Brown's first degree, as he mentioned at least once last night, is in theater (from the University of Georgia) -- his culinary training came later. The Hippodrome event asked him to perform both in a large auditorium and, beforehand, in a more intimate cabaret setting. I thought the handled both extremely well.
I'll have more on Brown's performance tomorrow, along with a few of my favorite offerings from the restaurants and caterers that participated in the post-show grazing.
I did want to go on record that Brown is a class act. He worked the shows back to back, without a rest, and mingled quietly and obligingly at the post-show gathering afterward.
He was especially obliging with photographs, even when he must have known they would turn as badly as this one of him with my brother-in-law.
The fact is I had only a fleeting familiarity with his Good Eats show and none at all with Iron Chef America. I'm a convert.