Tyler Florence Sellout?

Tyler Florence has always been an intriguing celebrity chef to me. On one hand he seems like he is a genuinely nice guy who would be a lot of fun to hang around. On the other hand he has always had this sort of cheesy persona and it seemed as if he was on TV for his looks and down-to-earth persona and not his culinary resume, but we all know that is how the Food Network works. Oh, and he talks way to fucking fast. Last week I noticed he was on an Applebee’s commercial touting the new menu items he created for the chain. I am not so sure how I feel about this. My gut reaction was “what a fucking sell-out!” but then I thought about it more and I guess it is kind of cool that he is coming up with new menu items for a place that everyone has access to. My biggest issue is these celebrity chefs, like Tyler who go on and on about sustainable agriculture, buying seasonal and local ingredients, and how independent restaurants are superior to chains and then you see him shilling for Applebee’s (or Burger King like Rick Bayless did).

The menu items seem interesting enough and if I was at Applebee’s (a place I visit maybe 1 or 2 times a year) I would probably give one of them a try. And I must say that if Applebee’s backed up to my house with a truck full of money, I’d probably do the same thing.