Chef Hubert Keller Book Signing in Columbus, OH May 3

Chef Keller will be signing copies of Burger Bar: Build Your Ultimate Burgers.

Click here for details.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Top Chef Magazine Debuts, Eric Ripert Loses a Star, Hubert Keller Gains a TV Show, and What Stephanie Izard Cooked for the CMTs

The new Top Chef Magazine is out. Actually it’s an insert in the January edition of Food + Wine. Eater has a review – and a slide show. If you check out the mini-mag yourself, let us know what you think.

New York Magazine reviews the recently revamped Le Bernardin and is sufficiently ill at ease to demote the restaurant's rating from four stars to three, nonetheless proclaiming: “happily nothing much has changed in [frequent Top Chef guest judge Eric] Ripert’s legendary kitchen.”

Variety reports Hubert Keller (frequent guest judge and TC Masters contestant memorable for cooking pasta in a dorm room shower stall) will be part of a yet another new reality competition show premiering January 21 called The Big Time, sponsored by Budweiser.

And the Tennessean has a great behind-the-scenes look at Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard cooking for the CMT Artist of the Year taping, including whipping up a last-minute vegan dessert. Always innovating, that Steph!


Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 9.20.10

We all have our opinions about Season 7. Executive producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves offer their own critique here.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of Season 7 finale parties and Just Desserts premiere parties last Wednesday. Zagat offers up a comparison of the Gail Simmons/Food & Wine finale bash at Craft (where Ed Cotton confirmed he will not be appearing in future TC’s – which presumably includes the all-but-certain All-Star Season 8) with the premiere party hosted by Johnny Iuzzini (at which no desserts were served).  

Gawker attended the F&W shindig, encountering a Padma “lost in the fog of forgetfulness,” then fled to watch the episode elsewhere, as no one in the party crowd seemed to care to watch it.  

DCist reports that viewing parties for the final S7 episode at Eric Ripert's West End Bistro, The Oval Room (where S7 contestant Tamesha Warren is the sous chef) and Spike Mendelsohn's Good Stuff Eatery were sparsely attended (but as someone who lives a long way from D.C., I still would have loved to be one of the few).

Just Desserts contestant Yigit Pura's restaurant, Taste, hosted a TC:JD viewing party, which definitely included desserts, which you can see more of here.

Kevin Sbraga reveals more details about the restaurant he hopes to open with the $125,000 he earned as Season 7 winner, while runner-up Ed Cotton says he would have sat on the money but still has aspirations for his own restaurant...

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard has finally opened her new restaurant, Girl and the Goat, which Chicago Magazine offers an in-depth review of here. And Season 5 winner Hosea Rosenberg’s new food truck business gets a thumbs-up from his hometown paper in Boulder for its global cuisine here.

Heather H. (as in Hurlburt), winner of the Top Chef: Just Desserts Episode 1 Elimination Challenge, talks about TC:JD and her prior competitive cooking experience here.

And TC:JD contestant Zac “Gold Dust” Young will be adding fried whoopee pies, seasonal doughnuts, and a chocolate soufflé with salted peanut caramel and nougat ice cream to the menu at NYC’s Flex Mussels restaurant according to this report.

The charming and multi-talented Hubert Keller (he’s also apparently a kick-ass DJ), whose Top Chef judging experience goes back to Season 1 and who is fondly remembered by many for his resourcefulness in cooking pasta in a dorm-room shower on Top Chef Masters Season 1, returns as a judge on Just Desserts this week (he’s alternating with Dannielle Kyrillos of Daily Candy – anyone else heard of her? I hadn’t). In other news, Hubert’s Las Vegas outpost of his San Francisco-based Fleur de Lys has closed but will reopen as a tapas restaurant with a lower price point in December according to this report.

 [Still from Anthony Bourdain's Alternate Universe]

And finally, because he may be one of the most beloved Top Chef judges of all time, even if he wimped out on the snarkiness in his Season 7 appearance, a bit of Anthony Bourdain news. Tony is writing a “graphic novel” (aka comic book) about “ultraviolent food nerds.” In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I am a Bourdain-o-phile (yes, I actually plunked down $46.50 to see him live and wrote about it at length here). 

So that’s my inaugural post as a brand spankin’ new member of the ATC team. Any links you especially liked – or didn’t? Any news you’d like to see here that I’m missing? Please let me know in the comments or via email.

Thanks!
eggy

TC News & Information 3.24.10

What's Stefan Richter been up to recently? Opening restaurants and flirting, of course. Read a new interview with him here.

There will be lots of familiar faces at the upcoming Pebble Beach Food & Wine event, April 8 - 11, including Top Chef Masters Graham Eliot Bowles, Michael Chiarello, Hubert Keller, Roy Yamaguchi, Tim Love, and Jonathan Waxman, former Top Chef judges Tyler Florence, Ming Tsai, Wolfgang Puck, Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, Thomas Keller, and Jacques Pepin, and cheftestants Jamie Lauren, Fabio Viviani, Carla Hall, and Hosea Rosenberg. For more information, visit http://www.pebblebeachfoodandwine.com/.

Richard Blais claims he's not a molecular gastronomist.

Season 4 cheftestant Valerie Bolon is hosting a Culinary Speakeasy. Click here for more information.

A Top Chef Thanksgiving: Recipe du Jour

All Top Chef has gathered recipes developed by seven seasons of Top Chef and Top Chef Masters contestants in order to inspire you to try something new for your Thanksgiving feast. We'll be featuring one recipe a day up until Thanksgiving Eve. More recipes are available at Bravotv.com/foodies/recipes

Let's start with a little amuse bouche, shall we?

Top Chef Masters Finalist Hubert Keller's Fondant of Carrot Infused with Cardamom, Light Cream of Ginger (amuse)


INGREDIENTS

2 cups fresh carrot juice
3 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon cracked cardamom
Sugar to taste
3 tablespoons gelatin in powder
1/4 cup whipped cream
2 ounces Osetra caviar
8 sprigs chervil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Transfer the carrot juice into a small non-reactive saucepot, stir in the gelatin, and add the rice vinegar, the cardamom, salt and freshly ground pepper and a pinch of sugar if necessary.

Bring to a boil by stirring, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Cover and let the cardamoms infuse for another 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and the level of sweetness, add another pinch of sugar if necessary ( to work out a perfect balance between the sweetness and acidity coming from the vinegar).

Strain the carrot juice. Let cool slightly until cold but not set, I called that mixture "gelee".

Divide the carrot gelee among 8 shooter glasses. Let set in the refrigerator.

Before serving season the whipped cream with a pinch of salt and pepper. Drop a dollop of cream in each shooter glass. Top the cream with the Caviar and garnish with a sprig of chervil. Serve chilled

© 2009 HUBERT KELLER

TC News & Information 9.01.09

Check out Savory TV! They have videos featuring Fabio Viviani making a tofu dish for Ellen Degeneres, and one with Masters Michael Chiarello and Hubert Keller.

Procrastiblog's prognostications (and comments on last week's episode) can be found here.

The Las Vegas Sun reports the odds for this week's cheftestants.

And check out Dominic's power rankings for this week. He also had the opportunity to dine at Mattin Noblia's restaurant, Iluna Basque. Read his thoughts on the restaurant here.

Interested in what Richard Blais thinks about Top Chef 6? Check out his Creative Loafing blog here.

Speaking of Creative Loafing, here's the link to their podcast for episodes 1 and 2.

TC Masters Winning Recipe - Episode 9

Congratulations, Chef Keller!

Congratulations to Chef Keller for winning the penultimate challenge with his dazzling buffet of 18 items! It's definitely a selection that would make any diner happy. The gazpacho is especially intriguing.

Chef Keller's choice in sous chefs certainly was a big factor in his ability to get so many dishes prepared, even if he did want to throw Spike off the roof during last week's Quickfire. ;)

This post is only for positive words for Chef Keller. If you have anything negative to say about him or another chef, please click here.

TC News & Information

According to the LA Times, Top Chef has all the right ingredients.

Carla Hall will be on hand for the 8th annual Taste of Atlanta, October 10th & 11th. Find more information on the event here.

Radika Desai will be demonstrating her mixology skills as she hosts Top Chef Las Vegas viewing parties at the Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club in Chicago. More info here.

DJ Hubert Keller is on fire!

Here's an excerpt from Andrew Zimmern's recent mspmag.com blog, regarding Top Chef:

Top Chef Masters is the best food show on TV right now. What a great guilty pleasure, and if you had to handicap the game right now, lead would have to go to Anita Lo, who cooks with beauty and intelligence and, most importantly, is in sync with what Gael and Jay want to see on their plates. The dark horse is Bayless, and Keller could win the whole thing but the gimmickiness of some of the challenges don’t suit his style. If he can make it to the finals, where he would get to cook his own food, look out. I got 10 bucks that says Art goes home next week. His folksy act, a cross between Sebastian Cabot and Richard Simmons, is getting really tired. The list of losers on this show reads like a who’s who of great chefs, and I have e-mailed and spoken on the phone with many of them, all of whom have a lot more respect for the contestants on the generic version of the show than they ever thought possible. Tell me you are not psyched for the next season in a few weeks? Vegas Baby.

I haven't thought of Sebastian Cabot in years....

And finally, here's a piece on Fabio Viviani's cookbook, including a couple recipes.

TC News & Information

Four Top Chef Masters contestants are hosting the "Top Chef Zin n' Ribs Party" to benefit Clinic Ole and the Land Trust of Napa County's Connolly Ranch. There will be a Q&A with Michael Chiarello, Hubert Keller, Cindy Pawlcyn and Elizabeth Falkner, and Chiarello and Keller will do a cooking demo. For more information, go to Chef Ciarello's site at www.napastyle.com.

Did you know that Richard Blais is the "Andy Warhol of chefs?" Me neither. So sayeth this article from the Greenville News.

Here's a quick interview with TCM Chef Anita Lo.

And John Besh spoke to Slashfood about Top Chef Masters and bloggers in this video.

TC News & Information

Look who showed up at the Top Chef Masters viewing party.

Here's an interview with Hubert Keller.

Creative Loafing offers a Top Chef podcast.

TCM competitor Suzanne Tracht shares her favorite kitchen essentials.

Just for fun, TV Casualties offers Top Chef Masters vs. Next Food Network Star. Hello? No contest!

TC Masters Winning Recipe - Episode 1

Here's a Top Chef/Top Chef Masters crossover video in which TC5's Fabio Viviano prepares TCM's Hubert Keller's mac and cheese. It's not authentic without the shower rinse though....

The recipe can be found here.

Exit Interviews - TCM Episode One

Click here to see Michael Schlow's, Christopher Lee's, and Tim Love's exit interviews.

Recap Roundup: Top Chef Masters Episode 1 (UPDATED!)

The first episode is over and we’ve all had a chance to let the results (and the new format) sink in. Now is the time that all cheftestants dread…time for what the bloggers think.

Good news for the chefs that care: so far, most of the bloggers think the show is pretty good. Maybe a little less spicy than a regular season, but general consensus is that at least it’s nice to see the food. This episode, in particular, there’s some missing of the Padma, a lot of Hubert Keller love, and a little, “Come on, Hubert. And Michael. You’re not too good for a microwave.”

In their words:

Cliffieland on GE's continued excellence: "Halfway in, Christopher learns the lesson that so many others have learned: GE Monogram™ appliances are NOT to be trusted. Naturally, his oven doesn’t work, his mixer is hosed and the freezer isn’t freezing.Good work, GE! That sponsorship deal is golden!"

KicksInfo on the (lack of) drama: “It looks like we shouldn’t expect a clash of personalities in this series — the chefs all seem to genuinely like and respect each other. I’m happy for them… but slightly disappointed for us.”

Procrastiblog on what no drama means for the bloggers: "As much as I like to act all contemptuous of the Hoseas, the Leahs, the Arrianes, and so on, and pretend they have no place on Top Chef, I’m in the snark business over here. Writing a snarky blog post about Top Chef Masters is going to be like preparing an amuse bouche with ingredients from a vending machine. I don’t want to turn out the blog equivalent of a Snickers bar with a Cheeto sticking out of it."

Philly City Paper’s Meal Ticket on host Kelly Choi: “I think they posted a Craigslist like ‘Seeking Hot Ethnic Woman Who Claims to Be a ‘Foodie’ But is Clearly Too Skinny For That Shit’”

Jordan Baker on TCM vs. TC the original: "So there's no Padma and no Tom Colicchio? The resemblance between this show and actual Top Chef gets slimmer and slimmer every moment. The hostess seems relatively sober, and they've replaced Tom with an old lady in jaunty hats."

Chew on That on Hubert Keller: “I’ll be honest: the only chef of these 4 that I had even heard of was Hubert Keller. Whether it’s because he was a guest judge in past seasons of Top Chef or he’s just more famous than the others, I’m not sure, but what I do know is that Hubert Keller seemed like the clear winner from the start!”

Top Chef Masters Review on everybody's feelings about pastry: "Michael Schlow echoed the sentiment of previous cooks when he stated that desserts were the bane of his existence."

Televicious on Tim Love’s chicken fried strawberries: “Why do the chicken-fried strawberries sound delish? Well, the girl scouts agree with me.”

Thursday Night Smackdown on the Girl Scouts: “I think you could make an entire television series out of famous chefs being criticized by Girl Scouts. I would be all over that like Ilan Hall on derivative Spanish food.”

Limecrete on the shower scene: “Hubert works some ingenious and somewhat disgusting magic with pasta and the communal showers, impressing all the judges.”

Sweet Tea and Sunshine on the “critics” (not judges): “They talk, they debate, they sort-of-don’t-like some things and mostly like others. But generally they are fairly mellow and respectful…”

David Dust on his not-so-secret crush, Christopher Lee: "James Oseland, while discussing Christopher’s Pork Chops, states 'The meat … ah, the Angels sang!'. Hey, BACK IT UP AND AWAY FROM MY MAN, Beeyotch. If you so much as mention his delicious pork again, I will cut you."

B-Side Blog on the critics: "The new judges were articulate and informed — even if I didn't quite trust Red Sweater's knowledge of tailgating food."

Give Me My Remote on the Kind-of-Glad stew room: “And oh man, how much did you guys love the nice table with wine and a table cloth that the chefs got to sit at? This is, of course, opposed to beer and lawn chairs in the store room. I think that’s awesome—keep everyone in their place!”

Foodie in Disguise on the sweet factor: "I really enjoyed this version of Top Chef. It was nice to see well-seasoned (haha) chefs battle it out against each other. There is a certain camaraderie that exists amongst them that also is very endearing to me."

My Monkey Could Do That on what’s coming up: “This season: a lot of cooking and a decided lack of drama. Neil Patrick Harris!! LOVE!”

Any other recappers out there? Send us a link and we’ll add you to the roundup.

Congratulations, Chef Keller!

Congratulations to Chef Keller for winning the premiere battle of Top Chef Masters! Not only did he succeed in pleasing a gaggle of Girl Scouts, he also impressed a tough panel of judges, including college students, in the Elimination challenge. He did a Masterful job of creating his dishes using minimal equipment, and it was a stroke of genius to use the shower to cool down and then warm up his pasta.

We look forward to seeing Chef Keller in the final round.

This post is only for positive words for Chef Keller. If you have anything negative to say about him or another chef, please click here.

Poll Results - TCM Episode One

According to our poll, you thought that chef Hubert Keller would be the winner in the first episode of Top Chef Masters. Looks like you were right! 

Now, tell us why you thought he would win.  

Interview with Hubert Keller, Tim Love, Christopher Lee, and Michael Schlow - Part Two

On The Risk of Appearing on Top Chef Masters

Tim: Of course your staff always wants you to bring home the win but the risk is nothing compared to the reward when you’re going into something like this – for a charity – making a change in someone else’s life. The competition took a backseat – you’re there to make a good show and to compete with your colleagues. Everyone who enters is a winner, or else we wouldn’t be there. And you’re judged everyday in your restaurant, so this was nothing new.

Michael: Tim hit it right on the head. And our kitchen staffs – they were proud to see us go because they all follow the show. What’s funny is that you just don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s something about the comfort of your own kitchen, where you know where everything is and how long things take. But here you’re in a foreign place.

Hubert: Definitely not to prove ourselves. I think we’ve done enough in our careers to have proven ourselves. Every day, we’re not proving ourselves, but are competing with our peers in other restaurants. That’s what we do in our restaurants.

On Foie Gras

Hubert: It’s a touchy subject, especially in California. With our background, French cuisine, it’s been over 2000 years of producing foie gras. It was the Romans who learned it from the Greeks and took it to Strasbourg and introduced it to that part of France. It’s a big debate – who brought the foie gras in. Today, we know it’ll be over in 2 ½ years. I still have a heavy demand when it comes to foie gras but probably within 2 years or maybe even before that I will probably stop serving it. We were also one of the first restaurants that became non-smoking.

Michael: I’ve been to the foie gras farm in Hudson Valley – it’s a pretty amazing place. It’s like Old Macdonald. It’s a humane place. What’s more or less humane? Catching a fish and letting die or taking the liver? It’s all for the flesh.

Chris: There’s this whole idea – we raise animals to slaughter to consume. How you get there–there should be certain rules–but you could call our whole way of life cruelty.

Tim: How far does it go? If these people put as much energy into cancer or fighting autism or the March of Dimes as they do into fighting foie gras–which is a consumable animal, period–put some effort into something that’s worth a crap. We like to eat it.

Michael: A few years ago there was a story about supermarkets that wouldn’t sell live lobsters anymore because it was inhumane. There was a story about a company in Britain that was going to electrocute the lobster because it was more humane. Who was going to make that little tiny electric chair? I’m not telling anybody they can’t have their opinion, but the animals are not tortured.

On Other Career Choices

Michael: I was a very good athlete and went to college to play baseball. I was always very very good at baseball but it was not my passion. I played because I was pushed into it because I was good. But I am so lucky to have found cooking. I found it at a young age, it’s my passion, it’s my life. I wouldn’t be a baseball player if I was not a chef. I think for a lot of chefs–architecture, advertising–something creative. When you think of what we do it encompasses history, art, culture–we get to travel a lot.

Hubert: I would be in the music industry. I would’ve loved that.

Chris: I’d probably be 20 pounds lighter, I’m sure. I always had a passion to be a builder. Whether a mechanic building cars/motorcycles, I probably would’ve gone down that path myself.

Tim: Either played professional soccer or been an architect. I designed a bunch of homes in high school and college. I designed the home I live in now. I really enjoy that type of stuff. The puzzle of it, making it fit together. Same as cooking, adjusting time. But cooking–it’s the greatest job in the world. Long hours, but you party with your friends everyday. I have fun everyday, I can tell you that. No doubt about it.

Click here for part one.

Interview with Hubert Keller, Tim Love, Christopher Lee, and Michael Schlow - Part One

All Top Chef was invited to sit in on the first Top Chef Masters phone conference with premiere episode combatants Chefs Hubert Keller, Tim Love, Christopher Lee, and Michael Schlow. Several interesting topics were covered during the conversation; here are some of the highlights.

On Why They Participated

Michael Schlow: For me, the charity part was first and foremost. All the chefs involved in the show will say that. Plus, it’s an honor to be on a show titled Top Chef Masters. The regular Top Chef is the top rated food program in the country, so I think everyone was flattered to be asked. We wanted to represent our cities and our towns. The idea of doing this for charity and to get to do something fun with our friends, it was a great opportunity.

Tim Love: I’m heavily involved in March of Dimes, my daughter benefited. I think we were all a little anxious to see how it would be edited but I think it turned out to be really great and as I’m sure you can tell from the episode, we all had a lot of fun hanging out with each other.

Hubert Keller: We did it for our foundations, of course – Make a Wish is a great foundation. Is a risk involved? All of us, having our own restaurants and everything, we’re running into risks everyday. It’s part of our lifestyle. For me, also, I was participating as a judge for 3 seasons in the past and the first Top Chef was filmed at Fleur de Lys. I couldn’t turn it down. I wanted to get a feel for what it’s like in their shoes and competing.

On the Relevance of Critics

Michael: We discussed this on the set a couple of times. What we said was that everybody’s a critic – just because you don’t have a pen doesn’t mean you’re not a critic. The reality is that with the Internet and all the blogs and Chowhound and Yelp and Grub Street, there are a lot of critics out there who aren’t professional but have their opinions. You have to listen to everybody. Luckily for us, 99% are good. It’s important for us that the press stay relevant also. They’re there for us as we’re there for them.

Tim: I'd say even though there are a million blog critics and individual critics and of course the individual diners that come to our restaurants everyday, I would veer away from the fact that the professional critics don't matter anymore. I think they're still held pretty high in standards. 

Shoot, my kids criticize me every damn day. 

 
Hubert: I think it’s important that we have a standard. Someone to put the guidelines out there. You could never get exposure like through a major critic if you’re trying to open a restaurant. We all have to take criticism and learn to take it the right way. Take the good part and forget the other part. 

On the Competition

Michael: I'll say that they all have incredible resumes. We heard rumors to who was our competition. While we were out there in Los Angeles, they really did a great job of keeping us segregated and within our own group. Because this is a new format for them compared to regular Top Chef where they're all living in a house and killing each other at times. We're all friends, and I know for me, I respect each one of my colleagues on the show with me. They each bring something different to the party and any one of them could have won.

I mean it's so much fun, the styles are so different. And the thing that sort of keeps us all together is I think there's a bond between all of us, not just the four of us but everybody that's on the show. We're all friends and we see each other at food events, but to do it like this where we spend literally 4 straight days together, it was great.

And I wouldn't say any one of them, as they walked in, made me think, "Oh no, that's the winner for sure." I thought that everybody had an equal chance.

Chris: I'll be quite honest, the first press release that came out, a week and a half ago, with the full list, that was the first time I’d seen the whole list. I missed some of them, too. But you know who scared me was the silver fox, Hubert Keller. 

Tim: I would say that, like Michael said...I think that they did a good job picking everybody. I think everybody had an equal opportunity. But I'll say this, once I saw the list, and just like you said, Chris, I didn't really see the list until not too long ago, the people who had been judges I think may have had a better opportunity understanding the show. But, other than that, I think everybody was on an equal playing field except with desserts. Hubert--he's stinking pastry chef already.

On Being Fans of Top Chef

Michael:  I am a fan of the show. And we’re all friends with some people who have been on the show in the past and Hubert obviously was a judge. One of the things they do--we’re chefs and have crazy hours and work hard so you don’t always get to watch it--but they sent us DVDs of the quickfire challenges. I think it’s nerve-wracking enough to watch it once a week. But I sat down and watched all 25 quickfires in one night then I had a massive panic attack. You can understand what those contestants go through. That time goes VERY quickly.

Part two can be found here.

Questions for Top Chef Masters

All Top Chef will be participating in a conference call with the first four Top Chef Masters cheftestants: Hubert Keller, Christopher Lee, Michael Schlow, and Tim Love. If you have any questions you might like us to ask, please leave them in the comments.

TC Video du Jour

TC Masters Cheftestant Hubert Keller shows us how to make a burger. Love zat Frawnch accent! hon hon hon!