TC News and Information 5.17.11

Let's start today's post with Stephanie Izard, who is doing a special "Dueling Pigs" limited seating dinner May 29 featuring humanely raised pigs of two different heirloom breeds. She'll announce only on Twitter - and soon - when tickets to those 16 seats will be available.

Then there's Carla Hall, who's out and about offering fish recipes as part of a "Go Fish" campaign with CanolaInfo.org. She demos a dish and talks about her new TV show, "The Chew," in this video with local Hawaiian station KITV.

We're glad Carla survived the tornado that shut down the St. Louis airport last month. But she has stirred up a bit of a kerfuffle by becoming a spokesperson for Fancy Feast cat food, which is sponsoring a "flavor creation contest" where cat owners can submit suggestions to be turned into actual catfood - the reverse of what most TC contestants aspire to - as reported here and here.

A kerfuffle of an entirely different color has emerged in Canada, where Food Network Canada is broadcasting the first season of Top Chef to be produced in a country other than the U.S. Toronto Life and HuffPost talk about the blogospheric backlash that ensued after previews aired at the end of last week's TC Canada episode foreshadowed Daniel Boulud and a "classic French-themed challenge" where one contestant would have to cook horse meat (which is apparently legal in Canada, although not in the U.S., and considered something of a specialty in France). The actual episode is airing 5/16/11 as I write this post and autolaunch it for Tuesday morning, although we in the U.S. are barred from legally viewing it. Top Chef Canada's facebook page said this prior to Monday evening's episode:

There has been a great deal of conversation around the use of horse meat in tonight's episode of Top Chef Canada.  The premise of this particular episode is traditional French cuisine and horse meat is selected as one among several other ingredients that represent traditional French foods. We assure our viewers that the horse meat along with all protein featured in this episode was federally approved and meets HACCP standards. . . . What has become clear in the past few days, however, is that there are many varying opinions and claims surrounding the commercialization of horse meat. In light of this, Food Network Canada pledges to investigate the various issues and will carefully consider all the facts around this topic should horse meat be suggested for any future production.

And we thought bugs were hard to stomach.

To end this post on a more light-hearted note, check out this video from CNN, where Suvir Saran and Mary Sue Milliken run into James Oseland for the first time since filming Top Chef Masters 3.


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Bravo Exit Interview - Suvir Saran

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ATC Love to Chef Suvir Saran

Chef Suvir Saran took the opportunity to fly his vegetarian flag in this week's Elimination Challenge. Tasked with creating a low-calorie burger for a contestant on The Biggest Loser, he chose to make a veggie burger that did not satisfy his customer or the critics' cravings for meat.


Chef Saran, we are so sorry to see you leave this early in the competition. Not only are you a great chef, but you are also extremely entertaining and a joy to watch. You will be missed.

This post is only for positive comments about Chef Saran and his dishes. If you have anything negative to say, please do so here.

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TC News and Information 4.20.11

All-Star contestant Spike Mendelsohn will be back on the small screen in October, competing on the next "Next Iron Chef." And he'll be going up against TC Masters 2 winner Marcus Samuelsson and two-time TC Masters contestant Michael Chiarello. Odds, anyone? Grub Street has the full cast lineup.

Not to be outdone, All-Star Fan Favorite Carla Hall will be joining the "The Chew," a daytime talk show devoted to "food from EVERY angle," says the press release. Carla will be part of a "rotating cast" of hosts that includes former Iron Chef Mario Batali, current Iron Chef Michael Symon, "entertaining expert" Clinton Kelly (TLC's "What Not to Wear"), and "nutrition expert" Daphne Oz (who apparently is related to Dr. Oz, also of daytime talk show fame). Eater is all over this story, with the full press release, news of the ire it has inspired in fans of "All My Children" (the daytime soap that will go off the air in September to make room for "The Chew"), Mario Batali's response to the soap backlash, and best of all, a photoshopped image of The View, er, Chew's foodie cast.

Season 4 TC winner Stephanie Izard keeps racking up so many awards it's almost hard to keep track of them. She somehow managed to find time in her crazy schedule to write a blog post about the thrill of being named one of Food + Wine's 10 Best New Chefs of 2011, and it's a a sweet and funny read.

All-Star winner Richard Blais is everywhere these days too. Check out this piece from Yumsugar, where he says he's opening "several restaurants in the Southeast" and confirms he will be part of this year's Top Chef Tour.

The TC Tour got underway last week in St. Louis, and Bravo's website is continuing to add and change details as plans firm up. Click here for the latest and to see if they'll be stopping near you. Season 6's Hector Santiago (who talks about the Tour here) competed against Season 4's Nikki Cascone at the St. Louis stop, which current Masters contestant Celina Tio judged, according to her facebook page.

For an even more impressive Top Chef Midwestern meal (sadly for the rest of us, not part of the Tour), check out this post from blogger Big Shamu at The Karmic Kitchen, who was fortunate enough to taste a six-course meal prepared by Carla Hall and Antonio LoFaso in Kansas City, appropriately dubbed "Girl Power."

In light of the events of last week's Top Chef Masters, here's an interesting piece the LA Times that ran just before that episode aired. Of John Rivera Sedlar (who disappeared from Episode 2 with little fanfare - hence, the return of Hugh Acheson), the LAT says: "As will be seen in an upcoming episode, Sedlar was opening his new restaurant, Playa, at the start of the five-week Top Chef Masters shoot. 'I had everybody working double-time,' Sedlar said. When he saw how the restaurant's marketing campaign was unfolding without his guidance, 'my blood was starting to boil' but he couldn't leave the show to deal with it. That's when he considered fleeing to France." The article also says that Mary Sue Milliken, "clearly a bit more unflappable, decided to leave her restaurants in [business partner and former TCM contestant Susan] Feniger's hands and even moved into the Top Chef Masters contestants' hotel for much of the production, hence her description of it as the 'evil vacation.'" Future episode reveals? A sequesterville hotel? Hmm.

A tip of the hat to my co-blogger here, Minx, who has deduced that this season of Top Chef Masters will conclude June 15, when Rocco DiSpirito's "Dinner Party" prepares to take over the coveted Wednesday night timeslot on Bravo.

And finally, are you as charmed by Suvir Saran as I am? Love his dry wit. Here's a cute piece - and cuter photo - of him. He doesn't seem to be doing a lot of appearances, but if you're near Silicon Valley, you can catch him at the Dining Out for Life fundraiser April 28-29.


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Meet the Masters - Suvir Saran

An accomplished chef, cookbook author, educator, and farmer, Chef Suvir Saran views the kitchen as both a culinary and spiritual haven. Born in New Delhi, India, Saran has nurtured a lifelong passion for the traditional flavors of Indian cooking. As Executive Chef of Dévi, Saran shares the authentic flavors of Indian home the heart of New York City. Devi has consistently received popular and critical acclaim and has earned a three-star rating from New York Magazine and two stars from The New York Times. It is the only Indian restaurant in the U.S. to have earned a Michelin star. A respected culinary authority, Saran is Chairman of Asian Culinary Studies for The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He has also led classes for culinary centers and schools nationwide including the Institute for Culinary Education, Sur La Table; Williams-Sonoma at Time Warner Center, Central Market, and Apron’s Cooking School at Publix. Saran’s approachable and informed style has helped to demystify Indian cuisine in America, and ultimately formed American Masala, his culinary philosophy that celebrates the best of Indian and American cooking. He is a contributor to Food Arts Magazine and has penned several cookbooks including Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2004) with Stephanie Lyness and American Masala: 125 New Classics From My Home Kitchen (Clarkson Potter, 2007) with Raquel Pelzel. Saran is the only U.S.-based contributor to the largest Indian cookbook ever published, India Cookbook, featuring 1,000 recipes (Phaidon Press, 2010). Saran and partner Charlie Burd live and care for American Masala Farm, a nineteenth century farm in upstate New York. Dedicated to the recommendations of the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC) in choosing the farm’s animal population, Saran and Burd exemplify farm-to-table living by providing local restaurants with their heritage breed eggs and goat’s milk.

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