''Door Knock Dinners'' is a program that aired on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

in the late 1990s. The program featured Gordon Elliott taking a guest chef (or himself) into the home of a busy person/household and cooking the family a dinner using only the items they had in their home. The ''Door Knock Dinners'' guest chef list includes the following: *

Paula Deen Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has pu ...

– her appearance on the show led to her debuting her own show, ''Paula's Home Cooking'', in November 2002. *

Tyler Florence Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is an American chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was la ...

Rokusaburo Michiba Rokusaburo Michiba (道場六三郎, Michiba Rokusaburō; born January 3, 1931) is a Japanese chef, best known as the first Japanese chef on the popular television series ''Iron Chef''. He was part of the show from its debut in 1993 until his re ...

and

Masaharu Morimoto is a Japanese chef, best known as an Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show ''Iron Chef'' and its spinoff ''Iron Chef America''. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food. Career Morimoto was born in Hiroshima, where he rece ...

– appeared on the show and prepared dinner for a family in

Rye, New York Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, within the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. It received its charter as a city in 1942, making it the most recent such charter in the state. Its area of ...

ahead of Morimoto's first ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...

'' battle against

Bobby Flay Robert William "Bobby" Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur, and Television presenter, television personality. Flay is the owner and Chef de cuisine, executive chef of several restaurants and fr ...

in New York City, which Elliott was the English-speaking MC for. The show adapted many ''Iron Chef'' mechanics in honor of them, including graphics and announcers as if the challenge were a Kitchen Stadium battle, and footage from the show was used in the ''Iron Chef'' New York Special, including the original Japanese version that aired on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

Reception

In a negative review, Michael Farkash of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called the show "a disappointing, disjointed presentation", writing, "Better jokes or even more sarcastic gibes are needed to spice up the show." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' reviewer Chris Napolitano thought the show was "the best dinner theater on the tube". The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

's Lynn Elber found Elliott's performance to be "refreshingly quirky" and praised the program's "homespun sweetness".

References

Food Network original programming 1990s American cooking television series {{food-tv-prog-stub