PA Eats is a proud media sponsor of Dining Out for Life.
Dining Out for Life has a simple, yet powerful mission: Dine Out. Fight AIDS. During the annual event, which takes shape today, April 25, participating restaurants donate 33 percent of the day’s food sales to help fund care, prevention, education, testing, counseling and other essential HIV/AIDS services.
In honor of Dining Out for Life’s 23rd anniversary, PA Eats gets up-close and personal with Emmy Award-winning Ted Allen, host of Food Network’s Chopped and also, a Dining Out for Life spokesman since 2008.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Dining Out for Life. You’ve been a spokesman for the annual fundraiser for the last six years. How did you originally become involved?
Ted Allen: Dining Out for Life approached me about whether or not I would do this, and I jumped at the chance. I have a history with the event, just having been a participant for 18 years when I lived in Chicago. I still remember the restaurant I first went to, called Bella Vista [now closed]. I went there on a date. I can’t remember the date’s name, but I remember the restaurant.
It’s a huge positive for the restaurateurs, like Steven Starr and Jose Garces, to get involved. Restaurants donate their profits to HIV/AIDS charities right in their community, so it’s a huge positive—positive for restaurants, positive for the communities themselves, and of course, it’s positive in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which continues to change and these groups pivot to meet these challenges.
To me, it’s amazing that we are in more than 60 cities now. Hundreds of thousands of restaurants are involved and in a single day, we raise more than four million dollars.
In addition to speaking out to combat HIV and AIDS, you’re found regularly in front of the camera hosting Food Network’s Chopped. Can you give us a taste of what’s buzzing about the latest episodes?
We wrapped up shooting a couple months ago. Right now, we are airing the most dramatic part of Chopped: All-Stars. That’s a five-part series, and the most exciting part for me is the one that just aired where our judges actually competed. It was definitely exciting for us since Scott Conant competed.
Scott has refused to compete for almost 10 years. They tried to get him to do Iron Chef and he declined. He doesn’t have to do this. He has an empire of successful restaurants and when you compete in a timed competition on a television show, you’re really vulnerable. Three out of four people are going to be chopped, and it’s not fun to be chopped. Of course, [on this episode] the judges made errors, but I think they all performed vastly better than your average contestant on Chopped since they have these skills really down. It takes a lot of guts to do that, and for me, it was really dramatic to see Scott out there.
Who convinced Scott to finally battle it out?
He told me his wife told him to do it. [Chuckles.] I know he felt a lot of pressure too since all of the other judges have already done it at this point. Is he going to be the lone judge that refuses? He stepped up, he’s done it—he may never do it again!
Chopped: All-Stars is wrapping up soon, yes?
The finale is airing this Sunday, April 28 at 9 p.m. I don’t want to spoil who won in case anyone has not watched them yet, but in the finale, you are going to see some pretty stellar competition. It’s going to be one of the top judges, another Food Network star, one of stellar chefs who won their episode, and one other.
How is the camaraderie on set at Chopped? Can you mingle with the chef-testants since you’re the host?
The judges and myself have spent an enormous amount of time together now, and we are all great friends. We have more fun together than we should be allowed to have. In fact, the one tough thing about Chopped is that we have four chefs who come on and compete, and we are chefs—with the exception of myself, although I love them—and we want to talk to them, trade ideas, have a drink, tell jokes, and we can’t do that with our contestants.
Another great thing about the job is that I get to know all these incredible chefs [following the intense filming]. I have all their cell phone numbers, so if I have a problem when I’m cooking, I can call Alex Guarnaschelli or Scott Conant and get an answer—which is a huge privilege. Also, it’s very helpful if I need a table in a restaurant—it’s such a treat. It’s just as tough in Philadelphia. If you want a table in a hot, new restaurant, you’re fighting every foodie in town.
Time Magazine has called Chopped the “‘Law & Order’ of cable food TV.” Do you agree? Why do you enjoy participating in this show?
One of things the network [Food Network] likes to talk about is that these competitions, you can learn about food. I learn a ton about food when I’m on set at Chopped. It takes cooking and turns it into a basketball game. You can appeal to people even if they don’t care about learning how to cook. From an emotional level, you see these chefs transform from these shy, nervous contestants. Maybe Scott Conant told them they were great and they start feeling more comfortable in our kitchen. By the end, they’re a champion.
Who selects the ingredients in Chopped’s mystery baskets?
Food Network has a whole army behind Chopped (and the other cooking competitions) that people don’t see. While the mystery baskets may look random, they are not. There’s a plan inside those baskets—not always a plausible plan or an easy plan, and often borderline impossible.
It was never worse than when we did the viewer choice episode a few weeks back. The viewers were able to choose the ingredients, via an online contest, and they were just sadistic. For example, the episode’s chefs had to work with three proteins in one basket—and one of them was testicles. Unsolvable problem, right there. Then there was something horrible and processed, like Cheetos.
Circling back to the notion of expanding viewers’ palates, can you reveal some ingredients that have been featured on the show that made a splash with your audience?
I did a book signing at this gourmet grocery market in Providence, Rhode Island called Dave’s Marketplace. Dave, the owner who has nine stores in that region, told me that when Chopped features an ingredient, they sell more of it. Mascarpone cheese is the best example. We always have that in the fridge and contestants always turn to it.
It’s not our job to increase the sales in a grocery store, but when you open people’s eyes to a new flavor, you’ve inspired them. We all need inspiration, it can come from any place.
Any recent Chopped ingredients leave you craving to cook with them?
We had an ingredient on Chopped called Aleppo peppers, named for the city in Syria. They are a dried, red pepper from Syria. I’d sprinkle them on pizza, as they are very similar to hot red pepper flakes. But, there’s a difference. It has slightly milder heat and it has a differing flavor. While it’s mild when sprinkling on things, when you cook it in a liquid as I did last night, it gets much hotter. The hot, volatile oils just infuse the whole dish. It’s not a blunt heat, it’s the kind of heat that builds up slowly on your palate—which I love. I forgot about this as I was cooking last night, as I had forgot about this before. Chopped inspired me to use this new chile.
Speaking of cooking at home, any new kitchen gear you’re using that we have to have?
I just got a set of spoons from Michael Ruhlman, the food writer. He manufactures a spoon with a certain angle to it that wasn’t on the market. It’s called an off-set spoon. It flexes, and as soon as you use a tool like this, it changes your life. Once I received these spoons, I was inspired to cook. You need to get your hands on some.
I know you’re a busy guy, with being the host of Chopped, a Dining Out for Life spokesman, a writer, and so much more. What’s your ultimate cool-down? Your drink of the moment?
My favorite cocktail is the gin & tonic, which is a pretty boring answer. But, my friend recently came up with that is awesome. She took hibiscus flowers, steeped them in hot water, making a tea base for the drink. Then, she added Canton ginger liqueur, lime and tequila. It’s very light on the alcohol, you could call it a cooler. Not terribly sweet, and tart.
Still contemplating Dining Out for Life? Let’s do a final plug, Ted.
This Thursday, the chances are you are going to eat anyway. So, why not treat yourself on this particular day. Go to DiningOutforLife.com, look at the huge list of Philadelphia restaurants that are participating, and for no extra cost or work on your part whatsoever, just go to one of those restaurants and eat!
You will be helping your community, you will be helping people with HIV and AIDS, and helping the volunteers that work for those groups. Not everyone can be an activist, not everyone is trained to be a nurse or a chef, or has a car that they can deliver food, but we all can play a meaningful role in this fight but doing nothing more than going out to dinner at the right restaurant. If you feel like you want to do more, there will be an envelope on your table where you can leave extra, which will help fund this effort.
You can go to a place you already love or try somewhere new, and you may discover your new favorite restaurant in the world as a result of this promotion. At the same time, you’re going to help contribute to a giant pot of money—4 million dollars raised in a single day—to fight HIV and AIDS. Every penny that is earned stays right in Philadelphia, helping your neighbors and your community, making your own town stronger. It’s a win-win-win.
Go out to eat. Have dessert this time—you’re too thin.
Click here to see which Philadelphia area restaurants are participating in today’s Dining Out for Life fundraiser. Additionally, a food truck court will be a part of today’s fundraising lineup (more details on that here).
Photographs credited to TedAllen.net (Peter Ross), Food Network and Ruhlman.com.
