The Ultimate TV Diner

Today we’re proud to feature a true New England restaurant expert and media mogul, Billy Costa. For more than 10 years he hosted the award winning TV show Phantom Gourmet. From dinning guides to festivals, the Phantom franchise has become one of the most trusted resources for finding great food in New England.

A few years ago Billy handed over the Phantom hosting duties and launched another show on NECN called TV Diner. On this show he continues to share his favorite dishes, cocktails, venues and more.

Let’s not forget his daily gig as the news and entertainment director for the popular Boston radio show Matty In The Morning. If that weren’t enough, you can also find him spinning the most popular songs of the week each Saturday on the Kiss 108 Top 30 Countdown. With all of these hosting duties, Billy is really giving Ryan Seacrest a run for his money.

When Billy finds time in his busy schedule to hit the town, he's looking for nothing but the best. Check out his ultimate meal crawl around Boston and see for yourself:

Lidia's Italy, Prepared for dishKarma

Italy is a country relatively small in size but home to countless cuisines and flavors. Traditions and fundamentals of Italian cooking have been passed down from generations as old as the ancient Roman Empire. It is commonly said that the everlasting trick to true Italian cooking is that the cook prepare each meal according to his or her own taste and liking. 

There is no doubt that Lidia Bastianich has followed in the footsteps of many historic, culinary revolutionaries that originated from Italy. Lidia, being a true Italian cook, has successfully been able to transform her personal tastes and culinary techniques into an empire of original recipes, cookbooks, television shows, and of course restaurants. 

What has made Lidia most recognizable is her highly entertaining and informative gastronomic tour of Italy television series titled Lidia’s Italy. During this show Lidia journeys through her 10 most favorite regions of Italy, introducing her viewers to local people and unique cuisines.  Lidia’s Italy very well may be the inspiration that determines Italy as dishKarma’s first international quest for the ultimate meal! 

Luckily for those of us who do not travel to Italy frequently, Lidia has brought Italy to United States through a collection of authentic Italian restaurants where you will find menus designed around Lidia’s personal tastes. A true Italian cook also loves to eat, therefore, Lidia was generously able and eager to share with dishKarma her ultimate dishes from three of her New York City restaurants: Felidia, Esca, and Del Posto. Watch Lidia’s ultimate meal and visit one of Lidia’s restaurants for a truly authentic Italian meal…tell them Lidia and dishKarma sent you! 

Ming Tsai Breaks It Down

Ming Tsai is a true mogul. Chef, author, television host/producer, designer, retailer, humanitarian….the list goes on. He may actually be involved with more projects than Diddy!

Ming’s innovative East-West cooking style has made his restaurant, Blue Ginger, one of the top spots in Boston for over 10 years. We recently caught up with Ming and he was cool enough to share his ultimate meal for dishKarma.

As Ming ‘zooms’ around describing different dishes and great chefs, he breaks down a true ultimate meal crawl. This is when each dish in an ultimate meal can be found in the same area, thus making it possible to actually experience the meal in one night. The ultimate meal crawl is also the premise for our dishKarma video podcast, but we’ll save that for another post.

Have you tried any of the dishes in Ming’s ultimate meal?

dishKarma Week 1

It’s been one week since the official introduction of dishKarma and we’d like to thank everyone who has contributed their questions, suggestions and favorite dishes. We’ve heard from friends, family, foodies, famous chefs, fellow marketers and more! It’s been great to get so much positive feedback and we look forward to sharing the next phase as we continue building out the concept.

"It’s fun to think about sitting down to your ultimate meal, but what’s the big picture vision for dishKarma? "

With your help, we’re going to build a comprehensive user driven database of the best individual dishes in the world. The search functionality will enhance as the database grows, and dishKarma will become a valuable resource when traveling or simply looking for the best place to find a specific dish in your neighborhood.

On a personal level, the more dishes you contribute, the more specific and relevant dinning suggestions you’ll receive. This is how we all truly benefit from spreading the dishKarma.

Currently we’re learning about your favorite dishes through videos and Twitter polls, but soon we’ll be rolling out a Web application that will more formally capture your ultimate meal. More on this in the coming days….

I can’t think of a better way to close out week one then with an ultimate meal video from our favorite wine connoisseur and all around marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV! Gary serves up an eclectic mix of dishes, but stays impartial and leaves the locations up to us. Where is the best place to get each dish Gary orders in his ultimate meal (crudo, Olympia oysters, sweets breads, foie gras)?

Welcome home, it's your party!

It’s been 15 years in the making, but phase one of dishKarma is finally complete. Our new Web site formally introduces the concept and invites everyone to share their ultimate meal.

This was truly a team effort and we’d like to thank everyone that has been involved in the project thus far.

We’re hard at work building phase two, but for now please check out the site and sign up for the email list so we can notify you of our progress. Also, follow on Twitter, add the Facebook page, Digg the site, tell a friend or send up a smoke signal.

Don’t forget to upload your own ultimate meal and help spread the dishKarma!

Stay tuned and stay hungry…

The 5 Faces of Food

I had dinner at a great local spot the other night and on the wall were 5 posters that were hand written - each with one of "The 5 Faces of Food." They are: Hunger, Flavor, Nourish, Nurture, Heal.

I thought a lot about these 5 Faces of Food as I read this article posted on Bloomberg this week about the U.S.'s Priciest Eateries. The article talks about 7 of our finest, priciest restaurants including Masa where you'll pay $450 for a prixe-fixe sushi menu and French Laundry of Napa Valley where a dinner for 2 will easily cost $1500. The dining rooms are still filling up, but now it's easier to get a reservation. Hmm, wonder why?

Let's rewind to the original 5 faces of food: Hunger, Flavor, Nourish, Nurture, Heal. I don't see price on this list?

Plate of the Union

With the inauguration just days away, stories about the legacy of Bush and the promise of Obama are everywhere. The other day I pulled up the MSN homepage and found a great article on presidential eating habits. The ‘Plate of the Union’ calls out various White House chefs and the specific dishes they prepared for each commander in chief.

Bill loved burgers, Kennedy clam chowder, H.W. was addicted to hot sauce and apparently Nixon had fresh yogurt flown in daily from California.

I’d love to see someone post the ultimate White House meal. Anyone ever had the honor of dinning at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?