TC News & Information - 6.1.2012

Curtis Stone, currently seen on Bravo's "Around the World in 80 Plates," will be coming back to host Top Chef Masters season 4. Read what he has to say to the Village Voice about his shows here.

All Star Tiffany Derry is hosting a series of Top Chef dinners at her restaurant, Private Social. Guest chefs will include Angelo Sosa, Kevin Sbraga, and Carla Hall.

Two new Top Chef restaurant openings! Mike Isabella has just opened Bandolero, in Washington, DC., and Richard Blais' The Spence has also made it's culinary debut. If any of you dine at either or both restaurants, we at All Top Chef would love to hear from you. (That also goes for any attendees of Tiffany Derry's events.)

Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News & Information 5.26.11

In a case of "research before you promote," fitness author Mark Vaughan is accusing Curtis Stone of "health washing" Post Great Grains cereal, which the Top Chef Masters host has been promoting. Apparently the cereal has a ton of sugar, according to this article. Really, we've probably seen enough of Curtis' mug on everything...what with the Merillat cabinet commercials, plus America's Next Great Restaurant and Top Chef Masters, I'm definitely burned out.

Gothamist has listed six Top Chefs that are still cooking in NYC. Unfortunately, one of them is no longer Nikki Cascone, as her restaurant Octavia's Porch has closed after only 6 months. (Thanks to David Dust for the link.)

Zagatbuzz shares a quote from season 2 cutie Sam Talbot and a tiny image of one of his paintings. Hemp seed trail mix?

Tom Colicchio is opening the Lot on Tap, a food truck court/taproom, under Manhattan's Highline park. In the past, he's flip-flopped on the subject of food trucks, and now he's curating them? I guess it's wise to go where the money is, huh?

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Conference Call with James Oseland, Ruth Reichl, and Curtis Stone

Earlier in the week, I participated in a conference call with new Top Chef Masters host Curtis Stone and new judge Ruth Reichl, along with James Oseland, who has been judge for the past two seasons. Right off the bat I learned that James and Ruth like Curtis - they really like him. Honestly, they couldn't say enough nice things about Stone, which was good to hear because, personally, the man has never impressed me.

If you didn't know already, Curtis was on Celebrity Apprentice a couple seasons ago and says the experience helped him empathize with the Masters cheftestants:

It was very interesting. It gave me a real perspective on how the contestants were feeling in this competition because, you know, you’re standing there thinking am I going to look foolish here? You know, is he going to destroy me? And just like with these guys, it’s their credibility on the line and they’re doing the best they can but we give them some really unbelievable circumstance to cook under on Top Chef Masters and, no matter how great these chefs are, we really make their lives - you know, we really make them show that mastery through their cooking in the limited time we give them and all the rest of it. So I could really empathize with them.

Curtis also felt that with his experience as a chef, part of his responsibility at Judges' Table was to "plead [the chefs'] case to the critics and to try and justify why...what ended up on the plate that’s in front of us."

There’s nothing more nerve wrecking than cooking for other chefs apart from cooking for critics who hold your career in your hand. I think - I value both and I know this sounds like a copout of a response - but I really do value both equally because I think chefs can understand what you’ve done from a technical perspective...what kind of techniques did you use, how did you treat the ingredients to get them to taste a certain way. So they look at it more from a technical perspective. But then critics look at it from the diner’s perspective and I think that that is probably maybe even slightly more important because you can impress a chef but at the end of the day, they’re not your customers. Diners are.

James Oseland thinks the new format is beneficial to the participants:

I think that the chefs ultimately became more comfortable because we were giving them the chance over the course of multiple episodes to become more...familiar with the kitchen, to know where the salt was kept, to know that...the kind of salt that’s used in the Top Chef Masters Kitchen is...a coarse-grained kosher salt versus a fine-milled kosher salt, so we weren’t tasting food that was...aggressively awfully salty. Whereas on the first two seasons, a lot of times it was...really hard to get a sense of who they were because they were in so many respects just sort of really struggling with the sort of basic fundamentals of cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen.

Ruth Reichl was asked about her thoughts on the online character who is a hybrid of her own Twitter persona and Anthony Bourdain, "Ruth Bourdain," nominated for a James Beard Award this year. Reichl's theory on Ruth Bourdain's true identity might be an interesting guessing game for Top Chef Masters viewers as she said, "there is actually a little suspicion in the back of my mind that it may be one of the people who was a judge this year." Hmmm...who could it be?

Speaking of judges, there are some interesting guests this season: Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and her husband, Geoffrey Arend (Body of Proof), are serious cooks. Ruth Reichl found it a bit intimidating that such a beautiful woman would also spend time making her own puff pastry. Singer Kelis is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef. Maroon 5 and contestants on the Biggest Loser also make appearances.

It all has my interest piqued...yours?

Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 1.25.11

Top Chef Masters 3 begins filming next week! So says Curtis Stone, recently announced replacement TCM host for Kelly Choi, in this interview with Slashfood. Eater speculates Top Chef Masters 3 will be filmed in LA once again. I dunno. If Bravo is really looking to change things up, a change of location might be in order. Of course, the Masters don't have to sleep in "bunky beds" or be quarantined after they're auf'd. So we'll have to watch what happens.

When Curtis Stone was asked whether he's glad he's hosting rather than competing in Top Chef Masters, he said: "I've just been going through all of the challenges and I'm so glad that I'm not going to have to do them myself -- they're tough challenges. But these guys are brilliant chefs. And as much as it's difficult -- you'll see them stand there shaking their head because they're angry at the challenge -- but they'll still go make great food. I think my role is to sort of empathize with the chefs since I appreciate the technical skill. Food writers just can't."

While it's not surprising the Top Chef Masters 3 cast is already in place, here's an update on that casting call for Top Chef 9 and Just Desserts 2:  Hopefuls can email the Magical Elves directly. Methinks Padma's gonna have some quiet time with her new kidlet before we see her on the Bravo airwaves anytime soon after Top Chef All-Stars concludes.

Last week's Restaurant Wars introduced viewers across the country to the concept of pop-ups. TC: Just Desserts' Zac Young of Flex Mussels is doing a two-week donut pop-up in NYC's Grand Central Station featuring "salted cajeta (goat's milk caramel), raspberry, spiced chocolate, cinnamon sugar, and two more changing options." Don't you wish your commute included donuts like these?

Just Desserts' finalist Danielle Keene has a new gig at L.A. Creamery, where she will be rolling out ice creams like "Hot Chocolate flavored with chili powder, cinnamon, vanilla bean and cocoa nibs, Milk Chocolate Chai flavored with black tea and seven spices, Sassafras flavored with sassafras bark, Honeycomb ice cream layered with handmade honeycomb seafoam candy, Roasted Banana made with fresh bananas roasted with brown sugar and butter until caramelized, then blended in a lightly flavored rum base, and a non-dairy Chocolate Sorbet made with bittersweet chocolate, sugar and water."

Got a hankering for a more back-to-basics dessert that even Sylvia Weinstock would love? Just Desserts' Erika Davis and her "Ultimate Cookie Dough Company" website are now up and running, with cookie dough you can receive in the mail and bake yourself: Oatmeal Walnut Raisins, Chocolate Chip Walnut, Peanut Butter Cookie, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut, and Thousand Dollar Chocolate Chip Cookie. I'm thinking that if a tub of any of them arrived in my mailbox, I'd probably sit down and demolish them with a spoon before they ever hit the oven :) You can read more about Erika's Culinary Wonders USA and her scholarship efforts here.

Congrats to Top Chef: Just Desserts for being nominated for a GLAAD award in the "Outstanding Reality Program" category!

Need a red-carpet fix? Here's video of Fabio Viviani and his business partner at the Tasty Awards.

Meanwhile, there is no new episode of Top Chef All-Stars this week, so adjust your DVRs and expectations accordingly.

If you need some comfort food of the savory variety to get you through a chilly week without a new episode, how about a nice gooey grilled cheese from Dale Levitski's Chicago restaurant, Sprout?

TC News and Information 1.13.11 - Top Chef Masters News!

Host Kelly Choi will be replaced by Curtis Stone when Top Chef Masters returns for a third season “later this year.” Eater’s got the full press release from Bravo and notes: “Stone is no stranger to TV, having done a bunch of cooking shows in Australia before coming stateside and doing things like competing on The Celebrity Apprentice 3 and hosting two seasons of TLC's now canceled Take Home Chef. He'll also be one of the judges on NBC's upcoming America's Next Great Restaurant which premieres in March.”

Stone's facebook page also says he'll be on NBC's Today Show tomorrow, and we're betting he might have a wee bit to say about his Masters gig.

TV Guide quotes Bravo President Frances Berwick as saying: "[Curtis] really feels he has the charm to really carry a Bravo show. . . . We wanted to change the show up a bit. This is going into season 3 so it felt like the right time to try something different. We love Kelly. Watch this space for what else we might do with her."

Top Chef has also been renewed for a ninth season (no surprise), and has apparently not yet been cast. (Methinks we are in for a hiatus after All Stars until the next edition from any of the TC franchises.)

So what do you think of Curtis Stone replacing Kelly Choi? And how would you like to see Masters "changed up"?