The Brainerd Dispatch - Today's Entertainment Magazine
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BY LORI ACKEN 'Top Chef Masters' Ruth Reichl brings expertise to all of her career – putting her experiences with food into words. As a former food guru for the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, the celebrated editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine until its confounding demise in 2009, and now editorial advisor for the Web's Gilt Taste, Reichl's writings have advised and tantalized international foodies for decades. When Bravo offered her a judging stint on Season 3 of Top Chef Masters, Reichl signed on as a lark and enjoyed it so much that she's back for the series' fourth session now airing on Wednesdays. And thanks to her decades-long reign at the epicenter of food culture, she's found plenty of familiar faces in the new crop of contestants. "A lot of these chefs are people whose careers Ruth Reichl has spent most of her adult life – and So it's not that surprising, because a lot of these people haven't spent a lot of time cooking for quite a while." Still Reichl would rather see IN FOCUS the masters produce a flawed masterstroke than play it safe in pursuit of perfection. "I am never one for playing it safe!" she says, laughing. "Not in writing. Not in life. Not in food. In 'Top Chef Masters,' the burden is to take that extra step and articulate a personal vision of food, because that is what a master chef does. They've had time to own their personal the plate!" to see that on philosophy of food – and I want I know well," Reichl says, "so for me, it's an interesting group. And as the field narrows, it becomes more and more interesting, because you're looking at competing philosophies. It turns into a really fascinating competition." And, Reichl says, a delightfully civilized one. "One thing that I think is quite different about this year from last year is that there is a level of camaraderie between these chefs which is extraordinary," she explains. "What I love about chefs is their generosity – it's hard to be a chef if you don't have a generous soul – and you really get to see that." Asked if she's stunned by the blunders that even experts make in the heat of battle, Reichl offers a reminder of what a chef's job description truly entails. "People think of chefs as cooks – but most chefs don't cook much," she says. "Chefs are like CEOs; their job is to get the people in the kitchen to translate their vision. •What are your three must-haves in your fridge or pantry? "Really good butter, lemons and really good fish sauce." •What did you have for dinner last night? "I had a wonderful boiled lobster and a Caesar salad at Pearl Oyster Bar in New York. It's one of my favorite restaurants." •What is your next project? "I'm finishing up the novel in the next few weeks, and then I'm moving on to a cookbook that comes off my Twitter feed." •Where did you go on your last vacation? "I went to Tuscany. My husband and I were invited to a friend's retreat – he invited 28 of us, including Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, to come and talk about important things and hang out and eat really well and look at art. It was wonderful." crackle.com/c/Why_It_Crack- les "Why It Crackles," www. a series that looks at current releases and explains "Why we'd pay to see these movies in the theaters." Among the films cur- rently being examined — includ- ing interviews with the stars and filmmakers — are "The Amazing Spider-Man," "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "That's My Boy," "Prometheus," "MIB3," "The Avengers," "The Three Stooges" and "The Hunger Games." Sony's Web network offers bat: Legacy," www.youtube. com/show/mortalkombatle- gacy From the online network for "Machinima: Mortal Kom- gamers comes a live-action se- ries based on "Mortal Kombat," a series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias that has also spawned music and feature films. The new Web series stars Michael Jai White ("Spawn"), Darren Shahlavi ("Bloodmoon," "Tai Chi Boxer"), Jeri Ryan ("Star Trek: Voyager," "Body of Proof") and Tamoh Penniket ("Battlestar Galactica," "Dollhouse"). "Tom Hanks' Electric City," electriccity.yahoo.com Having premiered July 17 on "Yahoo! Screen," the animated series from Playtone and Reli- ance Entertainment stars series creator Tom Hanks in a 90-min- ute, action-packed sci-fi story set in a futuristic, dystopian me- tropolis with a peaceful veneer and a roiling criminal underbelly. The 10 five- to-seven-minute episodes feature the voices of Hanks, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Hol- land Taylor, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Antoon, Chris Parnell, Paul Scheer, June Diane Rapha- el and Georg Stanford Brown. SOLUTION K O N A V E S I D O N A L D G L O V E R A R E D U P E A V A N E S A H A R A E C N A S H N E F I L A Y E MA R F A I R A N S MA R K A L I A S G T O E L I N F O T E L T R A N E A R S T R O Y M E N client fill E D N A N N 2 x 2.5" ad 2 x 2.5" ad JULY 29 - AUGUST 4, 2012 – BRAINERD, MN/DISPATCH – 11