Inqlings: 'Next Food' star: Get him while he's hot

For his win Sunday on the fourth season of the reality series

The Next Food Network Star

, South Camden's

Aaron McCargo Jr.

gets his own cooking show.

McCargo is not allowed to get cold.

His six-episode series, Big Daddy's House, already in the can, premieres at 1:30 p.m. Sunday on the Food Network.

The affable McCargo, 37, is all about big portions and big flavors. "My dad's a massive cook and my mom [Julia] is into flavoring," says McCargo, who left his job last month as executive chef for catering at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

McCargo's wife, Kim, put him up to trying out. She said, "You have the skills and the talent, why don't you go for it?"

If he had to do it over again, he says he wouldn't have done the stand-up routine in the Las Vegas episode. He insists he wasn't starstruck, though one of his inspirations, Bobby Flay, was among the judges. "I treat everyone as an equal," he says. "I feel like I'm a star every day I wake up."

McCargo, a self-professed food junkie, calls his style "soul food," but says: "I don't want people to think 'ethnic.' . . . It's about food that's really flavorful; that's how I like to cook."

He says he knew he was a serious eater at age 4. His family was gathered at the table, and as the food was passed, he was given a chicken leg. "They've got to be joking," he recalls thinking. "When I get older, I'm going to cook a whole chicken and I'm going to eat it myself."

McCargo, who spent a year at the Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape Community College, previously owned restaurants, including McCargo's Creative Cuisine in Camden. He also cooked at Steak 38, the Marlton Tavern, and the former Harbor League Club in Camden.

The McCargos and their three kids (ages 4 to 14) follow the same food pattern he learned as a boy: fish-stick night is Friday, spaghetti is Thursday, etc. "I know what to expect for dinner now," he says.

His guilty pleasure: "Coors Light - very, very cold, and fun with my wife. And I'm keeping it clean."

The other final contestants from the field of 10 were Dallas' Lisa Garza and South Philly's Adam Gertler, who was L.A.-bound yesterday.

I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of Gertler, who waited tables at Amada and had a hand in the now-closed Center City barbecue restaurant the Smoked Joint. Keep an eye on the Food Network lineup.

Reporter

Robin Mackintosh

, 62, retires tomorrow from CBS3, his TV home since September 1970. He and his newly retired schoolteacher wife,

Barbara

, will relocate to their new house in Avalon, N.J. In October, he'll be back in town to be inducted into the Temple University School of Communications and Theater Hall of Fame at the 2008 Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Awards luncheon. Under greatest achievements, he lists kids

Caitlyn

, a Republican fund-raiser,

Ian

, a financial guy with Deloitte, and

Andrew

, a White House aide.

Buzz says NBC10 anchor Vince DeMentri, off the air since early July during a station probe of an incident involving the car and hair-care products of NBC10 anchor Lori Delgado, won't be back. DeMentri's attorney Paul Rosen of Spector Gadon & Rosen, who said he was talking to NBC lawyers, said the station knew there were no criminal charges pending or threatened. "The original publicity on nonexistent charges was an unfortunate mistake as the follow-up reports by the police indicated," he said, adding that "Delgado made it clear that DeMentri had no involvement in either the keying of the car or the disappearance and return of her hair dryer and curling iron. The absurdity of these incidents, and the lack of Vince's involvement, causes one to wonder why [NBC10] would be taking any action to place Vince's existing contract and position in jeopardy."

NBC10 weekend meteorologist Michelle Grossman delivered a baby girl, Ella Jane, on July 9. She is due back in mid-September.

Model/

Howard Stern

fiancee

Beth Ostrosky

and Philly's

DJ Jazzy Jeff

are due at Aug. 8's opening party for the 136-room aloft Philadelphia Airport hotel. The party will include an auction of celebrity-designed pillowcases to benefit the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Among signers/designers:

Jay Leno

,

G. Love

,

Jimmy Kimmel

,

Stephen Colbert

,

Conan O'Brien

,

Terrence Howard

,

John Legend

,

The Roots

,

Patti LaBelle

,

Black Eyed Peas

,

Jon Bon Jovi

,

Steve Tyrell

,

Nancy Sinatra

,

Michael Smerconish

, WMMR personalities,

Gov. Rendell

, and

Mayor Nutter

.

South Street clubs Tritone and Bob & Barbara's were shut down late Friday when the city's Licenses & Inspections found fire-code and electrical violations, the city says. Saturday night's CD-release party by the local band Surgeon, set for Tritone, was moved to rock club J.C. Dobbs, which reopened last month.