TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Taste of the Stew

ADVERTISEMENT

By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

BEERS TO YOU: Beer lovers can look forward to the Holiday Ale Festival and Tasting at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at New World Brewery in Ybor City. More than 50 holiday ales will be featured. My favorites: Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, Criminally Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf and Santa's Butt.

New World is at 1313 Eighth Ave. Tickets are $12. For information, call (813) 248-4969.

STAR TURNS: Amazon.com is hosting a Celebrity Chef Blog (www.amazon.com/kitchengifts) featuring content posted by such chefs as Food Network star Robert Irvine, cookbook author Rick Rodgers, vegetarian expert Mollie Katzen and Rick Bayless, chef for three authentic Mexican restaurants, as well as author for many cookbooks.

BAM, YOU'RE GONE: Word is that negotiations to renew Emeril Lagasse's contract with Food Network's parent company E.W. Scripps have broken off. His last "Emeril Live" will air Dec. 11.

The show, which debuted a decade ago, helped establish the network as a nighttime viewing channel. Lagasse will continue to host "Essence of Emeril," a cooking show without a studio audience. "Emeril Live" will air as reruns after taping ends.

Earlier this year, the network axed Mario Batali's show "Molto Mario," which had been aired since 1997, and eliminated him as a master chef from the show "Iron Chef: America."

ORDER CITRUS EARLY: The Florida Department of Citrus reminds that the deadline for sending gift fruit this holiday season is approaching. Ordering by Dec.15 will ensure the delivery by Christmas.

Approximately 2.5 million boxes of Florida fruit are expected to be sent this year, and 60 percent of these are being purchased by Floridians. The tradition began at roadside stands in the 1930s. Gift baskets can be ordered at www.PickFLA.com.

KEVIN DuBROW, R.I.P: I was saddened to hear about the death of rock singer Kevin DuBrow this week at his home in Las Vegas.

I met the frontman of Quiet Riot four years ago when he flew in for a debut of the Hard Rock Hotel's restaurant The Kitchen in Orlando. The restaurant was filled with rock stars past and present. Harry Casey of '70s disco group KC and the Sunshine Band hobnobbed with '90s boy band star Chris Kirkpatrick of 'N Sync and heavy metal rocker Lita Ford as Sammy Hagar helped a chef make drunken scallops with his Cabo Wabo tequila.

DuBrow was pumped when he heard I was from Tampa. He spent time here working on an album.

"I love Shells!" he said. "We don't have an inexpensive seafood chain like Shells on the West Coast. You can oyster up there until you're blue in the face."

Did he eat the peanuts from the barrel in the lobby?

"Hell yeah! Ya gotta eat the peanuts!"

DuBrow told me he despised the culinary impulses members of his band on the road between tour stops. Some preferred to eat Taco Bell all the time, he told me, but going onstage with indigestion was not a good idea for him.

"If it isn't Taco Bell, your options are Cracker Barrel, Applebee's and Red Lobster, none of which are really the best thing in the world," he said. "You've got Waffle House — that's always iffy."

He cultivated a taste for fine dining when the heavy metal profits started rolling in. "Chicken-fried steak is fine, if that's all you know. I, for one, can't stand it. The more you are exposed to [finer food], the more you expect."

Hungry for more? Read Jeff Houck's multimedia food blog, The Stew, at keyword: Stew.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT