice of charcoal. I wonder if Whole Foods is exclusive to Bravo! and what this non-descript grocery store got out of this deal. All in all, the shopping choices left me uninspired but thankfully some did translate into beautiful rooms. Let’s break them down by the good, the blah and the ugly.

The Good
Nathan- Who knew that his milk wall would work so wonderfully? Now granted he did cheat a little by mixing the milk with primer but the result was spectacular and I’m happy to eat crow on this one. His graffiti couch reminded my partner of Jen’s graphic pillows from last year but was also a standout, as was his oatmeal floor. My only gripe was his choice of blue tables. I didn’t think that fit at all.

Dan- His deconstructed orchard was not only a bold concept but an original one. I loved the color pallet and the crisp execution of everything he did. It was one of the few rooms I’ve ever seen on Design Star where I had nothing at all to bitch about.

Antonio- While I agreed with the judges that his room was a bit sparse and I didn’t love the whole watermelons in his toy wheelbarrows, the graphic design elevated this room near the top for me. Also the fruit loop bins were one of the best accessories in the challenge.

Torie- While this room didn’t appeal to me I had to give it props for execution. Her floor design was painstakingly detailed and her wall of crumpled paper looked like art and not a rushed exercise in design.

The Blah
Jason- While Jason’s hair gets weirder every week his designs get more boring. The yellow and brown was boring but not enough to get me fired up enough to send him home.

Janey- Speaking of boring, Janey continued to just slide by from week to week. While using the asparagus as flower stems was a great idea, her graphic looked awfully familiar to one from last season and her odd choice of word art really did not work. Respect what?

Lonni- So she went a completely different route with the cups then I thought she would and in the end it failed. Thankfully she had a safe and boring back up plan that saved her ass. I must say I appreciate her being competent enough to pull something off last second.

The Ugly
Tashica- Once again Tashica had my least favorite room. Hated the design, loathed the copy cat light fixture, and was struck by how incomplete and sloppy the execution was. Her feigned ignorance of copying her light fixture from a past contestant made her look even worse than her room. I thought for sure she’d be going home finally but then we had…

Jen- The color maven once again proved she has no sense of color. I don’t buy for one second that we’re missing something because it’s not translating to TV. Her room looked unfinished and lacked anything resembling polish. Also did anyone else notice that she aged like 10 years in the span of three episodes? TV was not kind to you honey.

So Tashica lives to fight another day and Dan, Nathan (despite last week) and Antonio continue to stand apart from all others. Let’s hope next week brings an end to Tashica and maybe some better work from the

Big Brother 11: The Twist is Boredom

I can’t stand the talent shows that often dominate the summer TV line up, so Big Brother is my favorite summer reality indulgence. In the past the show has produced some good seasons and some snooze fests. The show has the distinction of having the finest all star competition ever. Their throw every twist in the book attitude has resulted in disgust (brother and sister meet for first time on TV) and brilliance (America votes back in evicted house guests). This summer I was really looking forward to Big Brother 11 as I thought it would be the perfect companion to late night feedings and sleep deprivation. Turns out it’s more of a sleep aid as this season has turned out to be intensely boring.

On paper this year looked promising. Same BB house decked out to the max, a pregnant Chen-bot carrying some kind of robot/human hybrid, and a returning competitor from seasons past. The house and Chen-bot have held up their end but the returning house guest twist was rendered stupid the minute roid rage Jessie (BB10) came back to the game. Any of the other choices would have been better even Cowboy who seems to be channeling Droopy the Dog more than ever. The execution has also been lacking on the major twist of sending the game back to high school. While separating the contestants into high school cliques sounds good, the results have been predictable. The jocks have muscled the nerds into doing what they want. The populars are aloof and out of touch (and racist). The off-beats try to latch on to whoever will have them. A far better twist would have been to find people who fell into these cliques in high school but no longer appear that way on the outside and group them together without revealing the ties that bind until a later date. Of course that doesn’t work when you cast walking stereotypes and people fresh out of high school.

As for the guests themselves I’m completely underwhelmed. Ronnie would have been my favorite but he fell into the age old reality pitfall of overplaying his hand. While he’s surviving he’s clearly lost control of the game. Jessie is an idiot who annoys me at every turn but seems to have the game in hand. Lydia was somewhat intriguing until she slept with Jessie. Kevin is too quiet in his game play. Jeff and Jordan are too slow in the head. Chima, Natalie, and Michele are accessories that are just place holding. Russell still hasn’t convinced me that he’s not just a coat tail riding bully and Casey made a stupid move that’s going to get him evicted this week. Perhaps the only player that was really captivating was the one I wrote off at first glance. Laura, evicted last week, was smart, saw how the game was being played and how to play it. Unfortunately she realized it a smidgen to late and now we’ve got to rely on CBS and the Chen-bot to shake things up.

Another twist has been promised for Thursday but I ‘m guessing that will be the dissolution of the cliques. I think the damage has already been done though and the rest of the season will just be a slow coronation to Russell or Jessie taking home the prize.

Design Me A Star: Week 2

I have to hand it to the producers of HGTV’s Design Star as they’ve clearly been taking notes on how to ratchet up the drama. In just the second episode they threw the designers the dreaded kitchen challenge. For those of you new to Star, this is the challenge that derails the dreams of the aspiring designers year in and year out. Last night’s episode continued to bear that out.

Continuing to tightrope the line between smarmy and charming, host Clive Pearse introduced the designers to the challenge by having two competitors pick teams playground style. Keep in mind that Clive did not inform the designers what exactly the challenge was. It was because of this little fact that I was so surprised by non-descript Amy’s reaction of joy and elation. Hello Amy, let me introduce you to the reality TV construct where every week the challenges are harder and the team leaders are more likely to be eliminated then their underlings. So Amy and week 1 stand out Nathan were the two leaders and Amy continued to surprise by not choosing set designer and construction “expert” Antonio first. This was the first of many poor decisions. Nathan meanwhile smartly chose Antonio and then followed that up with the confusing pick of Jen V2.0, a so called color expert who nearly went home week one. Age-fibber Torie was the last one picked, which I suppose made sense given that she was the last one added to the cast, and lucky for Nathan ended up on his team.

Neither team impressed much this week. The nicest things in both kitchens were the appliances, granite and cabinets all of which should be easy for the novice designer. Team Nathan gave Jen free reign and for the second week in a row she displayed a complete lack of color skills. Granted their family gave them the odd request to mix Italian and Moroccan colors but still the color scheme was a huge mess. Torie did one of the only stand out pieces of design for either team by solving the backsplash issue with stamped foil. Meanwhile, Nathan completely failed as a leader and seemed more concerned about having a good time. Thankfully Antonio saved the day and ensured the nuts and bolts of the job got done. Kudos to him as well for asserting himself and making sure he got to participate in some of the design choices. Nathan further sank down in the ranks as he allowed Jason to pick out the styling accessories. Jason overcrowded the space with a mish-mash of pieces that looked like he just chose one piece out of every aisle at World Market. Please tell me how a Buddha fits in an Italian/Moroccan room. Still the team at least finished their room which cannot be said for Team Amy. The entire team was unfocused and sloppy. Tall guy Dan seemed to have his act together but other than that they all did some sloppy work. Amy was a complete failure as a leader and week one problem child Tashica once again showed a lack of skill by failing to complete any task including the staging. The kitchen had broken glass, crooked cabinets which lead to crooked granite, missing handles and not a single accessorie. Tashica had a hand in all of those problems. That’s why the judging process turned out to be a surprise.

The judging this week furthered my belief that the producers are amping up the drama. Antonio and Dan were predictably singled out for their strong efforts as was Torie. The bottom four were Nathan, Tashica, Amy, and Jen. Hopefully Nathan will rebound from this and learn from his mistakes as I enjoyed his design in week 1. The judges let both him and Jen off the hook since their kitchen was complete. I was prepared to see Tashica go home after spending another week in the bottom two and clearly adding no value to her team. While Amy certainly deserved to be in the bottom two I figured the fair thing to do would be to give her a second chance. Of course the best plot device would be to keep Tashica and let the remaining designers hate on her for sending Amy packing and dread having to work with her. Surprisingly that’s just what the judges did and if the faces of the remaining designers was any indication, the end result should be worth it. Ahoy, there be drama ahead!

Madison Restaurant Review: Big Red's Steaks

Jim’s, Geno’s, and Pat’s are my fondest memories of my trips to Philly as a young kid and teenager. I fell in love with the cheesesteak and while I know some food memories can become romanticized I have spent all my Midwestern life trying to find a decent sandwich west of Philly. I’m happy to report my love has finally found a home at Big Red’s Steaks here in Madison, Wisconsin.

Walking into Big Red’s I was instantly put at ease by the laid back if not sloppy look of the place. I was worried I was going to get a glossy version of a steak place like you find at the mall. Nope, here we just have a counter with a menu board and a number of paper reminders about specials and what not. The staff is knowledgeable and certainly was patient with my partner’s first attempt at ordering a cheesesteak and my own rustiness as I attempted to “wit” and “wiz” my way through.

As my partner pointed out, if you want to get to the bottom of a place like Big Red’s you start out by ordering the standard and that’s just what we did. Two steaks wit fried onions and wiz. I know many folks who cringe at cheese wiz on their steaks as opposed to provolone but dammit I’m a purist. The sandwiches were tightly wrapped and dripping with grease which was a good sign right off the bat. Inside the imported bread and meat (from Philly of course) hit all the right notes. The meat was thin and tender and while the portion size was a bit small, it was clearly the star of the sandwich. Next up was the bread which was firm on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Finally there was the wiz and onions which worked in perfect harmony. This was it, after 20 plus years of searching my taste buds had hit pay dirt.

On top of the sandwich we got an order of cheese fries with more of the aforementioned wiz. The fries were also very good and I’m tempted next time to order the Philly fries which also have pieces of steak on them. Then again they also offer mac and cheese bites.

While she loved her cheesesteak, my partner was more excited at the prospect of the Tastykakes Big Red’s carries. For those unfamiliar, Tastykakes are the Philly equivalent of Little Debbie’s but according to my partner, so, so, much better. As a child, her father who was a Philly native, often regaled her with tales of Tastykakes and once in a while would share some with her when friends and family would bring them from out east. After sampling their equivalent of a Ho Ho I’m inclined to agree with her that these are the best packaged snack cakes ever. My partner thinks the secret ingredient is better lard.

Perhaps the biggest downside to Big Red’s is the location. The two owners who started the business as a late night food cart were smart to leave it in the downtown/campus area however the exact spot is difficult for anyone hoping to pick something up on the fly. The nearest meter is about a block away and the only other alternative is one of the State Street parking ramps. Granted I’m guessing that they do most of their business thanks to students and downtown workers, as lord knows if I was either I’d be there multiple times a week, but it’s a gigantic pain for any of us driving in. Still in light of the quality of the food it’s a small inconvenience. Thank you Big Red’s for finally ending my quest.


Big Red’s Steaks, 610 University Ave, Madison, WI (608)255-1183

Design Me a Star: Week 1

What a difference a year makes. Last summer I dismissed HGTV’s Design Star as design for idiots since not only did the cast seem destined to forever dwell in Michael’s Arts and Crafts, but they also had to appeal to the average TV viewer since the viewers decided their fate. Now a year later I’m super jazzed about the latest season. Maybe it’s because there is no new season of Bravo!’s Top Design. Maybe it’s because my fellow South High Class of ’92 alum Genevieve Gorder is a judge. Maybe it’s because the judges, also Candice Olson and Vern Yip, now will decide who wins the grand prize. Then again it could just be the urge to watch anything remotely viewable in these dog days of summer TV. Whatever the reason, after last night’s premiere, I’m hooked and will now be doing a weekly column on the show.

The one thing Design Star still lacks are the smooth production twists that we’re accustomed to on shows like Runway or Top Chef. In an effort to change things up last night, they had the 10 designers vote in the 11th competitor. Their decision process was made up of a brief Q&A session and the potentials’ video reels. They chose Torie who looks like a 50 year old ex-beauty queen but in reality is a 35 year old ex-beauty queen. It was a pretty weak twist that did not make for anything resembling engrossing TV.

Once the now 11 contestants got that out of the way, they were given their first challenge of designing the rooms in their Hollywood house. Props to HGTV for delivering the designers the biggest budget in Design Star history even in these tough economic times. I also enjoyed the fact that the designers were left to chose who did what, and how to split the budget. The idea to base the splits on square footage was not only fair but sadly drama free.

The performance in this challenge instantly identified who the best and brightest are in this season. The dining room team of Dan and Nathan were great and the judges certainly recognized their effort. I thought star of the room other than the graphic painting was the large table with the cut out in the middle. Remembering back to last year and the drama the large table brought to those contestants; Dan and Nathan built their own and smartly assembled it in the actual room. The team of bitchy Lonnie, unremarkable Amy and my early favorite Antonio turned out to be a pretty good second. I thought they were heading for trouble with their colors but Antonio’s flying pink ducks saved the day. I also loved the idea of extending the fireplace ledge around the room. Torie and Jany did a nice guest bedroom that was just ok.

Of course with the good also came the bad. Instantly annoying Jason, who looks like a Will Ferrell character or a live action Butt-head, was teamed with Jen the sequel, she not only looks like last year’s winner Jen but came complete with pigtails, in one of the extra bedrooms. Their design included $700 astro turf and a desk chair that didn’t fit under the desk. Let’s not even get into the wooden animal heads they stuck to the wall that they didn’t stain or paint or the lame letter stencils on one wall. They claimed they imagined the owner of the room to be a writer for National Geographic but that was just a lame excuse to cover bad work. Clearly one of them would have gone home if not for the amazingly bad work of the poorly named NataLee and Tashica. Their master bedroom was good on paper but turned out to be one of the worst executed challenges in all of reality show history. This ranks right up there with the season 1 Apprentice challenge where a team made $7. With tape marks on the painted floor, queen comforters ripped in half to fit twin beds, and curtains duck taped to the ceiling this room was horrible beyond words. Credit to the judges for being able to see beyond that and give credit for the plan and the color palette. The only drama was which oddly named contestant would go home for the debacle and in the end it was NataLee due in large part to the seizure she had after doing a decent day’s work.

Perhaps I’m getting too excited about a show I ridiculed a year ago, but so far so good. The promise of Hollywood guest stars should at least keep the show fresh. Not only is basic cable whore Kathy Griffin guest starring but so are 90210 alum Jason Priestly and Tiffani Amber Thiessen. Of course if it goes downhill from here we still have August 20th and Project Runway on the horizon.