Food Network to Launch ‘Triple D Nation,’ ‘Ultimate Summer Cook-Off,’ and More New Shows

Over the next several weeks, the Food Network and its TV sibling the Cooking Channel will be launching four new series focusing on the types of foods people tend to like to eat during the summertime. One of the new shows is a cooking competition, two are travel shows in the vein of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and another is an actual spinoff of Triple D. Here’s what’s coming up:

• Seaside Snacks & Shacks is a new Cooking Channel show hosted by lobster roll peddler (and former Shark Tank contestant) Sabin Lomac. The series will focus on signature dishes served at restaurants in coastal destinations across America, from fried seafood to loaded cheeseburgers to chocolate-dipped ice cream cones. The premiere episode, “Burgers, Beaches... Bananas!,” will include a visit to a Floridian dive bar run by Lucy Buffett (sister of Jimmy), and a stop over at a frozen banana stand in Newport Beach, California. The show premieres on Thursday, July 19 at 10 p.m.
• As the title implies, the Food Network’s new series Comfort Food Tour will shine the spotlight on hearty dishes served at beloved American restaurants both big and small. The show sounds a lot like Triple D, which is fitting considering that hosts Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey were the winners of the first season of Guy’s Big Project, a series where the Platinum Prince himself coached a crew of potential food TV stars. The first episode, which premieres Saturday, July 21 at 8 p.m., will see Andersen and Fey eating lasagna at Chicago Italian staple Bacchanalia; pork chops at Turnhouse Grille in Charlotte, North Carolina; and “morning after” burgers at Rosehill Beer Garden in Cyprus, Texas.
• Early next month, the Food Network will also launch a new four-episode competition series called Ultimate Summer Cook-Off, wherein contestants will cook ingredients from randomly selected coolers in the first round, and prepare over-the-top hot dogs in the second round. The series will be hosted by former pro-football player/Food Network Star veteran Eddie Jackson. Network fixtures Damaris Phillips and Jamika Pessoa will judge along with a rotating cast of other food TV personalities including, in one episode, the guys from Comfort Food Tour. The show premieres Sunday, August 5 at 8 p.m.
• And, in what is surely to be great news for die-hard Guy Fieri fans, the Spiky One is also going to host a new spinoff of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives called Triple D Nation. The series will show Fieri going back to restaurants that he visited on the original Triple D to see how the lives of their operators have changed since the dude with the backwards sunglasses came knocking at their doors. Food Network president Allison Page says that Fieri will be “taking viewers back for a second serving to catch up with old friends and to experience all the new things they are offering.” The show premieres this Friday, July 13 at 9 p.m.

Food Network/Girl Meets Farm

In other summertime food TV programming news: Chopped: Grill Masters will return for a new season on July 31 at 9 p.m.; Olympian buddies Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are the hosts of a new baking competition called Wedding Cake Championship; new episodes of food blogger Molly Yeh’s new show Girl Meets Farm are airing on Sundays throughout July; the new season of the Alton Brown-narrated competition Ridiculous Cakes premiered yesterday; and Season 9 of Great Food Truck Race will kick off on Thursday, July 26 at 9 p.m.

And in even further food TV news, Eater’s collaboration with PBS, No Passport Required, premieres this evening at 9 p.m. Every episode of this new Marcus Samuelsson-hosted show, which celebrates immigrant food traditions throughout America, will be available to stream on PBS.com and right here on Eater.

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