Next Wednesday at 7 pm, tune into CBS to watch Liam Mayclem, host of Eye on the Bay, eat his way through much of the Big Eat 2011—from Benu to Cotogna to Fatted Calf and more. Liam is the most gracious, gregarious TV show host I've met (and while I haven't met a lot, I feel confident in this opinion).
To film a segment, the EOB crew go from restaurant to restaurant back to back, setting up the cameras, breaking them down, all day long at a grueling pace. Eating, smiling, talking, eating, smiling, talking. I know it sounds glamorous, but putting on that smile and meaning it when you're on your 10th restaurant of the day is tougher than it sounds and Liam does it.
Maybe that's why he's going back to his radio days now. When he's not being jaunty on Eye on the Bay British guy, he now has an alter-ego called Foodie Chap on KCBS wherein he interviews the Bay Area's top chefs, from Tell Tale's William Werner to E & O's Arnold Wong. It's kind of like Charlie Rose meets James Lipton. But more fun, because Liam is anything but boring.
Liam interviews me at Cotogna as part of Wednesday's segment. It was a one take, 15-second kind of thing. If nothing else, tune in to see if I said anything even remotely coherent.