Top Chefs Cook for Sandy Relief

If you happen to be in NY tonight, you can help Top Chefs Angelo Sosa, Jennifer Carroll, Dale Talde, and Kevin Sbraga to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief.

They will be serving a four-course tasting menu at Angelo's restaurant, Anejo. For $100, you get these four courses and a cocktail:

First Course By Angelo: Baby Carrots With Spiced White Chocolate and Mole
Second Course By Jen: Ora King Salmon With Potatoes, Kabocha Squash and Warm Squid Ink Vinaigrette
Third Course By Kevin: Crispy Chicken Thigh With Brussel Sprouts, Polenta
Fourth Course By Dale: Chocolate Pudding With Pomelo and Hazelnuts

All proceeds go to the American Red Cross. For more information, visit the Anejo site.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Dine on Kevin Sbraga's Winning Top Chef Finale Menu!

I just received this press release, and it could be great fun for a Top Chef fan in the Philadelphia area:

(New York, NY; June 27, 2012) - On Monday, August 6, 2012, Owner and Chef Kevin Sbraga will unveil the "Chef's Counter" at his namesake restaurant Sbraga in Philadelphia. The interactive Chef's Counter will regularly feature a new six-course tasting menu for $75 with an optional $50 wine pairing. For his inaugural menu, Chef Sbraga will feature his winning dishes from the finale episode of Bravo's "Top Chef" season seven, available for three weeks only. Following this special menu, the Chef's Counter menu will change weekly beginning on August 27, 2012, showcasing Chef Sbraga's unique take on modern American cuisine without boundaries.

"People always ask about the dishes that helped me win season seven of 'Top Chef,'" says Sbraga. "Starting the Chef's Counter with this menu will be fun and nostalgic for me. My cooking has evolved since then, so the menu will continue to change and be more representative of what I'm doing now."

Chef Sbraga will personally prepare and serve the six-course dinner to guests seated at the Chef's Counter, which overlooks the open-format kitchen, giving diners a chance to interact with him as he cooks. Highlights from the first Chef's Counter menu include:

Eggplant Terrine

black garlic, pickled tomatoes, jalapeño, and shrimp puffs

Red Mullet

calamari noodles, black pork belly, and lemon grass oil

Duck Breast 

foie gras dumpling, orange-coriander sauce, and bok choy

Singapore Sling 2012

coconut milk panna cotta, tropical fruits, and Singapore Sling granita

Chef Sbraga opened Sbraga, his first restaurant, on Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts in October of 2011 with his wife Jesmary Sbraga as Pastry Chef. Reimagining classic dishes like the wedge salad and meat loaf, Chef Sbraga has a no boundaries approach to modern American cuisine with a focus on quality ingredients to create bold and interesting flavor combinations. With reclaimed wood walls and Edison-style antique lighting, the interior of Sbraga is contemporary and clean, yet rustic and warm with an open kitchen, the new Chef's Counter, and a Bar. In addition to the Chef's Counter, Sbraga offers guests a $49 four-course prix-fixe menu in the main dining area, as well as an à la carte menu available only at the bar.

Reservations are strongly recommended for the Chef's Counter and will be available twice a night at 6pm and 8:30pm, with the Counter seating up to six individuals. Chef Sbraga's "Top Chef" tasting menu will be available Monday, August 6, 2012 - August 25, 2012. Following this special menu, the Chef's Counter menu will change weekly beginning on August 27, 2012.

Sbraga serves dinner Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m.  Find Sbraga on Facebook www.Facebook.com/SbragaDining and Twitter www.Twitter.com/Sbraga_Dining and https://twitter.com/KSbraga for information on reservations, and more.


Posted on AllTopChef.com

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

Top Chef Season 7 Champion Kevin Sbraga - Philly 101

Posted on AllTopChef.com

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.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 11.10.10

It's a big week for Stephanie Izard! In addition to her impressive sweep of the Eater awards, her restaurant, The Girl and The Goat, has learned it's won a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation. It seems the Windy City is abuzz with anticipation of next week's release of the Michelin Guide, with special events lined up that include a panel discussion/radio-show taping with Stephanie and TC Masters contestant Graham Elliot on November 18 and a live chat November 19 featuring Rick Bayless and Art Smith of TC Masters with former NY Times food critic Frank Bruni. More info about both events here. The Girl and The Goat also took the top spot on Chicago Magazine's November Hot List. Want to try some of Stephanie's food but don't live in Chicago? You might be in luck if you're near Miami or NYC. This month all of Mercadito's locations are featuring her braised chicken taco with avocado crème fraîche, fermented black bean, nicoise olive tapenade, mint, preserved lemons, sambal, smoked tomato and shaved brussel sprouts, at 4 tacos for $16 to benefit Share Our Strength. TC Masters contestant Wylie Dufresne is another chef who will design a taco for the year-long benefit. You can find out more here and here.

Where else can you meet and eat with Top Chef contestants? All over, it seems. Here are just a few upcoming events.

Mike Isabella and Carla Hall will be at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertainment Show in D.C. November 13. And here's something a little different - Carla is also appearing at the 17th Annual Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest December 2.

Meanwhile, Dave Martin will be doing a cooking class in the "other" Washington November 17, at Desert Wind Winery in the Yakima Valley, and has other upcoming appearances in Washington, Oregon and Nebraska.

Dave's Season 1 rival, Tiffani Faison, will be participating in Eat Your Heart Out Boston November 14 at the Paradise Rock Club where chefs and local bands team up to benefit local charities. In an interesting twist, the chefs will "style plates in homage to their music idols" - Tiff's dish: pork belly agrodolce, house-made “hots,” foie pastrami mayo, and crispy onion, inspired by Ray Lamontagne’s "New York City’s Killing Me."

If New York isn't killing you, you can catch Richard Blais demo-ing sous-vide equipment at Bloomie's on November 20.

Jen Carroll and Rick Moonen will be headlining the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour in Las Vegas November 15.

And this one sounds like a lot of fun - if you're in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina November 20, you can see Gail Simmons, Kevin Gillespie, Kevin Sbraga and Kenny Gilbert at the Music to Your Mouth Culinary Festival. How much more fun could the Low Country be?

TC News and Information 10.26.10

We're sorry to hear those rumors of Season 3 winner Hung Huynh's "culinary overlordship" were premature.

Meanwhile, Season 4 finalist and returning All-Star Richard Blais has apparently leaked his own rumors that his next restaurant will be in the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta and move on to a new concept other beyond boutique burgers. But you can catch a blogger's eye view of his newest Flip burger joint, which opened last week, here.

TC judge Tom Colicchio is also saying he won't open any more Crafts, in a "branding = good, chain = not so much" strategy.

While Season 7 winner Kevin Sbraga hasn't yet released specifics about the restaurant he plans to open with all that TC cash (ya know, like name, location, or date), he is doing a preview dinner of its menu December 9, according to this item.

Season 1 finalist and returning All-Star Tiffani Faison got a little love recently from the Boston Globe, which said: "It's time we stop calling her 'Tiffani from Top Chef' . . . she deserves simply to be known as the killer chef she is." For more, click here scroll down to the item on her restaurant, Rocco.

Another returning All-Star, Season 6's Jennifer Carroll, has persuaded mentor Eric Ripert to let her make some changes to the menu at 10 Arts, including branching out from seafood and focusing on more seasonal and locally sourced dishes.

Season 6 finalist Bryan Voltaggio talks about turning down All-Stars, and being mistaken for his brother, in this extended interview.

Season 2 finalist and returning All-Star Marcel Vigneron promoted his new SyFy show, Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, at a recent press gig, making a Harry Potter-inspired "butterbeer" with the use of spherification-ized cream soda. You can read a report and catch a couple videos of his demos here.

And Season 3's Brian Malarkey, who as far as we know was not given the opportunity to turn down All-Stars, has his own new show, Kick Off Cook Off, on TLC. Click here for a piece in which he describes himself as the "poor man's Tom Colicchio," plus video snippet.

TC News and Information 10.18.10

Guest judge for this Wednesday's episode of Just Desserts will be Michael Laiskonis, Executive Pastry Chef of Eric Ripert's Le Bernadin. Read his recap of last week's episode here and more of his thoughts on the show here.

Here's a peak at what Ripert recently cooked up at 10 Arts with his protege, Season 6 finalist and returning All-Star Jennifer Carroll, including suckling pig!


Jennifer Carroll is among the TC contestants who will appear at the Food & Wine All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas Nov. 5-7, hosted by Gail Simmons. Also scheduled are Fabio Viviani, Carla Hall, and Hosea Rosenberg, according to this item.

Michael Voltaggio, Fabio Viviani, and Season 6's Ron Duprat will appear at the Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival Oct. 29-31.

At a recent appearance in Wisconsin, Season 6 Finalist Bryan Voltaggio revealed that he was offered the chance to appear on the upcoming Season 8 All-Star season, but declined, according to this interview.

Season 7 winner Kevin Sbraga recently talked to NPR.

And according to this item, Season 7 finalist and returning All-Star Angelo Sosa's restaurant, Xie Xie, has closed.

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

All Top Chef Interview with Kevin Sbraga

Top Chef DC Champion, Kevin Sbraga talks about his experience on the Bravo show. A highlight: Kevin will use his winnings to open up a new restaurant.

Congratulations Kevin - and thank you!

Click here for the podcast.

Top Recipe - Top Chef DC Episode 14

Watch Michael Voltaggio prepare Top Chef Kevin Sbraga's "Singapore Sling 2010" here.

Find the printable version of the recipe here.

Bravo Exit Interview - Top Chef Kevin Sbraga

Congratulations, Top Chef Kevin Sbraga!

Congratulations to Chef Kevin Sbraga, who last night was crowned Top Chef. A bit of a dark horse throughout the season, Chef Sbraga really delivered during the finale, with perfectly cooked duck and fantastic duck ravioili, excellent seared rouget, and an updated version of the Singapore sling that absolutely wowed the judges:

Gail described Kevin's meal as starting out subtle, but building to an absolute punch at dessert. For that, he won the coveted title of Top Chef and all the riches and fame that go along with that.

This post is only for positive comments regarding Chef Sbraga. If you have anything negative to say about Chef Sbraga or this episode, please leave your comment here.

Top Recipe - Top Chef DC Episode 6

Check out Michael Voltaggio preparing Kevin Sbraga's winning recipe in this Top Recipe video.

Click here for the printable version of Chef Sbraga's veal and tuna with Mediterranean condiments.

Top Chef 7 - Meet Kevin Sbraga

AGE: 31
HOMETOWN: Willingboro, NJ – currently resides in Willingboro, NJ
PROFESSION: Executive Chef, Rat’s Restaurant at the Grounds for Sculpture
CULINARY EDUCATION: BS, Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales in Miami, FL
FAVORITE SIMPLE SPRING RECIPE: Asparagus and morels
A self-proclaimed “beast in the kitchen” with unrivaled knife skills, Kevin is currently the Executive Chef at Rat’s at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, which is managed by Stephen Starr. After earning his BS of Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales in Miami, Kevin went on to become the Chef de Cuisine at The Grill at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel and was included in the 2007 list of “Top 10 Chefs” by Philadelphia Style magazine. In 2008, Kevin served as the Culinary Director of Garces Restaurant Group and was named winner of Best Meat Presentation at Bocuse d’Or USA. This African American, Italian chef declares he’s the “Barack Obama of the cooking game” and wants to prove that “he can.”