Two years ago, I had the honor of covering the final selection competition for Bocuse d’Or USA, the team that would represent this country in the Bocuse d’Or worldwide cooking contest.

The finals, held at Epcot during its wine and food festival, was an attempt to make up ground for the USA. For all the progress American chefs have made in the past two decades in an effort to establish cuisine worthy of mention alongside their European counterparts, they had never won the Bocuse d’Or, considered the culinary Olympics. U.S. teams have never placed better than sixth in what has been described as a culinary Olympics.

The contest takes place every two years in Lyon, France.

To remedy the U.S.‘s poor showing, French chef Paul Bocuse, who started the competition two decades ago, asked chefs Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud to take leadership roles in fielding the American team.

Keller, whose The French Laundry north of San Francisco is considered among the best restaurants in the country, became president of the American team. Boulud, who owns numerous acclaimed restaurants, served as honorary president of the contest. Keller was so serious about improving the American team that he built a training lab next to The French Laundry for the teams.

I talked to Keller in 2008 about the contest. He was deadly serious about the ripples he hoped would emanate from a U.S. victory.

Q: Why should this competition matter to somebody who, No. 1, will never have a chance to attend the Bocuse, but also likely will never eat any of the food these people will prepare? Is there a trickle-down effect from a U.S. team succeeding? Is it like the pebble that lands in the center of the pond and the ripples spread out from there?

A: If you look at the past 30 years and the quality of the products that are available to us and how that has risen significantly, a lot of that comes from what chefs are doing. The food industry looks to chefs as leaders.

Where that trickles down is what’s in our grocery stores and what our growers are growing and farmers are producing. The more recognition that America garners from competitions like this and from what its great chefs are doing, the better it’s going to be for everyone in our society. It’s going to bring better quality food and better understanding, better knowledge of what food is and how to take care of ourselves and eat healthy.

Q: There’s a cumulative effect from raising the culinary self-esteem.

A: Of course.

What does it take to prepare? During the last Bocuse d’Or, I asked chef Gavin Kaysen, a previous U.S. representitive at Bocuse, what it took to prepare:

 

That effort, however, did not produce victory. Team USA, which included 28-year-old chef Timothy Hollingsworth and commis (assistant) Adina Guest, both of The French Laundry, placed sixth. Norway won the competition that year.

Now it’s time for Bocuse to gear up again.

Norman Van Aken, owner of Norman’s at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, is among the chefs judging the 2010 Bocuse dOr USA competition this weekend at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. The winner will represent the United States at next year’s Bocuse d’Or Lyons

Judging along with Van Aken this weekend are Grant Achatz, Paul Bartolotta, Traci Des Jardins, Paul Liebrandt, Walter Manzke, David Myers, Daniel Patterson, Georges Perrier, Alain Sailhac, Andr Soltner, Susan Spicer, Laurent Tourondel, Alan Wong and Eric Ziebold.

On Wednesday, Van Aken hosts a special fundraising dinner at his Orlando restaurant for the U.S. Bocuse dOr effort. His five-course menu will honor Bocuse (who turns 84 on Thursday). The dinner costs $150 per person, all-inclusive, with wine pairings and begins with a Champagne reception at 7 p.m. For reservations call (407) 393-4333.

Norman’s is the only Florida restaurant invited to participate in the nationwide event. Other restaurants include Stir in Boston, Alinea in Chicago, Corton in New York City, and RN74, Jardiniere, La Folie, and Coi in San Francisco.

Here’s the menu for the dinner at Norman’s:

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Bocuse d’Or Foundation

Black Truffle Soup Élysée En Croute
Free Range Breast of Chicken ~ Noilly Prat
~
Maine Lobster Salad à la Parisienne
White Asparagus ~ Sous Vide Artichokes ~ Caviar Sabayon
~
My “Down Island” French Toast
Curaçao Scented Foie Gras ~ Griddled Brioche ~ Savory Passion Fruit Caramel
~
Painted Hills Roasted Beef Tenderloin
Veal Sweet Breads ~ Wild Mushrooms ~ Dijon ~ Bordeaux Essence
~
Babas Au Barbancourt
Mango Butter ~ Pouring Cream ~ Passion Fruit

“For art, there is no future, it’s the living moment and then it’s dead. That’s wonderful. Cuisine is like a fireworks display. Nothing remains. It is ‘une fete’, rapid, ephemeral.”
—Paul Bocuse, 1976

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That beautiful thing in the photo above? That’s a Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburger. They’re being sold for $6 at the 2010 Florida State Fair.

And they’re worth every penny.

As I wrote earlier this week in the Tampa Tribune:

The food being served during the following 10 days will be something only a cardiologist could love.

New to the fair this year: chocolate-covered churros, spaghetti ice cream, and burgers with Krispy Kreme donuts for buns.

And deep-fried butter.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The fair describes that heart-stopping treat thusly: “2 or 3 butter pats or balls wrapped in dough and deep-fried. Dipping flavors are optional.”

So is a will to live, apparently.

You can find the delicacy at the fairgrounds’ West Main Street. They’ll be served at the deep-fried candy bar stand.

Eating dangerously makes somewhat more sense at the fair, especially when you consider the grub is being served amid rides with names like Pharoh’s Fury, the Freak Out and Tomb of Doom.

This year’s food offerings stretch the palate more than a little bit. They include:

• Fair Squares: The fair’s signature dish resembles a deep-fried beignet with pink powdered sugar sprinkled on top. This dessert has a purpose: A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure cancer charity. They’ll be sold at a pink tent near the floating restaurant.

• Over The Top Krispy Kreme Donut Burger: Imagine a fresh burger patty nestled between two glazed doughnuts and adorned with your favorite condiment. A serving of dignity is not available. They’ll also be sold on West Main Street.

• Spaghetti Ice Cream: Frisario’s Italian Ice Cream presses ice cream through an extruder to create frozen ice cream “noodles” that are topped with fresh strawberries pureed to resemble marinara. The dessert is then adorned with shavings of white chocolate that resemble Parmesan cheese. You can buy this inside the Expo Hall at booth No. 428.

• Twisted Taters on a Stick: Spiral-cut potato chips mounted on a stick and flavored with gourmet spices. These will be sold on North Main Street.

And if your lips don’t get chapped by all that sodium, sugar and crunchy goodness, you can soothe them with some Bacon Lip Balm. They sell it at the general store in Cracker Country. Right next to the baconnaise and bacon ranch salad dressing.

I also wrote a little quiz comparing the relative healthfulness of the food found at fairs and carnivals. Take the quiz to see how much you know about the ocean of calories, sodium and fats swirling around every fairgoer.

Not satisfied with merely writing about it, I headed out to the fair on Friday with videographer Ryan Bauer to sample the wares directly. Along the way, we bumped into a sea lion and some superheroes.

You know, normal fair stuff.

Here’s the story that aired on News Channel 8 this morning:

May God have mercy on my greasy, satisfied soul.

Here’s a gallery of photos I shot yesterday as well.

You may want to squirt some Lipitor in your eyes.

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I’ve been a fan of Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Michael Clayton since he came to the team six years ago from Louisiana State University. After his breakout rookie season, Clayton suffered injuries and was used more as a blocker than a first-team receiver. He’s taken a good share of public scorn for not matching his rookie numbers, but he’s swallowed it well at times when I thought he deserved to lash back.

Enchancing my view was a little inside information. My friends Greg and Michelle Baker, who write as the Culinary Sherpas on their blog and in the Tampa Tribune, worked as private chefs for Clayton and had nothing but lovely things to say.

I asked them for a little food insight on him. Michelle replied:

I asked them about Clayton because I was due to interview him for a story I wrote for Sunday’s paper in which he talks about going to schools as part of the NFL’s “Fuel Up to Play 60” program and urging students to eat before they exercise. The Dairy Council of Florida sponsors Clayton’s presentations.

Here’s the rest of that interview:

How long have you been going to schools taking about this stuff?

I’ve been doing this for a long time. In college I was talking to kids. It’s been a passion of mine. I just actually signed up with NFL Play 60 this year, but I’ve done their events in the past. They just actually signed me to a deal this year.

Is it easy for you? Do you enjoy it?

I enjoy it because of the role that I’m in. To be in a position where kids look up to you and listen to you … every school I go to I get the principal or the teachers coming up and saying we need more of that.

Being that I am a role model in the community with an opportunity to share a positive message with kids, it’s always a pleasure of mine to do that. My foundation is the Generation Next Foundation, which gives underprivledged kids an opportunity to be successful. So I have a passion. It’s a opportunity to better myself as a parent and be a good example for my kids, so it’s positive all the way across the board and I get excited to do it every time I get the opportunity.

You and I have common friends in Greg and Michelle Baker. I asked them about your food likes and they said, “He likes anything Creole or Cajun.”

[laughs] Yeah.

They said you like spicy food, you hate lamb and bulgar…

Yeah

They said you’re pretty diverse in your tastes and that you love sushi and salmon.

Wow.

Where did the Creole and Cajun come from, when you were at LSU?

Yeah, well, I’m from Louisiana, born and raised, so…

Where were you born?

Baton Rouge.

Man you played in your hometown?

Yes, indeed.

So you grew up on that food. I guess your family cooked it?

Yeah, growing up, man, that’s all we did was cook the seafood and the crawfish. Everything had a kick to it. [laughs]

The Bakers said, “He comes from a family of good cooks. His mom is awesome and his father-in-law often does big dinners and events at their house.”

Yeah, my wife’s parents… I’m blessed that they are very blessed in the kitchen. Her dad actually used to be a caterer, man, so he does it at every big event. I just sit back and feed my face.
So what’s your favorite Cajun dish?

Aw, I love crawfish, man. Crawfish etouffe, shrimp etouffe. My favorite is gumbo, though.

Do you cook at all?

I don’t do a gumbo, but yes I cook. And I enjoy it.

Gumbo is harder than it looks.

Yeah, I have to eat a perfect gumbo and I can’t prepare it perfect yet. There’s a lot of twists and turns you gotta do to it to make it right. I don’t have it in me.

What’s your mom’s best dish?

My mom’s best dish is a smothered pork chop.

Oh, man.

Smothered pork chop, yams and greens.

I’m coming to your house.

That’s the meal of choice every time the come down or I go home. I get my smothered pork chops with yams and greens, man

That sounds awesome. Does your wife have to cook separate meals for you and the kids?

No, everybody eats the same. It used to be different. When they were younger, all they wanted to eat was chicken nuggets. [laughs] And candy. So we had to tailor their food a little bit, but their little taste buds are growing. My daughter likes the food spicy and makes sure she has a big glass of water if we have a spicy meal to eat and drink at the same time. But she loves it. She loves the taste.

She’s got the family taste buds.

Exactly. Exactly.

So what restaurants do you like to go to?

We get a lot of Outback. That’s quick right by the house. A nice easy steak or shrimp or chicken breast from Outback. Love Fleming’s.

Are you a wine guy?

Yeah, I’m a big wine guy.

Got a particular type you like?

Riesling.

You’re a Riesling guy? Okay. Nice and sweet and dry.

Little German. Little German Riesling.

Anywhere else?

Bonefish.

Okay, so you’re sticking to the chain.

Yeah. Bonefish is good. And Flamestone. Love Flamestone. Nick Pappas is the owner and he’s a good friend of mine. They have this excellent guacamole.

They make it at the table.

They prepare it right there and it’s delicious.

I know that when you first come to the league, the rookies take out the veterans on their squad for dinner and have to pick up the bill. Where did you go and what did it set you back?

Man, when I came out, we went to… it was a hotel restaurant out in Orlando. I forget the name. It charged me about $2,500. Receivers were always took care and didn’t abuse the power. I had Mark Jones who came out with me. We split the bill because he didn’t have quite as much money.

It was $2,500 between the two of you, or $2,500 each?

It was between the two of us. That was excellent, because other guys got hit for 14 grand, guys got hit for 20 grand.

Wow.

Twenty-seven grand… I think the highest was like 35 grand by the offensive linemen.

You don’t want to go out with offensive linemen.

No. Not the big guys. Not the big guys. Then they bring bottles home and pile bottles in their car. Louis XIII. They really dig into people’s pockets. I don’t find that too funny.

And you’ve got to just take it.

Yeah, you’ve got to take it. Or fight, you know, I guess.

I’ll take the bill.

Yeah.

So now you get to inflict the pain.

I take care of my guys. This year we had Sammy [Stroughter], but he was a seventh round draft pick. I know how the money goes. Once they get there in training camp, they really haven’t gotten paid yet.

If it’s first or second round, it’s a different thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Gotta love the ad Tabasco is putting in USA Today this weekend in honor of the New Orleans Saints making it to the Super Bowl:

People have asked me this week who I’m rooting for. My taste buds insist that I go for New Orleans. I mean, it’s not even close.

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[Please excuse the gratuitous non-food related photo, but it’s Gasparilla time. All logic becomes fuzzy in that context.]

So, Gasparilla. Yeah.

For the uninitiated, the two-weeks of pirate-themed festivities are a long-held annual tradition in Tampa during which many wealthy and influential people drink in costume and parade through south Tampa throwing beads at huddling masses who, quite frequently catch them between bouts of alcohol-induced vomiting and public urination.

Okay, that was uncharitable.

But there’s a kernel of truth in there. A very large one. And it smells a lot like rum and vodka.

Anyway, Gasparilla does feature family-friendly activities, such as the children’s parade which was held on Saturday.

I took Son O’ Stew and his friend, Shawn, to this year’s kids parade. In between all the fake pirates and inappropriate music (Do elementary school kids need to answer the rhetorical question, “Doncha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?”), I noticed something very stark: The food really sucked.

I know, I know. I sound like a snob.

Trust me when I tell you that no one enjoys a hand-dipped honey-battered corn dog more than I do. And I get that this, ultimately, is a carnival.

I get that.

But couldn’t the parade do a little better job at reflecting the food of its native city?

This would be appropriate. If we were in Philly. Or Amish. I didn’t see a lot of Amish walking around at Gasparilla.

Hawaiian Kona coffee. Nice. I love me some beans from the islands.

But I love the joe at Kahwa Coffee in St. Pete and the espresso at El Molino in Ybor City more. Wish I could have had some at the parade.

Lady pirates apparently love food on a stick. Who knew?

Not all was lost. Sweetwater Organic Farm had a float in the parade. And the folks at Chipotle marched down the street with a floating burrito (above) while handing out vouchers for free food.

But as for eating, this sloth had better better than most people did at the kids parade. That thing was motoring through the veggies.

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In August, I got a chance to chat with Nicole Passanno Stott, the former Clearwater resident who was about to go into space for three months to stay aboard the International Space Station.

She sounded excited on the phone as she talked about her upcoming adventure, but as a mother of a 7-year-old she was understandably concerned about the effect that her absence would have on her son.

During the conversation, I asked if she would be posting her thoughts on Twitter. When she said she would, I asked her if she could post about the food experiences she was having onboard station. She said that she planned to try some new things with food preparation while she was in orbit. She agreed to do so. You know, when she wasn’t snatching Japanese cargo carriers with grappling arms, jogging on the COLBERT treadmill and doing 6.5-hour spacewalks.

Stott returned to earth in November after 91 days aloft.  I talked with her on Wednesday to catch up about her experience. The full story runs Sunday in the Tampa Tribune. (A preview of the story ran earlier this week on TBO.com.)

If all goes as planned, she’ll go back into space in September as a member of the STS-133 crew. The mission is scheduled to be the last flight of the shuttle fleet before it’s retired.

I asked her what her emotions were like as the shuttle undocked from the ISS after serving as her home for three months:

“It was a bittersweet thing. I was ready to get back home to my family, because it was the planned end of the time I was supposed to be there, but on the other hand I felt like I could just … stay. It had gone by so fast, that all of a sudden I’m watching the station leave and I’m, like, “Man, where’d it go? How did the three months go by so fast?”

“You know, the more it got further and further away from view, I didn’t think it could look any prettier for me than it already had when I got there. It’s just this amazingly beautiful place.”

Here’s the food-related portion of our conversation:

Q. I went through your Twitter feed and I saw a couple things I wanted to pick out. I see on Oct. 19, “I just ate half a grapefruit. Yummy! And it smells so good too!”
You and I talked a little about food before you left and about trying new things. What kind of food stuff did you try when you got up there.

A. All of the international partners have food. I think I probably ate the Japanese curries maybe three times a week. I’m not a big curry person on the ground. I like it, but…

Q. Japanese curry?

A. Yeah, it is excellent

Q. Everyone trades a little bit?

A. You order before you fly. You let them know the kinds of stuff you like and they try to get that up for you. Then there’s the standard menu items. There’s really a nice mix of food up there. It was kind of weird for me to be eating curry three nights a week, but it tasted great.

Then the Europeans had a mushroom truffle pate thing.

Q. Wow.

A. Yeah, but you could only eat it once a week because it probably had, like 7,000 calories. [laughs] But it was delicious. You just open a can of that and eat it like dip.

A nice mix of stuff. I never felt like, “Oh, my gosh, not another one of those grill-marked meat patties. [laughs]

Q. I also saw your post about celebrating your birthday on station.

A. Yeah.

Q. What did you do?

A. [feigns disgust] We had a little cake and dinner and stuff, but I’m not real big on having my birthday celebrated.

Q. Guess what? Today’s mine.

A. Is it? Happy birthday!

Q. I don’t want to celebrate mine, either.

A. Yeah. My husband is totally the opposite. If you don’t give an indication a month out that you know it’s coming… [laughs] Whereas I’m someone you don’t ever have to acknowledge it.

Q. Glad I could poke you in the eye by asking about your birthday, Nicole.

A. [laughs]

Q. I’m sure the Tampa Tribune readers will enjoy this.

A. Yeah. [laughs] This is good.

Q. So you had cake. Did anyone sing?

A. The STS-129 crew had arrived. One of the astronauts in the office, Marsha Ivins, is a wonderful baker and she sent up a really delicious chocolate torte cake thing. Oh, it was so good. So we broke that out.

Q. I’m guessing it had to be dense so there wouldn’t be crumbs floating around.

A. It was, it was. You need a microthin piece [laughs] because it was so rich and very good. We actually had them bring up some little ice cream things, because we have several freezers up there now. We were able to keep it cold, so we had cake and ice cream.

Q. What kind of ice cream?

A. Just a little, I don’t know. Was it Texas Bluebell?

Q. What was it, vanilla?

A. Yeah, just vanilla.

Q. And then I saw the one post you had where you wrote, “‘Physical separation’ call – Atlantis is undocked from ISS.” What was that sensation of leaving that place?

A. Again, it was a bittersweet thing. I was ready to get back home to my family, because it was the planned end of the time I was supposed to be there, but on the other hand I felt like I could just … stay. It had gone by so fast, that all of a sudden I’m watching the station leave and I’m, like, “Man, where’d it go? How did the three months go by so fast?”

You know, the more it got further and further away from view, I didn’t think it could look any prettier for me than it already had when I got there. It’s just this amazingly beautiful place.

Here’s a gallery of photos (courtesy of NASA) that documents her training and mission:

 

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In today’s Tribune, I wrote a story for the Getaway section about restaurants operated by celebrity chefs. The genesis of the story was the realization after Cat Cora opened her Kouzzina restaurant at Disney’s BoardWalk resort that Orlando had a grown number of eateries centered on famous chefs.

It’s nothing of the magnitude of what happened in Las Vegas during the past decade, of course. But Orlando’s near-constant stream of tourists (diminished though it might be by the recession) is a lure for chefs to plant their flag.

I talked with Emeril Lagasse for the story about what brought him to Orlando and with Cora about how her Greek-themed restaurant came to be at Disney.

I also had a chance to chat with chef Norman Van Aken, famous for being a pioneer of New World Cuisine. His restaurant Norman’s made him the de facto leader of the so-called “Mango Gang” of chefs who put South Florida cuisine on the culinary map.

I became aware of Van Aken not long after I started writing about food. Everywhere I went, I’d ask who the state’s food pioneers were. His name kept coming up.

Then after seeing him on “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” I decided I needed to get to know him and his food:

Van Aken opened Norman’s Orlando almost seven years ago at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, next to the giant J.W. Marriott resort. (He plans to open Norman’s 180 in Coral Gables later this year.)

We talked recently about how the restaurant came together and how his culinary celebrity sets his restaurant apart.

Q. Why this particular location?

A. We were invited. It was an interesting evening in Miami. Seven and a half years ago. I was running up and down the hot line expediting. It was a nice busy night and a gentleman walked into the kitchen. It was not a theater kitchen, so he had to kind of come back in. A tall guy. He said chef can I talk to you for a second. I said, “Sure.” Tickets are hanging all over the board.

Q. Yeah, sure, man. I’m not doing anything.

A. [laughs] Why not?

He says, “I can see you’re busy, but we’re part of the Ritz-Carlton and we’re doing a new hotel in Orlando. Have you heard about us?” I hadn’t. He says, “Well, we’d like to talk to you about doing a Norman’s there.” He says, “Quite frankly, we run great hotels, but we don’tt like the restaurant business as much.” I’m like yeah, sure, dandy. I thought maybe he’d played some golf and had a couple rounds of Cuttys out there and was feeling real good about Miami.

Q. “I love you, man!”

A. Yeah. Next day he calls up and he was serious. We came up here three weeks later and it was a shell. It was done up through the bar, but that was just a round room. The hotel was not open yet so everything was being constructed. It was like looking at a ship before its launch. It was huge. It was almost eerie to see how big and vast this whole thing is.
Have you been here before? Have you been to the J.W. [Marriott resort next door]?

Q. No.

A. I mean, it’s a 1,000-room J.W. and it’s a 585-room Ritz-Carlton and they’ve added meeting space on and it’s been extremely positive as far as the business side goes.
I guess originally it was going to go to Wolfgang Puck, but then “The Mouse” roared and they said, “You’re going to be over here.” Apparently they had a non-compete [contract clause] and they were fast-tracking to bring in a chef and have an outside relationship.

Q. Is there anything at this restaurant that matches a theme in décor to the one in Miami?

A. No, the original Norman’s, which opened in 1995, was opened on a shoestring budget with seven investors. It was a failed restaurant four or five times in a C-minus location. Everybody was, like, “You’re crazy. No one’s made it there.”

When you look at the restaurant for the first time, there’s a slight bit of theater kitchen. That’s the only thing I’d say is similar. To build a round restaurant created a dynamic we had never experienced before.

Q. That’s what got me in addition to the height. Wine is obviously a huge focus visually as you walk through.

A. Right.

Q. In terms of the menu, is it similar to what you have in Miami?

A. Oh, yeah. As it’s evolved, Orlando is a much different thing than Miami. We have so many guests who come here on business or relaxation, they come here once and their expectations of menu change are much different than the people who live and surround us in Miami and the soon to emerge Norman’s 180.

There, the requirements and their expectations are that change is good. They want some signature dishes, but here, the signature dishes exist untrammeled, oftentimes by me. My predilection is to change everything all the time.

Q. Seasonally or experimentally?

A. Both. But I know how I would feel if I went and saw Bruce Springsteen or Tony Bennett. There are certain songs I’d like to hear them perform no matter how many times or how many cities in which they’ve performed.

Q. I want to eat “Born To Run.”

A. Exactly. Or “Badlands.”

Q. So, your “Born To Run” is what dish?

A. [exhales] I don’t know if other chefs feel this way, but there are probably at least a dozen that would be that way. For this restaurant, probably the “Born To Run” dish is the pan-cooked filet of Key West yellowtail. Which is funny because it’s one of the simplest dishes and a dish I learned while I was a breakfast cook at The Pier House in 1978 or ’79 from a Bahamian woman named Betty Howard.

We don’t plate it the same way. She didn’t make a citrus butter sauce, but the way she handled the fish is patterned after what Betty showed me back in those days.

Q. As opposed to being in a separate facility, how much do you have to play to the Ritz patrons and how much are you trying to attract locals from Orlando? I imagine it’s a different dynamic than what you have in Miami.

A. It is. The relationship with the Ritz-Carlton has been phenomenal. We are not owned or operated by the Ritz in any way, shape or form. None of the employees are contracted by Ritz. So, that was a leap for them. They are used to having everybody being Ritz-Carlton employees and they took it on faith that we would operate in a way that was consistent with the expectations of their guests.

Q. Emeril’s has a constant stream at city walk. He has a subway stream. It’s a different dynamic. Wolfgang Puck’s got a different thing at Downtown Disney. I would imagine this is a little trickier.

A. Yeah, it is. There are other things at play. Emeril having worldwide celebrity certainly helps people know exactly who he is when they see his picture. The majority of our business, I’d say 90 percent, is business and tourist traveler. Somewhere around 10 to 15 percent are local to the general area. It’s great – and this is going to sound like a lot of sunshine - because they are so appreciative of Norman’s. When I’m in the room and meeting local people, they’re, like, “Thanks for giving credit to us who live in Orlando but who don’t want to go to chain restaurants.”

The other well-known chefs who are here, I don’t think they’re saying that about them. I think they’re saying it about the chain restaurants. The other chefs down here tend to have many more restaurants than one or two. With the exception of Melissa [Kelly], who’s not as well known as Todd [English], she’s probably reticent to have more than two or three restaurants.

The locals often are here for birthdays and wedding and anniversaries. Lots of anniversaries.

Q. Do you get many from Miami who are familiar and who then come here?

A. Oh yeah. We got a Town Car to pick us up and bring us from the airport yesterday. I wasn’t halfway out of the car and some guy from Miami was, like, “Hey, Norman! You going to be here tonight?”

Q. Having done “Top Chef” and the various television stuff, how has that changed the visibility for you up here? Has it at all?

A. Yeah. In many ways, I think I’m just “The Florida Guy.” I’ve been doing this, as you know, a long time. My work has been consistently about our state. I felt that was my responsibility and my role.

We were just down at Louie’s Backyard in Key West having a little goodbye session for a guy who came to work with me in Key West. We were there with our son and rain was coming in. Dramatic weather, interesting day and a ship going out to the horizon. I reflected back to a sunnier day earlier in my life where I sat on that deck with a stack of cookbooks and saw a smaller ship going out to the horizon. That day it occurred to me that I needed to change what I was doing.

I brought that up to my son, and he was much much younger on that original day. He went over and sat at the same table and looking out of the horizon. I guess he was channeling an earlier me or something and thinking about life in the same way.

Back then I was struggling with whether I wanted to go to California wine country.

Q. Be who you are here versus other places?

A. Yeah, would the audience here, would the audience get here. Because I saw that it had happened in New York, and I saw that it was happening in San Francisco and less so in wine country. But I was attracted to what was happening in wine country. I was attracted to what Alice Waters was doing. Then I thought, you know, about guys like the Mondavis who went out to California and created the California wine industry when they could have done a great job back in Italy and live that life. But they didn’t do that. What made them do it? I think what made them do it was that they didn’t want to be one of 12. They wanted to be one of the pioneers if not the pioneers.

Q. They planted the flag.

A. Something in my personality and how I was raised by my mom and dad made me want to be the independent guy starting up something than following.

 

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The news is all atwitter with the infonugget that the frozen conditions in Florida are causing non-native iguanas to fall from trees in a semifreddo state.

My fave headline comes from the Telegraph in the UK:

Kamikaze iguanas fall from Florida’s frozen trees

Right. Because it’s rational to assign aggressive, suicidal forethought to a reptile.

The story explains:

The lizards go into a type of hibernation when the temperature drops below around 9 degrees C, all body functions but the heart switching off and blood flow cut to a minimum.

It means they lose their grip on branches and the creatures, which are common in the “sunshine state”, plunge out of the trees.

Swine flu: share gains and falls look overdoneThe lizards, which can grow up to five feet long, then lie grey and appear dead until the temperature rises again, at which time they usually revive.

So-called “kamikaze” iguanas are an urban legend among Floridians but have become a common sight as temperatures have dropped almost to freezing.

“It’s almost like they totally go to sleep. Generally speaking, if it warms up afterwards, they can recover,” said Ron Magill of Miami Metrozoo.

Stupid Europeans and their stupid Celcius.

Anyway, this prompted my Twitter friend @thekat411 to ask: “Did anyone send you recipes for frozen iguana?”

I got no such offers for Iggy Pops.

But that got me thinking about iguanas. Which got me to thinking about the Green Iguana in Tampa. Which got me thinking about adult beverages. [Bathe in the hot-tub warm waters of my drinking logic. Go on. It’s here for your enjoyment.]

A cursory search for recipes found this one at iDrink:

IGUANA
0.5 oz coffee liqueur
0.5 oz orange juice
0.5 oz sweet and sour mix
0.5 oz tequila
0.5 oz vodka

Directions: Fill a shaker half full with ice cubes. Pour all ingredients into shaker and shake well. Strain drink into a cocktail glass and serve.

Enough of these and you’ll fall off your bar stool like a frozen iguana.

If you prefer your iguana cooked, there’s a recipe for that, one that happens to include the word “stew.” Color me biased.

IGUANA STEW
1 iguana
2 onions
1 tablespoon of salt
6-8 carrots
1 tablespoon of cilantro
1 small ball of recardo
1 cup vinegar
1 lime
1 sweet pepper
1 tablespoon of black pepper
1/2 cabbage
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of diced tomato
coconut oil

Skin and clean iguana, then wash it in a mixture of vinegar and lime. After that, mix all seasonings and spices together in a bowl and rub them into the meat. Leave the rubbed meat for half an hour. Pour coconut oil in a pot, just to cover the bottom and place it on the fire.

When the oil is hot, put in the iguana meat, then cook it for another half an hour, turning a few times and adding a bit of water if needed. During that time slice the carrots, tomatoes and cabbage. Add them to the meat and cook for another half an hour. Serve with rice and beans.

By now you have a few iguana-related questions. I know I did.

What is recardo? It’s a paste which has a main ingredient being annatto. It is seasoned with ground garlic, black pepper, cominos, onion and vinegar and is packed into a ball shape.

What is annatto? It’s a derivative of the tropcial achiote trees that is used to produce a red food coloring and gives off an aroma that is slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg.

What is an achiote tree? Go look it up. Seriously. I’m cold and tired.

How exactly does one skin and clean an iguana? These results-oriented gentlemen certainly look like they know what they’re doing.

You’re welcome. Happy Monday.

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Back in August, I threw a bit of a snit about an episode of “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” that I had watched on Travel Channel. That week of the show featured the food of “Rust Belt” cities Buffalo, Detroit and Baltimore. The dubious “rust belt” label should have tipped me off.

As you can probably guess, Bourdain’s show didn’t exactly portray the cities in their best chamber-of-commerce light. And people took offense to it. Especially people in Baltimore, who didn’t like that Bourdain focused the show on the narrow prism of how the HBO dramatic crime series “The Wire” portrayed Charm City. It’s one thing to have a critically acclaimed city use Baltimore as a backdrop. It’s another to tie the food to that reputation.

Here’s a sample:

“He ignored any sense of the real diversity of Baltimore’s rich ethnic mix to try and imitate a narrow slice of it found in a TV show,” Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik wrote. “What viewers were left with was TV imitating TV and a hot dog host acting like he was getting down with the nitty-gritty, hard core reality of urban America.”

As someone born in Baltimore who has relatives still living there, I got a little pissy about it and wrote a column which suggested that when Bourdain planned to appear in January in Lakeland at the Youkey Theater, that I would very much appreciate him not doing anything on Tampa anytime soon if it meant that he’d tag us like he did Baltimore. [Note, he appears tonight at 8 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $47.50, $75 for VIP seating.]

Anyway, I got lots of e-mail and phone calls after the column ran from readers who felt protective of Tampa as a place showcasing food with great cultural depth while being surrounded a fertile hatchery of hack chain restaurants and ephemeral dining concepts.

So when I got a call from the Lakeland Center asking if I’d want to do an advance interview, I was kind of nervous about it. I’d interviewed him before and talked to him in person once, but that was before I called him a jerk.

When we finally connected last week he could not have been any more forthcoming. And I wrote an advance story that ran earlier this week in the Tampa Tribune and TBO.com.

The story only had space for about a third of our conversation. In the resulting conversation, I confessed that I had taken a swipe at him. The part that showed him being gracious, as well as other moments that displayed an ease to laugh and his playful side with his daughter Arianne, didn’t make it into the story, so I wanted to include it here:

Q. I feel like I’m old school. On my desk, I have a paperback version of “Kitchen Confidential” on my desk which has a sticker on the front that reads “Catch the New TV Series Kitchen Confidential” on Fox.

A: [laughs]

Q. I’ve obviously been aware of it for a while, but what I didn’t realize until a couple weeks ago was that Bradley Cooper [of “Wedding Crashers,” “The Hangover] played you on the show.

A. Yes.

Q. He’s gone on to be huge.

A. Yep. And in fact, I feel a lot better about that show on DVD. [sound of child in background playfully screaming] My daughter just said, “Ariane to the rescue!”  [speaks to her] I’m on the phone. I’m talking to grandma.

[returns] Okay. Every time I talk on the phone it’s, “I’m talking to grandma.”

Q. She’s going to be in therapy years later going, “All he did was talk to grandma.”

A. Right.

I was very divided on how I felt about “Kitchen Confidential” when it was on the air, for the few weeks it was on the air. I was a little uncomfortable to see somebody with my last name and things that were both very familiar and not my book at all at the same time… with the distance of time I look back at the DVD… there’s a lot to like about that show, actually, now that I’m separated from the idea that it’s my book. As sitcoms go, and particularly sitcoms set in kitchens, it’s pretty racy and pretty funny.

Q. I keep seeing variations of your book come out where they say, “It’s the ‘Kitchen Confidential’ of X.”

A. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Q. Does it seem odd to you to have inspired that kind of cottage industry?

A. “The book that will blow the lid off the landscaping business” Aw, I don’t know. I think in a lot of cases I’m really, really happy. If “Kitchen Confidential” made it easier for other chefs and cooks to write memoirs… You know, there was a time when nobody gave a [fecal expletive]. That would not be a viable product for a lot of publishers. So if it made it easier for someone like Gabrielle Hamilton to write a memoir, then I am just thrilled and honored.

Q. Hard to believe it’s only been 10 years.

A. For me it feels like yesterday because my life changed so, so drastically. Literally overnight I went from a guy with nothing and no hope and no future and not even any dreams to someone who lives out their dreams for a living.

Q. The next season starts on Jan. 11. Where will you be going this time?

A. The first episode is Panama, I think. Among other things, I get to burn 6 tons of pure-cut cocaine. That was fun. We got up into the Darien Gap in the jungle.

We have Panama, the central highlands of Vietnam. Manchuria. Let’s see, we’ve been to Ecuador … Prague.

Q. So you wanted to go to somewhere less exotic than Baltimore.

A. [laughs] Uh, Baltimore is pretty exotic.

Q. In the interest of full disclosure, when they announced you were coming to Lakeland, I wrote a column that basically said, “Please don’t come to Tampa.”

A. [laughs]

Q. My family is all from Baltimore and I’m fully aware of all the problems Baltimore has. But I thought, “Oh [fecal expletive], if he comes to Tampa, we’re dead.”

A. You know, I was not looking to make a Baltimore show. I was looking to go hang out with the people from “The Wire.” That was that.

It’s funny how the different way that Detroit and Baltimore reacted to the show. Detroiters were totally, like, they were like, “[Deistic-based expletive] right we’re one of the most [intercourse-related expletive] up cities in America and proud of it.” And Baltimore got really bent out of shape. I got really overwhelmingly negative response.

Q. I think the show, from a cinematography and storytelling side, is the gold standard and has been for a long time on TV. Do you think the backlash is a sign of the influence of the show?

A. I don’t know. I think in a lot of places that don’t get a lot of coverage that there’s an expectation that when a presumably food and travel show comes to town that they’re going to show the best side and the best face of that town and give a representative picture. That there’s some implied responsibility. That’s not what we’ve ever been about. Ever.

That whole show was about David Simon’s view of Baltimore as interpreted by me. And about the cinematography. And because I’d spent a little bit of time there. I am even as a New Yorker with the South Bronx not too far away, it’s pretty damn unbelievable. It’s idiomatic of a national ill that frankly pisses me off. And when I read in the paper people saying, “Well, that’s not my Baltimore,” or “That’s not the Baltimore I live in or I see,” I say, yeah, exactly.

Q. It’s emblematic of a slice, but it’s a slice that exists nonetheless.

A. And I, quite frankly, had a really good time. I used to really have a problem about Baltimore and I found a lot to love about it. People really hated seeing me eating lake trout [at The Roost], like it was embarrassing or something. I thought that stuff was great.

Q. The only way it could have been better is if you had gone to the Giant and picked out some Tastycakes.

A. Yeah. [laughs]

Q. I think last season you went back to sort of rediscover the parts of New York you hadn’t been fully aware of and you found this huge range of cuisine that before that time wasn’t on your radar.

A. Yup. Yup. It’s shameful.

Q. Well, we started doing this thing after your series and Andrew Zimmern’s show debuted where we said, you know, we don’t have your budget. But I can drive through Tampa and do what we called “underbelly tours” of places you’d only normally drive by and see bars on the windows and not go in. It’s amazing to me the hunger there is for people to discover these new places. They either don’t have the motivation or the courage to go to the areas that they’re not familiar with.

A. I think Jonathan Gold, that’s the kind of food writing of the future. I think the Pulitzer he got was totally a game changer. And in his recent op/ed in the Sunday L.A. Times, he said something really important. For the first time, eating has become a countercultural movement. Like these Twitter-based mobile restaurants and this frenzy among young people who are dying to find these out of the way places and hole in the wall places. That’s a whole new dynamic and really exciting. It’s a good time to be hunting down those kinds of places.

Q. I saw your piece recently in the New York Times. It’s almost like you’ve become an elder statesman. Do you feel any type of responsibility or are you just trying to do what you do?

A. I feel no responsibility at all.

As a chef, I was in the pleasure business. I was not an ethicist or a dietician. As a writer and TV guy, I think the best I can hope to do is stay curious and stay engaged and entertaining myself. Because if I’m not entertaining myself, or satisfying my own curiosity, there’s no reason for anyone to care what I say or what I do or where I go.

I think if I have one responsibility I feel deeply about is that as someone who is amazingly lucky enough to travel this world, I feel an obligation to be a good guest, to be appreciative of the people who cook me food.

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When it comes to selecting bubbly for New Year’s Eve consumption, I know almost as much about buying good champagne as I do about controlling nuclear fission, sewing a memory quilt and conducting a land war in Asia.

Which is to say that I rely on a variety of far more expert sources for my information on sparkling wines when it comes to flavor, bubble content, styles, nationalities of origin. And then I check how much money I have in my wallet and do the complex algorithm which computes the Cost-Benefit-Value-To-Number-Of-People-I-Like-Who-Will-Be-Drinking-This-Champagne Ratio.

My best gauge for Champagne value unfortunately only comes after I taste it. Which, let’s face it, is the best standard of all. Up until you have too much and are passed out and cannot write to tell anyone about what you’ve learned.

A perusal of independent online resources offers a plethora of opinions on the best bubbly for the money. (And, yes, I have officially exceeded my bubbly references allotment, for the record.)

Lucky for us this is a Golden New Year’s for buying sparkling wines and Champagnes. The still-floundering economy has wreaked havoc on sales and forced prices far lower than in previous years, meaning buyers will find finer offerings for less money than in recent memory.

Eric Asimov did a bang-up job for The New York Times tracking down the best bottles for sale between $30 and $40 and running them through a tasting panel of experts. According to the group, the best value brands this year are:

1. Joël Falmet Brut Tradition NV ($35)

Fresh, lively and elegant with flavors of flowers, minerals, citrus and anise.

2. Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV ($37)

Ripe and rich yet balanced, with lingering flavors of lemon, flowers and chalk.

3. Agrapart and Fils Brut Blanc de Blancs Les 7 Crus NV ($28)

Energetic and elegant with finesse and complex flavors of herbs and anise.

4. Henriot Brut Souverain NV ($33)

Full and rich yet dry, with creamy texture and tropical fruit flavors.

5. Christian Etienne Brut Tradition NV ($30)

Rich, round texture, yet dry and balanced with mineral, spice and an almost plummy flavor.

For the rest of the list, click here.

The one problem with Messr. Asimov’s story is the premise that people can afford to spend $30 to $40 on New Year’s adult beverages. That may be fine to assume in the rarified air of the New York Times newsroom, but down here at Tampa Tribune/TBO.com sea level, the budget calls for something under $20. If it’s nearer to $10, even better.

Closer to home, Tampa-based wine and spirits writer Taylor Eason took a look at inexpensive offerings and came up with this list of domestic and European labels for $15 and under:

Segura Viudas Aria Brut (Spain) $11.

Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut (Washington State) $12.

Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blancs (Washington State) $12.

Cantine Maschio Prosecco (Italy) $12.

Henkell Trocken Sekt (Germany) $13.

Zonin Prosecco (Italy) $15.

Mumm Napa Brut Prestige (California) $15.

At a tasting Eason did recently, the most that participants were willing to spend was $20.

“Nobody is spending money this year,” she told me today. “I’m talking even investment bankers and people who can afford it.”

Oh, and one more thing from Taylor:

The best way to chill a bottle is to place it in a bucket or sink with half ice, half water and a handful of salt for about 20 minutes. Of course, this means you didn’t plan ahead and put it in the fridge for a few hours – the easiest route to the cold stuff. Drink bubbly nippy – 43 degrees to 48 degrees Fahrenheit.

I heartily suggest you follow her outstanding blog by clicking here.

If you’d rather drink domestic, ConsumerResearch.com says:

The Sonoma-based Gloria Ferrer produces a rich, creamy Sonoma Brut NV ($15) with flavors of fruit cocktail, lime and toast, reviews say … Moreover, Ferrer is the least expensive of the highly rated California Brut sparkling wines. Although not as refined as the top-rated vintage Champagnes, Ferrer is said to be a delicious bubbly that’s suitable for drinking now.In professional reviews, inexpensive and widely available Korbel Brut NV ($13) earns praise in its price range. Experts say this California sparkling wine is nearly as good a value as Gloria Ferrer.

My advice: Go forth and drink (DISCLAIMER: In moderation, of course). Even if you buy something you’re not crazy about, you can always try something new next year.

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