Food Network is casting for The Next Food Network Star

Do you have a great personality, I mean GREAT? Can you cook, and can you create your own brand for yourself? You my friend should get to this casting call.

Just into me from Michael Birchenall, Editor of FoodService Monthly that Dana Abrams, a Casting Assistant for Food Network Star, Food Network’s hugely successful culinary reality series is seeking to get the word out that they are currently casting for season 9 and holding an open casting call in Washington, D.C. on December 10th!

Get all the details HERE

Hands on Sushi Rolling classes at Pabu

The class is a hands-on class, the first of monthly sushi classes at Pabu Restaurant that starts this Saturday, December 1st. Learn to season your sushi rice, how to properly let it cool and the knack of working with nori on your rolls.

PABU Izakaya will begin hosting Sushi 101 Class at the restaurant with Executive Chef Jonah Kim, beginning this Saturday, December 1st, 2012. In this first class, Chef Kim will incorporate traditional Japanese New Year fare including “Osechi” small dishes that are served and cooked in a “jubako” (similar to a bento box).

Get the full details and watch the sushi rice video HERE

Sotto Sopra Restaurant's Green Monday promotion

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving, of giving thanks for their customers’ continued patronage, Sotto Sopra Restaurant at 405 N. Charles Street has created a whole new holiday, GREEN MONDAY. There is Thanksgiving, there is Black Friday, there is Small Business Saturday and now there is Sotto Sopra's GREEN MONDAY, Monday, November 26, where customers can recycle their expired gift certificates into savings. That is any expired gift certificate or expired discount coupon - think Groupon, Living Social etc, for any services, not only restaurants.


Bring Sotto Sopra Restaurant any expired discount coupon or gift certificate on GREEN MONDAY.. read the full story, watch the video and/or  slideshow HERE

Baltimore's top five caterers

Can you hear the holiday music, I do, I have an earworm of Nat King Cole’s A Christmas Song…”chestnuts roasting over an open fire” on a permanent loop in my head. The holidays are upon us with company parties, entertaining at home and sometimes, it is just too much handle. I thought it apropos to list my five favorite caterers in Baltimore who can help you not only with your holiday entertaining but with any of your special occasions. Some have been in Baltimore for a number of years and others are fairly recent. My list is alphabetical and no particular ranking, just my favorites for consistency, innovation, service and some damn fine food.

For the full list and the slideshow click HERE

The Stuffing Cookie recipe just in time for Thanksgiving

Other than the Thanksgiving Turkey, what else screams Thanksgiving but stuffing. Dan Guerrera, owner of NYC’s Downtown Cookie Co., has taken his love of cookies to an unexpected place: November’s Cookie of the Month is the Stuffing cookie! His exclusive recipe (which features Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing) makes the most of sweet-meets-savory goodness—tart cranberries, a hearty seasoning blend and the right combination of traditional cookie essentials. Dan noted: “I spent the better part of a month trying different things to get the flavor perfect. I laugh when I say it, but it was seriously the only stuffing that worked.” It looks like Pumpkin Pie might be taking a back seat to these indulgent, limited-time treats this year

Read the full story and get the recipe HERE

Baltimore's holiday culinary classes for adults and children

Expanding your cooking knowledge is fine and dandy from the web or television shows but the best is physically taking a cooking class whether a demonstration or hands-on. Being able to see, touch, feel, enjoy the aroma of what is being cooked far exceeds anything Giada, Ina, Bobby or Martha can offer you. Immediate answers to your culinary questions, the camaraderie of others who want to learn how to cook or who love to cook, and tasting the end results of the endeavor is the pinnacle of the class. With that being said, check out the FREE wine tasting and cooking demonstration at Grano Emporio, Donna’s Cross Key’s holiday cooking class series and the children’s gingerbread event at Maja’s Kitchen.

Get all the details of the classes HERE.

Super Bowl commercial filmed at Langermann's Canton

Langermann’s Canton, a southern inspired Baltimore restaurant, hosted a local production company that has entered the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” commercial contest. If their entry is chosen, Frito Lay will spend a million dollars to air it during the most-watched TV event of the year.

Read the full story and watch the video HERE

Harbor East restaurants: Three anniversary parties and one birth

I'm like Prissy in Gone with the Wind who said, “I don’t know nothing about birthin no babies,” I don’t know nothing about birthin no restaurants but some very talented hospitality folks do and did. Harbor East has really blossomed over the summer with new restaurants; Townhouse Kitchen and Bar, Ouzo Bay, Manchuran Rice Company, Pabu, and right on the boundary of Harbor East, Fleet Street Kitchen.

Almost gone with the wind, sorry – I can’t help myself here, was the grand opening of the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant who had their grand opening during Hurricane Sandy last week.

Learn more about the anniversary parties and watch the slideshow HERE

Saigon Remembered reopens in Timonium

The Saigon Remembered Vietnamese Restaurant that you remember was the one across the street from the Senator Theatre on York Road by Belvedere Square. That location closed in the spring of 2011. Good news for their fans and those of us who love Vietnamese food – they reopened today in Timonium.

Watch the recipe video and read the full story HERE

Psst, the Mt. Washington Tavern is back

Almost a year to the date when the beloved Mt. Washington Tavern caught fire it has been rebuilt and the doors officially open Tuesday, November 6th at 5 p.m. The tavern was built almost from the ground up from the fire and with the rebuild came raising the building more off the ground, a precaution for a neighborhood that has frequently seen floods.

Tonight with friends and family coming in to test the staffing, the kitchen and get the first had glance of all the changes had the Tavern booked solid with about 200 guests.

Watch the slideshow and read the full story HERE

Tao Asian Bistro in New York City hosts Jimmy Fallon and Lindsay Lohan

Where to dine in New York City during Hurricane Sandy and celebrity watch seems to have been Tao Asian Bistro in midtown. Tao boasts a huge 16 foot Buddha over a virtual reflecting pool and high vaulted ceilings. The building was the 19th century Vanderbilt stables. One can dine on mixed Asian cuisine from fatty toro to Sunday’s Dim Sum.

Read the full story and watch the video HERE

The Americana Restaurant: Networking central for military veterans

The Americana restaurant in Canton is owned and operated by Alex van Breukelen, a United States Marine that is adamant about building a strong military veteran network in and around Baltimore. There are currently over 500 U.S. military veterans that frequent The Americana and use the bar for a location to network, build relationships and give back to the community.

With the United States election and Veteran’s Day around the corner it seems apropos that van Breukelen celebrate his fellow military brothers and sisters. The Americana will be giving back to veterans through different events each day from November 5 through November 10.

Get the full story and watch the video HERE