Martie on Food Network Star: Meet the Team
Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 10:12PM 
Week one is behind us and I made it through to next week. Here's my two cents on the teams for this year's Food Network Star:
THE TEAMS
After meeting our mentors and teammates, we finally got to meet the other teams. Bobby Flay's team is rather menacing and tough acting. You can tell they mean business and they are serious about winning. They have attitude and they are trying to be intimidating. We'll see if their game is up to their swagger. Giada's team are all very nice. Ippy the giant Hawaiian is sweet with a lovely smile that lights up the whole room. So does Linkie from Mississippi by way of South Africa. They are a very attractive bunch and friendly enough. They look very pretty and neat in their white chef coats. Ippy looks like some giant Samurai warrior when he dons his headband to cook. Yvan is as nice as he is cute. All of them have training in restaurants or have been to culinary school and they are very attractive... very Giada-esque.
TEAM ALTON from left: Judson, Cristie, Justin, Me, and EmilyOur team is a team of misfits and oddballs. Alton says that this show is the only way any of us could ever get a show on the Food Network because we're not normal. He's probably right.
I immediately love Justin Warner. What a character. I noticed him (how could you not) at the casting at Alton's studios in Atlanta and we chatted for a moment about his wacky socks and the fact that he flew to Atlanta from New York with a toothbrush, socks, and some underwear in his pocket. He didn't even pack a bag! Awesome! I drove over from Birmingham and had more luggage than he did! Anyway, the sock conversation was a bonding moment. I was so thrilled when he turned up on our team. He's incredibly smart and quick. As an urban rapper-hipster, we're an unlikely friendship but we share a love of music and food. He has not been to culinary school but has worked in restaurants since he was 15. He now owns his own restaurant in Brooklyn called Do or Dine. They serve up crazy great eats like Foie Gras Doughnuts and Deep Fried Deviled Eggs and have a Michelin rating. I had no doubt he'd be here and I'm so glad to see him.
Emily Ellyni s another true character but she's from the 50's, complete with funky retro glasses, some poodle skirts (well, they don't have poodles on them but fluffy like that- you know what I mean) and some little girlie cardigans. She's way too peppy and cute not to like her immediately and she's been to the CIA. Not the intelligence organization, the Culinary Institute of America. Since Justin and I have no culinary school training, it's great to have her on the team. She has also been a culinary instructor and is getting a PhD in hospitality. Where I come from, you don't go to school to get hospitality, you are just born with it, I am nonetheless impressed with Miss Emily from Ohio and her whole retro rad crockpot pressure cooker point of view. Very cool, very smart. What you did not see on the first episode was Emily teaching me how to use a pressure cooker to cook all of that brisket!
Cristie Schoen is peppy, pretty, and really fit. I don't think she eats her food. She is teensy! She's really motivated and has a ton of team spirit. At the time of the show, Cristie was living and working in Los Angeles as an actress and a set caterer. Now, having worked on a couple of movies, I know that is a tough job. Cristie reminds me of what I like best about Southern women: she's smart, stylish, determined, graceful under pressure, and has an accent I really appreciate. While she wasn't on the show long, I still talk to her frequently and hope she can find a way to showcase her passion for healthy eating and living.
Last but not least is Judson Todd Allen. Judson lives in my second city, Chicago and owns a catering company. Judson taught me how to step- something I love to watch... Judson performed with his college frat and is really good at it. Me, not so much. He's also a great singer- hope they show that at some point. Hope they don't show me singing. Judson and I share a love of New Orleans and cooking from that area. His grandparents are from there and he's inspired by them and talks about it frequently on the show. He gave me a huge compliment by asking me to cook his shrimp for the judges for the restaurant challenge! Yes, chef! Cannot wait to hang with Judson in Chicago this summer. I'm going to get him to come help me throw a party for Company 98-- we'll make it a MARTIE Gras party!Judd can make the stuffed shrimp dish he never got to make on the show and I'll make the gumbo!
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