I'm back from vacation, and our Top Chef contestants have been all kinds of busy!
Tre Wilcox's Marquee Grill has opened in Dallas, and you can drool over some fabulous photos of Tre's offerings here.
Mike Isabella opened his Jersey/Italian restaurant, Graffiato, last week, which will serve pizzas, pastas, charcuterie, and that pepperoni sauce from Top-Chef All-Stars that made Gail Simmons swoon. Photos from Eater DC here; menus and more from the Washington Post here.
Isabella is also working on a cookbook about New Jersey Italian food, with his wife honcho-ing the test kitchen and blogger Carol Blymire as writer. Blymire is an entertaining writer known for cooking her way through cookbooks by Thomas Keller, French Laundry at Home, and Grant Achatz, Alinea at Home, as well as some well played April Fool's jokes. But this is apparently the real deal.
Season 1’s Tiffani Faison has announced plans to open a new BBQ restaurant in Boston called “Sweet Cheeks” and is touring the South for inspiration.
All-Stars winner Richard Blais has all kinds of culinary irons in the fires, including expanding his Flip Burger Boutique chain to DC and Miami, opening a gourmet hot dog restaurant, HD or Haute Doggery, in Atlanta, and a yet-to-be-named restaurant in midtown Atlanta featuring “simple American food that tastes great.”
Another All-Stars contender, Dale Talde, will be head chef at a “New Asian” restaurant in Brooklyn’s Park Slope that hopes to open by September.
Season 3 winner Hung Huynh is slated to help open a Manhattan “seafood restaurant and lounge” called Catch.
Bryan Voltaggio is working on opening two new restaurants, in Frederick, Maryland, and Chevy Chase Plaza, as well as collaborating on a cookbook with brother Michael. His Frederick restaurant, tentatively called North Market Kitchen, is inspired by Mario Batali’s Eataly in NYC, or maybe not.
And don’t miss this fascinating piece from Ruth Reichl about her experience as judge on Top Chef Masters, from her new desk at Gilt Taste, about why she was surprised a woman didn't win and still loves Floyd Cardoz's food.
Posted on AllTopChef.com
1 comment:
We're going to be in the DC area on the way home from vacation on the 9th. Checked out reservations for Graffiato, but it looks like they are booked up for awhile. May have to try a Spike burger.
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