Chow Down Grill South Beach is one of the stops in tonight's television shoot.

​Over the years, Travel Channel has rivaled Food Network for providing great food-centric programming. And why not? There are only so many museums and beaches you can visit before someone in your traveling party says, "I'm hungry". 

From Bourdain to Zimmern, Travel Channel has brought us the best places to eat around the globe. And we're talking everything from burgers to wildebeest eyeball.

Unpacked (working title), is a new show, set to debut sometime late spring. The premise is simple: Go to iconic locations and let locals serve as host and guide to the secret hangouts tourists usually miss. Think of it as "unpacking" the good spots out of a suitcase loaded with chain restaurants and overpriced frozen blender drinks.
More >>

Eric Ripert via Twitter

Eric Ripert: MIA sucks, LaCarreta rocks.

​While it's safe to say that every Miamian has a different opinion about what to love about our fair city -- the amazing weather, pristine beaches, exciting nightlife, fine dining -- we will probably agree on one thing: Miami International Airport sucks. Plan on spending an extra few hours on the security lines, only to wait some more when your plane is delayed...sometimes for weather, but usually for no good reason at all.

Celebrity Chef Eric Ripert agrees. The executive chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin, rated four stars by The New York Times and three stars by Michelin Guide, calls Miami International Airport "pretty dysfunctional" in a recent Wall Street Journal article on airport food.
More >>

Eat St. crew filming Latin Burger

​Latin Burger and Taco's hot-pink and black truck is a permanent fixture on the streets of Miami. Just about any day of the week, you can find a flock of people enjoying the Latin macho burgers and tacos for which the truck is famous.

So it comes as no surprise that when Eat St. visited Miami to film trucks for season two, producers decided to profile Latin Burger and Jim Heins for the episode, titled "Gator Time." 
More >>

The Travel Channel

Tony Bourdain eats at In and Out Burger.

​It's hard to believe that this is the season finale for The Layover. It seems like only yesterday that we first laid eyes on this hot mess of a show that follows Anthony Bourdain to the more pedestrian parts of the globe. So far this year, we've watched that motherf**king clock count down in London, Rome, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Singapore, Hong Kong, and San Francisco Did we miss a city? If so, it's because we were bored.

Our last stop for the year is Los Angeles, home of vapid blondes, fish tacos, and Celebrity Rehab. The last time I was in Southern California (and all the times before) I found myself wanting to smack someone in the back of their head in order to help the words come out faster. Hey, Tony, good luck with LA, buddy.
More >>

Travel Channel

We bet Andrew would rather eat bugs than what's on our list.

​Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern has made a career out of eating everything that walks, swims, or crawls. He admits to refusing only two things offered to him -- ever. Street food in Delhi that was made with sludgy water and moldy chicken intestines.

Our omnivorous friend takes to the airwaves tonight at 10 on Travel Channel for another season of Bizarre Foods. This year, Zimmern leaves his passport (but not his appetite) at home for a season of domestic weirdness.

Here are things we'd love to see Andrew Zimmern eat that are found right here in the good 'ole U S of A.
More >>

Today

Paula Deen tells Al Roker that she has type 2 diabetes.

​This past Tuesday Paula Deen announced to Al Roker that she has been living with type 2 diabetes for about three years and that she and her family will become spokespeople for Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals' diabetes medication, providing healthy recipes and eating tips on the pharma's website.

I interviewed Deen late yesterday, and asked about the decadent recipes she's known for. Her response: "I've never recommended that people go into their kitchen and prepare and eat these fattening dishes every day. But when you have a special occasion....

"Look, today knowing what I know, coming with my announcement, when I pick up the phone to my kids and say mommy's cooking y'all come over, they'll be the first ones here to put their feet under my table because they love momma's traditional southern cooking. But it might not be but once every two months that I cook like that, not every day."
More >>

Riki Altman

Executive chef Paula DaSilva and Chopped champion, Adrienne Grenier.

​Planning a meal in seconds with limited ingredients, based upon a food mystery in a basket, is no easy feat, even for a seasoned professional.More >>

Forbes.com

Emeril Lagasse's New York townhouse is up for sale.

​Nearly all celebrity chefs have one thing in common -- a fairytale-like rise from poverty and obscurity to fame and fortune.

Paula Deen (who just announced she has type 2 diabetes), was a young bank teller in Savannah, Martha Stewart used to babysit for New York Yankees' kids, and Guy Fieri's big break was winning Food Network's The Next Food Network Star.

Since celebrity has come calling, these chefs have traded in their apartments for luxurious digs worthy of the television shows, book deals, and personal appearances they're known for. With the help of TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, we've put together a list of the poshest homes for a peek at the lavish world of cooking on the small screen.
More >>

The Travel Channel

Anthony Bourdain feeling like "ten ponds of s**t in a five pound bag".

​In a meeting last week, someone mentioned that Anthony Bourdain might have "jumped the shark." That Bourdain has turned into a one-note singer -- go to a city, snark about it, get drunk, sop up hangover with greasy pork-laden food, get back on plane to New York.

My reply? "Yeah, so?"; Maybe I enjoy Bourdain because I see a kindred spirit, but all I know is that whenever I go on business trips and weekend jaunts, I eat and drink too much. I've been on many searches for a barbeque joint or a pub in a strange city- not so much for a museum or a nice church. So there! Anyway, on to London ... Hip hop, cheerio and all that rot!

Tony lands in Heathrow, where he shatters the myth that London is the home of good manners. "Nah, not the London I know", he quips, before tearing apart the other myth that London has lousy food. He insists that the food is only eclipsed by the drinking, "often too much and not too well", which is why this is one of his favorite cities.

With 27 hours on the hated clock, Tony checks into his room at the St. John Hotel, just opened by chef Fergus Henderson (who we learn has Parkinson's Disease). A jet lagged Tony ("I feel like ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag") grabs a bite of eggs over blood sausage before showering, and taking multiple meds (wonder if they're prescription or otherwise) before meeting chef Henderson for a spot of coffee at Bar Italia.
More >>

​​Michelle Bernstein returns to host Check, Please!, the popular WPBT program where everybody is a critic. There will be an updated graphic opening, a revamped logo, new theme music (I can't remember the last theme song), and most importantly, new restaurants to critique.

This season's guest reviewers include a South Beach model, a Palm Beach financier, a golf caddy from Hollywood and Miss Finesse, a local female impersonator. Insert your own punchline.

So season seven begins Monday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.; episodes repeat same time on Wednesdays and at 5:30 each Saturday.

Here is the schedule of restaurants to be reviewed:
More >>