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.

ATC Love to Chef Seth Caro

Your competitors admired your creativity and technique, saying you pushed everyone in the room and were the one to beat. We thought you were reality show gold and are sorry you weren't cleared by the producers to compete further after your anxiety attack.

Chef Caro, we wish nothing but the best for you and your family. And we hope to see more of your culinary creations in the future.

This post is only for positive comments about Chef Caro. If you have anything negative to say about him or his competition, please do so here.

Meet the Pastry Chefs - Seth Caro

AGE: 34
HOMETOWN: Chappaqua, N.Y. – currently resides in New York, N.Y.
PROFESSION: Pastry Chef
CULINARY EDUCATION: Pastry Arts, I.C.E., NY.

Growing up in suburban New York, Seth Caro was pre-disposed to the arts from an early age, gravitating as a child towards music and drawing. Initially entering the kitchen in his teenage years as a short order cook, his serious culinary aspirations took shape only as he developed a fascination with modern pastry arts. Since then, Caro's journey has taken him through an eclectic array of galleys, including those of Nobu,Chanto, Perilla and Atria. Constantly pushing himself to expand his pantry of ingredients and his arsenal of techniques, his cooking remains rooted in a very simple and honest love for food. Seth sums up his culinary viewpoint, "Cooking is a celebration of nature and ofourselves. My best memories are colored with tastes and smells, and now when I cook for someone, I hope to provide them with a few new memories of their own."