TC News and Information 1.12.11

Casey Thompson talks to Feast about those butchery aspirations that led her to attempt the chicken feet that got her booted last episode: “Butchery is kind of my thing. I think it's important that chefs grind their own meat, butcher their own cuts, and know where their products are coming from. So, my ultimate goal is to open a butcher shop/restaurant that features local ingredients so that small farmers can feature their products. That's my next big thing. I hope to open them up all over the nation, actually. It will be a chain retail shop but will feature good products from farms in the area.”

As to that shot of Dale Talde wiping off his shoes in the dim sum restaurant last week? “It was because I had just spilled a bunch of hot liquid all over myself,” he says here. "Less-Angry Dale" has more to say about being less angry and his hopes to open his own restaurant featuring some of his favorite Filipino comfort foods here, plus: “I’d be biased but for me, this is the best season of Top Chef. There will be more twists and turns and shocks.”

One of my favorite TC episodes of all time had to be in Season 6 when Kevin Gillespie won the pork battle and his prize was to appear at Charlie Palmer's annual Pigs and Pinot charity fundraiser - a poetic win, and darn, but that event sounded tasty. Tickets go on sale January 21 for this year's Pigs and Pinot, which will be held in Healdsburg, CA, March 18-19 and feature Michael and Bryan Voltaggio.

However she ends up faring on All-Stars, Tiffani Faison is plugging away in the wake of the abrupt closing of her Boston restaurant Rocca. In this new video interview, you can see some of the food she prepared there, and hear a few of her insights on filming this season.

For you hard-core Anthony Bourdain-o-philes out there, Boston was also the location for Tony's shoot this week for No Reservations. Having become more involved in his NR facebook page, etc. (or installed someone closer to his inner circle to manage it), one result is that Tony and crew attempted to livestream a portion of their Boston visit via facebook and eater.com. The endeavor, which turned into a bit of a clusterf*$k, has now been moved to one 50-minute continuous vimeo here.

If you lack the time or patience to wade through the whole thing, a couple of highlights: Bourdain says his next book will be a novel, "about violent New Yorkers doing terrible things to each other in the Caribbean" (36:14) and his full comments offering advice to food bloggers - more fully weighted toward the importance of, you know, loving food than previously misquoted by "anti-feline" sources (21:14). Make up your own mind about Tony's Mister Rogers sweater (which embarrasses his wife), and what's with that Guy Fieri-looking hair?

A shout-out to Karen at Cats Working, who must be an even more ardent Bourdain follower than I am. You'll find some serious Bourdain esoterica over at her place, including a link to this hysterical imagining of "No Reservations: Narnia" by a talented writer who has Tony's voice down pat.

So . . . which two will go home on tonight's All-Stars?