Celebrity Sighting Contest thread

My husband works at the Galt House, and Gene Simmons is staying there.

There's only one person I would be really hyped about seeing- Kate Flannery, who plays Meredith the drunk on 'The Office'. She's scheduled to be in the parade today but I wish I could see her out and about and get a picture with her. I am somewhat obsessed with 'The Office'

[Robin Garr]

My husband works at the Galt House, and Gene Simmons is staying there.

So is Bobby Flay, who just cooked me a Hot Brown.

My husband works at the Galt House, and Gene Simmons is staying there.

Ewww, he is ge-ros!

My husband works at the Galt House, and Gene Simmons is staying there.

So is Bobby Flay, who just cooked me a Hot Brown.

I've seen Bobby at the track for the last few Derbys. I think he has become quite the horseracing fan, and he might even own a couple of racehorses. How's his Hot Brown? Please don't tell me he worked chipotle peppers or ancho chile powder into it somehow.

I saw Gene Simmons today in the media center at Churchill. He got a hot dog and a Diet Coke. He is very tall and very tan.

[Robin Garr]

How's his Hot Brown? Please don't tell me he worked chipotle peppers or ancho chile powder into it somehow.

I posted a little more (except for the results) in the Hot Brown thread. It was a Bobby Flay Throwdown against the Castro brothers at Whitehall, and Todd Richards and I judged. They don't tell you in advance that you're judging (to prevent a behind-the-scenes setup, obviously) and really surprised me with their commitment to make it a fair, blind contest.

As I said in the other thread, I don't want to rain on their parade by spilling the beans, even though they didn't swear us to secrecy, but I can tell you that we were both looking for signs of Flayitis to help us figure whose was whose, but he fooled us: He called it a "New York Style Hot Brown," but it was really quite traditional. The bread could have been Texas toast and had possibly been submitted to some kind of savory French toast treatment - it was hard to be sure under the Mornay - but it was basically just a good, straightforward, middle-of-the-road Hot Brown. The Castros did a good one too, but made it a little bit high-society with toast points trimmed of their crusts.

That's really cool Robin. I love throwdown, it is really one of my favorite shows. It's so interesting to watch cooks who are so passionate about their usually simple, one item foods that are wildly popular in their area. I just watched an Ice Cream throwdown a few nights ago. It was the first one that I've seen that the owner of the shop actually didn't know Bobby Flay. I always kind of thought they had advance notice till I saw this one and he had no clue who Flay was and was even saying his name wrong.

Isn't this going to blow your cover though Robin?

I think I'd choose to be on Throwdown also rather than to worry about a blown cover

quote] I've seen Bobby at the track for the last few Derbys. How's his Hot Brown? Please don't tell me he worked chipotle peppers or ancho chile powder into it somehow. [/quote]

Or corn. When he was on Iron Chef the Japanese chefs kept saying something like "His food has lots of corn in it." They sounded confused. Cornfused?

[Robin Garr]

Isn't this going to blow your cover though Robin?

That's a fair question, and so I won't blow it off. After doing this work in Louisville for well over 20 years now, I'm under no illusions that the major players don't know me, which makes anonymity difficult at the established places. I'm conscious of the importance of reviewing places and getting a consumer's view and not a VIP's view, and I do have a variety of ways to accomplish that. For one thing, I review a lot of new restaurants (where the proprietors may not recognize me) and don't do re-reviews of the old standbys as often as some critics do. I also assembled the LEO blogger team with the idea of sending in totally anonymous surrogates at places where I'm known and where I suspect that it would make a real difference. That paid off both at Vincenzo's and at the English Grill, where bloggers who I respect and trust to do the job well had experiences dramatically different than I probably would have had.

So there are lots of tricks still up my sleeve, but at this point it would be kind of pompous - and ridiculous - for me to pretend that I can be anonymous everywhere, so I'll take an occasional public job like this when I think it will be fun and worthwhile. But that being said, I turn down a lot more than I take on and generally avoid media events and such, hoping to avoid becoming one of those familiar talking heads who everybody knows.

Long answer, but as I said, you raised a point that deserves a clear public response.

Oh don't rub it in, you know we're all thinking we were as cool as you to be on Throwdown

Not exactly the celebs people had in mind but I went to Sapporo and had the great Lotus Blossom roll and the table beside me was the WWE wrestler CM Punk and the WWE Diva Maria. I guess that gave away what part of town I am from. Honestly I have a friend that works for the WWE, that's the only reason I recognized them.

So, since Robin is now such a star, does seeing him count? Maybe at the Farmer's Market on Derby Day?

There's only one person I would be really hyped about seeing- Kate Flannery, who plays Meredith the drunk on 'The Office'. She's scheduled to be in the parade today but I wish I could see her out and about and get a picture with her. I am somewhat obsessed with 'The Office'

Kate Flannery was spotted at Seviche last night as well... although i cant recall if she was drinking...

Thanks for the update Madi! I only caught a glimpse of her in the parade as she was in a hardtop instead of a convertible like most of the celebs.

Not a celebrity sighting, but I did see the big Girls Gone Wild tour bus in the Highlands yesterday. Parked outside one of the Irish pubs. Maybe they'll be scouting out underage girls in the infield tomorrow???