Man v. Food host pigs out at Heid’s
Come September or so, Heid’s grillmeisters will be featured frying franks and coneys on the Travel Channel’s TV show Man v. Food.
The reality program’s host, Adam Richman, visited our landmark hot dog stand Wednesday, June 9. The day before, Richman and his camera crew made the scene at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que down city but swung north to Liverpool on Hump Day to eat dogs at Heid’s and salt potatoes at the Salt Museum.
Richman’s producers asked diners to remain natural, ignore Richman’s comic commentaries and — above all — don’t look at the camera. If any pesky reporters showed up, they said, production would be curtailed. So we’re not yet sure if Richman faced one of his famous food challenges here, but it would be fun to see how many coneys he could stomach.
On a show that aired March 18, 2009, Richman consumed 17 hot dogs at a North Carolina restaurant, and on the following week’s episode he ate a one-meter-long German bratwurst in Minneapolis.
In New Jersey’s Star-Ledger, television critic Alan Sepinwall described Man v. Food this way: “It ain’t deep, and it certainly ain’t healthy (I could feel my arteries clog just from watching), but it’s fun.” Since 2008, the Travel Channel has produced 39 episodes.
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, the 36-year-old Richman doesn’t have to act to eat. He’s a natural meat-lover. Man v. Food: Carnivore Edition aired on March 3 celebrating Richman’s more “carnivorous” food stops including a barbecue in Amarillo, Texas, and the Thurman Burger joint in Columbus, Ohio.
Both Heid’s and the Dinosaur should rate high on Richman’s meat meter. We shall see in September.
Food compulsions explained
Anyone who willingly swallows a 7.5-lb. Sasquatch Burger in Memphis and a 10-lb. stuffed pizza in Hartford, Conn., may be in need of some professional counseling. Too bad Adam Richman didn’t hang around the village for another week.
The Caf (c) at 407 presents its first ‘Coffee Talk at 407’ at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, June 16, when Joslyn Smith leads a discussion of Geneen Roth’s new book Women, Food & God.
Roth explores what drives our compulsions with food, Smith said. Amazon.com explains the author’s main concept:
“The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God.”
Free music on Fridays
Speaking of Ophelia’s Place, Dan and Mary Ellen Clausen are booking live music at 7 p.m. Fridays, at the Caf (c) at 407. Songwriter Mark Zane plays the caf (c) this Friday, June 18, followed by Maria DeSantis and Kelly Birtch on June 25.
DeSantis is one of CNY’s top vocalists and Birtch is one of the Southern Tier’s top guitarists. The duo plays classic rock tunes, a few standards and a handful of Flamenco-style guitar rave-ups on Kelly’s six steel strings. This is a twosome well worth your time on June 25.
Admission is free at the Caf (c) at 407.
Suspense and surprise
Reprising the partnership they forged in Gangs of New York, Aviator and The Departed, director Martin Scorsese and actor Leo DiCaprio deliver tension and twists in Shutter Island, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. The offbeat thriller set in an island-bound insane asylum in 1954 will be screened at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 22, and at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 24, at Liverpool Public Library’s Carman Community Room. Shutter Island is rated R and runs 138 minutes. Co-stars include Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. Admission is free.
