Queer Eye's Ted Allen on cooking for the BeanTown Jazz Festival

Most people attending the BeanTown Jazz Festival in the South End this weekend will point at Ted Allen and think, "That's the guy from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." But the foodies among us will say, "He's from Iron Chef and Top Chef." But few realize that the journalist-turned-television-personality is so much more than either. And almost no one knows that Allen's big break happened right here in Boston.

"It's going to be fun to be back in the South End," said Allen during a phone interview last week. As the wine ambassador for Robert Mondavi Private Selection wines, Allen will be giving free food and wine demonstrations Friday and Saturday at the BeanTown JazzFest on Columbus Avenue between Burke Street and Massachusetts Avenue.

"Generally, the whole idea [for Queer Eye] came about during an art gallery opening in the South End," Allen said. "A producer overheard a woman berating her husband. She saw a couple of stylish gay guys and said, 'Why can't you dress more like them?'"

Soon thereafter, the pilot for the Emmy Award-winning show was shot in Cambridge in 2003. Allen, who also hosts PBS's Uncorked: Wine Made Simple, said of trying out for Queer Eye: "I auditioned in an open call with 500 people; I never thought I'd get it. I went for it just like I did with writing."

After receiving a master's degree in journalism from New York University, graduating with a certificate from the university's Science and Environmental Reporting program, Allen went to work for a now defunct chain of weekly newspapers in Chicago (where he got his start in restaurant criticism) before moving on to Chicago magazine. He's been a contributing editor for Esquire since 1997 and has authored several books, including The Food You Want To Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes.

This weekend, Allen's mission will be to simplify wine for those intimated by food-wine pairings. And he'll do it as part of the first-ever Crush in the City tour sponsored by Robert Mondavi wines. Working in a teaching kitchen and on an interactive set designed to resemble a winery, Allen will also demonstrate how wine, beginning from the harvest, goes from grape to glass. But best of all, there will be a free wine tasting bar.

Allen said the harvest is the most exciting time to visit a winery and he's looking forward to accelerating that experience for Bostonians. "You get to see a whole year's worth of labor literally come to fruition that I don't think the rest of the country [outside California] knows about," Allen said. "That's what we try to capture."

Boston is the only stop on the Crush in the City tour that will take place outside a food or wine festival and Allen said he and the organizers wanted to include at least one art fair or music festival on the tour in order to reach those outside the foodie demographic.

"We'll be the only winery, which I think will be really smart," Allen said of his attendance at the JazzFest. "I think [pairing food with wine] is something most of us are wrestling with, it's not as difficult as it seems. Really, it's a great demonstration. I show why you match Sauvignon Blanc with shrimp and Cabernet with cheese. People really enjoy it.

"People ask me the most basic questions: 'Why white with fish and red with meat? Is that just a rule some French guy made up or is there rational; I think both are true. On the simplest level you need a bold, strong wine to stand up to a meat; comparatively it would stomp all over [fish] and you won't be able to taste the food. And we go from there to something slightly more sophisticated."

And Allen, who is a conservative jazz fan, will, in turn, get to take in some music. "I'm not into [jazz] fusion and I'm scared of Ornette Colman, who I think is trying to scare me" he said.

Ted Allen will bring his Crush in the City tour to the BeanTown Jazz Fest Sept. 28 from 6-8:15 p.m. and Sept. 29 from 1-5 p.m. on Columbus Avenue between Burke Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Visit tedallen.net.