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 Video Sunday 4.10.11

In case you missed them, or want another taste, the All-Stars Reunion repeats at 11:00 a.m. Eastern today on Bravo, followed by a repeat of the Top Chef Masters Season 3 premiere at noon EDT.

Now that the All-Stars Season is over, Bravo has released some extended behind-the-scenes videos I found fascinating, starting with Behind the Scenes with the AD, which spotlights Team Hogan, who make a lot happen that we don’t usually get to see. (You can also find out what “8008” is code for.)

How Real Is Restaurant Wars has some great footage of the logistics behind this Season’s RW episode, including some face time for Season 3 competitor Sandee Birdsong, who is now part of the TC culinary production team. Yikes, one RW team’s oven caught on fire this season without it ever making it to air.

There’s also a great extended interview with Dale Talde and a tour of the All-Stars Top Chef house.

All-Star winner Richard Blais reveals his plans to open a “pig-centric hot dog charcuterie gastropub” in Atlanta and a small little pop-up restaurant in NYC on the Lower East Side, in this video interview from Cooking With Caitlin at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago.

And here’s a video of Richard’s sous-vide demo from the Home + Housewares Show via EatnListen.

You can also catch up with Stephanie Izard via NBC Chicago. Not only was she named one of Food + Wine’s 10 Best New Chefs last week, she has two cookbooks and a new restaurant in the works, and is a James Beard Finalist.

And if you're jonesing fror Spring, check out this video of Dale Levitski's new brunch at Sprout via ABC Chicago.

Posted on AllTopChef.com