It was back in January, 2010, when it was announced by M Resort that the property would be hosting a new healthy-living cookery-demo show in a custom-built studio kitchen/showroom facility on property. "Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini" debuted January 26, with shows taking place three times per day, five days a week. Known as the "naturopathic" or "medicine chef," Martini's approach to cuisine focuses on the nutritional value of our diet, with lots of emphasis on vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options.
We confess to being somewhat surprised by this announcement, on a number of fronts. For one thing, tickets started at $39.95, which seemed like a hefty price tag, although general admission did include a complementary lunch of breakfast at the resort's renowned buffet. The hostess had a reputation for being fun and engaging, but were tourists going to pay to go a cooking demo while they were on vacation, especially at such a far-flung location? If not, we doubted the local market could sustain a fifteen-show-a-week schedule.
We pretty much forgot about the whole thing until May 10, 2010, when there was an announcement that commencing 1 p.m. that very day, Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini would be airing on Cox 96 in Southern Nevada twice weekly, three times a day. In addition to airing on Cox 96, the show also streamed live onCox96.net and was available via ON DEMAND (Cox Channel 1, Best of the Valley.)
We're not sure for how long the show ran, since there was no grand announcement of Tina Martini's departure and the whole concept had never registered that high on our radar. As you indicate, the the chef seemed to vanish as mysteriously as she had arrived and we'd thought little of the show until your query arrived and piqued our curiosity once more.
Apparently, in some time in 2011 or 2012, Chef Tina left Las Vegas and returned to her California roots. In the course of our research, we came across the website of the Inn at La Jolla, where an announcement was posted on July 30, 2012, which read: "The Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla, a luxury 15-room boutique B&B a block from the beach in sunny San Diego’s finest coastal community, is proud to announce that Celebrity Chef Tina Martini is the newest member to join our staff. Chef Tina is happy to be back in her hometown of San Diego after completing her mega-hit live cooking show, 'Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini' in Las Vegas, Nevada."
Naturally, we called the Inn at La Jolla to find out if Martini was still in residence in their kitchen, but were learned that she was not, nor had she been for some long time. A little digging around on Facebook etc., indicated that she'd recently been shooting a pilot for a proposed new television show and will now be shopping it around to the networks, so if you're a fan, we suggest following Chef Tina on her social media outlets for updates.
