Food Network: 2 Dudes

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Take one part Ace of Cakes and add one part California surfer dude and one part hip music and you get something the Food Network wants to pass off as Two Dudes Catering, a new show set to premier on Tuesday, October 16th, at 10:30 PM ET/PT. The show seems a obvious knock-off of Ace of Cakes. Emphasize the word "off." The characters on Ace of Cakes are interesting themselves. They have lives and talents that go beyond only cake decorating. Their challenges are concrete, with a focus not on recipes but on technique. Their setting is funky, with lots to be done. Still, they find structure amidst the confusion -- and success. And they exhibit plenty of humor. Two Dudes Catering is a show about a company, Carmelized Productions, run by two friends and their ostensibly fun employees. Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are based in LA where they run a successful catering company. It is much like Ace of Cakes, except that everyone seems a bit less interesting, at least in the premier, and a lot less mature. One of the workers isn't even eighteen. There are moments when she stands there looking as lost as the audience feels. One dude is the financial guy (Jon) and the other is the whiz at cooking (Vinny). Jon tries to keep Vinny under control, and Vinny tries to focus on his Art. The first gig is a Sushi Party. Vinny goes to a wholesaler and spend $938 on tuna, soft shell crabs, and scorpion fish, the last of which he has never prepared before. Are we curious about how it tastes and whether the spines will poison him? The music revs up and the gloves go on, and both Vinny and Jon filet the scorpion fish. No one gets hurt, and after the scene is finished, you wonder if you missed the drama. The next segment is at Jon's dentist's kid's eight birthday. The menu is less-than-challenging standard kid's food: mac and cheese, cheese pizza and pigs in a blanket. Sure, Jon and Vinny have to get everything finished so they can rush to their other gig, but the food is so unchallenging, so unCalifornian, that it isn't really interesting watching them fix it or have fun with the kids afterwards. The only tension is time: can they make it threw LA's traffic to Malibu. The dudes sport long, loose hair and tattoos. They say stuff like: "Jon is such a cheap ass." And " Our crew, they rock." Who are these guys trying to be? Wayne and Garth? No, not cooly un-cool enough to be cool. Bill and Ted? No, not young enough to get away with acting that juvenile. Hey, how about the two guys in Dumb & Dumber? Maybe... No, they're not straight-out dumb enough to make you walk out of the room or turn off the tube -- -- but they sure get close... There are serious chefs out there who sport the same kind of California surfer dude-rocker-biker look, but these two dudes don't back it up with toughness, challenge and intellect. Is this stuff going to appeal to a younger audience? Maybe the music will appeal, but the eats gotta get better. Meanwhile, Super Chef will stick with Duff & Co. Previous articles: Ace of Cakes: Valentines 2007 Ace of Cakes: Duff Goldman [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, 2 Dudes --> back to Super Chef