HE WAS LUKEWARM ON THE THURINGER????

Maybe I'm mistaken and it was one of the other dishes, but I thought it was that sandwich. No matter, I can't read minds, so I'd really like to hear Chris Cognac's actually take on the topic.

PIGMON wrote:I’m sure I speak for many LTHers implicitly when I say that I am hugely embarrassed by this exchange.

I'm sure I spoke for many of those who took the time and trouble to post and write directly to Cognac about LTHForum and other things Chicagoan when he announced his show on eGullet and therefore found his comments about it a trifle disingenuous.

And callous or not, I really find it hard to believe that anyone else coming here proclaiming somewhere like Hot Doug's as his obscure discovery would be taken seriously.

Would you have been embarrassed by disagreement with any new poster about a restaurant's claims to fame, or is it only because this one has a TV show?

Mike G wrote:It is entertaining, though, when everything sucks and there's no getting around the fact, as all the food in Iceland did for Bourdain....

That episode caused me to lose a lot of respect for Bourdain. On top of the goofy visit to the Khmer Rouge restaurant (during which Tony kept hankering for a "steak back at the hotel"), it was enough for me to consider never listening to/watching the guy again...though he does come up with the ballsy bon mot now and again.

Hammond

OK here we go, hope I can get all the stuff in...as far as Feasting on asphalt....I had already been in pre production for my show...I had done a ton of research for Alton and then he fell, which through a wrench into everything since he could no longer ride....I set some stuff up for him and then we just got into a police car and drove to the places we thought would work.....There are some good ones as well...

No with regards to negative reviews etc...I thin my feeling is that on the show we focus on places that we find that are good....I think since we only have 21 mins of air time to do 5 places we have to use the time as wisely as we can....so w a ton of prior research w pretty much know whjat we are getting, but we have changed places mid shoot...and I flat out told the production that if I didnt like it, I was not going to say i did.....and I stuck to it....in fact the one place that I didnt like a dish and said so on camera, burned down to the ground last week....so that will not air ( we have to travel and reshoot)..WE have a fairly large crew of around 9 w lots of lights, 2 cameras etc....and if we went into a place and just slammed it...there is pretty much no way they would ever sign a location release which is needed in order to air a segment...in fact everyone you see in the background etc signs a release....

That is all stuff I learned cause when I write for the paper or other magazines its easy, I just go in, eat, pay for the meal and leave...then write what I want....its not so w TV so I have to be carefull on our picks of location etc...

The fishcake...it was actually not too bad....there was a lot of bread, and I had done a few takes where I could not eat and talk quickly enough....and we were late for our plane so I think that might have been a factor....

it takes 4-5 days to film one show...and that is 12 hrs of shoot time per day....

thanks for the warm welcome from almost everyone here!

Chris

LAZ wrote:
And callous or not, I really find it hard to believe that anyone else coming here proclaiming somewhere like Hot Doug's as his obscure discovery would be taken seriously.

Would you have been embarrassed by disagreement with any new poster about a restaurant's claims to fame, or is it only because this one has a TV show?

Chris mentioned Hot Dougs, and then in another, unconnected paragraph he said that they try to stay off the beaten path. It didn't really seem like a statement about Hot Dougs being obscure.

Much as I'd love to go around and around on this several hundred times, I think we should just let the warm welcome part of this thread die a well-deserved death, and if anyone has anything to actually say about this show, especially AFTER seeing it, that would be an appropriate use of scarce, fossil-fuel-based Internet bandwidth.

OK, The research is broad process, we use the net, local blogs, reviews etc and then map out a broad range of what would fit into an episode. We then have to narrow the field down, we do 5 restaurants per show so we dont want to feature to many of the same types of food during the run of the show. We need to find places that are not as well known (although you might argue w hot dougs) and find a mix of places that viewers will enjoy. Each city has its own dishes that they are known for such as cheeseteaks, pizza etc.

We need to check and see who is "interesting" and has a good menu, story etc. Then contact the owner about filming, if the owner agrees and is chosen then its put into a filming scheduale (which is pretty tight). We write a storyline and figure out clues, why we are there etc, then go shoot the show.

Each restaurant segment takes about 6 hrs to shoot for 3 to 6 mins of airtime....we also figure out if there will be guests etc (chicago was a local detective I had done criminal investigations with).

Then we cross our fingers and head off to the city. We dont have a lot of time to research as we were on the road most of the summer and I had to also work my real job at the police dept in between shoots.

We did our best to make an original show and highlight some people that deserved it, I think we did a pretty good job with the short amount of time we had (about 3 months total for 11 cities).

We should get some more flexibility if we get another season since the show will be established.

I applaud the decision to not film anything you don't believe in. I think that is a gutsy move as I'm sure a producer somewhere is unhappy about the valuable time lost.

Also, how many Food Network hosts take time out to talk with food forums and try and get it right with feedback from the rest of us? Good Luck, Chris.

I enjoyed seeing Myron & Phil's get its props -- even with all the elderly Jewish swingers with bad hair in he background. (Wish Chris had ordered the skirt steak as well.) But they really went out of their way to not show the awful Planet Hollywood vestiges of Gino's East and only focus the camera on the original sign.
>>Brent

great show, chris! so glad i saw the thread & TIVO'd it last night on FN.

as for the "off the beaten path" comment, i DO think hot doug's is off the beaten path, in that it is located in an area completely devoid of tourists, easy public transportion options, etc.

yes, it is widely recognized as being one of the premier dog places (or, THE premier) in the city, but it is NOT somewhere people can just stumble upon it. it does have the kitsch factor, and the backstory of the fire in the 1st location, but i do have to say i'd call it "off the beaten path" anyday.

so, cheers to the Hungry Detective for a fun show! i loved how you get all the access to the kitchens in the locations, really gives a nice feel to the show.

thanks,
miss ellen

Hot Dougs was great..creative and delicious...plus it had really good prices...and Myron and Phil...whats not to love....great food....old school crowd, and good prices...I hope folks check it out, cause I know its tough for them to compete against the Ruth Chris and Mortons...You get so much more for the money at places like Myron and Phil!

I loved Chi town....one of my favs of the entire season!

Chris, nice picks. I appreciate anyone who "gets" places like M&P (or Sabatino's, which you'd like, I'm sure). Not to worry though, by all accounts M&P does very well, always has, with its aging but loyal base of customers.

Chris,

I'm glad you're still reading. I've enjoyed the episodes so far and I just watched the Chicago show. Overall, I liked it, but as a Chicagoan passionate about our food culture, I feel the need to dissect the show a little bit (respectfully and constructively, of course).

--As much of a media darling as it is, I think Hot Doug's is a must and I'm glad you went there. It's far enough away that your average tourist won't make it there. Doug is a terrific guy and the place is really good on camera. He does great stuff and deserves tons of praise and exposure for his addition to the Chicago sausage scene.

--I grew up with Myron & Phil's as one of my family's special event restaurants (it remains as such today). It's got a lot of charm and I'm glad you went there instead of the more famous places. I'm slightly disappointed that you didn't mention the chopped liver (and the overall Jewish heritage of the place).

--Greektown is fun, but for an ethnic neighborhood I'd have skipped it in favor of Devon Ave., our teeming Indo-Pak neighborhood (much east of Myron & Phil's). Thinking back to previous episodes, you already went to the Bangladeshi place in Atlanta (my favorite episode), so I understand the producers wanting to keep a good mix.

--Calvin's. Eh. There is much better off-the-beaten path BBQ in Chicago. Although the spaghetti was cool for TV.

--You must know that when you were at Gino's, you were eating in one of the biggest touristy neighborhoods in town. I love deep-dish pizza as much as the next Chicagoan, and I think Gino's is a terrible example of it. Next time, Lou Malnati's (you could've walked to the original from Myron & Phil's).

--As someone who is involved in more than one Chicago-oriented food website, seeing GrubHub (a food delivery menu guide) represent us got my hackles up a little. Can you blame me?

Overall, I enjoyed the show and I look forward to your future episodes. If you're ever in Chicago again, with or without TV cameras, please let us know. We'll show you some great spots that are not nearly photogenic enough for The Food Network.

Best,
Michael

Thanks for the great replies and the great post Michael. I will try to answer some of the questions.

Myron and Phil, we did do the chopped liver and the Jewish history....but we did have enough time in the segment and it got chopped in favor of a general overview of food and story...the problem w doing 5 places per show...is every second counts and has to fit into the story itself...

We did Greektown because we had done Viet, Bangladesh, Japanese anda few others...but not Greek...it fit into the story well....plus, it was really good! I loved that cheese...

Calvins was good...the spaghetti was fantastic! We know that they had not bee on the network before.....and many place had been, so we choose them....plus the fact that Calvin used to cook on the railroads was good story!

Ginos East....I know it was in the middle of tourist land...but we made the decision cause it is such an institution in Chicago and has great history....with the ovens, graffitii etc...plus Lou (the cop we were with) went there all the time and knew about its history....

The whole Lou the cop thing was great as I worked a few cases with him as my Chicago connection and ended up putting a kiddy porn suspect in prison due to his hard work....so I made him be in the show....I think he represented Chicago great!

I will come back, with my family I hope and be able to see the fine city you guys have!

Chris

Chris,

I just wanted to say that I think the Hungry Detective is finding its legs nicely and I've really enjoyed all of the episodes since the first one in Vegas (I'll never forget the meat jello ribs you featured when places like Memphis Championship BBQ and The Salt Lick are in the same town...but all is forgiven). I'm out of town this week, but I've got the Chicago episode waiting for me on my TiVo when I return and it will be the first thing I watch. Keep up the good work and, like Michael, I hope you stay in contact with LTH Forum and let us show you around next time you are in Chicago!

smellen wrote:as for the "off the beaten path" comment, i DO think hot doug's is off the beaten path, in that it is located in an area completely devoid of tourists, easy public transportion options, etc.

yes, it is widely recognized as being one of the premier dog places (or, THE premier) in the city, but it is NOT somewhere people can just stumble upon it. it does have the kitsch factor, and the backstory of the fire in the 1st location, but i do have to say i'd call it "off the beaten path" anyday.

I agree--I'd certainly call it off the beaten path. While it may be gaining popularity and has gotten great media exposure lately, hardly anybody I know has heard of the place outside the foodie forums. Certainly nobody in my neighborhood has ever heard of it. I think many would be surprised at how many Chicagoans don't know about Hot Dougs. And I'm not exaggerating either. Hot Doug's has come up in conversation for me probably a dozen times in the last two months, and of that dozen, only one person has heard of it, much less knew where it was.

Having seen the show now, the choices make a lot more sense in the context of the program which starts with what people know about Chicago (deep dish pizza) and moves outward to increasingly less-well-known things. Sure, some might be old hat to us, as Ben's Chili Bowl surely is to DCites, say, but hey, the list could have been Uno, Lou Mitchell's, Billy Goat, the (new) Berghoff and Gold Coast Dogs-- if Hot Doug's is overly well-known to us it's just beginning to pop up on the national radar by comparison, wait till it's been on 20 TV shows before you call it overexposed, and I think if anything we local food snooties tend to undervalue Greektown as an ethnic institution, because it's (geographically and culinarily) so accessible and more than a little slick, when we ought to see it as being comparable to, say, the Italian section in Providence (which is likewise well-known and receptive to visitors, yet authentic and worthwhile all the same).

So, I think a pretty good intro to the diversity and regular-guy-charm of our fair city; when Chris comes back in Season 4, then we can take him for Mexican and Thai, too.

Wow, I could not have said that better myself...

Greektown....yea I would kill to have one of those out here in L.A....we a lot of ethnic places but nothing really greek, although there are a few place out here that are pretty good....

Now, Mexican.....we had a guy in Boston make us go to this Mexican place he swore up and down was the best around and so authentic....so my Los Angeles based crew went and ate there.....I dont know how they manaaged to actually remove the flavor from the food, but they did...needless to say, its not in the show!

I swore I was not doing any Mexican unless it was Houston or L.A.. we ended up doing my favorite kick ass meat market/taco stand in the L.A. show (on in 2 weeks)...with the best tacos al pastor....oh yea, verticle roasting w the pineapple on top....yea baby, w a Mexican coke its the bomb...

The L.A. show is all my personal dives from the last 20 yrs....even if you dont live here its worth checking out....we eat Hawaiian food in a bowling alley that I took Alton to when he was out here..., we ordered almost the entire menu....he had his first taste of Loco Moco!

Next week is Houston and some killer Viet food....Pho, hot pot, and other goodies!

ChrisCognac wrote:I swore I was not doing any Mexican unless it was Houston or L.A.. we ended up doing my favorite kick ass meat market/taco stand in the L.A. show (on in 2 weeks)...with the best tacos al pastor....oh yea, verticle roasting w the pineapple on top....yea baby, w a Mexican coke its the bomb...

CC,

Maybe it would be news to the nation at large but Chicago does not play second fiddle to LA, Houston or any other place north of the border, with respect to the diversity and quality of its Mexican offerings. Frankly, leaving Mexican out of a survey, however, brief, of Chicago's popular foods or cheap eats, strikes me as a serious oversight. If you return, you most definitely should check out that (very large) side of Chicago.

Buen provecho,
Antonius

I think that its great that Chris has chosen to join this forum. The couple of times that I have seen his show, I've enjoyed it.

I can see why Calvin's might be a good Chicago pick because Calvin himself evokes such a great personality as does Doug Sohn. They both make for good TV.

Chris, I'm sure that by your second or third season, you'll want to repay a visit to our fair city at which time, we can suggest some even better alternatives than those you found for your first show.

Welcome!

I would love to come back to Chi town to shoot, and next time might even consider Mexican ! We do have to consider the people we have on...are the boring? do they speak well, other factors like that....I mean the guy could have the best food in the world, but if he has the personality of a 2x4 its hard to make a segment that people will watch...Doug and Calvin were both great on Camera and it showed....

Glad you liked it....I hope we get more episodes...its still up in the air now...I guess it depends on feedback etc....I would have liked an earlier time than 1030 pm et...Hell, I cant even stay up to watch my own show!

Cheers, Chris

ChrisCognac wrote:I would love to come back to Chi town to shoot, and next time might even consider Mexican !

Cheers, Chris

Feel free to come back for fun and food.

More episodes would be great. We have several great tour guides here, and some are even characters in their own.