TC News and Information 3.14.11

Wanna eat at Restaurant Wars for Season 9? A table is being auctioned off for the episode, to be filmed "sometime in July or August, 2011," reports Eater. Estimated value: $20K, to benefit the Endometriosis Foundation of America.

Season 2 Finalist Sam Talbot’s new restaurant, Imperial No. 9 at the Mondrian Hotel in NYC has finally opened, and the New York Times offers up a lengthy piece in - of all places - its Fashion and Style section. If you’re looking for info about the food he’s cooking, you won’t find much here. What you will find is an assertion by the NYT’s writer that Sam “is among a new breed of celebrity chefs who have coasted into culinary fame, less by grueling dues-paying, and more on their telegenic brand. The group includes the brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, Ludo Lefebvre, Spike Mendelsohn, Sam Mason, Fabio Viviani and Marcel Vigneron.”

Ouch! Both Michael Voltaggio and Top Chef Masters’ Ludo Lefebvre took issue with inclusion on NYT list, and contacted the LA Times with their own rebuttals.

If you are actually interested in Sam's food, Eater has a round-up of early blogger buzz about No. 9, some of it from fans who find the chef a hunk and are perhaps not too discerning in the food department. On the other hand, there seems to be something about those cauliflower fritters . . .

In other news, Richard Blais does baby food, partnering with organic baby food maker Jack’s Harvest. Their first product offering, featuring cauliflower and quinoa, debuted March 1. (What is it with cauliflower?)

We reported previously that Top Chef Master Rick Bayless has opened a spot in Chicago's O'Hare airport. Now comes news that his fellow Masters contestant, pop-up king Ludo Lefebvre may open a "chicken shack" at LAX.

Starting tomorrow, Season 6’s Preeti Mistry launches a weekday lunch pop-up in San Francisco called Juhu Beach Club featuring Indian street food, according to this item.

Floyd Cardoz of the upcoming Top Chef Masters 3 is slated to helm a new Danny Meyer restaurant in NYC to open near the end of the year, according to NYT and Grub Street.

Finally, although I haven't read anything official about this year's traveling Top Chef road show yet, Season 6's Hector Santiago posted on facebook: "TC 2011 tour starts in ST. Louis , on April 15,c you there Y'all ...their will b quick fire challenges this time aroud , fun fun ;)" Let us know if you hear about the Top Chef Tour coming to your city.

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 11.9.10

Wow! Stephanie Izard, winner and Fan Favorite of Top Chef Season 4, has racked up some serious wins in the 2010 Eater Awards, including being voted Chef of the Year: National. Stephanie and her new restaurant, The Girl and the Goat, also pretty much swept the Chicago categories, taking Chef of the Year, Restaurant of the Year, and So Hot, Right Now awards for the Windy City.

But wait, there’s more. Top Chef Masters contestant Ludo Lefebvre won for Chef of the Year: Los Angeles (beating out TC Season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio), as well as for Concept of the Year, for his LudoBites pop-up (which we offered you a glimpse of here). TC Masters Season 2 winner Marcus Samuelsson took the Fameball of the Year award (beating out TC Season 4’s Spike Mendelsohn). And judge Eric Ripert was voted Television Personality of the Year, in a category where four of the five nominees have Top Chef connections – the others: judge Anthony Bourdain, TC Masters contestant Susur Lee, and even TC Just Desserts contestant Seth Caro. Hey, Eater’s readers/voters may include an atypically high percentage of Top Chef fans, but you gotta love a contest with a sense of humor.

And if that’s not enough crazy for you, Bravo is said to be adding another cooking reality show to its line-up, featuring TC judge Rocco DiSpirito. Rocco attempts to explain how his Rocco’s Dinner Party won’t be just another TC spin-off here. Hmmm. Could be interesting to see what Rocco’s learned about making television since The Restaurant.

In other competition news, TC Masters contestant Tim Love bested Mario Batali and Guy Fieri in the Asphalt Challenge benefit at the Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth. Apparently some trash talk was involved.

Blogger's Eye View

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

Today I wanted to share some blogger perspectives on tasting Top Chefs' food, starting with this post about Top Chef Masters contestant Ludo Lefebvre's Ludo Bites from Southern California-based blogger Kevin of kevinEats, who ate at the current sixth iteration of Ludo's "pop-up" L.A. restaurant on opening night. Click on over for Kevin's take - and stellar photos - of dishes including this Vietnamese-inspired hamachi sashimi with lotus root, jicama and papaya.

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

And this bruleed marinated mackerel with baby leeks and purslane.

Photo courtesy of kevinEats.com

For a unique perspective on Top Chef Season 6 finalist and Fan Favorite Kevin Gillespie's Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, check out this report from Sierra of forkheartknife - which is the name not only of her blog but also of her recently opened catering business and part-time restaurant in Cincinnati.

She was starstruck to find Kevin Gillespie eating brunch in her fledgling restaurant during his visit to attend International Bacon Day festivities and jumped at the chance to try his cooking on a recent trip to Atlanta. Like many a chef, she concentrated on the flavors and experience (rather than photography), but she brought back a lot of great notes to share.

Finally, have you ever wondered about those Schwan's Home Service meals created by the Top Chef contestants? Chicago blogger Christina of Dinner at Christina's tried out a couple in her own kitchen.

Photo courtesy of dinneratchristinas.com

See what she thought of the Schwan's frozen meals based on Kevin Gillespie's polenta and meatballs (which won him a Season 6 Quickfire) here and Season 7's Ed Cotton's gnocchi with mushrooms, asparagus, snap peas and edamame here.

Photo courtesy of dinneratchristinas.com

TC News & Information

Television Without Pity takes a look at the upcoming Top Chef Las Vegas in this video.

Creative Loafing certainly doesn't loaf when it comes to getting their Top Chef Masters podcast up. You can find it here

TC Masters' Anita Lo recently got back from a hunting trip in northern China....

Season 4 cheftestant Brian Malarkey is leaving Oceanaire. Wonder if their recent Chapter 11 filing had anything to do with it?

Michael Voltaggio packed them in at his stint at LA's Breadbar this week. Top Chef 6 buzz, or is he really that fabulous? We'll find out starting in a few weeks.

Speaking of Breadbar, here's a profile of TCM's Ludo Lefebvre, whose Ludo Bites occupies the Breadbar space.

TC News & Information

Is TCM's Ludo Lefebvre annoying?

Diana Takes a Bite describes her experience at Lefebvre's restaurant, Ludo Bites.

Eater LA has breaking news about TC5's Stefan Richter's new restaurant.

Boulder Restaurant Examiner takes a look into the kitchen of chef Lachlan MacKinnon Patterson.

Here's a Miami Herald review of Top Chef Masters.

TC5's Gene Villiatora is popping up again in this interview.

YumSugar spoke to TC5 victor Hosea Rosenberg at the recent Aspen Food & Wine Festival.

Bake a pie for the NY Theatre Experiment! TC1s Dave Martin will be a guest judge, along with Project Runway's Kara Janx. Details here.

Here's an interview with TC2 hottie Sam Talbot.

Bio - Ludo Lefebvre

After training in Paris for 13 years at Restaurant L’Esperance with Marc Meneau, Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, Arpege with Alain Passard and Le Grande Vefour with Guy Martin, Lefebvre moved to Los Angeles to work at L’Orangerie. He was promoted to head chef at the age of 25 and made L’Orangerie one of the top-rated restaurants in California, receiving the Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre then moved on to Bastide where he also received the prestigious Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre was a nominee for the James Beard Foundation “Rising Chef Award” in 2001 and released his first cookbook, "CRAVE, a Feast of the Five Senses" in 2005. Lefebvre recently was tapped by the Tao Group to create the menu for LAVO in Las Vegas and is now back in Los Angeles to open Ludo Bites in the Spring of 2009. He currently resides in California with his wife, Kristine.