as seen on tv

I'm not a fan of the Food Network. I find it annoying that instead of showing viewers how to cook, the Food Network devotes entire shows to processed food ("Unwrapped"). I also despise Sandra Lee, don't understand how what she does can be called cooking and have no idea why anyone would want to eat any of the horrific things she semi-homemakes. And I find "Ace of Cakes" incredibly boring: Gasp, yet another near-disaster this week -- just like last week and the week before and the week before that!

But I hate "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" more than any other Food Network show. I think it's incredibly insulting that a celebrity chef can just barge in on the best local cooks and assume he can best them at their specialty -- the menu item they've spent their entire careers working to perfect. Nothing makes me happier than when he loses.

So imagine my joy when the Rathbun brothers kicked Bobby Flay's ass on "Iron Chef" a few weeks back. I've loved the Rathbuns for about two years now -- ever since I first ate at Abacus during my last trip to Texas. (And then there is also Rathbun's in Atlanta and the Krog Bar next to it -- both are amazing.) They deserve such sweet victory.

Anyway, we went to Abacus again last night -- just in time because they are closing on Saturday for a three-week renovation. The first page of the menu now has all of the dishes the Rathbuns made on "Iron Chef." (Elk was the secret ingredient.) Smackdown, Bobby Flay!