Forbes cooks up list of top chefs Here’s how powerful celebrity chefs are in today’s society: Forbes actually ranked the top 10 earners in the world. It’s probably no surprise that Rachael Ray, with her own syndicated talk show, cookware... (read more)

‘Next Food Network Star’ gets to work quickly Camden’s Aaron McCargo Jr. walked away with the win from the Next Food Network Star during the finale this week and “Big Daddy’s House” will make its debut Sunday with a Boy’s... (read more)

Food Network cleans up online As the popular network’s virtual arm, FoodNetwork.com has stayed on top for a record-breaking two years. Measured by Nielsen Online, the numbers show that FoodNetwork.com completed June with a unique audience of 8.3 million users,... (read more)

Chef settles drunk driving charges Celebrity chef Curtis Stone tied up some legal loose ends last week. Stone, who has made several appearances on the Oprah show and is the star of “Take Home Chef” on TLC, was arrested in... (read more)

RSPCA sends compliments to the chefs British chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall were honored by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for their work in reforming the manner in which chickens and other food animals... (read more)

Not a good thing She may be the queen of homemaking, but she isn’t royalty in England. Martha Stewart was refused entry to England June 20 because of a travel ban against people with criminal convictions. Stewart was convicted on... (read more)

Wolfgang vs. Wolfgang, a chance for a rockin' good time with Rocco, and news of reruns and premiers in this week's TV update. (read more)

Find out who may have "borrowed" a recipe or two for a contest and who might just win an award. (read more)

Ted Allen, Gordon Ramsay, Top Chef Stephanie Izard, and more in this week's TubeFood update. (read more)

When Cork & Knife catches up with Gary Vaynerchuk, star of Wine Library TV, he is in Las Vegas at a tea expo (just try explaining that one to your grandma). He notes, as we begin to chat, that there are interesting similarities between tea and wine. This is more proof to us that this person's hunger for knowledge just doesn't stop. (read more)

Paul McCartney, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Ray, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen and more in this week's TubeFood column (read more)

In one new and notable entrant into the pantheon of foodie film, "The Chicken, The Fish and the King Crab," we are treated to an image we won't soon forget: chickens, in all of their feathered glory, sprinting aimlessly across an open field to an orchestral score. (read more)

News about Emeril Lagasse, Michael Symon, the Next Food Network Star, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, and more. (read more)

This column was going to be about asparagus. But isn't that the beauty of the open-air market? We arrive with shopping lists and preconceived notions, and what do we encounter? Lynne Rossetto Kasper, voice of the NPR weekly show for those of us who love to eat. (read more)

Last call for Emeril Lagasse's Atlanta restaurant will take place next Wednesday, April 30, according to published reports. (read more)

As the new star of Dinner: Impossible, Michael Symon will face a new challenge in each episode, with a "culinary curveball" and a strict time limit. (read more)

This week’s Wednesday food pages are stocked with recipes and ideas for Passover cooks bored with their usual routine. If you are hosting or attending a potluck, this edition of Hot Plates will provide some ideas on ways to switch... (read more)

Hot Plates is delighted it’s the weekend, but after a day where temps slumped into the 30s, we are pretty anxious about the weather. Maybe we have become real Washingtonians after all — fretting about the weather, being scared to... (read more)

It's the talk of the town here in Washington: the most popular food at Nationals Park is not cheap and not for the clogged of artery, but there are many delicious options. Find out about that and more in this week's Hot Plates feature. (read more)

When it rains, friends, it’s a food news downpour. Great stuff today, almost just in time for the month known for its frequent showers. It seems the last gusts of March’s windy nastiness have blown in a plethora of items... (read more)

Hey there, loyal Hot Plates readers. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? Last spring, you guys weren’t even a twinkle in our eye. But it seems like it is already time to begin thinking, again, about patio wines —... (read more)

This year, we are still eating leftover corned beef brisket and noshing on a loaf of soda bread even as the Easter supplies sit in a bag on the counter. Usually there is more space between St. Pat’s and Easter,... (read more)

Hot Plates is half-Irish, so we have to admit to feeling slightly happy each March 17 even though it has become something of an annual excuse for bad behavior. Plenty of Americans don’t feel close to any particular ethnic group,... (read more)

Is it a good thing that some semi-famous chefs are “taking to blogging as if it were the foam of 2008”? The blogging “bandwagon,” as some call it somewhat disparagingly, does not need any more bad writers, and food workers... (read more)

Many times when we open up the Wednesday newspaper food sections, we find stuff that makes us say, “Oh well.” Maybe the recipes featured seem to be heavy on a couple of our least-favorite ingredients, or the restaurants reviewed just... (read more)

Happy Saturday, Hot Plates readers. Some of us around here are in less-than-stellar condition; it’s been a long week and a long winter. But happy vibes are stirring — the kind that come with the first spring day. We could... (read more)

You know, it isn’t the most newsworthy item out there this week, but the Crustastun is what jumped out at us when someone asked what was new in the realm of food news. It’s more fodder for the ongoing discussion... (read more)

We used to be truly in the know on trends, but it isn’t easy to keep up. They seem to come and go faster than ever. In the case of the meal-assembly trend, it seems it got hot and then... (read more)

A little bird told us this is Valentine’s Day Weekend for a lot of folks who decided not to celebrate on the 14th. So people who hate dealing with crowds and overburdened servers may have stayed out of restaurants and... (read more)

Happy belated heart’s day, readers. We don’t mean to be grouchy, but we are just not big Valentine’s Day people over here at Hot Plates. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be, though, and it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate you... (read more)

Food cravings are strange. They can come on for no reason at all sometimes, and we have to rush off to market or restaurant to procure the roasted peppers/pork ribs/black cod/Mallomars we are lusting for. Most often, we get cravings... (read more)

It wasn’t until recently that we understood how people who really didn’t care much about football would so look forward to Superbowl Sunday: They love a party occasion, first off, and they especially love one that can be centered around... (read more)

Happy 4706! Well, almost. The Chinese New Year starts on Feb. 7, and the Year of the Rat is coming (check your own Chinese symbol here). It is nice to think about another new beginning, since by now most of... (read more)

Hot Plates is coming at you this week with a fun assortment of food news, but we have to lead with what bleeds, as the hardened types say. This isn't about a fatality, exactly, but Americans are so up in... (read more)

No matter the time of year, we love a good obituary. Somehow, though, it is easier to consider a person's passing when the air is cold and the sky is dark and nothing is alive outside. The obit doesn't have... (read more)

With the long, not-terribly-cold Washington winter stretching out before us, and the holidays solidly past, we at Cork & Knife have decided to tone up. Yes, we have joined a gym, in the hopes of getting the old blood moving... (read more)

Happy weekend, friends. Is anyone feeling like it was a long week? Going back to the grind can be tough, especially with the psychic weight of knowing the champagne supply has just been decimated. But now it is Wine Friday... (read more)

Hot Plates knows you all love food, and you enjoy dining out. We also know how much you value something culture writer Virginia Postrel calls "look and feel." Food is never the end of the story, is it? You care... (read more)

It is a nice feeling -- that familiar clean slate we get when a new year begins. A simple trip to the grocery store can seem like a way to begin anew: Maybe you'll buy a pineapple, some scallops, a... (read more)

There are those who love champagne, who order it and buy it all year round, who always have a bottle chilled and ready. Then, there are wine lovers who will take a glass of bubbly when offered, and are happy... (read more)

So what kind of year was 2007 in the restaurant world? New York Times writer Frank Bruni wrote an interesting wrap-up this week that neatly explains something that is easier to feel than to describe. In New York, it has... (read more)

We hope everyone has had a merry and a happy so far! Hot Plates loves New York in December, but it is always a bit loony -- the driving, the cooking, the crowds -- and so we also love these... (read more)

Bonus edition today, friends of good drink. Typically you see this roundup of wine and spirits articles on Friday, but Hot Plates was tied up. We thought you might be too, and so here we are with this roundup just... (read more)

If you are traveling in the next couple of days, chances are you might not have a stocked refrigerator right about now. And if you are hosting a Christmas party, then your fridge might be so full that you don't... (read more)

Hello lovely readers. We had to laugh when we saw two fruitcake articles in the food pages today -- we know that when it is crunch-time, it is tempting to flip out about everything that is still left on your... (read more)

Feeling a little blue, reader? Has that cold done a number on your sense of taste, so that your nightly nightcap just isn't the same? It can be tempting to overdo it in mid-December, rendering you tired and cranky with... (read more)

China, India, Afghanistan? France, Italy, America? Dining out in great restaurant cities is a way to take a trip when you can't get on a plane. Amid the holiday chaos, give yourself the gift of a mini-escape to a place... (read more)

Here we are in mid-December, and it just doesn't feel as crazy as usual. We don't know your reality, of course; maybe you are having a second cookie-decorating party this weekend, and you're still not totally cleaned up from Saturday... (read more)

We don't enjoy being bearers of bad news. Rather, our joy as Hot Plates is thinking that perhaps we are making people -- that's you -- excited about the world of food and drink. Maybe we're showing you something you... (read more)

If you're an East Coaster, you might have woken up this morning to a beautiful, frozen wonderland outside your window. It's easy on the eyes, for sure, but it does a number on hands and faces, leaving chapped lips and... (read more)

You all might be cooking up stews and london broil, but Hot Plates has a case of the midweek munchies. Our ideal dinner right now would be very snacky: an assortment of small plates with big tastes, complemented by a... (read more)

What's yummier, the food or the words? Don't ask us -- we're sometimes biased. (read more)

Emeril Lagasse, the chef who put the Food Network on the map for many Americans, will tape the final episode of Emeril Live on December 11, according to multiple press reports. (read more)

As much as we are enjoying roasting stuff and, our new thing, making soups and stews, we are headed out to dinner as soon as possible. It is hard to decide whether we want a perfectly cooked and insanely rare steak or whether we want an ethnic feast. We checked the papers, which opened our minds to other possibilities. (read more)

Giada expects, Next Iron Chef chooses, and several celebrity chefs dish in this week's installment of TubeFood, your resource for the latest in TV food and cooking shows. (read more)

Guy Fieri gets picked up for a couple of more seasons on the Food Network, plus a preview of primetime food programming for the week (hint: lots of turkey). (read more)

Food Network celebrity chef Bobby Flay recently built a 13 story edible skyscraper as part of a holiday special edition of his show, "Throwdown!" filmed in Springfield, IL.  The effort was part of a competition with "gingerbread artist" Johanna Rosson,... (read more)

The E.W. Scripps Company has decided to split itself into two publicly-traded companies, "one focused on creating national lifestyle media brands and the other on building market-leading local media franchises," according to a press release.  The local media company will... (read more)

Tim Carman writes the Young & Hungry column for the Washington City Paper, an alternative weekly newspaper that targets a younger, more entertainment-oriented crowd than typical daily newspaper readers. Tim agreed to answer a few questions to help us understand how he came to food writing and what it's like to do so for a living. (read more)

Whisky lovers everywhere have a great source of information in Mark Gillespie's WhiskyCast.  Now two years old, this brief weekly podcast delivers a mix of news reporting, interviews, and features on one of the world's favorite brown spirits.  Mark... (read more)

The TV Guide blog reports that Mario Batali will no longer be appearing on the Food Network, his longtime TV home.  First they canceled his shows, then he quit his role on the popular Iron Chef series.  TV Guide: "The... (read more)

Heather Lauer authors a popular food blog called Bacon Unwrapped devoted to -- what else? -- bacon. The hyper-specialization possible in the world of food blogs is on full display here. Where else can you read about bacon whiskey? Or see a video of a chef making Tempura Bacon -- that's right, deep fried battered bacon. (read more)

Cork & Knife adheres to the principle that people make a significant difference in one's fine dining experiences. It makes sense then to share those stories. From time to time, I will ask various groups of individuals to tell us their tales. Today, I took the chance to ask some food bloggers to dish on some of their best and worst experiences. Not surprisingly, the people in the restaurants take center stage. (read more)