TV Recaps Reviews

Adam visits Syracuse, NY, to take on Mother’s Cupboard’s massive Frittata Challenge. The Frittata Challenge encompasses over six pounds of egg, potato, sausage, pepperoni and veggies. Of the thousands who have tried it, ninety-five percent of the Frittata Challenge challengers have failed. If Adam completes the challenge he wins a t-shirt and his picture on their wall of fame. With no time limit to the challenge Adam may have a fighting chance at this monster plate of food.

First Adam visits local favorite Dinosaur Bar-B-Q, where they serve up tons of delicious barbecue food, including pulled pork, ribs and brisket. Adam is here to try their Pork-Sket Platter: pulled pork and beef brisket ladened with melted sharp cheddar cheese, then topped with homemade pickled jalapeños and their homemade coleslaw. Adam quips about the barbecue at the restaurant “It may be dinosaur barbecue, but man has evolved!” Back in the kitchen Chef Jeffery Coon shows Adam how the Pork-Sket Platter is put together. The chef seasons the pork butt and brisket with their special Texas style dry rub with secret ingredients. Next the meat hits the smoker, the meat is cooked from twelve to fifteen hours at 185 degree heat over indirect wood smoke. When the pork butt comes out of the oven, the pork is pulled into pieces. Next comes the brisket, which makes Adam clap for joy over the crusty edges of the meat. Adam remarks on the deep smoke ring around the edge of the brisket. The chef adds a special sauce to the pork when it is pulled and brisket once it is sliced. One half pound of pulled pork and one half pound of brisket is piled on the grill and drenched in a thick sweet sauce. The cheddar cheese is melted on the meat, then the mound of meat is transferred to the sandwich bread, and topped with their homemade pickled jalapeños and their homemade coleslaw. Adam sits to enjoy the Pork-Sket Platter, biting into the sandwich he tells the audience “The coleslaw is unf**king believable!” Adam is wowed by this succulent barbecue sandwich.

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Tony and his crew are spotlighted in this look at behind the scenes of the making of No Reservations. Tony tells the audience that a camera crew followed the making of the Kerala, India episode, capturing Tony’s interaction with his tight-knit crew. Tony and his main crew members Chris the executive producer and producer Diane are in a pre-production meeting ten days before departure to Kerala, India. Chris and Diane discuss the settings and guides that will help Tony with the episode and they all banter and joke with each other. Diane tends to enjoy having Tony get involved in traditions of the people such as dancing which Tony does not enjoy, telling Diane and Chris “Believe me, nobody wants to see me with my shirt off.” And there is more Tony banter as he seethes against local customs he must be a part of “Running around a tree singing and dancing, I’ve been asking for this for f**king years.” As Chris and Diane discuss what will happen if the crew arrives before Tony does for this shoot, Tony shares with the audience “A lot of talking to Mister Fisty I’m guessing. If something’s missing from my mini-bar, I’m not paying. If they’re charging porn to my room, this will not pass.” Chris tells the audience in a separate scene when asked if Tony still wants to do No Reservations that someone recently asked him the same question and the answer was a resounding yes, he still loves to write, travel and eat for a living. Chris confesses as excited as he is when they get ready to leave for a new location, it is getting tougher to leave his wife and kids behind.

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Sunday’s 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards was hosted by Jimmy Fallon, who brought some comic moments to the ceremony. Fallon’s Glee spoof with him dressed as Bruce Springsteen singing “Born To Run” guest starring the Glee cast, John Hamm (Mad Men), Tina Fey (30 Rock), and Joel McHale (Community) among others, was a funny bit that was a big hit with the audience. Fallon used the best tweets he received to introduce stars during the show. Fallon’s method of announcing categories was by playing original comedy songs on the guitar and singing them with various stars in the audience.

Eric Stonestreet started Modern Family’s wins by nabbing the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy. Modern Family provided an upset, winning best comedy over popular comedy series Glee and Thirty Rock. Edie Falco won Outstanding Actress In A Comedy for her role in Nurse Jackie. Jane Lynch won Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy for her role in Glee. Kyra Sedgwick, who has been nominated numerous times for lead actress in The Closer, finally won Outstanding Actress In A Drama for her work on the series. Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad won Outstanding Actor In A Drama for the third year in a row, while his co-star Aaron Paul won his first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama. Mad Men won again for Outstanding Drama.

The complete list of the 2010 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards winners:

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Adam travels to the Jersey Shore to take on the Chicken or the Egg’s Ludicrous Wings Challenge. Adam must down twelve jumbo chicken wings coated in an intense hot sauce in fifteen minutes to win a t-shirt. Thousands have tried the challenge, but only three have succeeded. Adam hears the wing sauce includes a firey mix called “Devil’s Blood”.

The first stop in the Garden State for Adam is Maruca’s Tomato Pies, famous for their saucy topped pizzas. Adam is at Maruca’s for their famed pizza, the Trenton Pie. Adam meets with brothers Joe and Dominic, owners of the restaurant, to see how their “sauce on the top” pizza is made. A montage shows Adam in the kitchen pretending to be a DJ with shades and earphones, “spinning” two Trenton Pie’s like vinyl records. Adam goes back to the kitchen where Joe shows him how the Trenton Pies are put together. Joe brings out a two pound homemade dough and presses it flat in their heated metal pizza dough press. From there Joe spins the dough in the air and forms the pizza. The dough is topped with one and a half pounds of a proprietary mix of cheese blend specially made for Maruca’s. Joe then swirls tomato sauce in a spiral on top of the pizza. The saucy pizza with thin crust is baked and comes out of the oven ready to eat. Adam takes a bite of the pizza and says “It goes from an almost fruit-like sweetness when you bite all the sauce, to a rich, almost bakery, buttery-like taste because of the cheese!” Adam goes in for a second bite as Joe samples a piece at the same time. Adam looks over at Joe and tells him “I love you!” as he melts over the flavor of the Trenton Pie.

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Tony Bourdain returns to Beiruit, Lebanon to finish the episode he planned to film in 2006, before the cast and crew were stuck in the middle of an intense conflict. Tony has been longing to visit Beiruit to make things right after the conflict, and to visit the people and restaurants he planned to visit before the fighting broke out.

Tony and the original crew, minus a crew member who just gave birth, are sitting poolside at Le Royal hotel where they were holed up in during the conflict in Beiruit, waiting to leave the country. Tony thought it fitting they would be at the same hotel. Tony tells the crew how the fighting affected him deeply, how his life changed during that first trip to Beiruit: “Flew home, my wife was there, she was then my girlfriend. We went right home, and made a baby. That was the day that my daughter was conceived.”

Tony and his guide visit Le Chef, picking up where they left off when the fighting began during the filming of the last episode. Le Chef is the only restaurant where they shot a restaurant meal during the 2006 shoot. The restaurant is known for its homestyle classic dishes. Tony and his guide enjoy lamb kibbeh, hummus with pine nuts and ground beef, eggplant with tomatoes, and a kale like vegetable dish, washed down with arak, the local ouzo-like alcoholic drink.

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The 62nd annual primetime Emmy awards will air Sunday night on NBC. The show will be shown live on both coasts. The primetime Emmy awards will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon, host of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Part of Fallon’s hosting comedy bits will include using the best of viewer tweets to introduce stars during the awards ceremony.

Award presenters for the evening include Matthew Morrison, January Jones, Sofia Vergara, Julianna Margulies, Ricky Gervais, John Krasinski, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Joel McHale, Blair Underwood, Eva Longoria, Jim Parsons, Jon Hamm, Keri Russell, Matthew Perry, LL Cool J, Edie Falco, Will Arnett, and Laurence Fishburne.

The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards airs live on Sunday, August 29th at 8:00 pm ET and 5:00 pm PT on NBC.

Adam visits Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the legendary Indianapolis 500 motor race. Adam is here to face Bub’s Burger & Ice Cream restaurant’s Big Ugly Challenge. Adam must take down four of the Big Ugly burgers to win the Big Ugly Challenge and get his photo on the Big Ugly photo wall. The more burgers you eat, the bigger the photo. There is no time limit to this challenge, but the Big Ugly has defeated most of its challengers. Of forty-two thousand challengers, none have completed the challenge Adam faces today.

Adam checks out the popular Edwards Drive-In, where they specialize in homemade root beer, their legendary pork tenderloin sandwich, and crispy onion rings. The 8 x 10 pork tenderloin hangs over the bun on the sandwich, making it an impressive sight upon delivery. Adam joins drive-in owner Jeff Edwards back in the kitchen as Jeff creates the pork tenderloin sandwich. Jeff cuts pieces off a pork tenderloin to Adam’s amazement, and proceeds to pound down the pork cut to make the flattened patties. As Adam helps pound down the pork tenderloins he jokes “Quit kicking the back of my seat on the airplane”, no doubt a common problem he faces from the hours he spends in air travel for the show. The pork is pounded down to one half inch thick patties, then twice dipped in egg wash and ground crackers. The huge pork patties are stored in the fridge for twelve hours before they are fried in a gigantic sized fryer. Jeff brings out a golden pork tenderloin and builds the sandwich using the pork, onion slices, lettuce and pickles on a toasted bun. Adam takes a bite from the sandwich and proclaims “That’s excellent, that’s really, really good!” Just then Jeff brings out a behemoth sized nine pound version of the pork tenderloin sandwich. Adam’s eyes grow large as he is astonished and says to Jeff “You pounded an entire pig and battered it?!” The sandwich is cut in half and Adam bites into the huge half of the pork tenderloin sandwich.

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Tony visits Rome for the first time in this episode. He’s been to Italy many times but he’s always wanted to go to Rome. This episode is filmed entirely in black and white to honor what Tony says is the classic feel from old films and history that is a part of Rome.

The Rome adventure begins with Tony driving a sports car against a green screen featuring scenes from Rome. Of course Tony is driving erratically and pretty much making the driving look as fake as possible, similar to old black and white movies.

Tony meets up with his guide and friend Cesare Casella at Ristorante Paris, to indulge in traditional Roman food. Ristorante Paris uses fresh, seasonal food when creating their menu. Tony and Cesare start with fried artichoke, which they enjoy. Next an artichoke, fava bean, pea and pancetta dish, Tony takes a bite of the dish and says “Wow!” Lamb chops arrive at the table, accompanied by chicory with anchovies. Tony and Cesare love the combination of chicory and lamb together. Tony tells the audience about Roman seasonal eating: “They don’t talk annoyingly about seasonal here, they just f**king do it.”

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SNL fans might want to check out the brainchild of SNL alum Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Ferrell and McKay are executive producers of the new Comedy Central show Big Lake, starring SNL alums Chris Parnell and Horatio Sands, and improv comic Chris Gethard. Gethard stars as Josh Franklin, a failed financial guy who leaves the big city to move back in with his parents in his Pennsylvania hometown. Parnell plays Josh’s burned-out high-school teacher, and Sands is Josh’s best friend who happens to be an ex-con. Josh’s parents are none too happy with their offspring moving back in since he managed to lose their nest egg during his financial downfall.

With this many creative minds in action behind the scenes and on screen, Big Lake should be worth a watch. Big Lake premieres Tuesday, August 17 at 10:00 p.m on Comedy Central. Check your local TV schedule for upcoming episodes of the series.

Adam is on an eating adventure in Kansas City, the barbecue capital of the world, where they cook every kind of meat barbecue and slather it in a sweet sauce. This episode Adam will take on Papa Bob’s Bar-B-Que Ultimate Destroyer Challenge. Adam must eat six pounds of meat sandwich and french fries in forty five minutes order to win the challenge. No challengers have ever won this competition, clearing the way for Adam to be the first challenge winner. If Adam wins the challenge he receives a “I survived the Ultimate Destroyer” button and his picture posted on Papa Bob’s Wall of Fame.

First Adam hits Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ, a combination gas station and diner. They are known for their succulent pulled pork and meaty spare ribs. Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ does barbecue right, but their most requested meat on the menu is their slow cooked brisket. One of the diners tells Adam that the pulled pork is the best around. Adam goes back to the kitchen where he meets up with Joe the owner, who shows him how they do their brisket. Joe seasons the brisket with beef powder, sugar, worcestershire sauce, and a special blend of spices. Joe slow smokes the brisket over wood for twelve to fourteen hours. Adam watches a brisket come out of the smoker and his eyes light up at the dark crust on the meat. Joe cuts a piece of the brisket for Adam to taste and he is in heaven. Joe cuts off the meat to cook for burnt ends and puts it back in the smoker for another six to eight hours. As Joe brings out the finished brisket burnt ends, Adam jokingly grabs the tray and runs away with it. When Adam tastes the burnt ends he proclaims “It’s sweet, super savory” meat, saying of the burnt ends “That was awesome, soft like a meat smore, one of the best pieces of barbecue I’ve ever come across!”

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