Top Chef Pig Roast

Several former Top Cheftestants are participating in an event for Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry. Nyesha Arrington's Pig Roast will be held on April 28th, 2013, at Wilshire Restaurant, 2454 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, CA from 1-4pm.

Guest chefs will include Ilan Hall, CJ Jacobsen, Alex Reznik, Marcel Vigneron, and Brooke Williamson from Top Chef and Danielle Keene from Top Chef Just Desserts.

Tickets are $55 and can be purchased here.


Posted on AllTopChef.com

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?

Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 2.7.11

Congratulations to All-Star Richard Blais and his wife Jazmin on the birth of their second daughter, Embry Lotus!

And congrats to Season 6 finalist Bryan Voltaggio and his wife, who are expecting their second child.

All-Star Mike Isabella will do a pop-up Valentine's dinner.

Departed All-Star Dale Levitski, Just Desserts’ Yigit Pura, and Bravo’s own Andy Cohen made Out Magazine’s list of Top 100 Most Eligible Gay Bachelors.

And, uh, Season 2's Ilan Hall wants to be on Dancing With the Stars? So suggests this new facebook page.

Daddy Ilan

Top Chef season 2 winner Ilan Hall is going to be a daddy. His girlfriend, Ayame Kawaguchi, is pregnant with the couple's first child. "Time to start a college fund for my baby on the way!" Ilan tweeted this week. Ilan tells Life & Style exclusively, "I hope I don't mistake him for a suckling pig!"

Congrats to Ayame and Ilan!

TC News & Information 3.1.2010

The Guardian UK is giving away a dinner with Top Chef Masters judge Jay Rayner. Click here for more information and to enter.

LAist has an interview with Top Chef Masters competitor Susan Feniger.

Top Chef season 1 host Katie Lee and season 5's Fabio Viviani will serve as hosts and mentors of the Almost Famous Chef Competition, sponsored by S. Pellegrino. Top Chef Masters competitor Rick Moonen will serve as one of the judges. More info can be found here.

The CIA has a series of podcasts called Insight from the Inside, one of which features Top Chef season 2 winner Ilan Hall and season 3 winner Hung Huynh. Another features TC season 4 guest judge, hottie pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini. You'll need iTunes to access the podcasts. The listing is here.

TC News & Information 12.14.2009

Here's an article from Downtown News on the trials and tribulations faced by Top Chef season 2 winner Ilan Hall while opening his restaurant, the Gorbals.

From the "Just Because theminx Thinks It's Funny" Department: Michael Voltaggio is quoted as saying, "I partake of a hurt and fork on my give gone, which is on the give gone I play to leaf eatables with to prompt myself that people are with regard to to dine this." What? Obviously a translation of a translation...read the whole item here. (Here's the original article.)

Meal Ticket, the excellent food blog of the Philly City Paper, has a great interview with restaurateur Stephen Starr about his role in the Top Chef Las Vegas finale.

Top Chef season 5 cheftestant Rich Sweeney talks about season six, the finale, and the San Diego restaurant scene. Read it here.

TC News & Information 12.6.09

The latest street food news: Ketel One-branded trucks dispensing free chef-made food will be in New York from today (December 3) through December 5, then moving to Chicago December 10 to 12, then L.A. December 15 to 17. Rick Bayless is the Chicago chef and Ilan Hall is the L.A. chef. In addition to free food, Ketel One will be offering free rides home (to promote responsible drinking over the holidays). Check out the list of locations and menus here.

Spork or Foon blogger Teanna interviewed Danny Gagnon for Spot On Long Island. Read it here.

Hosea Rosenberg offers 10 Thoughts.

Season 1 champ Harold Dieterle and guest judge Johnny Iuzzini are in competition for the title of NY's Hottest Chef. Vote for your fave here.

and finally...Tom Colicchio offers advice on dining out with baby.

TC News & Information

More news about Padma Lakshmi's upcoming sitcom. She tells TV Guide, "It’s an ensemble cast—I’m not starring in it. I will have a recurring role in it, but I have too much to do on Top Chef as well as my jewelry company. I started that all with my own personal finances, and I’m very committed to making that a success, so it becomes an issue of how to divide one’s time."

Here's Creative Loafing's latest TCM Podcast.

Starpulse.com rates the remaining Top Chef Masters contestants.

Top Chef Masters contestant Tim Love is opening Love Shack So7 in the swankiest of locations. Chef Love’s newest namesake will feature some twists on his usual menu, including a lobster roll, fish burger, and a variety of appetizers served on butcher paper. Love also will be doing a Sunday brunch. On Aug. 2, Love Shack So7 will be hosting a BBQ event to celebrate lamb. The event, called For the Love of Lamb, will feature a special dirty lamb burger, lamb cooking demos, and a celebrity chef cook-off with Richard Blais and Ilan Hall from Bravo’s Top Chef, among others. (From Ft Worth Weekly)

TCM finalist Chef Art Smith dishes a bit on his celebrity clientele.

TC News & Information

Is Padma leaving Top Chef for a sitcom of her own? It's looking like it....

TC5 chef Fabio Viviani's cookbook is coming out this week. Read about it here.

And here's some info on TC2 champ Ilan Hall's new Scottish/ Jewish/ Spanish/ American restaurant, Gorbals.

TC News & Information

TC5 winner Hosea Rosenberg will be on BlogTalkRadio on July 9th at noon ET.

Here's a video from earlier in the year featuring TC2 champ Ilan Hall.

The Culinary Institute of America's "Insight from the Inside" new podcast features former Top Chef judge, Scott Conant. Past CIA podcasts featured TC champs Ilan Hall and Hung Huynh, upcoming TC Masters competitor John Besh, and former TC guest judges Johnny Iuzzini, and Grant Achatz.

Here's an interview in Asiance Magazine with Top Chef Masters' Anita Lo...

...and one with TCM hostess Kelly Choi.