Time to rename my blog

I'll call it "People I know on the TV."

This is how much of a geek I am, my favorite restaurateur puts out a quarterly newsletter and I read it from cover to cover. Maybe that's not so geeky, because there are deals and event announcements, but it sure feels geeky to be so hopped up about food.

I used to work for this guy and I kind of idolize him a bit. I can't say that about many chef's I've worked with, some think so highly of themselves that it's hard to take. But not Joe. Joe's love and passion for food is infectious. He and his chef's travel the world and hang with the best and bring the best flavor combos a palate could ever hope for - right here to Milwaukee.

Part of the waitress training involved a week in the kitchen -- I had to cook and eat one of everything on the menu. Brilliant. It was how he taught us the food, instead of memorizing ingredients and spouting them out when asked -- you could convey the heaven of each dish by really knowing how it was prepared and such.

All I can say is, I have worked in a lot of restaurants and it's somewhat typical to have the kitchen filled with chef's who think they are Gods that have to work with a lowly wait staff as a necessary evil. Joe has a way creating an all for one, one for all environment -- I loved working for him and his family, it really felt like being a part of something.

Truthfully, it really was being a part of something. When you think about some of the best food in it's category, that the entire world has to offer, and I get to eat it regularly -- holy privilege Batman.

I'm making myself yearn for Bartalotta food. East Coast, West Coast -feh! The best is here in the Midwest -- I know it every time I'm eating it -- this is the real deal.
Salivate.

I'll get to the point already, but that was a nice memory trip for me. Alas, great food is like great love, it defies words -- I only wish I could share bites of food over the computer.

The point -- Joe's brother, Paul, is a James Beard award winning chef and he is going to be on Iron Chef!

!!!

I am an absolute Food Network junkie and Alton Brown is one of my favorite geeks ever. What's even more fun is that this is also a bonding point for Rich and I. We did a little happy dance over our two degrees of separation from Alton Brown.

Once again, there is no air date yet but I'm setting my DVR for first run Iron Chef's right away.

I'm such a dork because I get really excited about that show anyway, so I'm a really geeked about seeing the episode. Oh, and he is bringing Chef Adam Siegal from Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro here in Milwaukee -- so that's another layer of geekedness because I've had both of their cooking before which means we are practically related.

I bet he wins.