Life After Top Chef Episode 3 Previews

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Learn it Live with Top Cheftestants!

Learn It Live is offering a series of online cooking courses with former Top Cheftestants Sam Talbot, Casey Thompson, Dave Martin, Fabio Viviani, Andrea Beaman, and Nikki Cascone. Sessions start on  September 4th, which is just around the corner! For more information, including descriptions of the classes, check out http://www.learnitlive.com/top-chef.php.

Normally $40 each, All Top Chef readers get a special 75% discount on any one class of their choosing. Simply send an email to info@learnitlive.com, indicating which session you're interested in, and you'll receive a special code good for $30 off.

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TC News & Information 6.13.2012

Back on Memorial Day, several past Top Chef contestants - Blais, Fabio, Carla - participated in a friendly cook-off, which was aired on Good Morning America. If you missed it, here's a link to the clip.

Top Chef Texas winner Paul Qui will be appearing in the first episode of the new season of USA Network's Royal Pains. Let's hope the cameras don't lure him away from the kitchen!

Bethesda Magazine has a nice feature on Bryan Voltaggio and his latest restaurant concept. He's becoming quite the Maryland restaurant mogul.

Remember Stone, Chef Tyler Stone? No? Well, he was on Top Chef Texas for about ten minutes and suddenly he's "Chef Tyler Stone from Bravo's Top Chef." Really.

More "really" - Miami Chef Lorena Garcia, who appeared on "America's Next Great Restaurant" (giant fail) and will be on the upcoming season of Top Chef Masters, has helped Taco Bell design a new, upscale menu. Say goodbye to those nasty mystery meat tacos, America!

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Cooking with Top Chef Fabio Viviani

Friend of AllTopChef La Diva Cucina – a Miami blogger, private chef and “culinary entertainer” who serves up food, mixology, and fun at her “small bites, BIG DRINKS” classes – scored an invite to a private demo by Fabio Viviani sponsored by Bertolli at Casa Tua recently. Of course, she sidled up to the Top Chef Season 5 Fan Favorite and All-Stars contestant.

Then she grabbed a seat front and center to watch Fabio demonstrate how to make homemade pasta plus filet mignon with oyster mushrooms, rosemary and a balsamic vinegar reduction!

Want to learn Fabio’s tips for making easy fresh fettuccini?

What about Fabio's secret for roasting oyster mushrooms? Click on over to La Diva’s place for the inside scoop, as only she can tell it. Plus recipes for both fabulous dishes!

Photos in this post by La Diva Cucina, used with permission. Thanks, Diva!

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Fabio Viviani Presents "The Perfect Italian Brunch"

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Top Chef Video Monday: Fabio Viviani + Kevin Gillespie, and Finale Filming Rumors

Fabio Viviani revisits the dish that got him kicked off Top Chef All-Stars – and still struggles to pronounce "hamburger" – in this episode of his Yahoo video series, Chow Ciao.

Season 6 finalist and Fan Favorite Kevin Gillespie kicks off a series of great videos in support of International Year of Co-operatives here.

With six contestants left on Top Chef: Texas, Eater is reporting rumors the season finale was filmed recently in Vancouver, BC. Padma mentions to EW that she's back from the finale here, but doesn't disclose the filming location.

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Congrats to Our Top Chefs on their Eater Awards

The annual awards handed out by Eater.com are, er, rather more idiosyncratic than those bestowed by the James Beard Foundation, Food + Wine, etc. But we're happy for the winners nonetheless. They include: Top Chef: Texas competitors Paul Qui, for Chef of the Year Austin, and Sarah Grueneberg, who somehow bested Grant Achatz and Stephanie Izard for Chef of the Year Chicago. Top Chef Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle took Chef of the Year NYC.

Yardbird Southern Table + Bar, Season 4’s Jeff McInnis’s new project, won for Best Bathroom Miami. (I told you these awards are quirky, but I hear his restaurant is terrific.) The ubiquitous Fabio Viviani won Eater’s 2011 Fameball Award.

For the full list of nominees and winners, click here.


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TC News and Information 10.3.11

Have you been reading the hilarious Just Desserts recaps on Eater this season by the guys from NYC's Big Gay Ice Cream? Tuesday from 2:30 to 4:30, they're welcoming as "interns" TCJD contestants Rebecca Masson and Amanda Rockman! Details here.

Speaking of ice cream, here's a nice piece from Creative Loafing about Season 6 TC contestant Kevin Gillespie's partnership with Morelli's ice cream parlor in Atlanta.

Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle took third place at Meatball Madness, which kicked off the NYC Wine & Food Festival. Click through the slideshow here for a pic of his Goat Meatball with Boiled Peanuts, Tatsoi, and Penang Curry, and some of the other contenders.

We're glad to read Harold also was ranked one of New York City's 17 best chefs by Robert Siestsema of the Village Voice, alongside TC Masters contestants Anita Lo and Marcus Samuelsson, as well as a number of chefs who've appeared as judges on the show.

Season 7's Tiffany Derry (now Derry-Mitchell) recently opened Private Social in Dallas, with her S7 cohorts Angelo Sosa, Kelly Liken, Ed Cotton, and Kevin Sbraga and All-Star Carla Hall in attendance. She talks to Eater about how her new restaurant came into being after her former employer, Go Fish, shut down shortly after she returned from taping her season.

Season 2 winner Ilan Hall has branched out from his LA restaurant The Gorbals to develop pizza specials for Urbano Pizza Bar. Some mouth-watering photos here, and more about how Ilan got involved in the venture from KCET here.

Speaking of pizza, after saying he wasn't going to be a media whore (at least for Bravo), Fabio Viviani is now shilling for Domino's "artisan" pizza (video here) - Fabio himself has a few words to share in the comments). And he's been posting on facebook like crazy that he'll be debuting a new show called Chow Ciao on Yahoo. We'll have to see what that's all about.

Stephanie Izard's new cookbook hits the shelves Wednesday. You can watch the trailer here.

And Megan Ketover, competing on this season of Just Desserts, assisted with a cookbook coming out Tuesday.

Host Gail Simmons talks about the evolution of Just Desserts in an interesting piece here, and credits the increasingly knowledgeable audience of Top Chef as a motivation for upping the challenges.

Bravo has also posted a couple of great behind-the-scenes videos, this one about the culinary production team headed by Season 3 contestant Sandee Birdsong, and this one about the differences between Just Desserts Seasons 1 and 2 - an interesting trip down memory lane that kind of makes you think a lot of the changes this season were a reaction to the crazy cast of characters last time.

This Wednesday's episode of Top Chef is a double elimination. Who do you think will stay, and who do you think will go?

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TC News and Information 9.19.11

Stephanie Izard is on a mission to raise $500,000 for Share Our Strength, and one facet of that effort is a national tour – cooking with local chefs and promoting her upcoming cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen. Eater has coverage here. More on the Goat Tour website – and whether she’ll be coming to your town – here.

Steph will also be in charge of creating the menu to feed this year’s CMT Artists of the Year nominees, according the press release here.

In a similar gig, TC Masters contestant Tim Love was the chef behind the performers’ food at last week’s Austin City Limits Festival. Check out what he has to say here about cooking on that scale since he started doing it in 2009.

Michael Voltaggio’s Ink. is now set to open this Wednesday in LA, and brother Bryan hosts a benefit for Share Our Strength at his Baltimore restaurant Volt September 27.

Another long-anticipated venture, Richard Blais’s haute hot dog restaurant, HD1, is opening Thursday, reports Eater Atlanta.

Fabio Viviani tells Grub Street he’s done building Bravo’s legacy for free and instead building his own. You can read what all up to, in inimitable Fabio fashion here. (P.S., since it seems to be a topic of endless fascination, he says he has a girlfriend.)

Author and frequent TC judge Anthony Bourdain gets his own imprint (that’s publishing-speak for “line of books”), for which he will act as talent scout to acquire three to five books a year written by other authors that “reflect his remarkably eclectic tastes,” according to this item from the NY Times.

And the Emmy went to - Amazing Race. Despite Top Chef's upset last year, the best competition-reality award is back in the hands of the long-time winner in the category.

Need something to sweeten the blow? As you look forward to Wednesday's episode of Just Desserts, you can brush up on some of those terms they throw around on the show with this handy translation guide.

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TC News and Information 7.18.11

Congratulations to Top Chef for garnering four Emmy nominations (“Outstanding Reality-Competition Program,” “Outstanding Cinematography for Reality Programming,” “Outstanding Directing for Non-Fiction Programming” and “Outstanding Picture Editing for Reality Programming”)! No Reservations, the Travel Channel show starring frequent TC judge Anthony Bourdain, also received four nominations (“Outstanding Nonfiction Series,” “Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming,” “Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming” and “Outstanding Cinamatography for Nonfiction Programming”).

In case you missed it, here’s a 30-minute video of Bourdain answering the top 10 questions posed by viewers on Reddit.

Want to meet Fabio Viviani? Bertolli olive oil is sponsoring a contest where the winner will win a trip for two to LA for cooking lessons with the maestro.

Ruth Reichl confirms here that Top Chef Masters 4 is in the works.

Jen Carroll, Spike Mendelsohn, Kevin Sbraga, Dale Talde, Carla Hall and Stephen Asprinio were among the Top Chef alums who showed up for an “oven-warming” party at All-Stars finalist Mike Isabella’s newly opened Graffiato. Check out pics and more on Eater.

A couple of interesting pieces about TC Masters 3 finalist Traci des Jardins here and here. She is also blogging for the new Huffington Post San Francisco edition. Here inaugural post here.

And Harold Dieterle, Fabio Viviani and Richard Blais will each take over the kitchen at Wisconsin’s Lake of the Torches Resort Casino selected Thursdays in August.

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TC News and Information 3.2.11

Whatever happens on tonight's All-Stars episode, Top Chef Masters 3 is the next series on the TC horizon, and this news from EW.com has me looking forward to it - at least for the second episode, when Mad Men's Christina Hendricks and her husband will appear in a 1960s-themed challenge.

Will TCM 3 recycle prior contestants as it did in Season 2? We don't know. But Masters contestant and pop-up restaurant legend Ludo Lefebvre and his wife (who was a contestant on The Apprentice) have a new show slated to premiere on the Sundance Channel in mid-July, doing pop-up restaurants across the U.S., in such places as Marfa, TX, and Mobile, AL, according to the LA Times' SquidInk.

In other TC pop-up news, last week's ousted All-Star Dale Talde executed his "Bodega Pop-Up" Saturday for a projected 36 diners. He tells Feast about the menu in this interview, and you can find some great photos from the folks he partnered with here.

We're going to skip over the SOBE news for now, where Spike Mendelsohn did NOT win the Burger Bash again but is ubiquitously mentioned as wearing a hamburger costume.

Instead, we're rather more interested in the Voltaggio brothers recent Smoke 'n' Fire BBQ road trip across the midwest. In case you're not on twitter or wondered what it was about, The Feast explains it all here for you Don't miss the slide show.

Ousted All-Star Jamie Lauren may not have come across on All-Stars as having her head in the game this season, but it sounds like she does at her new restaurant Beechwood, according to the LA Times.

And in case you missed these tidbits we featured on the AllTopChef Facebook page (yes, we sometimes break news and link to other stuff over there), a few more items, with extra linkage:

Season 6's Eli Kirshtein (whose Bravo blogs about TC All-Stars I've found articulate and insightful) is featured in a new Marvel Spiderman comic - who knew? Here's NPR's coverage. If I could choose my own super-hero power, I'd definitely want it to be food-related :)

More of Carla Hall's modeling photos here.

And in case you couldn't stay up late enough for Fabio's live chat Monday night, here's a transcript.

Hang on for tonight's All-Stars episode, where we see who exits and who goes on to the supposed 4-part finale (?). Then come back tomorrow and commiserate, exuberate, or sound off as you see fit.

TC News and Information 2.21.11

To start Presidents Day off on a, well, Presidential note, Just Desserts winner Yigit Pura recently made finger-lickin’ good pie for Obama. And TC Season 7’s Kelly Liken says on facebook she’s cooking for the First Lady.

If you have the day off, you might want to check out Fabio Viviani’s risotto cooking class, which will live-stream 12pm-2pm LA time. (The last time he did one of these, you could catch it later too.)

Angelo Sosa talks about the food at his soon-to-open Social Eatz in Part II of Fork in the Road’s exit interview: “We're going to take something like a sloppy joe, which I have great childhood memories of, and turn it into a Sloppy Ho Chi Minh. We do our own proprietary meat blend and infuse it with tamarind and some gochujang, which is a fermented Korean chili paste. So it's luscious and flavorful like a regular sloppy joe, but with an Asian twist. Our burgers are going to raise a couple eyebrows. And we'll do yuzu beignets for dessert.” You can find Part I here.

All-Star Mike Isabella is also working on a new restaurant, Graffiato, which he calls Italian-inspired, but not strictly Italian. Potential dishes include chicken wings with black-garlic Romesco and baby-back ribs crusted with Sicilian oregano and served with coriander yogurt and a small salad of blood oranges, sliced radishes and marinated onions, which you can read about in Part II of the Washington Post’s three-part story. Part I, which focuses on the build-out of the space, here.

Following his penchant for naming restaurant’s after fabrics (like Searsucker), Season 3’s Brian Malarkey is calling his new restaurant Burlap. It will feature “Cowboy Asian” cuisine, with a menu ranging from steaks, seafood, roast chicken, duck, and pork butt to sashimi, hamachi, salads, and stir-fry. "It's a protein house but we'll have subtle flavors like ginger butter, yuzu sauce, soys, pickled cactus and sage,” he says in this interview.

Season 7’s Amanda Baumgarten has been named Executive Chef at LA’s Water Grill.

Season 6 finalist Bryan Voltaggio (who happens to be an investor in Mike I.’s Graffiato) is slated to appear at DC’s “Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience” in June.

All-Star Carla Hall cooks up a feast honoring Edna Lewis at Manassas Thursday night, with a menu featuring a salad of wild watercress with vinegar and oil, chicken with dumplings, glazed carrots, crusty yeast bread with butter and deep-dish apple pie with nutmeg sauce. More about the event, and Edna Lewis, Grande Dame of Southern Cooking, here. And on February 25, Carla will speak at the Green Matters Symposium on "Real Food Renaissance” at Brookside Gardens.

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard will participate in Cochon 555 in Chicago March 20. For more about the porkapalooza that is Cochon 555, don’t miss the video here. Steph will also be part of the line-up of all women chefs at Hot Chocolate’s 6th anniversary party and benefit for Share Our Strength February 28 and another benefit, for TC Masters’ Art Smith’s Common Threads, on March 7.

As if that weren’t enough, Feast speculates an announcement may be forthcoming this week about Steph’s second restaurant.

Yigit Pura will be a celebrity judge at COOK Orlando March 27 to benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

And Top Chef Canada premieres April 11!

All Top Chef Interview with Fabio Viviani

Top Chef All Star contestant, Fabio Viviani talks about his experience on the Bravo show.

Click here for the podcast.

Click here for Fabio's website - don't miss his hilarious episode recaps here.

An example: Think about it, and im asking this to all the boys out there, if you HAVE TO get run over by a car, would you prefer a Good Looking smart woman drive or a Stupid Ugly Ass guy ?? See my point ?? At least tonight ill get runned Over by a nice person….

Fabio has written a cookbook called The Cafe Firenze Cookbook, and an e-book called Did I Really Make Breakfast?

Chef Fabio has teamed up with Bialetti and will be in Chicago in March to promote the line. Click here for more information.

The busy chef is also a spokesperson for Bertolli Olive Oil.

Whew! Thank you Chef Fabio!

TC News and Information 1.31.11 - Insiders' Edition

First off, if you haven’t already read this first-hand account of dining at both RW teams’ restaurants from blogger The Good Life Gourmet, check it out right now. She ultimately voted for Team Etch, but struggled with her decision, as did her tablemates.

And if you hated the name “Etch,” did you know that at one point Marcel wanted to call his team’s restaurant “Marcel”? So says Collichio in the Bravo’s extended judges table clip.

I’ve read comments elsewhere about how difficult the outdoor Restaurant Wars shoot could have been had the weather not cooperated. But when Gail Simmons mentioned in her EW blog that RW would take place where she was married, I did some googling. The Foundry has a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces – and indoor spaces that look like they’re outdoors (see photo below), plus tents available for rent. The Foundry’s website touts its availability for weddings, film, video, and photo shoots, parties and special events, and seminars. So methinks the cheftestants were never going to be cooking in the rain. More to the point, Padma and the diners would not be eating in the rain. If you’re curiosity is piqued about Gail’s wedding (complete with eco-friendly foodie touches), you can find photos via Martha Stewart here.

Meanwhile, Dale Talde of Team Bodega apologizes to the RW servers on his blog and shares this: “I've been getting a lot of questions about why I picked the team the way I did. It is really simple. I was positive that picking Marcel as the team leader would drown what ever team he picked. In speaking with Marcel after in the stew room, I asked him why he picked Angelo first. His response was that he wanted to keep Angelo off my team, and to me that is just a really weird way to go about picking your first chef. When I picked Fabio, it was like picking Micheal Jordan 3rd overall of the draft. Steal of the draft. Getting Richie was Blake Griffin, obvious number 1, Tre was Dwigth Howard, solid in the post, and Carla is Phil Jackson, Zen master."

Fabio Viviani of Team Bodega is now blogging the All-Stars, and his RW recap is a hoot. Fabio's take on Dale selecting Marcel to lead the opposing team: “Tiffany, Angelo, Mike, Antonia are GREAT chefs, as Marcel is…… but Dale just handed a 600Hp Lamborghini in the hands of a teenager !! He will kill himself eventually.” On other matters of strategy: “Our food is playful, simple and easy to plate….Their food is complex, hard to pla[te] and too technical.” On the other team’s food: “I tried Antonia dish, although the sauce is little salty the Gnudi of ricotta are really good, Mike Isabella has a winner dish, i love octopus and pork belly is great….. I actually liked most of their dishes, beside awful eggs pickled in salt and sugar, really ?? and Marcel stoner dessert— I found their food decent…” Fabio’s assessment of his own performance: “Dana Cowin editor of Food & Wine Magazine is there, the judges are there too and I’m taking care the floor like a Mamma Bear would take care of his little newborn Cub. . . . We WON !!!! Fabio take the Princess-Service-Front-Of-The-House Home as I’m producing also a kick ass dessert as well, all the rest of the dishes are complimented the whole time at Judges Table !! Richard Blais get the prize, the glory and 10K …. am I happy for him ?? Yes…. am I disappointed that I wasn’t the one that won ?? Yes…. No one ever want to do the front of the house and no one ever want to do dessert in RESTAURANT WARS…. I’ve done both in an excellent way, maybe this time I should’ve get a little prize…”

You can hear more from the inimitable Fabio on WGN’s Nick Digilio weekly podcast with the “Maestro” here. Fabio is certainly fired up for this week’s Italian challenge! And if you want to learn how to make gnocchi (what else?) from Viviani, here’s a Ustream video of a class he recently offered at one of his restaurants.

Tre Wilcox describes Marcel as someone who proved to be a sore loser whenever he didn't win, in this video with Good Morning Texas, where he also talks about his new restaurant, Marquee, set to open in March.

Eli Kirshtein weighs in about RW on his Bravo blog: “Amongst Top Chef contestants there has long been a dispute about which you are actually cooking for. Some will say that it is the guests who are being fed during the challenges; others will say it is the judges. I know what a lot of you will say, but they are not even close to the same thing. If I had a dime for every time I heard a chef who was on the bottom or even went home say that all of the guests said theirs was the favorite, while the eventual winners was repulsive, I would be rich man. Unfortunately there is a major disconnect between these two camps often times. A chef on the show has done a transcending job when they appease both groups, but it is rare, much rarer than the edit of the show might tell you. . . . It seemed one of the biggest advantages was the wit and tact that the whole team at Bodega had. I think the best restaurant [w]on this day.”

Tiffany Derry, Marcel’s teammate and RW FOH, shares the news that she has a new gig as Executive Chef of the upcoming Private Social restaurant in Dallas with Open Table and offers assessments of some of her fellow All-Stars: “Angelo was made to look like he was a saboteur, but he really was trying to help. Marcel is okay outside of kitchen, but in charge in the kitchen? Not so much. . . . I personally was impressed with Dale Talde. He cooked with soul and his imagination surprised me.”

Marcel himself, of course, made the media rounds after being PYKAG’d, taking issue in many of them with the way he was portrayed, as in this interview with the Chicago Tribune – where he says he is not allowed to talk about the editing, but kind of goes on to do so. More here from The Feast, where Marcel says he’s looking to open a new restaurant in Greater LA within the next year and has already secured the funds to do so. “It'll be modern global cuisine, casual, 60 seats, totally affordable yet elegant dishes. Shared plates primarily, reinvented classics. I'm scouting locations now.”

As for that disparity between “off-screen Marcel” and “in-the-kitchen-on-Top-Chef Marcel”? See what Mike Isabella, Carla Hall, and Richard Blais have to say in this Bravo bonus clip.

Recently auf’d All-Star Casey Thompson blogs about the RW episode here: “Put up a “pop-up” restaurant in 3 hours. COME ON! Then, I like this touch, they bring in an “expert” chef that has been doing these sort of “pop-up” restaurants for years now. Please, everybody, quiet now…listen to this chef tell you how he has been doing this and how it should work. Never mind how he probably planned this “pop-up” restaurant for 6 months before launching the concept.” And her take on the outcome: “The lesson to take away from this week’s chefs…the food doen’t have to be over the top but it must be on point. Finally, we have lowered the bar. Thank you Restaurant Wars for showing all of us the way it should be done or more importanly, the way our guests really want to eat.”

Season 4’s Ryan Scott, who’s commenting on the All-Stars for Yum Sugar, agrees: “I love, love, love team Bodega's concept of simple comfort food, starting with a bag of potato chips. I'm telling you, this is what it's all about. Last week I featured mac and cheese Spring rolls on my catering truck, along with peanut butter and jelly cupcakes. Needless to say, they sold out entirely. It's all about the comfort foods, guys. This is the way it has been for a while and will always be. . . . Which brings me to my next question: Oxtail, monkfish, octopus, and crudo?? What the *&$% are you guys thinking? . . . Back to simplicity, I have to disagree with Antonia that "elevated" food outdoes tuna in a can. It's strictly about execution. And the Bodega team seems to really carry the innovation in this challenge.”

So . . . we finally get a new episode Wednesday, filmed at Rao’s. Do you think Fabio will take it? What about Antonia or Mikey? Will Blais do a twist on gnocchi? Will Tre finally come out of the shadows? And what of Carla, Dale, Angelo and Tiffany?

P.S. Yigit Pura of Top Chef: Just Desserts says he'll make a live cameo appearance on Bravo tonight . . .

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 1.17.11

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.

TC News and Information 12.20.10

Spike Mendelsohn was out playing Santa last week, for his favorite charity and MasterCard, and blogger HowChow caught up with him for an interview that reveals he's looking to expand his restaurant empire further, and shares some behind-the-scenes Top Chef dish, including the fact that often dishes get cold during filming, but apparently that is not a factor in the judging.

Did you catch the two-part pilot Friday night of Richard Blais's new show, "Blais Off," on the Science Channel? Professor Blais learns from old-school restaurants, then fashions his own spin on their favorite dishes with his modern techniques, letting customers vote for their favorite in this "Throwdown"-style program that is also a vehicle for him to explain in detail about so-called molecular gastronomy. You can read more about it here, here and here.

Meanwhile, Fabio Viviani was in Houston recently filming cooking demonstrations for his new iPhone/iPad app for Bertolli. You can find interviews with him here, where he talks about being a private chef for William Shatner, and here, where he takes about whatever became of that Bravo show he was supposed to star in.

Dale Levitski may have been eliminated during last week's All-Stars episode, but he maintains a sense of humor about it. He's reworked the veal dish that got him auf'd, this time with peanut, corn, honey and celery and is offering it at his Chicago restaurant, Sprout.

Here's a sweet interview with Top Chef: Just Desserts' winner Yigit Pura, and All-Star Tiffani Faison gets a great write-up about what she's doing at Boston's Rocca here.

Finally, Bravo may have a new food show in the works. Stay tuned.

TC News and Information 12.05.10

Ratings may have been down for the All-Stars premiere, but there's still a whole lotta media hype going on. The New York Daily News review of the premiere likens it to "high school reunion turned upside down" and the LA Times opines that the caliber of chefs assembled for the All-Stars season is "either the show's greatest strength -- or its Achilles' heel." Yes, we're going to be saying good-bye to a two-time loser every week.

Some of the contestants are blogging All-Stars themselves, including Casey Thompson. Dale Talde blogged the premiere in three words. Yumsugar rounded up Season 4's Ryan Scott to live-blog the premiere (doesn't sound like he was asked to return this season). And if you'd like to join in the live-blogging chat thing yourself, there's a party going on all season at Gawker. To see what went down for Episode 1, click here.

For social media interaction of other sorts, you can find out more about how that Bravo-sponsored Top Chef Facebook game thingie works here.

In case you missed the twitterversy over Michael Voltaggio's comments surrounding the premiere, you can find a round-up here, although I'm inclined to take him at his word that he wasn't trying to diss anybody. I'm much more interested in the news that older brother Bryan is looking to open a second, more casual restaurant in Frederick, Maryland, despite an earlier blog report that may not have been entirely accurate. And if I lived near Frederick, I'd sure be interested in trying out Volt's 3-course "express lunch" for $14.

I mentioned on ATC's Facebook page before the premiere that Fabio Viviani would be live-tweeting the show. You can find a wrap-up of his tweet banter aimed at judge Anthony Bourdain in this item, which also Fabio will host "Wednesday-night viewing-and-posting parties at his restaurants as long as he remains on the show."

If you really care about the brouhaha that erupted over the question of whether TV Guide lightened Padma's skin tone, you can read about it here. Or, for rather more entertainment value, in my book, you can make up your own mind and watch video of the photo shoot with Tom Colicchio here. Best quote of the clip: "I think it's a great time to do [All-Stars.] I just wonder what we're going to do next."

The remaining All-Stars are getting plenty of press themselves.

Richard Blais's focus this time around: "My game plan is just to cook really great food and not get too wrapped up in any specific strategy or get wrapped up in the drama. I worry more about competing against myself," according to this piece, in which Colicchio points out: "He’s been doing the burger thing the past couple of years. He’s been out of the fine dining scene. That could be a bit of a handicap." Read on for more about Blais's Flip Burger and possible ATL gourmet hot-dog boutique spot.

Carla Hall identifies which contestant is the den mother and who sleeps on the couch here, and says Padma is much nicer since she had her baby here.

Angelos Sosa's pick for All-Stars class clown is Carla, and he describes Marcel as a "Wikipedia topic," according to this piece, where he also reveals that it was only 4 days after the S7 finale before the producers called him about All-Stars and a week and a half before he started filming. As to whether that was good or bad, he says, ""Honestly, it was a double-edged sword. . . . "I wish I had time to rest. Then, again, I had the momentum, too. So, I teeter-tot back and forth."

Dale Levitski tells 312DiningDiva (here's an easier link from HuffPo) that the All-Stars anticipated their previous losing dishes would come back to haunt them at some point during the game, and that he was "absolutely prepared" to re-make his butter-poached lobster with Chanterelle mushrooms, bacon and corn with chive dumplings and curry lobster reduction, a signature dish at his current restaurant, Sprout. Dale also says each Wednesday he'll feature a dish on Sprout's menu inspired by the previous week's challenge and is teaming up with next-door neighbor SmallBar Fullerton for weekly viewing parties.

Speaking of viewing parties, Tre Wilcox's Plano restaurant, Loft 601, which hosted a viewing party for the premiere, welcomes fellow Texan Tiffany Derry (whose restaurant, Go Fish, shuttered abruptly recently), who will cook $100 a plate dinners of "poached Maine lobster, roasted baby beets, braised Berkshire pork belly, and more" for the Episode 2 festivities.

Tiffani Faison's Boston restaurant, Rocco, continues to host viewing parties. Does Tiff F. really love Bud Lite Lime that much, or is there some kind of, er, product placement thing goin' on?

Season 7 winner Kevin Sbraga joined Jen Carroll at the 10 Arts premiere viewing party - photos and dish here, where Kevin talks about his plans for a new restaurant, while Jen, it appears, kept to the kitchen.

Our condolences go out to Chef Carroll on the loss of her grandmother this week. She wrote on Facebook: "Yesterday my Grammy passed away and if it wasn't for the the coleslaw and beef stew that she made i probably would be a professional gin rummy player or at least the scrabble queen but her food inspired me to be the chef that i am today."

And proving that you just never know what will show up in the ATC mailbox, I ran across this assessment of NFL teams' prospects during the rest of this season, which had this to say about my hometown Bengals: "Marvin Lewis, pack your knives and go. Yes, I have a gut feeling he will be on Top Chef. Maybe even Desserts. Regardless, his team is a mushy corn soufflé with a maple dressing that tastes like baby food which makes Tom Colicchio vomit on Carson Palmer’s head and Padma punch Terrell Owens in the face as he makes advances. If given the option between that and going through this season again, I think Bengals fans would choose the Top Chef scenario." While I'm not much of a sports buff, I was hoping the Bengals might pull it out against the Saints today - particularly for the free crawfish boil promised by one of my favorite Cincy food trucks, New Orleans To Go, in the event their beloved Saints were upset by the Bengals. Dang, I still want some of NOTG's crawfish, even if I have to pay for it myself :)

TC News and Information 12.1.10

Woo-hoo - tonight's the night! And there's a media feeding-frenzy goin' on.

Here's what TV Guide gleaned from head judge Tom Collichio about the All-Stars season (I'd love to know Tom's 1-year-old son's reaction to being on set - and I'd really love to know which contestant(s) were among the 5% of the previous competitors the producers didn't manage to snag for their dream team All-Stars roster).

Click here for an interesting assessment of "All-Star Alignment" and a star chart I'm not sure I completely understand or agree with.

And here's a fun trip down memory lane.

Richard Blais offers his own assessment of some of his All-Star competitors in this interview.

Jamie Lauren reveals that she had no idea who she'd be competing against in the All-Star season until she met them all back in NYC.

Dale Levitski talks about this season's judging and why he hears TC theme music wherever he goes in this great piece from the Chicago Tribune. He also says he felt "stood up at the prom" by Michelin and has some interesting things to say about how he'd restructure the finale challenges in this Q&A with Metromix.

Dale L. encourages fans to come out for an All-Stars viewing party tomorrow at Small Bar, next to his Chicago restaurant, Sprout. No doubt there will be plenty more viewing parties from other cheftestants as well. Here are some that have hit our radar.

You can crack a Bud Light Lime and sample "globally inspired snacks" at Tiffani Faison's Boston restaurant, Rocca. Tre Wilcox is having a viewing party at The Loft 610 in Plano, TX. And Fabio Viviani says on facebook, in his own inimitable way, "Tomorrow night Premiere TOP CHEF All Star !! 7pm Cafe Firenze & 9pm Osteria Firenze ill be in both place !! See you there !!" Casey Thompson's Dallas restaurant, Brownstone, will offer complimentary bites, happy hour drink specials and half-priced bottles of wine throughout the season according to this.

Updates on Jennifer Carroll's premiere viewing party at 10 Arts in DC, which we reported about previously: Details of Jen's tasting menu here. According to this, an a la carte menu will also be offered, and Eric Ripert, frequent TC guest judge and Jen's mentor will be on hand to meet, greet, and sign books.

Photo courtesy of Max Jacobson, Unicaworld.com

If you, like me, don't live in a city graced with the presence of a Top Cheftestant (yet), you can check out the food and festivities presented by a number of former TC competitors at the Food and Wine All-Star Weekend held earlier in November in Las Vegas, thanks to this report from Unicaworld. And for a truly charming take on what it's like to put together such an event, check out this post from culinary student Athena Thickstun who worked behind the scenes.

Photo courtesy of Athena Thickstun, http://athenathickstun.blogspot.com/

Not sated yet? Click here for a full transcript of that media conference call with Tom Collichio and Anthony Bourdain that our own Minx reported on earlier.

Or live chat with TC judge Gail Simmons tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. EST according to these directions:

WHEN: Thursday, December 2nd at 1:00pm EST
WHERE: Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry’s USTREAM channel
HOW:
1. RSVP by replying to this invitation
2. Sign up for a USTREAM account – it’s easy and free!
3. Logon to ask Gail your questions… Or submit your questions ahead of time on the Puff Pastry web site or Tweet to @PepperidgeFarm using “#AskGail”

Happy premiere viewing, all!
eggy

Meet the All Stars - Fabio Viviani

Fan Favorite Fabio not only charmed everyone but had the chops in the kitchen to back it up, making it all the way to the final four.

Fabio is the Owner and Executive Chef of Café Firenze in Moorpark, CA and Firenze Osteria in Toluca Lake, CA. Born and raised in Florence, Italy, his culinary career began at the age of 12 when he started working in a restaurant. Two years later, he was given the opportunity to prove himself as a cook when the chef cut himself badly and Fabio stepped in. He then attended culinary school and traveled across Europe, training in classic Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. He won awards for his dry aged steaks at the Sagra Della Bistecca Awards in Cortona and his cheese and wine selections at the 2004 Enofood Awards. In 2009, his first cookbook Café Firenze, Mangia e Bevi was released with rave reviews. His next book, a collaboration with his mother, My Son is on Google, Recipes & Memories from an Italian Mom is due out in Fall 2012.