I adore Top Chef and watch it every season but it is more of a competition than a how-to. I like some of Anthony Bourdain's shows but they don't involve cooking as much as they do eating and traveling. Mike Colameco has a decent show cause he actually goes into good restaurants and one gets a glimpse of behind the scenes. As for all the other many how-to cooking shows, none has really intrigued me very much to the point that I watch them unless a particular recipe is being featured that I want to know more about.
Ah... but that was until now. Eric Ripert has a new show called
Avec Eric and it is everything I want in a cooking show. He travels for inspiration, he speaks with other chefs or others who are knowledgeable about ingredients, he takes you into his kitchen at
Le Bernadin and shows you what the cooks do and what they are responsible for. Then he takes you into his home kitchen and shows how to cook a similarly inspired dish. Plus, he is Eric Ripert. Sophisticated and charming.
The Empty Plate, New York 
Cafe in Lima by Irving Penn, Vogue 
Patissiers, Paris
Woman in Moroccan palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrake
Gerbera Daisy 
Patissiers, Paris
Woman in Moroccan palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrake
Gerbera Daisy 
