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• Striking fear in one’s heart: The Food Network announced that it will tape the first-ever Food Network Awards on February 23 at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for airing in April. Emeril will be the MC (of course) and all the other regulars of the Food Network fambly will also be presenters. Presenters of what, though? And to whom? To each other? The press release tells us, “The Food Network Awards will combine the fun of Food Network with the glamour of South Beach to make an entertaining, off-beat awards ceremony unlike any other on television.” So that could be a nightmare.
• Okay, I’m missing something here: has anybody ever eaten at Lucky Strike Lanes, right next to the River East cinemas on Illinois? Their name came up again this week–a bizillion press-released times–because the current executive chef, Eric Possa, is going to be heading up the catering for the (6,000 plate, 95-chef) after-Grammys dinner. There’s a connection between the LA firm Along Came Mary, which brought together the team for the Grammy catering, and Lucky Strike, which is also based in LA; ACM is the chain’s menu consultant. That part makes sense.
