The Food TV chefs are money grubbing shills. Last night Management and I caught the first Applebee’s ads featuring Tyler Florence and after we scrapped our jaws off the floors she said it best, “I have lost all respect for him.”

Granted, Applebee’s probably fanned out some serious money and tickled him under the chin with it and if I were in the seat across some well-heeled suits I would probably offered my own roast leg au jus served with fingerling potatoes and seasonal vegetables. But I am not a network TV chef, I don’t have any book deals, and the name “Cheap Ass Jimmy” refers to how low that entrance fee to my carnival ride really is. Florence, however, is all those thing I am not so Bourdain is right in chastising these people for selling out their craft. Did Florence ask himself if he is adding anything to the body of work out there with recipes like Penne Rosa with Sweet Italian Sausage, Herb-Crusted Chicken Topped with Italian Country Salad, New Crispy Brick Chicken with Warm Spinach Salad, and Bruschetta Burger (I just threw up in my mouth a little there)? This is towing the same bland-ass cuisine being slung by all the other TGI-McFunsters (Bourdainism) out there.

Honestly, the sole commenter on Slashfood had it right, Applebee’s menu is inspired by what one might find on an airline: rubbery and where salt is the only discernible seasoning. While both Management and I have enjoyed some of his shows in the past, Food 911 had good tips and often was often filled with unintentional laughs this recent move smacks of greed and poor image management. Likely, it will sail far outside the radar of the typical Applebee’s customer but for the foodies out there it serves as another example of how our culture is (has) devolving (-ed) into a mass of homogeneous chains that sprawl from coast to coast making it near impossible to differentiate from one region from another. Culture is now a registered trademark with all rights reserved.