European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Garcon Garcon there a a parody on my plate by Glenn Collins new York times and now Monsieur and Madame Here Are today s specials one Neon Blue Catfish. One half of a cow blackened pork chops Frozen. Fake caviar 150 Gallons of in. Eyeballs on baked potatoes. Nine All White entrees on All White Plalos in an Al while restaurant. Is this satan s Carle do Jour no no no or. Bill. This is the cuisine of saturday night live. I to Blue Catfish and the Faux caviar Are just a Low of the bizarre food props a most of them edible that have appeared live from new York on the television show in recent years. Quot i love the Challenge Quot said Tony Ciolino the Chol who for years has had the absurd responsibility lot creating these props. Quot each time i think they can to possibly ask me Lor anything More outrageous than last time. And i Hen i hey Tony Ciolino left with Dan Bleier. Ciolino 30, can ordinarily be found going about he business of preparing 1,400 meals a Day for lunch and dinner he s the chef of the american festival cafe in Rockefeller Center nine floors Down from saturday night s studio 8h. But not infrequently his ordered world is disrupted by emergency orders for food from the Twilight zone. Quot no matter what it is he s never failed said Dan Bleier a property master for saturday night whose Job it is to Supply the aggressively eccentric items specified in the show s scripts. Quot to keep trying to stump him though Quot said Creg Tull another property master. Consider the All White dinners they were urgently needed for a recent sketch about a restaurant called the White Parrot. Not Only was the request weird the timing was bad. The order came late on a Friday night while Ciolino was coordinating his staff s efforts to feed More than 800 lawyers at the annual Bash of a wealthy Manhattan Law firm. Ciolino had worked night and Day to prepare for he event. Suddenly at 8 p.m., Bleier made his Way through the partying lawyers to the Kitchen. Quot we need White food Quot he said. Quot when do you need it Quot Quot latest is tomorrow by 1.&Quot by 10 30 that morning Ciolino was in the restaurant Kitchen discovering he said Quot How Many things become yellow when they re nevertheless by 1 p with the help of Eric Andre the sous chef he had created eight White entrees and one extra for Luck. Quot the food was perfect Quot Bleier said. But it Wasny to the oddest food made. Ciolino once got a saturday night order for 150 Gallons of fake caviar a edible please a to use in a parody Public service advertisement advocating responsible and ecological caviar recycling. Quot not Loo Many things resemble caviar and the real thing obviously would have been astronomically expensive Quot said Francois Keller the executive chef of restaurant associates which operates the restaurant. Ii was Keller who came up with the idea of using tapioca As an inexpensive ersatz caviar. The two chefs set about smothering it in blackened Caramel colouring. But even that was not the oddest request. There was for example the order for three blackened pork chops Frozen hard. They were used As hockey pucks in a sketch when Wayne Gretzky was the guest Host he was playing a Busboy who liked to Clear tables with a hockey stick. And the Neon Blue fish Quot they did not want a bluefish Quot Keller explained carefully Quot but rather a fish that is Blue Quot of and there was the request for something to accessorize the show s flab of suction machine a liposuction device or movie stars. A we finally came up with the idea of using 20 pounds of custard for the suctioned flab Quot Ciolino said. The Challenge of saturday night live has lasted five or six years no one on the show or at the restaurant seems to remember exactly when it All started. And no one knows exactly Why. Quot we d like to think it s due to the brilliance of our invention Quot Keller said Deadpan. Quot but it probably has More to do Wilh the fact that we re right downstairs from the Faux caviar a la saturday night live 22 pounds granulated sugar 15 Gallons water approximately 40 pounds raw tapioca smallest size �?T/2 gallon vegetable Oil 1. Dissolve sugar in half a gallon water. Cook Over High heat until sugar is Black and smoking. Add another half gallon of water continue cooking until the burned Caramel dissolves. 2. Put tapioca in a Large vat. Add two thirds of burned Caramel mixture. Add water in an amount equal to three times the raw tapioca bring to a boil. Cook until tapioca is Clear. Rinse in hot water Drain Well. Mix with remaining Caramel mixture until caviar is the desired color. Mix in Oil to make caviar shiny. Yield 150 Gallons 1,000 Servings Nielsen the flowing were the top 10 ranking television shows in America in the second week of May As compiled by the . Nielsen co. The season to Date ranking is in parentheses or an Quot a a for first time showing and the final figure is the rating which notes the percentage of the nations 92.1 million Homes where people watched the show.1 americans funniest Home videos 4 20.6. 2 Roseanne 1 18.9.3 americans funniest Home videos ii x 18.3 rating.4 cheers 2 17.6. 5 the Cosby show 2 16.9.5 empty nest tie9 16.9. 7 shattered dreams a lbs sunday movie x lbs 16.8.8 a different world 5 16.3.9 wonder years 8 16.2. 10 Golden Giris 6 16.0. A and these Are the 10 least watched shows the ones at the Bottom of the Nielsen ratings.81 life goes on 106 6.3 81 do it yourself to tie 6.3. 83 Story behind the Story x 5.9.84 alien nation 127 Fox 5.5. 85 Booker 128 Fox 5.1.86 21 jump Street 125 Fox 4.7.87 Elvis 130 4.5. 88 outsiders 129 Fox 4.1.89 famous Teddy a 67 lbs 3.7. 89 Tracey Ullman show tie131 Fox 3.7.91 City 82 lbs 3,3. What they re watching Page 4 c to plus sunday May 20, 1990
