Calling "Top Chef" fans! The Boston Business Journal is reporting that the popular Bravo foodie show is eyeing Portland, Ore., or Boston for its next stop.
The show's season 9 Texas edition wraps up Wednesday night in Vancouver (the finalists always end up far from where they started). The only Northeast city it's been in is New York City during season 5 and season 8's All-Star edition.
It's about time the show made it Massachusetts. And don't forget the Berkshires has a very local connection with the show — Pittsfield's Hung Huynh won season 3.
Can you imagine a Boston season? Baked bean quickfires, fancy franks at Fenway, Sam Adams and Harpoon pairings, North End pasta, molecular gastronomy at MIT and lobstah, lobstah, lobstah!
The BBJ says a local ad company is putting its social media expertise to the task of getting "Top Chef" to the Hub. Start hashtagging #yougottatryboston and post your reasons the Magical Elves should pack their knives for Boston on the Facebook page.
New York Columnist Speaks on France & Food
Staff Reports On: 11:37AM / Thursday February 23, 2012
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Americans have been in love with French cooking long before Julia Child introduced it to the masses.
But why French cooking in the first place? That's the question New Yorker columnist Adam Gopnik will address in "How Did Food Happen in France?" drawing on his musings in his latest book, "The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food."
Gopnik will be speaking in Griffin Hall, Room 3, on the Williams College campus on Monday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m. His talk is free and open to the public.
Tracy McNicoll of Newsweek describes Gopnik's treatise as "more ambitious than a history of restaurants — it's about how we taste, dream, and argue about food. He explores the extremes of strict localism… He gets into the heads of apparent adversaries — the meatless crowd and the whole-beast fiends, the Slow Food and molecular movements, the New and Old World wine advocates — and gives each its place in the grand foodie pantheon." "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi adds that it is "The perfect book for any intellectual foodie, a delicious book packed with so much to sink your teeth into."
The award-winning writer is known for his essay collection "Paris to the Moon," detailing his life with his family in the French capital, among other writings. His books "The Table Comes First," "Winter" and "Paris to the Moon" will be for sale before the talk.
The event is sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages and the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, with support of the W. Ford Schumann '50 Program in Democratic Studies, the Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program, the Departments of English, German, and Russian.
Red Lion Chef Takes Top Honors at 'Lamb Jam'
Staff Reports On: 10:50AM / Tuesday February 21, 2012
The Red Lion Inn's Brian Alberg took home the top prize in the American Lamb Board's "Lamb Jam" on Sunday.
According to Eat Drink RI, which covered the event at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Alberg's lamb shoulder and kale meatballs, featuring Farm Girl Farm of Egremont's smoked tomato puree and parmesan crustade won not only best overall dish and best shoulder dish, beating out 18 other chefs.
Berkshire Brewing Co. was also there serving beverages along with some notable Boston brewers.
Albert, president of Berkshire Grown's board of trustees, will go to California to compete against Lamb Jam winners from around the country.
A major supporter of using locally grown produce for Berkshires dining, Alberg has organized the upcoming "Preserving the Berkshire Harvest" with other local chefs at the James Beard House in New York on Mrch 2.
Last Day for Paczki
By Stephanie Farrington On: 11:48PM / Monday February 20, 2012
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, that means, if you follow Polish tradition, you'll be eating a lot of doughnuts today. But not just any doughnuts.
Paczki is a special jam or jelly-filled fried pastry made with butter and eggs in the dough. They're rich, light, delicious and most people have forgotten how to make them.
That bothered Lisa Mendel. Lisa is the organizer of the Polish cooking classes taking place once a month on Sunday mornings at the Polish National Alliance in Adams. She decided to ask Melissa Langenback, who teaches breadmaking at Different Drummer's Kitchen, to give a class on making the lighter-than-air treats.
So on a frozen February morning, a dozen ladies from the community gathered to learn to make paczki from scratch.
Hoosac Harvest hosted a gathering on Thursday in North Adams to bring the community and local farmers and food vendors together. Here's a sample of some the local wares that could be sampled.
Mike and Ashley from Square Roots Farm in Clarksburg.
Honeycomb and beeswax products from Berkshire Farms Apiary.
Left, Ioka Farms brought corn muffins an maple butter; right,Gammelgarden's Maple Skyr.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Americans have been in love with French cooking long before Julia Child introduced it to the masses.
The Red Lion Inn's Brian Alberg took home the top prize in the American Lamb Board's "
Stephanie Farrington of 
