Video Monday - Avocado Recipes with the Too Hot Tamales

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Top Chef Judge Tom Colicchio Jumps Ship, Talks Family, and Contributes to Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Calm down.Tom isn’t leaving Top Chef anytime soon, as far as we know. But this report says he has changed talent management agencies “hoping to build an empire along the lines of Rachel [sic] Ray’s” (and there is hidden access to Tom's Century City restaurant). Hmmm.

Meanwhile, TC Masters’ Jonathan Waxman hosted a recent NYC fundraiser for Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a charity dedicated to fighting childhood cancer, which brought out a slew of folks who’ve appeared on Top Chef, including Colicchio, Marcus Samuelsson, Susan Feniger, Tim Love, and Tony Mantuano, and other chefly luminaries. Check out this great video for more about why chefs don’t say no to Waxman.

In conjunction with the Alex’s Lemonade Stand event, the frequently stern TC judge opens up about Colicchio family life and his three sons in this interview.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

All Top Chef Mail Box Monday

Here's a great interview with the Moto boys, who cooked at the James Beard House last week.

Curious about Top Chef Masters Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger's new sitcom? Read more here.

Looking for a Christmas gift for yourself or another Top Chef friend? Check out this piece about judge Hugh Acheson's new cookbook, about how to start out Canadian and end up in the South.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Top Chef News, Shoes, and Shows

Zac Young of Just Desserts 1 at the James Beard Foundation annual gala and auction: “I promised if the bidding went high enough, I'd cook in Gail's shoes. It did and La Simmons handed over the goods.”

We mentioned yesterday that we spotted TC: Texas contestant Nyesha Arrington on last Sunday’s “sneak peak” at the new Food Network show, Chef Hunters. Now comes word TC Masters Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger will be looking to hire an executive chef for their restaurant Border Grill on the show’s official premiere this Thursday night at 10:00 Eastern.

And if that’s not enough, there’s a 1980s-era sit-com in the works based on Too Hot Tamales Mary Sue and Susan’s long-standing friendship and business partnership (and there's that husband they have in common . . .)

Missing Anthony Bourdain as a judge on the new season of Top Chef? Never fear. His new show, The Layover, premieres on the Travel Channel Monday, Nov. 21. Click here for video of his segment this week on Letterman, where he explains how The Layover is different from No Reservations, and why “the smell of failure is French toast.”

Bourdain will also make an appearance, as it were, on The Simpsons this Sunday (Nov. 13 at 8:00 Eastern on Fox), in which Marge becomes, yes, a food blogger. Grub Street has a great interview with the show’s executive producer about the episode (don’t miss the slideshow).

Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 1.09.11

"Top Chef "and TC judge Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" have been nominated for Producers Guild of America awards (in separate categories).

Bravo grand fromage Andy Cohen gets a lengthy write-up in the New York Times.

Congrats to Season 4's Nikki Cascone on the birth of her son, and on her newly opened NYC restaurant, Octavia's Porch. Nikki talks about her "global Jewish" Lower East Side restaurant here.

For those of you who've been thinking Mike Isabella looks pudgier on All-Stars than he did back in Season 6, here's what he has to say.

Richard Blais was working the Bravo stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. You can see him demonstrate how to make "popcorn-sicles" in this video.

Blais is also cooking a James Bond-themed Valentine’s Day dinner for the Nashville Film Festival. Tickets are, um, $2,500 per couple or $8,000 a table.

Or you could attend this January 11 dinner in Denver prepared by Hosea Rosenberg for a mere $75 per person.

Staying in and cooking at home during the lean, chilly winter months? Chicagoan Dale Levitski offers suggestions on that topic and more in this new interview.

And you still have until January 31 to enter a fish taco recipe in the Wild Alaska fish taco competition, which Top Chef Masters contestant Susan Feniger talks about in this podcast.

Casey Thompson may have been PYKAG'd last week, but her restaurant, Brownstone, made Eater's "Heat Map" of 9 top Dallas restaurants to eat at "right now." You can also read Casey's own take on the episode that led to her departure on her blog.

TC News and Information 11.8.10

TC6 finalist and Fan Fave Kevin Gillespie has two cookbooks in the works with publisher Andrews & McMeel. Way to go, Kevin!

Speaking of Fan Favorite, the polls are now open at Bravo.com to vote for Top Chef: Just Desserts Fan Fave.

Here's a great new interview with judge Gail Simmons.

It's official - TC7's Angelo Sosa's winning short ribs are set to launch into space, and NASA has the details.

For something a little more down-home, check out the Apple Cranberry Frangipane Tart Season 5's Carla Hall shared with NPR. "All it is is almonds and sugar and butter, oh my!" she says.

Yigit Pura may not have made it into the top 3 on last week's episode of Just Desserts, but he managed to claim a spot inside The Bullseye on Entertainment Weekly.

And here's a fun contest, the 1st Ever Alaska Wild Fish Taco Contest. The winner gets to hang out with the Too Hot Tamales, TC Masters contestant Susan Feniger and her long-time business partner, Mary Sue Milliken, on their taco truck making your winning dish! Even if you're not thinking of submitting an entry, click through to the animated promo - it's a hoot!

TC News and Information 10.25.10

Guess who can add "Whole Pig Tent Curator" to his resume? That would be TC Season 6 finalist Kevin Gillespie, who will assume the role at Atlanta's inaugural Food and Wine Festival next May 19-22. Also slated for the fest are TC Masters contestants Tim Love and John Besh. Road trip, anyone?

Kevin also "headlined" Taste of Atlanta this weekend. We'd love to hear from any of our readers who attend.

If you can drag yourself away from Top Chef Just Desserts Wednesday and are in the area, check out the gig TC Masters contestant Susan Feniger is doing for the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

Looks like the Project Dinner Table benefit TC Masters contestant Rick Moonen is participating in Oct. 30 has sold out, but for your armchair traveling/salivating pleasure, here's the menu:

• Passed canapés: potato blintz with hot smoked sturgeon and oscetra caviar; Kushi oysters with green apple mignonette, frozen horseradish and duck pastrami with poached quince and rye crumble
• First course: sugar pumpkin soup, peekytoe crab and toasted hazelnut
• Second course: Fuji apple salad, aged white cheddar, bitter greens and maple vinaigrette
• Third course: Whole roasted Sunburst Farms Rainbow Trout, Brussel sprouts and double smoked bacon
• Fourth course: grilled Duroc pork chops, Seckel pears, turnips and grain mustard
• Fifth course: pistachio French toast, coffee ice cream and golden raisin sauce

In Connecticut Nov. 5-7, you can catch Tom Colicchio, TC Masters contestant Susur Lee, and TC Season 3 contestant Casey Thompson at the Foxwoods Food and Wine Festival. The foodie event takes place at the Foxwoods Casino and Resort on Mashantucket Pequot tribal land - if you go, don't miss the awesome Native American museum that has been built with gambling dollars. I think Tom Colicchio and his young son would enjoy it :)

Now here's an event outside the norm from what I typically see wrangling the old ATC mailbox. The Astor Center in NYC will host “The Alchemy of Taste and Smell” November 12-13. From the press release: “Cooking is alchemy: the art of transforming raw materials into a perfected form. Cooking fuses taste and smell, emotion and memory, culture and nature. The work of chefs today is much discussed, but the process by which new dishes and flavor combinations are created remains mysterious. This event will explore creativity in cooking, the composite nature of flavors and the importance of aroma in food and drink.” Capping off the event is a seven-course collaborative dinner “exploring new flavor combinations and making explicit the connection between what we smell and what we taste. For instance, a cucumber/melon salad served on a plate scented with mint essence, as a sensory sleight of hand where by the end of the dish the diner thinks that they have eaten the herb, even though they have only smelled it.” Just Desserts judge Johnny Iuzzini, TC Masters contenders Wylie Dufresne and Nils Noren, and other big names in the food world, including David Chang and Harold McGee, are among the participants. Click here for more details.

Perfectly Delish, Episode 3

Free Kaya Toast at STREET!

Last night, Susan Feniger's run on Top Chef Masters came to a close, after winning $32,500 for her favorite charity, Scleroderma Research Foundation. She lost with Kaya Toast, one of the most popular dishes at Susan Feniger's STREET. Following the loss, Susan decided to offer free Kaya Toast (one per party) from 5 to 7pm at STREET each day from now through Wed, June 2 for anyone who says the secret words "Pack Your Knives." She hopes that those who try Kaya Toast will go to www.eatatstreet.com to share their opinion about the traditional Singapore hangover recipe.

Top Chef Masters - Perfectly Delish

There's a new video series on BravoTV.com called "Perfectly Delish," starring Top Chef Masters finalist Susan Feniger and Top Chef season 2 cheftestant Betty Fraser. So far, only two episodes are available and I can't seem to get the embed codes to work for either of them, but they're worth a gander.

Will post them here when I can.

Congratulations, Chef Susan Feniger!

This week was Chef Feniger's time to shine, and that she did by winning both the Quickfire and the Elimination Challenges. The only woman left in the competition, she showed the boys that she can keep up with and surpass them all. Way to go!

Her dishes were both full of flavor, and even though the QF chicken dish wasn't pretty, taste is what really counted with the judges. As for her skirt steak tacos, was there really any doubt she could win a tailgate party contest with those beauties?

Congrats, Chef. Keep up the good work and we'll see you in the finale (fingers crossed).

This post is only for positive comments about Chef Feniger's work. If you have anything negative to say about her or her competition, please do so here.

Congratulations Chefs Feniger and Mantuano!

Congrats to Chef Susan Feniger and Tony Mantuano for winning the first two slots in the Top Chef Masters finale! You worked surprisingly well as a team (as if two consummate professionals working well together should surprise anyone) and your spicy pepper shrimp and pasta with truffles were well-received by both the judges and the couples.

Wouldn't you love to see these two compete every week? I know I would!

This post is for positive comments only. If you have anything negative to say about Chefs Feniger or Mantuano, or any of their competitors, please do so here.

Video du Jour - Kitchen Tour with Susan Feniger

Top Chef Masters 2 - Meet Susan Feniger

Susan Feniger is well known to Angeleno’s as one half of the popular "Too Hot Tamales" along with her longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken. Almost 30 years ago, the two chefs opened CITY restaurant, becoming an instant success story. Next came Border Grill in Santa Monica, California and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and then the Latin themed Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles and the Border Grill Truck.

With the opening of Susan Feniger’s STREET in Hollywood in 2009, the celebrated chef launched her first solo venture. Feniger’s dream of creating a unique restaurant inspired by the authentic flavors of street food was fulfilled, creating a spontaneous love story enjoyed by foodies and the media alike. A veteran of 396 episodes of "Too Hot Tamales" and "Tamales World Tour" series, Feniger also co-authored five cookbooks with Milliken--City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cantina, Cooking with Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking for Dummies. She has been on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation for 17 years, spearheading a mission to find a cure for scleroderma, a life-threatening and degenerative illness, by funding and facilitating the most promising, highest quality research, as well as placing the disease and the need for a cure in the public eye. Feniger also serves on the board of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

TC News & Information 3.1.2010

The Guardian UK is giving away a dinner with Top Chef Masters judge Jay Rayner. Click here for more information and to enter.

LAist has an interview with Top Chef Masters competitor Susan Feniger.

Top Chef season 1 host Katie Lee and season 5's Fabio Viviani will serve as hosts and mentors of the Almost Famous Chef Competition, sponsored by S. Pellegrino. Top Chef Masters competitor Rick Moonen will serve as one of the judges. More info can be found here.

The CIA has a series of podcasts called Insight from the Inside, one of which features Top Chef season 2 winner Ilan Hall and season 3 winner Hung Huynh. Another features TC season 4 guest judge, hottie pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini. You'll need iTunes to access the podcasts. The listing is here.