Blake Shelton is about to embark on his final season as a coach on The Voice, and for those who are wondering what the future might hold for the cowboy with all his newfound free time, he appears to have some options. For one, he’s already crushing the Hallmark Movie game, and he’ll still have his other show, USA's Barmageddon, which he co-hosts with Carson Daly. Beyond that, however, Shelton said he might just stick to his music, after his idea for a dish to serve at his Ole Red bar locations was rejected over completely legitimate concerns about it looking like a “fried penis.”
The country superstar notched his ninth victory on The Voice in Season 22, leading Bryce Leatherwood to an upset victory. That’s not the only professional achievement Blake Shelton’s got going, though, as a sixth location of his bar Ole Red is set to open in Las Vegas in late 2023. The “No Body” singer said he’s been strongly encouraged to stay away from the food aspect of the planning, however, after he made an amusing pitch for the bar menu. He told People:
I had the idea of a chicken-fried state — your chicken-fried steak would come out looking like the shape of the state the Ole Red is in, like Oklahoma or Tennessee. Something about that just turned people off, so I decided maybe I'll stay out of the kitchen and let the pros do it. I think a Florida-shaped chicken-fried state sounds brilliant.
I can appreciate a good pun as much as the next person, but I don’t even want to think about the logistics of “chicken-fried state” and how the cooks would go about molding the pieces of meat into the shapes of Oklahoma, Florida and Nevada. (Tennessee actually seems totally doable in that respect.) The Oklahoma Panhandle would be its own problem, but as Blake Shelton pointed out, the Orlando, Florida, location might have the most to worry about. He continued:
I cook at home a lot, but I make regular chicken-fried steaks — not states, because the shape of Florida can be inconsistent when you're frying something. They don't want it to look like a fried penis on people's plates. It's a good point!
Can you even imagine Gwen Stefani's reaction if she were served a Florida-shaped chicken-fried steak? Now that I’ve got that image in my head, I don’t see how that could NOT look like a penis, outside of adding food coloring to the batter. But while the potential issues with such a restaurant dish are obvious, you can’t deny how much publicity Ole Red would get. I’d be interested in hearing more of Blake Shelton’s culinary inspirations.
The “Come Back as a Country Boy” singer will take his place in the Big Red Chair for one last time in Season 23, reuniting with his friendly rival Kelly Clarkson — who was absent last season — as well as Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan in their debut season as The Voice coaches.
The Blind Auditions are set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET Monday, March 6, on NBC, and in the meantime, you can catch Blake Shelton and Carson Daly on Barmageddon, which airs at 11 p.m. ET Mondays on USA Network. Also be sure to keep up with all of the upcoming premieres with our 2023 TV schedule.
