Food TV
More Austin ties to Top Chef: Local production house lends a hand to RichardBlais' Reinventing the Meal
Richard pays a visit to the home of Veena N.K., a “Tiffin Lady” who catersauthentic Southern Indian meals.
Inspired by the farm-fresh ingredients and what he learned in Veena’s kitchen,Richard “reinvents” a traditional Indian menu by hosting a dinner party for theorganizers of the 3rd I South Asian Film Festival.
Erik Horn, Creative Director at Arts + Labor is the Editor on Reinventing TheMeal and a local Austin resident.
Coming off Paul Qui's big win last month, it's clear that our city has a pretty major love affair with Top Chef.
Luckily, you've now got another homegrown reason to keep watching Top Chef (at least one of its alums) in his new special on the Cooking Channel called Reinventing the Meal.
Richard Blais, the quirky, Atlanta-based master of molecular gastronomy who won last year's Top Chef: All-Stars, is the culinary captain in this new show, and Austin-based production company Arts+Labor provides the editing, graphics, photography and titles to make him look his best.
In the show, Blais learns from and reinvents unique meals done by "wild card" foodie spots in California. In the pilot episode, for example, Blais gives traditional Indian food a makeover, including turning raita into a frozen, carbonated ice cream. "It's a really fascinating approach to changing up the local food movement," says Erik Horn, the creative director at Arts+Labor.
Horn and his team have expierence shooting and editing foodie TV, with a resume that includes the first season of the fascinating IFC reality show, Dinner with the Band. That show's creator, Food Network vet Darin Bresnitz, brought Arts+Labor into the mix to do their editing and graphic work for the show, and it was his suggestion to involve them even more in this special.
"[Dinner with the Band] definitely had a very different style than this new one: a lot of intense graphics, a lot of rotoscope animation and 3-D graphics," explains Horn. "[Reinventing the Meal] has a totally different feel. It's light on graphics and really heavy on photos. There are some shots where we're literally millimeters away from Richard's food. And what he does with food is really amazing to watch.""
The hour-long special premieres Sunday evening at 8 p.m. EST on the Cooking Channel (check local listings), with multiple airings throughout the week. With enough viewership, Horn is hoping to option more episodes and turn it into a regular series.
In the meanwhile, Horn and company are keeping plenty busy right here in Austin, preparing spots for Dell and a brand new comedy show that they're premiering at the Moontower Comedy and Oddity Festival. "We're working with P. Terry's on a series of 'non-consensual advertising' spots that we're showing them for the first time in front of an audience," Horn laughs. "It's sort of like those great Saturday Night Live commercials but for a local sponsor that everyone loves. It's going to be great."
More local heroes making good with food. What's not to love about that?
