Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Mario Batali Flips Me Off - See why I'm so wound up!

You know you are a true celebrity chef when you have your own wind-up action figure! While browsing in a local gourmet store, WinkSF in San Francisco's Noe Valley, I came upon this amusing, yet somewhat disturbing metal toy (was this some sort of culinary Chucky?).

First of all, if you are going to put a picture of the real chef on the package, then at least make the toy look the sort of the same. Somehow the metal, wind-up Mario lost about 80 pounds. Teresa, the owner of the store offered to wind him up and I filmed a little clip of Mario showing you how to flip a pancake (or whatever Italian for pancake is, I’m sure they have their own word for it).

I should add, before all you Mario fans attack me, I'm a big fan of his. He is a complete stud on Iron Chef, where he’s almost unbeatable.

I can see a whole line of these wind-up celebrity chef toys; An Anthony Bourdain version that smokes a cigarette and eats a kidney, a Bobby Flay version that, once wound, rubs Chipotle pepper on something, etc. If you have an idea for a wind-up version of your favorite chef, please post a comment.

One day, if this blog really takes off, maybe I'll even have my own wind-up action toy! And, you better believe, it's going to have a nice head of hair.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL! You're pretty hot looking with hair... ever think of a toupee??

Anonymous said...

What does your toy do when you wind it?

Anonymous said...

hey!
your website is really good and inspiring.

i have a food wish - lately i having cravings for a krispy kreme doughnuts , however i stay in Scotland, UK, and there's no krispy kreme stores here, so i was wondering if you could conjure up something like the sort and if possible a healthier version - is there such things as a baked doughnut?
thanks!

sharon
sharon_galing@hotmail.com

Chef John said...

hmmmm, a healthy baked doughnut... yes there is such a thing... it's called a Bran Muffin! ;-) Sorry, but there really is no healthy substitute. Nor, should there be.

Anonymous said...

Where's the mac and cheese? Don't make me but the blue box! Sorry, but I just really want to learn to make that stuff.

Chef John said...

sorry i keep forgetting, also I've been eating much lighter since I have that big Calvin Klein underwear ad shoot coming up.

Sarah C. said...

I love it!
BTW, I just wanted to let you know that I use Google Reader. Basically its the best way I have found to manage all my foodblogs, but while your new entries appear, the video portion says "This video has been removed my content owner." Is this something you are doing on purpose? Are you aware that this is happening to your loyal google-reader-using fans?

Chef John said...

Not sure about the google reader. I have my rss feed going through feedburner. I haven't heard any of any issues. If any of my geekier readers can help with this question I would appreciate it. Thanks!

hkfreak said...

Your first one without "Enjoy!"?

Chef John said...

OMG, you're right! Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

hah! what a riot! too bad he's not wearing bright green or purple crocs!

i think nigella sticking her head into a bowl of cake batter could work.

love your blog btw! :)

Chef John said...

Now that I would buy!

Anonymous said...

chef john! your blog is amazing - you always make me laugh. :) thanks for putting all those great videos up

the easy recipes are great for college students like me! i like the healthier recipes a lot too - please post more!

Anonymous said...

Hi this is the mac and cheese person. That's okay...I guess you can do the mac and cheese. I mean it's not like I'm getting any older. haha
Just do it when you get out of this so called phase of eating light. i know it won't last forever. :P

Anonymous said...

oh yeah make donuts that will be cool!

great blog!

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling the Bobby Flay wind-up version would just shoot sparks out of his mouth and smirk. Oh, and it would probably grab the food and shove it my face. Gwad, what a moronic, annoying person he is.

Chef John said...

annoying? yes, I can see that his style would annoy many. But, trust me he's no moron.

Anonymous said...

I think an Emeril one would be hysterical - you fill his arm up with flour, and he says "BAM!" and flicks his arm and a small cloud of flour comes out.

LlamasO said...

I think Rachel Ray has an action figure also. It's called a Barbie Doll.
New here, love your reipes. Roy

Chloe said...

This is hysterical! Chef John, you're truly an inspiration and definitely my culinary hero. Your action figure would be you holding a large bottle of cayenne and as soon as any food got close enough, you throw a shake of it at the dish. I'd buy that for sure!