TC News and Information 1.17.11

At this weekend's Tasty Awards, Top Chef won for Best Food Program, and TC judge Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations was named Best Food Travel Series. All-Star Fabio Viviani, Season 1's Candice Kumai, and frequent TC guest judge Hubert Keller were in attendance. For more info and a slideshow of the event, click here.

Congratulations to D.C.’s new Secretary of Love and Relationships, Carla Hall! Following in the footsteps of Dr. Ruth, Carla’s involvement is part of a February promotion billed as a "28-Day Stimulus Plan for Love & Relationships," designed to "boost business for hotels, restaurants and attractions with date night deals and discounts while encouraging locals and visitors to rekindle their romances in the nation's capital,” according to this. You can find video of Carla's swearing-in ceremony uploaded by her husband here, and a shorter version here.

Last week's All-Stars winner, Dale Talde, is also feelin' the love, in his blog post dedicated to his fisherman dad and the fish he caught for the episode, which he named Diesel.

Meanwhile, Jamie Lauren has done some complaining in her post-exit interviews about the edit she got (here, here, and here), and in this interview, Marcel Vigneron sounds off about the edit he's been getting.

If you saw Eric Ripert's Bravo video blog about last week's episode, you know he offered Jamie a stage at his restaurant at Le Bernadin. Well, it appears she said yes. She tweeted: "@ericripert I would love to take you up on that amazing offer, from an amazing chef, at an amazing restaurant..let's do it!" And followed up with: "ps: any chance you can you throw in 1st class airfare and a room at the plaza?

The Herald Sun reports that Curtis Stone will make $1 million per season as newly named host of Top Chef Masters.

In this interview, Season 3's Howie Kleinberg talks about the new Bulldog Burger he plans to open next to his current restaurant, Bulldog BBQ. About the venture he says, "I originally started crafting the menu for it as part of a contest for a reality show, but the more I worked with it, I wanted to open the restaurant." Hmmm, wonder if that reality show would be America's Next Great Restaurant, on which Curtis Stone will appear as a judge.

Season 3's Camille Becerra was apparently just hours from opening her new restaurant, APL, when she backed out, according to this item.

Meanwhile, Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard will participate in Chicago's Couchon 555 March 20, according to this piece, which says she'll be one of the competitors breaking down and preparing a 150-175 pound heritage breed hog. The winner will go on to compete against Couchon 555 winners from other cities June 19 at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival.

Stephanie will also be competing January 28 at the Beaver Creek Master Chef Classic sponsored by Bon Appetit, where she'll have 20 minutes to create a dish based on a surprise ingredient.

Season 6's Eli Kirshtein will appear at the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience January 28-30.

Finally, judge Tom Colicchio participated in the $250-a-plate headline event of the Food & Wine magazine-sponsored Barbados Food & Wine and Rum Festival, and this attendee calls him out for serving food ill-suited to the beach. The LA Times gives Colicchio slightly better marks after recent trips to three of his NYC restaurants in anticipation of Restaurant Wars.