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Todd Richards is fairly well known around these parts. Richards’ restaurant group (Lush Life Group) is the driving force behind Rolling Bones BBQ and One Flew South, that high-end restaurant located in Hartsfield-Jackson’s E-Concourse.  However, his notoriety isn’t limited to the Capital of The South.

Mixed in with his stay in Atlanta, Richards spent time in Chicago, in Nashville, and in Palm Beach as the chef de cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton.  In fact, all that work even earned him a spot on an episode of Iron Chef America.  Nowadays, you’ll find him sticking close to home as he works on a bounty of different projects.  One of the most accessible is his blogs, which is one of the better chef scribed blogs to come out of Atlanta.

But of course, Richards still makes time for we poor plebeians of the pen with a stopover for Inside The Chef’s Kitchen.  So on this Friday of beautiful weather and happenings, take a peek at what Chef Richards has to say.  If you take a liking to Richards’ humor, be sure to check him out on twitter @Rollingbonesbbq. And with that, welcome to ITCK!

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I’ve been waiting months for this evening.  The Food Network should be the “it” place for all foodies.  In what is sure to be lots of fun, Iron Chef America’s season premier is tonight.  The episode, tagged as the Super Chef Battle, will feature Mario Batali & Emeril Lagasse on one side, and Bobby Flay & Cristeta Comerford on the other.  Comerford, in case you are wondering, spends her days as the executive chef for our first family.  Michelle Obama will also make an appearance.  Keep reading for all the goods!

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Though I’m a much bigger fan of the Japanese original (that’s a wiki link), Iron Chef America isn’t half bad.  Hosted by Atlanta’s own Alton Brown on the Food Network, the competition show features a number of great cooks (remember the Richard Blais episode?).

Now, a couple of Iron Chef’s (Mario Batali & Bobby Flay), will join Emeril Lagasse in a Super Chef Battle at the White House.  I must admit, it saddened me to hear that Atlanta’s White House Restaurant was not the hosting location.  Instead, the trio will take a trip to our nation’s capital to challenge White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and first lady Michelle Obama.

The episode, a two-hour special, will premier Sunday January 3rd, 2010 at 8pm.  The challenge at hand?  Create a meal for America using the White House Kitchen’s local produce as the secret ingredient.  Talk about taking Farm to Table to the next level?  I’ll be watching!

[via prince of petworth]

Get your DVRs ready for Saturday afternoon.  Long before he graced our screen as the darling of Top Chef, Atlanta’s own Richard Blais showed up TV sets across the states on an episode of the Food Network’s Iron Chef America.  The challenge, which took place back in ‘06, featured chickpeas as the ingredient du jour and a battle of fisticuffs between Blais and the well-regarded Mario Batali.

Keen eyes will notice the One Midtown Kitchen logo across Blais’ breastplate.  At the time of filming, he was the executive chef at 1MK.  Appropriately, Blais brought his sous chef at the time, one Eli Kirshtein, along for the ride.

For those unfamiliar with the show, a challenger will enter a 1-hr cook-off against one of a stable of cook masters, appropriately named “Iron Chefs.”  The trick is that a single ingredient is used as the basis for the meal.  Though I much prefer the Japanese version, complete with kitschy voice dubbings, the US version comes with Alton Brown’s quick witted commentary.  I won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.

And speaking of Blais, you’ll be able to get your fill of him on Saturday.  In what is probably a coincidence, Richard and his funktastic hairdo will be on the main stage of Taste of Atlanta 2009 from 12pm-12:45pm.  So head out in the early afternoon to see him live, then check him out on the tube just before dinner time.

Battle Chickpeas: Batali vs. Blais

Re-airs on the Food Network on Saturday October 10th, 2009.

5pm-6pm, 11pm-12am, 2am-3am (on Sunday)
Comcast channel 57 or 857 for HD

Recently, Atlanta super chef Kevin Rathbun made an appearance over on the Today Show.  He offered to serve up some piping hot grits!  They flashed a recipe up for a short bit.  I’ve posted that recipe after the video!

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