Today's Entertainment

For this week's first season finale of Travel Channel's "Man Finds Food," host Adam Richman returns to his hometown of New York City and visits, among other stops, what is known as a "steak easy." "We went to Tre Dici steakhouse (run by Chef Giuseppe Fanelli), which is sort of in the Chelsea area, which is a steak easy, like a big speakeasy," the 41-year-old Brooklyn native explains. "I mean, even within this hidden place there is a veal chop that they only make four of a day, which was extraordinary." "It's just very labor intensive ...," he continues. "It's the demigloss and all the other elements that go on it that are quite time consuming, and quite frankly it's a little bit of that notion of feeding the guy in the know, how we only make these for our select few customers. But it's a thick-cut veal chop so it takes time to cook and it's really about using the time wisely and really making it completely delicious." The series, which takes viewers to places around the country that even the locals don't know about, spends the rest of the Wednesday, June 24, finale in Manhattan, where Richman samples root beer-braised short-ribs sliders at an Upper West Side eatery and Cuban fare on the Lower East Side. He also visits a small Latin restaurant in the Fashion District that's so popular that people will eat standing up or on card tables set up on a loading dock. "Some of (these eateries) I personally have heard about from fellow chefs or from friends of mine who have gone to these restaurants," Richman says of how he finds these under-the- radar establishments. "Sometimes the food blogosphere, you find stuff there. ... Sometimes I'll call a meat purveyor or I'll call a produce dealer that I'm friends with and say, 'Hey, who are you selling to that's doing interesting, cool, hidden stuff?' And I'll get some suggestions there. From college message boards, from food message boards, I found some pretty remarkable stuff. But that's mainly my M.O." What book are you currently reading? "I'm always reading two or three at once. Right now, I'm reading 'Drop Dead Healthy.' I think it's by A.J. Jacobs. ... I'm reading a graphic novel called 'The DMZ' a decent amount. And I've been working on an adaptation of Chekhov's 'Three Sisters,' so I'm reading a lot of different translations of 'Three Sisters' by Anton Chekhov." What did you have for dinner last night? "It was weird because I didn't really eat dinner per se. I was in Providence and I had the grilled pizza from Bob & Timmy's ... . And then I had some sushi with a contest winner. But I guess the closest thing I ate that would have been akin to a dinner, I had done a (book) signing at a market and they were pretty proud of their fresh chicken salad, so I had a bunch of that." What is your next project? "I have a brand new show in the U.K. that I just sold ... called 'Food Fighters.' ... Barbecue is flying in England right now. It is a huge industry ... . And so we're getting the U.K.' s best barbecuers to compete against one another for the title of barbecue champ." When was the last vacation you took, where and why? "The only travel I've done that's specifically nonwork-related in recent memory, I went to Asia. I went to Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong." Richman finds out- of-the-way gems on 'Man Finds Food' BY GEORGE DICKIE Chef Giuseppe Fanelli (left) and Adam Richman Never let it be said that the folks at Disney aren't aware of ways to extend their known brands and act upon them. As a Disneyland attraction, the name Tomorrowland has been part of the pop- culture lexicon for a good, long time. It's taken a while for the company to transform it unto a movie concept, but that finally happens with – what else? – "Tomorrowland," which has to be admired for its long reach, even if the final result doesn't jell completely. After a substantial stretch of overseeing (and, in a number of cases, even directing) his own acting projects, George Clooney puts himself in the hands of others, and has his usual charisma a bit shackled, in playing an inventor who's turned pessimistic about the future. Britt Robertson, of CBS' "Under the Dome," plays a young counterpart who gets inventive to try to save her dad's (country-music star Tim McGraw) space-engineer job. Eventually, the two of them are drawn together by their ties to the literal Tomorrowland of the movie, a place that only can be reached through a special ''ticket," a pin that transports the holder there. The site is a haven for forward-thinkers whose aim is to make the world of tomorrow better ... but that doesn't mean scary- robot enemies won't try to invade that creative utopia, giving the film its action element. Clearly, there's a lot to "Tomorrowland." In an age where the plots of many movies can be written on a gum wrapper with the gum still in it, it deserves credit for trying to pack in as many aspects as it can, merging the past and the present and the intellectual and the emotional. Ultimately, though, it's just too big a plate to fit comfortably into a bit under two hours. Animation-veteran director Brad Bird is a solid choice to bring the tale to life visually, and screenwriters including Bird and "Lost" alum Damon Lindelof clearly have some towering thoughts they want to put forth. For all its largesse, though, "Tomorrowland" may be destined to be remembered as the movie that did the most to launch Raffey Cassidy – the young actress who plays Athena, who provides the pins that take the lead characters to the title location. She's every bit as ethereal as the role requires, and she's terrific. Tomorrow may be kinder to "Tomorrowland," but today, it's a good idea that falls short in trying to do too much. BY JAY BOBBIN ' f d h i b i ' i d h i i i i h fil i i Clooney takes moviegoers to 'Tomorrowland' Page 8 June 22 - 28, 2015

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