Chili’s Patron Kills Manager

Please think of this story the next time you stiff a server or cuss out an assistant manager because you got ID’d:

© 2008 The Associated Press

HOUSTON — A manager at a Chili’s restaurant was making sure a female employee made it to her car safely when he was shot dead by a man authorities say was a patron who had left and then returned.

Harris County Sheriff’s Department investigators said Michael Ryan Hare had been drinking at the restaurant’s bar when he made repeated, unwanted advances toward an employee.

Investigators said a rejected Hare left the restaurant but then returned at about 11:20 p.m. Thursday and fired several rounds at manager Luis Monroy. The man fled as the 32-year-old Monroy lay dead in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Hare, 24, was charged with murder Friday. Bond was set at $50,000 and he remained in Harris County Jail on Saturday night. He’s scheduled to appear in court Monday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

About 20 minutes after the shootings, Hare returned to the restaurant and was identified as the gunman by witnesses, Lt. John Denholm told the Houston Chronicle.

Denholm said that when investigators asked Hare why he shot Monroy, he responded: “It was easy. It was easy.”

He also told investigators that a friend encouraged him to return to the restaurant to tell authorities what he had done, Denholm said.

Hare’s record includes a 2004 marijuana possession conviction and a 2002 robbery charge that was later dismissed.

NFNS: We Have a Winner!

Okay, so who won isn’t the news going into tonight’s finale.  Unless, the leak was a hoax or they re-taped the ending pretty much everyone knows that Aaron wins, but no one knows why.  Did he win any competitions?  I don’t think so.  He survived through attrition.  Other, more qualified candidates were booted for conjured reasons.  Shane: we know we criticized you in the beginning for acting too mature for your age but you’re too young.  Yeah I get that one, panel - no one ever wants to watch a show about a child prodigy, right Doogie Houser?  Plus it isn’t like someone dropping two and a half boy-band members in just three years isn’t inspiring and worthy of a long career is it Jared Fogel?

I’m sorry, Kelsey, but between your gorgeous smile, fantastic food knowledge, unbelievable energy, genuine passion, and the fact that you have won more challenges than all of the others combined we just can’t see you as a food expert.  What was that?  Sunny Anderson is a DJ and Sandra Lee doesn’t actually cook; she reheats?  Their different, you’re just too young.  What?  Mary Nolan is 26?  Well, uh, er, hmm, oh yeah, those extra few months of life are very important – you’ll see.

Of course Nolan is the real winner of Next Food Network Star.  She got her show and didn’t even have to compete.  I wonder if she had been in the final three in place of Lisa Garza if her promo would have seen her dangling from a string 30 feet off the ground.  I think not.  I still maintain that Lisa’s promo challenge last week was designed specifically to cut her out, but yet she won the final challenge in impressive style while Aaron bombed like nothing we have ever seen before.  Adam copped out with his smoked meat buffet, and a monotone soliloquy worthy of an Obama campaign speech.

There just wasn’t much talent this year.  There was Cory the comedian who wasn’t funny.  Kevin who re-defined jerk.  Jeffery who wasn’t memorable in any way, Nipa who was scared of fish, Jennifer who had the confidence of Ichabod Crane (not the Johnny Depp version), Shane, well Shane was pretty good, and Kelsey who was perfect in every way.  Then you have all three of the final pair - Lisa the poster child for lithium, Adam who cannot cook, and the winner Aaron who was never was really bad but at the same time never was really good either.  There were also some new things this year – Bob wrote a blog, Susie kept a vlog, and Adam Roberts (no relation to Kevin) found something to dish about.

I bet this is way more than Bobby bargained for when he agreed to MC this year.

ICA: Flay v. Pagano

Bobby Flay may have his hands full on Iron Chef: America as fellow TV Chef Ralph Pagano comes to play. Pagano is the host of Pressure Cook on the HD network MOJO. Pagano’s show has him being dropped in a foreign country and to avoid eating something rather nasty he must land a few cooking jobs that pay enough to fly him home. If he cannot, the only way to get home is to ingest some really nasty food. On July 15, I reviewed Pressure Cook for Edible TV so check it out to learn more about the MOJO hit.

Pagano has also been a contestant on season one of Hell’s Kitchen where he was the runner up to Michael Wray. For a runner up Ralph has done well for himself, he opened his own restaurant in Sag Harbor, New York, called Fat Ralph’s Deli, he has his own hit TV show and he is squaring off with Bobby Flay in Kitchen Stadium. Wray now ownes a custom cooking knife company called Skull and Cleavers.  So remind me, who won the contest?

My Interview with Bobby Flay

Many of you may know that last October I did an interview with Chef Bobby Flay for the magazine ‘Zalea.  For those of you who did not catch it the whole interview is on my web site.  Check it out.  While you are there feel free to check out some of my other print media articles.  I wish it had been today so I could have asked him about the NFNS debackle on the FN website.

 

Stuart