Kevin Gillespie will be making an appearance at, of all things, the grand opening of the Vidalia Onion Museum on April 29. It actually sounds like a pretty cool place. Season 7's Tracey Bloom is also set to appear.
In addition, Kevin is slated to headline the Gig Harbor Wine and Food Festival August 9.
Meanwhile, Season 7's Kenny Gilbert is opening Nippers Beach Grill in Jacksonville Beach, FL May 16 and has a book available called "A Chef's Journal."
Arnold Myint, also of Season 7, has a new addition to his Nashville empire: a "gourmet grab and go cafe" at the Nashville Farmers Market.
Arnold also emceed the Top Chef Tour's stop in Nashville, where All-Star Casey Thompson went up against Season 5's Richard Sweeney.
And Top Chef: Just Desserts' winner Yigit Pura has been named one of the grand marshals of this year's Pride Parade in San Francisco, along with Chaz Bono and Olympia Dukakis.
Meanwhile, when Eric Ripert was asked by a Today Show staffer to describe co-judge Anthony Bourdain in one word, he said: "The grain of salt." I know, I know, that's four words. To hear him explain why, check out this video.
Bourdain himself offers videos with some behind-the-scenes tidbits on Travel Channel's site with Ripert here and here, and one with Tom Colicchio here.
Does it rankle you when Masters host Curtis Stone tosses off comments about dishes he would "be proud to serve at any restaurant anywhere in the world" or describes a bug dish as "not likely to be on the menu" at his restaurant anytime soon? Because, you know, the dude doesn't have any restaurants. In this interview with Yum Sugar, he claims he'll be opening one in LA this year, although he has neither a location nor a name selected yet. And he says he was asked to compete on Masters in its first season.
Finally, here's a thoughtful piece from Josh Ozersky in Time about why he finds Masters so depressing. It's also a bit of a love letter to the Top Chef franchise. What do you think?
Posted on AllTopChef.com
