Burning Question: Do chefs watch cooking shows?

Bobby Flay called me once. Early in the morning. On a Saturday.

He was his usual chipper self as I mumbled a groggy “Hey, Bobby” and tried to remember just what the hell we were supposed to chat about. All I recall now about the conversation is that I asked if fans ever mistook him for Tyler Florence.

Before the Food Network—and perhaps before PBS—chefs generally earned fame for their work in professional kitchens. Nowadays, however, many of the people we refer to as celebrity chefs are bestowed the honor for their exploits on television. And they are truly stars, somehow distanced from the reality of a signature dish, more readily identified by a signature catchphrase.

Emeril Legasse? Yep, it’s “Bam!”

Rachael Ray? Try “EVOO.”

Gordon Ramsay? Um...probably best not to repeat it, even at the Weekly. There are some tender, gentle folks in this newsroom.

Clearly the programming on Food Network and the Cooking Channel is popular. Around the country DVRs hum when Chopped, The Pioneer Woman, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Carnival Eats, Man Fire Food...it’s a long list and you get the point.

But do chefs—real chefs and others in the industry, toiling in restaurants day after day—ever watch cooking shows?

“Yeah, absolutely,” says Travis Childers, chef and owner of The Cork & Plough in King City. “I’ll sit in the restaurant and watch Food Network on the television.”

Really? Somehow I figured professionals would prefer a break from ingredients, endless chopping and rhapsodies on the wonders of açai.

“I do all the time,” agrees Denis Boaro, general manager and owner of Gusto Handcrafted Pasta & Pizza in Seaside, as well as Basil Seasonal Dining in Carmel. “It’s fun. It inspires me to come up with something different.”

As it turns out, many—probably most—local chefs and restaurateurs kick back with a favorite on the flatscreen. Soerke Peters, chef and owner of Etats-Unis French American Bistro catches Chef’s Table on Netflix and others “if I have time and there’s a chef I know.” Chris Vacca, who serves as executive chef for Hyatt Residence Club Carmel-Highlands Inn, is also a fan of Chef’s Table, and a “huge fan” of the Mind of a Chef series.

“Laura McIntosh has a great chef-to-home cook series on PBS called Bringing it Home,” he adds.

While Childers avoids competition shows that drag on over several episodes, he does enjoy challenging himself vicariously watching episodes of Chopped.

“You think what you would do with the ingredients, so it’s fun to see what other chefs do,” he says.

Todd Fisher, the executive chef at Seventh & Dolores in Carmel, even had his own short-lived but wonderful United States of Food, which sent him on the road for bacon, burgers and steaks.

“I used to watch Hell’s Kitchen,” Peters adds. “It was hilarious.”

Yet there are big caveats to their support for cooking shows. Even if they exude calm in the kitchen, chefs can relate to Gordon Ramsay’s f-word-laden rants. As a chef in Dallas told me years ago, “We’re not in the kitchen shouting ‘bam!’” He said you’re more likely to hear “What the hell is this?” directed toward a line cook.

But they dismiss television celebrities who gained fame through Food Network Star searches or because of personality alone.

“I’m no longer a fan of the Food Network or the other game show hosts who call themselves chefs,” Vacca observes.

There is general disdain for Guy Fieri. Rachael Ray fares little better. Even Giada—not going to attempt her last name—is dismissed by professional chefs.

“I think chefs have their opinion of the different TV personalities,” Childers acknowledges. “People who have been in the industry tend to respect those who put their time in on the line.”

In her book Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows, Kathleen Collins traces the genre from its transition from radio—yes, cooking shows started during the heyday of radio—to those little black and white Philco sets. The first American cooking show on TV was a 15 minute live spot hosted by non other than James Beard wedged between a dance program and Friday night boxing. Over the decades, what began with programs of helpful tips and technical demonstrations became swamped by reality-variety-personality shows.

It’s an evolution that began even before Food Network hit the cables in 1993. Remember the sycophantish Robin Leach drooling over the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? OK—not quite a cooking show, but somehow relevant. During the ’80s and through the ’90s and especially the aughts, Americans more and more equated dining and food with entertainment, travel, adventure, community, culture—you know, lifestyle.

Collins even compared modern cooking show to porn in a conversation with Time, saying “presentation trumps content” and “add that to the sexy hosts and kitchens, close-ups of food, fingers and lips, Emeril’s ‘oh yeah babe,’ groans of pleasure from the hosts and the aroused audience, and it’s tough to argue against the analogy.”

What the hell? Why am I suddenly hearing twangy ’70s Dirk Diggler music?

Food porn aside, chefs and those working in real restaurants believe most programs give a false impression, even while driving interest in dining.

New faces flow into restaurants that appear on cooking and travel shows. So even a visit by Guy Fieri or Rachael Ray helps business. Fieri has lapped praise on Cannery Row Brewing Co., Monterey Fish House, Rosine’s, The Wild Plum and several other spots on the Peninsula. When Ray was flexing her cheeks through $40 a day, she hit Cafe Fina.

More respectable hosts have visited, as well. Katie Lee recorded an episode of Beach Bites here, dropping in on Tricycle Pizza, Parker-Lusseau, Carmel Bakery and others. And Bobby Flay issued a cioppino Throwdown at Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing.

Now, if I remember right—it was several years ago and my brain cells keep getting rubbed out, for some reason—former Weekly managing editor Mark C. Anderson judged the contest.

“If it helps—I think it does, to a certain extent,” Boaro says. “But at the end of the day, while I love the energy of the show, in real life it’s more more difficult.”

So that covers this week’s Burning Question. Chef do watch cooking shows, but they are selective. And they appreciate the buzz created by cooking shows, but long for a little more reality.

Just like the rest of us, they enjoy a little food porn now and then.

As Childers says, “inspiration comes from anywhere.”