Top Chef Kitchens

Ever want to know where Top Cheftestants cook when they're at home? The Washington Post has a feature on three local chefs who all happened to compete on Top Chef: Spike Mendelsohn, Mike Isabella, and Bryan Voltaggio.

Highlights:
Mike Isabella on renovating a kitchen: "Get a good oven because it’s the heart and soul of your kitchen. And don’t worry about getting an oven with a bunch of special features. If you know how to cook, all you need is an on-and-off switch. Besides a good oven, a double sink. You don't want dirty dishes sitting out in the open. It looks messy."

Bryan Voltaggio's favorite kitchen toys: "a Vitamix blender (an investment he highly recommends), a Delonghi espresso machine (a gift from his brother), a Breville toaster oven and, the most recent addition, an Acrobaleno pasta extruder (an extremely fancy pasta maker)."

Click on the names in the first paragraph to read more.

Photo credit: Katherine Frey / The Washington Post

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

Exit Interview with Mike Isabella

Michael Isabella talks about his experience on Top Chef and his restaurant Zaytinya. Thanks Mike!

Click here for the podcast.

Top Chef 6 Bio - Michael Isabella

AGE: 34
HOMETOWN: North Jersey – currently resides in Washington, D.C.
PROFESSION: Executive Chef, Zaytinya
CULINARY EDUCATION: Self-Taught
FAVORITE SIMPLE SUMMER RECIPE: Squash Blossoms

Michael is the Executive Chef at Jose Andres’ nationally-renowned Greek-Mediterranean restaurant, Zaytinya, in Washington, D.C. He honed his culinary skills along the East Coast – first working at a number of fine dining establishments in New York City, then at Alma de Cuba, Washington Square and a host of Stephen Starr restaurants in Philadelphia before landing at Kyma, a top-notch Greek restaurant in Atlanta. There he learned the slight flavors and nuances of Greek cuisine and went on to travel through Greece and parts of the Middle East where he picked up more tricks of the trade. Octopus is his favorite dish to prepare, and the five ingredients he always has on hand are olive oil, sea salt, lemon, dill and chives.