TV PREVIEW
“Food Truck Face Off,” 8 p.m. Thursdays, Food Network
‘ATLANTA EATS LIVE’
Along with feasting on offerings from more than 40 restaurants at the “Atlanta Eats Live” event, attendees at the Steak Shapiro-Mara Davis hosted event can groove to the head-bobbing sounds of Yacht Rock Schooner as well. The smorgasbord will include KR Steakbar, Gio’s Chicken and Heirloom Market. The musical contribution from the eight-piece YRS will likely include songs from Hall & Oates, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald.
5-8 p.m. (food event), 8-10 p.m. (music) Oct. 5. $45 (general admission) and $100 (VIP). Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park, 2200 Encore Parkway, Alpharetta. 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com (search for Atlanta Eats Live).
— Melissa Ruggieri
As anyone who has listened to Steak Shapiro on sports talk radio over the years knows, he loves food. He would wax romantic about the Palm and even opened the restaurant Stats while running 790/The Zone.
He also has started a food-oriented media franchise, “Atlanta Eats,” which includes TV, radio and online features about local eateries. And he is now going national as a judge on the Food Network’s latest competition show, “Food Truck Face Off,” which debuts at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Shapiro’s life has rebounded since he was ousted last year from the 790/The Zone morning show after a tasteless bit mocking a football player with ALS that went viral. He apologized and kept building his food credentials. Later that year, he also nabbed a gig at rival sports talk station 680/The Fan.
The Food Network was fishing around for new personalities and found a video of Shapiro doing an Atlanta Falcons show with local chef Kevin Rathbun. They then found his “Atlanta Eats” show. Last year, they shot a pilot for “Food Truck Face Off” for the Food Network’s sister station the Cooking Channel.
The reaction was so positive, they moved the show to the Food Network and shot 13 more episodes from four cities: Austin, Texas; Miami, Toronto and Los Angeles.
The concept is a bit like “Shark Tank,” Shapiro said. He, Chicago restaurateur Alpana Singh and a rotating third judge take food truck pitches from four teams who want to break into the business. After sampling their food, they pick the best two. They then fly to the city where the teams are from and have them compete for use of a food truck for an entire year.
Shapiro said he is comfortable expressing his opinion after decades of doing so on the radio. “To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s where Jason Heyward should bat or what the best dumplings are in town,” he said.
He and Singh, he said, are very much opposites. “She has a more sophisticated palate than I do,” he said. She owns restaurants in Chicago and has hosted her own TV show there for many years.
Singh, in a separate interview, said their dynamic is a bit like the old “American Idol” combo of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.
“We became fast and easy friends,” she said. “There’s a natural chemistry between us. He sort of looks at me and says, ‘Why are you so harsh?’ ‘I’m not being harsh!’ “
She calls him very intense, very direct, yet “very personable, very curious.”
During an episode where an Austin duo were selling food in an edible bowl, Shapiro was skeptical. “What do I care about eating a bowl? I want to eat what’s in the bowl and I want it to be tasty!”
The timing of the show is great for Shapiro, whose fifth season of “Atlanta Eats” debuts this weekend on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on Peachtree TV. He is also promoting his first “Atlanta Eats Live” event Sunday at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre featuring an all-you-can-eat deal with one ticket from places such as Kimball House, Muss & Turner’s and the Iberian Pig.
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