Cooking and Dining, Top Chef-style

Calling all Top Chef fans!

Have you dined in a restaurant manned by a Top Cheftestant from any of the three shows? Have you tried cooking any Top Chef recipes at home, either from the show itself or from a cookbook written by one of the cheftestants? If the answer to either question is "yes," we'd like to know! If you're willing to write about your experience - with photos - we'd love to feature your post here on All Top Chef! If you're a blogger, it would give your blog some extra exposure, and if not, it might just be fun to share.

If you'd like to participate, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com and let us know!

Posted on AllTopChef.com

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - FLiP

You didn't think that self-appointed "giant Top Chef dork" Jordan Baker would go to Atlanta and not pay a visit to Richard Blais' burger joint, FLiP, did you?

I had a couple of reasons for wanting to go to FLiP Burger Boutique (or however it's capitalized) while we were in Atlanta. The first is, of course, because I'm a giant Top Chef dork. . . or, if you want to be more charitable about it, I've invested so much time in watching that goddamn show that I love getting the chance to actually eat food made/designed/what have you by the people whose cooking skills I've previously had to judge just from sight. It's the real frustration of the show, actually. You can pretty much tell if someone's clothes are well designed, if their hair styling skills are on par, or if their modelling is fierce just from visual cues. Food is a much trickier proposition to discuss if you don't have the chance to smell, touch, and taste it.

The second is because if you're going to be attending a wedding with an open bar later in the day, it's a good idea to lay down a nice layer of grease and salt to soak up the booze. And let's give FLiP credit where it's due -- I managed to put back three glasses of wine and a large-ish vodka and seltzer, and not be anywhere near as think as you drunk I am.

And the third is because. . . um, hello -- burgers. Shakes. Fries. I love them.

So to begin with, the space is beautiful. It's huge, and open, and everything is very crisp and white, but not in a way that feels creepy or sterile. There's a long, gorgeous bar along one wall, and a view into the kitchen area along the wall that's perpendicular to that. They've managed to work in a lot of seating without it feeling cramped (although that might change if they were at capacity), and seriously, they have some sort of magical Zen light bulbs or something. I felt very much at peace the entire time I was there.

We got there at around 2:30 or thereabouts on Friday afternoon, and had no problem getting a table. So we settled in and perused the menu, which is really extensive. It was one of those situations where you actually feel like you have too many choices, and there's no way you can possibly make a selection. Do I want a burger? A bacon cheeseburger? A $39 A-5 burger made with Kobe beef? Do I want a venison burger? A chorizo burger? AN OSSOBUCO BURGER???? And what about the shake? Krispy Kreme? Foie Gras? Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow?

Really, I wanted them all.

We came up with a game plan for sharing sides and so forth, and placed our order. First the shakes:

Clockwise from top left, we have the Turtle Shake, the Banana Pudding Shake, the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow Shake, and the Coffee and Donut Shake.

I had the Coffee and Donut shake, and it was good. It had a very strong flavor of nutmeg and cinnamon, like one of the cinnamon powdered donuts at Dunkin' Donuts. There wasn't really a definite "coffee" flavor to it, though, more of a pervasive sense of. . .burny-ness? Not in a bad way, though, more like when you go to your grandpa's house and he offers you a cup of coffee, and then reheats it for you from the pot he made that morning that's been sitting around for awhile.

And I realize that's probably a lot of people's definition of burny "in a bad way," but you have to think of it in terms of sense memory. Yes, you're getting that burny, plethy taste of grandpa coffee, but it doesn't raise a "pleh, pleh! Burny!" reaction. Instead, it raises an "aw, grandpa coffee!" reaction. And the texture was good, which is always an important factor with any milk shake.

The other shakes got overwhelmingly positive reviews (I'll leave it to the shake drinkers to comment on their specific shakes if they wish), although the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow was, according to its drinker, super rich, and she couldn't finish it (she didn't leave it, though -- so it was good enough that even if unfinishable in one seating, it was worth taking home with you).

For sides, we decided to order three and share so that we'd get to taste both their basics --French Fries and Onion Rings -- and one of their more exotic offerings:

So here we have (clockwise from the top, and very blurry) Vodka Battered Onion Rings with Beer Honey Mustard, Panko & Parmesan Zucchini Fries with Gremolata Mayo, and Hand Cut French Fries with Smoked Mayo and Ketchup.

The fries were good. There's not much more you can say about them than that -- they're fries. They had an appropriate amount of grease and salt, in that both were present but not overwhelming. The smoked mayonnaise, however, was DELICIOUS. I would like to soak in a vat with it.

The vodka battered onion rings were great. The batter was light and crisp and delicious, and managed not to overwhelm the onion. And -- AND -- I'll never understand how they managed this, but they seem to have invented THE ONLY ONION RING IN WORLD HISTORY that you can bite a small piece out of without accidentally pulling the whole long, unbroken string of onion out with it. Seriously, folks: I have eaten some onion rings in my life, and I've never seen this happen before. I have to assume that it has something to do with the vodka batter, which allows the onion to stay crispy and breakable instead of becoming a long, limp, overfried string.

The zucchini fries, though, were the true star. The Parmesan and panko breading was flaky and full of flavor, and the the zucchini was melt-in-your-mouth and had a delicious lemony taste. So good.

I will say, though, that the condiments with the rings and zucchini fries were kind of negligible. We'd forgotten what they were by the time our order arrived, and instead of being identifiable as "beer honey mustard" and "gremolatta mayo," we could only identify them as "mayo with. . .something sweet?" and "a . . .somewhat different sweet mayo?" You could tell which the ketchup was, of course, and the smoked mayo was identifiable by virtue of its deliciousness, but the other two kind of blended together.

And then it was time for our burgers. One person ordered the Farm: Organic Grass-Fed Beef, Smoked Mayo, Heirloom Tomato, Local Lettuce, Grilled Vidalia Onion, B&B Pickles:

One got the Bacon & Cheese: Onion, Lettuce, Tomato, House-Made Pickles, Benton's Bacon, American Cheese, Ketchup, FLiP Sauce:



And two of us got the Butcher's Cut: Caramelized Onion, Blue Cheese, Red Wine Jam:



I was in the last group. I chose this burger both because I'm still in the throes of my newfound love affair with blue cheese, and because even before we'd arrived at the restaurant, I'd had a running comparison going between FLiP and Good Stuff Eatery, and my most frequent order at Good Stuff of late has been the President Obama burger, which has applewood smoked bacon, bleu cheese, and red onion marmalade. So I thought going with a similar burger at FLiP would give me the best basis for making an educated comparison between the two.

On the one hand, as with the salad I had at Woodfire Grill, I kind of wish I'd ordered something more out of the ordinary. I eat burgers with blue cheese on the regular, but how often do I get the chance to have a freaking Ossobuco burger? So I think at some point, I'm due for a return visit so I can check out the more unusual options.

(Fortunately, I hear they're due in DC later this year, so I should get that chance sooner rather than later

On the other hand . . .it was a good burger. It was so juicy that as I bit into it, I felt something trickle down my hands, and thought I was losing my condiments. But no -- it was just delicious, juicy, burger JOOS. The blue cheese flavor was delicate and not overwhelming, and the caramelized onions and red wine jam mingled beautifully.

But on the third hand (yes, I have three hands. Shut up). ..

. . oh, God, it's going to kill me to say this. . .

On the third hand. . .it wasn't nearly as good as Good Stuff.

SIGH.

If you've been here for more than twenty minutes, you know how much it ABSOLUTELY KILLS ME TO SAY THAT. My stance for many, many years now has been that Richard is a good, funny, talented guy who wears pink crocs and has a female wife and an adorable baby (who is probably not so much a baby anymore, but whatever. Cheftestants remain frozen in time in the phase of life they were in during their season as far as I'm concerned).

Spike, despite being a nice guy in real life who's shown remarkable restraint in never serving me a beet-burger with a generous helping of phlegm sauce (to my knowledge), by comparison to Richard remains a hat wearing douchebag with a manky pube beard.

>But when I bite into a burger at Good Stuff, my eyes close involuntarily, and I find myself thinking "I could be ok never having sex again as long as I got to eat this burger once every two months."

And at FLiP burger, my eyes remained open, and I found myself thinking "this is good, but. . ."

Curse you, Spike. Curse you, and your hats, and your delicious onion marmalade.

Clearly the only real way to resolve this problem is to have a side-by-side taste test when FLiP comes to DC. Blind tasting. Two burgers, two shake flavors, and two sides each. Bring your best game. And --should the chefs be interested -- I will gladly offer my services for judging this event. Just give me two week's notice so I can fast for a bit in preparation.

Some final things I'll say about our visit: one, we don't know what the FLiP sauce on the Bacon & Cheese burger is. We're hoping it's something like the special sauce at Burger Garden in the Babysitters Club books where they go to Sea City.

Two: while we all liked our burgers, at least one of the other two people who've eaten at Good Stuff shared my opinion. But we agreed that FLiP definitely won on sides (or at least won on the number of options and the onion rings; tied on the fries and got bonus points for the amazing zucchini fries), and that it was probably about a draw on shakes, especially if you took the variety FLiP offers into account. And FLiP COMPLETELY trounces Good Stuff in terms of atmosphere. It's not that there's anything wrong with Good Stuff's space, it's just that there's so much that's SO RIGHT about FLiP's. Also, table service > counter service, any day of the week.

Again: blind taste test. Me. Blais. Spike. Only way to settle this.

Finally: the most exciting part of the visit (for me, at least) was the fact that WE SAW RICHARD. He was visible through the cut-away into the kitchen for a very brief period of time, wearing a baseball cap so I can't give you a faux-hawk status update.

And my immediate instinct was to go bounding across the room, and hug him, and show him a picture I may or may not have saved on my camera, while screaming "we have friends in common! We have friends in common!!!"

But I didn't. I don't know if it was the incredibly Zen lighting that had me mellowed out, or the fact that I'm getting slightly less inclined to make an ass of myself in front of famous and famous-ish people as I get older (I also managed to have a 7 minute conversation with a legendary soap actress this weekend without actually licking her, so that's progress. And that was after the three glasses of wine [but before the vodka]), but I remained in my seat. My calves flexed a little, in preparation for bounding and embracing, but my ass remained firmly planted.

So for now, my collection of pictures of me stalking Top Chef contestants remains frozen at two. Sigh. Yet another reason this blind taste test is A COMPLETELY GOOD AND NECESSARY IDEA.

You know where to find me, boys.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Woodfire Grill

The lovely and talented Jordan Baker shares her experience dining at Kevin Gillespie's Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. Yum!

When I realized I'd be going to a wedding in Atlanta in late March, the first thing I did was check the Braves schedule to see if they'd be back in town from Spring Training yet, and I could check another ballpark off my lifetime list.

Once I got over the disappointment at the fact that alas, it was not to be, the second thing I did was to e-mail the other people I knew who'd be going, and ask something along the lines of "who wants to watch me eat a great deal of food shortly before I try to strap myself into a vintage silk-chiffon cocktail dress?"

The reaction to that was more positive than you might expect. And so the third thing I did was to see if and when I could get a reservation at Woodfire Grill.

That's right, penguins. I ate at the home of the Mushroom Kingdom's own burly woodchopping tree dweller, Kevin.

I was super excited to eat at Kevin's restaurant because pork is both of our jams (which just makes me want to sing "oh hot damn, pork is our jam. . ." but I'll spare you), and because despite being apparently the only person in America who saw through the "Oh-em-GEE, Michael is TEH EVUL" nonsense and was super glad that he won, I liked Kevin. I liked his ideas about food -- all food, not just pork -- and I liked the way his dishes looked and sounded.

And after all the money I've thrown Spike's way, I like having the opportunity to support Cheftestants I didn't spend several months calling a variety of obscene and gynecologically oriented nicknames.

So we ate there on Thursday night, but the actual story of eating there starts on Wednesday morning. I was sitting in my office, and my cell phone rang. It was Woodfire Grill, confirming my reservation. "And does your party have any food restrictions?" the woman on the other end of the phone asked.

I blinked. "Yes," I said. "I'm highly allergic to beets."

"Beets?"

"Beets."

"Hm," she said. "I'm glad you told us that, because there are definitely beets on our menu."

I was a little perturbed, because as far as I knew, we hadn't signed on for any sort of preset menu or anything. But I shook it off, and went about my day.

We got to the restaurant about ten minutes before our reservation, despite the utter cluelessness of our cabbie (who not only didn't know where the restaurant was, but drove right past it despite my yelling " back there! It's back there!!!"), and were seated in a charming, sunlit lounge area to enjoy a beverage while we waited.

After a bit, we were led into the main dining room. Our table was in the same section of the restaurant as the huge woodfire grill, and I had a great view of both the action there and the doors to the main kitchen.

So after we'd settled in, the waiter asked "I understand we have a beet allergy this evening?" I raised my hand, and he pointed out all the dishes on the menu that involved beets, and assured me that if we opted for the 5 course tasting menu, they could adjust it to accommodate my need for beet-less-ness. "And our featured amuse bouche currently includes beets, but the chef has an alternative option designed for you."

After much conferring, we decided against the tasting menu, and placed our orders. Shortly thereafter, we received our amuses: the aforementioned Beet Two Ways and my super special just for me so they wouldn't have to call the EMT's one, which involved White Grapefruit and Avocado.

White grapefruit and avocado are two of my favorite things, and the amuse was perfect -- a bright, refreshing little awakening in the mouth. My companion ate his beets quickly so I wouldn't get psychosomatic anaphylaxis just from having them near me, and assured me they were delightful.

For our first courses, my companion had the Smoked Halibut Chowder with Fingerling Potatoes, Dried Corn, and Oregano. The taste I had was really delicious -- and I'm not much of a halibut fan -- great smoky flavor with hints of corn and no aggressive fishy taste.

I ordered the Local Baby Mixed Lettuce Salad with Black Pepper Strawberry Vinaigrette, Feta Cheese, and Berton's Bacon. And when it came out, I broke one of my own commandments: thou shalt not be that douche who takes pictures of all the courses at a nice restaurant.

I just couldn't resist the beautiful strip of bacon draped seductively over the top of all those delicious greens.

And then the picture didn't even capture the beauty of the salad, because I zoomed too quickly. And because the food gods were punishing me for being that douche.

(You should read this post at Alinea at Home, by the way, so you can understand why I'm having even more of a crise de conscience than I normally would about doing something so gauche).

Anyway. The salad, however ineptly photographed, was delicious. But -- as I'm so fond of saying about things on various reality shows -- it's great, but it's not original. In retrospect, I kind of regret ordering something so standard when I could've gone for a more adventurous/unusual.

Since it's hard to get the douche cat back in the bag once he's out, I then continued subtly taking one picture of each dish. Because I was trying to be unobtrusive about my douchiness, I didn't take a whole lot of time in set up, so some of the dishes -- particularly the ones I ate -- are a bit on the blurry side.

Like, for example, my second course, the Pan Roasted Diver Scallop on Tarragon Glazed Baby Carrots with Arugula Broccoli Puree and Baby Radish Brown Butter.


I'm going to say "YUM!!!" and you should imagine it echoing serenely across the hills like the "Yum!" in the Red Robin commercials. SO GOOD. The scallop had an absolutely beautiful texture, and I can't even begin to describe the arugula broccoli puree. It was just a magnificently smooth, rich taste that complimented the scallop and carrots beautifully.

In fact, I'd be hard pressed to imagine anything better. . . if I hadn't had a bite of it with the same course. My companion had the wisdom to order the Pan Seared Artisan Foie Gras with Spiced Strawberry Syrup, Roasted Strawberries, White Chocolate, Avocado, and Pecan Sandies.

A. MA. ZING. The contrast between the crisp cookie and the smooth foie was just incredible, and the flavors. . .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I just can't even begin. I want foie with strawberries every day of the week. I don't care how fat I get, or how many geese or migrant farmers working in the strawberry fields have to suffer.

(It's also when I mostly stopped feeling bad about the whole picture taking issue for awhile. My kitchen is green and red, and I kind of want to blow up that foie picture and frame it and hang it on my wall. At the same time, though, I realized that if word got back to the kitchen that some chick who was allergic to beets was taking pictures and had transcribed her party's order into a moleskine notebook, I was kind of putting a target on my back. There are probably some Cheftestants out there who would put two and two together on that one, and serve me a dish of ground beets with a side of sulfa drugs)

Because one of the things Kevin and I share is pork being our jam (it keeps us partyin' to the a.m.), for my third course I ordered the Wood Grilled Berkshire Pork Loin, Melted Leeks, Fennel Pollen, Roasted Local Baby Corn, Toasted Almonds, and Fig Balsamic. 

Otherwise known as the dish that truly proved that pork is, in fact, Kevin's jam. And mine. The meat was beautifully done, and the leeks were insanely delicious. The baby corn was incredibly tender. We both agreed that this was the winner of the main courses, and a close second to the foie in the whole evening.

Also delicious, though, was my companion's Wood Grilled Painted Hills Beef Striploin with Creamed Brussels Sprouts, Braised California Morels, and Horseradish Mustard Beurre Fondue.

The beef was delicious, but the creamed Brussels sprouts were just fucking amazing. In the last year, I've learned to like a bunch of foods my former-picky-child-self used to turn her nose up at, and Brussels sprouts are one of them. And creamed Brussels sprouts can't possibly be Rocket Surgery, and they were so good that I'm now determined to figure out how to make them myself.

Stuffed almost to the gills, we still couldn't pass up the dessert menu. Because we're piggies. Horrible, horrible, greedy little piggies. And, in my case, because one of the options was a Lemon Meringue Tart with Vanilla Grapefruit Confit, Basil Syrup and Lemon Chip.

I love lemons, and I love basil, and I love, LOVE, LOVE white grapefruit (mostly because I grew up with two trees full of 'em in my back yard, and consider them the legit grapefruit. I'm just not as cool with their weird pinky brethren). And this was delicious -- the filling in the tart was crisp and delicious, and the pastry was flaky perfection. And dragging the grapefruit segments through the basil syrup was another experience I'd like to try and recreate for myself. So good.

My companion opted for a cheese course called Le Petit Dejeuner which was three cheeses served with Puree of Navel Oranges and Roasted Pistachios.

It's so far away. . . .Anyway, I didn't get a sample of it, because I've learned better than to come between this gentleman and his cheeses (and he knows the same is true of me), but I'm told it was exquisite.

All in all, it was a tremendous visit. But in the interest of fairness, I do have to point out a couple of small negatives: first, while being in the room with the grill was fascinating to watch, it did start to irritate the contact-wearing-eyes and my companion's asthma-having-lungs after a bit. So in addition to asking about food restrictions -- which I totally appreciated -- maybe asking about environmental allergies would also be a good step. It can't be too much harder to put people with lung problems away from the smoke than it is to keep beets away from me.

And second: the service was generally great. But our waiter -- while certainly attentive and eager to please -- was unctuous to the point that it became creepy. If you imagine the palace eunuch in a 1960's movie set in ancient Rome, that was him. And one of the female servers touched my boob in that accidentally-on-purpose way after putting my pork down.

So to sum it up: Kevin, you pig-loving, tree-dwelling bastard, it was outstanding. Sorry for being that douche who took pictures of everything. And thank you for making sure I wasn't served anything that could kill me.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Volt

Baltimore-area blogger Trix had a great lunch at Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant Volt, in Frederick, MD, which she shares with us here.

Top Chef fans will recognize Volt as the restaurant of finalist and first runner-up Bryan Voltaggio, brother of winner Michael Voltaggio. If you don't watch the show, there's a good chance you've never heard of the place, unless you happen to live in Frederick or the Baltimore/DC metro area. That's too bad: The vibe at Volt is definitely more urban than the Western Maryland location would lead you to expect, and I'd happily drive double the hour-plus it takes me to get there to enjoy both the (mostly) spot-on food and the impeccable, knowledgeable service.

My party - Poppa Trix, mother-in-law Trix, brother-in-law Trix, and his wife - chose the three-course lunch with wine pairings. If you know of another fine dining restaurant where you can get a deal like this for $35 ($20 for lunch, plus $15 for the wine pairings), please let me know and I'll meet you there! Seriously, lunch at Volt is a steal: I've spent more money in one sitting for cruddy food, flat beer, and saucy service.

First things first: the bread. This is a make-or-break moment for me. No matter how nice a place is, if they skimp on the bread, you'll never convince me that they really care. Fortunately, I felt the love right off the bat with still-warm roll that was fragrant with rosemary and seasoned with flecks of salt:

Did the bread sticks really need that fennel pollen? Maybe not, but it was a fun touch:

Voltaggio has said that one reason he has stayed in his hometown of Frederick is because of its proximity to agriculture and fresh produce. Whenever possible, he sources his ingredients locally and/or sustainably. This philosophy was showcased in my first course, a salad of Tuscarora farm beets, Cherry Glen Farm goat cheese mousse, pea shoots, and balsamic vinegar:

This was a simple and fresh way to begin my meal. The pairing, a 2007 Graham Beck Rose from South Africa, balanced the earthiness of the beets without overpowering the delicate goat cheese mousse.

Bro-in-law Trix had a shiitake veloute with chili oil, basil, and a pinenut sabayon:

I confess that in general I am not the biggest mushroom fan - but this soup may just have converted me. The mushrooms were not at all overpowering or one-note; rather, combined with the sabayon, they were a subtle, woodsy, and mellow presence.

But Poppa ordered the stand-out starter, the yellowfin tuna tartare with avocado, yuzu vinaigarette, chili oil, red shiso, soy air, and sesame lavash:

A lot of ingredients? Oh yes, and in the hands of a lesser chef this dish could have been chaos. Instead, when tasted together, all of the flavors remained distinct, yet also came together to form a succession of lingering taste impressions, ending with a pleasant heat. I admit, that soy air may be a bit fussy ... but it worked.

Next up, Poppa Trix and I both had the striped bass with a farro risotto and a cardamom-spiced carrot broth, along with more of those pea shoots:

This was actually our least favorite course. There was nothing wrong with it at all - in fact, the fish was perfectly cooked and wonderfully moist in the inside, with that little bit of crunchy skin - but something was missing. Perhaps it was because I couldn't taste the cardamom in the carrot broth, or it may have been that the farro "risotto" was a tad under seasoned. Don't get me wrong: This was a really good dish, and it may just be that everything else was so perfectly seasoned and "wow," that it suffered by comparison. In any case, for this to be the weakest dish is really a testament to the strength of the other courses in the meal.

But it was dessert, which I usually find to be the least memeorable or exciting part of the meal, that has really stuck with me. The problem is that all too often, desserts are overly sweet, and obliterate the flavors of the savory part of the meal, when instead the last course should complement what has come before. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you ... textures of chocolate. Sorry Poppa Trix - I think I want to marry this dessert:

Ah, just look at that ... white chocolate mousse, crunchy, slightly-bitter dark chocolate tuiles, raw organic cocoa, chocolate caramel, and milk chocolate ice cream - and none of it was a cloying sugar bomb! Hooray! Perfectly paired with the 2008 Robertson Winery Gewurztraminer, this was a dessert to savor slowly, and enjoy the way the textures and flavors of bitter and sweet worked together.

As if all this wasn't enough, we were sent off with muffins to enjoy the next day for breakfast:

I'm looking forward to a return trip - if I can get a table, that is. We ate there just days after the Top Chef finale (I had made reservations many weeks in advance), and the place was just packed and buzzing with excitement. In fact, the chef's table is booked through November 2010. It's a good thing lunch is my favorite meal of the day!

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience Needs You!

Hey Top Chef fans - have you eaten at any one or more of the Top Cheftestants' restaurants? Did you take photos? We'd love for you to share your experience with our readers.

If you'd like to do a little write-up about your meal, we'd love to post it here on All Top Chef. If you're interested, drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Absinthe

NYCMenuGirl is back, this time with details of her lunch at Season 5 cheftestant Jamie Lauren's restaurant, Absinthe, in San Francisco.

My time in San Francisco was limited to a mere 9 hours. There were plans to see a movie, get to the airport, etc., so one meal would have to do. There was not much time to learn the city, travel on public transportation, or hike up and down several hills to go to a restaurant. This is when that "go with what you know" instinct kicks in. For most people, that means a chain. For me, that means a restaurant with a Top Chef contestant from one of the 6 glorious seasons. Maybe it seems cliche and dorky, but I like Top Chef, and I always read up on the restaurants. It is my go to place, and it is better than defaulting to Red Lobster.

It turns out that Chef Jamie Lauren from Season Five is the Chef of Absinthe, located a short 25 minute walk from where I was staying for the day. I loved Chef Jamie, and was sad to see her go on that season. My boyfriend's sister and our host for the day, Lenore, had been to Absinthe, and said we should go and try burgers. I felt even more confident now that Absinthe, one of the very few restaurants I know in SF, would be a good bet.

My bf and I set out, down the SF hills, back up the SF hills, looking at the Aladdin like homes, and best of all, walking past the infamous "Full House house," which seeing felt like a true fulfillment of my childhood (I am being serious. Laugh it up. I don't care. You cannot take away my moment).

I take my picture, and we keep walking. We arrive at Absinthe, located on Hayes Street (which means jack to me). We walk in, and it is so pretty. It has this brown and green earthy and elegant look. At 2 p.m. on December 30th, the restaurant is about 1/3 full. There are bottles of wine outside and on the walls. I love wine decor. Next time I move, I will not buy ANY art wall and I will decorate my whole apartment in bottles of wine. Even better - empty bottles of wine. Hmm. Must start drinking wine now to achieve goal of filling apartment with bottles of wine. I love New Years goals. So great.

Back to Absinthe. We are seated. A lovely waiter comes by. Tap water of course. We peruse the menu. As we look it over, we get a plate of bread. It was a wheat sourdough bread. DELICIOUS. But, we knew we had sandwiches in our future, so we had to take it easy on the bread. A bread basket at lunch can be a nice addition, especially when you are having a soup or salad. But when you are going to get a sandwich, a bread basket is just overkill.

We eat a slice, and put it to the side. Time to focus on what the menu has to offer. The sandwiches are $14 and under, entrees for $18 and over, and assorted cheeses. Appetizers at lunch are not usually my bag.

My boyfriend says he may want the burger. I also want the burger. We never order the same thing though. It seems like a waste. One of us has to change, or we agree to split. PAUSE: As the guy who has to go out to eat with me the most, watch me take pictures of all of our food, and force summaries upon him at the end of the meal like some episode of Jerry Springer, I would like to say thanks Alex, for accompanying me to several of these restaurants, and putting up with all that comes with it, like dissuading you to get the burger so that I, NYCMenuGirl, can get the burger. Your blog support is noted.

I decide to order the burger (score)! The Absinthe burger is $12.50, and includes aioli, red onion, lettuce, house-made pickles. Hmm. Not going to be good enough. For $1.50 extra, I order smoked gouda for the burger. Alex decides to get the croque monsieur (ham and cheese) for $11.50. Those are some pricy sandwiches. Ooo but what do they come with on the side??? O wait. Nothing. Side dish fail. We have to order a side dish separately.

Well, I want fries of course, for a whopping $6.00. There they are. They came with three delicious sauces! We got 1 order, which was more than enough of course. And for $6.00, with the sauces, the price seemed right. The only problem was that these were shoestring fries, which I like, but they were so small that they were not ideal for dipping. So, to sum up, Jerry Springer style, I liked the fries, and I liked the sauces, but I would have preferred thicker fries for the sauces.

Now for the sandwiches. The burger was such a nice size. It was hand held, like a gameboy. Nothing too juicy falling out. The smoked gouda was great. And the burger tasted great. Still, not as good as The Smith, or Bill's Bar & Burger, but as we see the haute burger trend, this fits the bill. This is not the burger that is supposed to be greasy, falling out of your hands, as you prove how manly you are eating this piece of meat. This is the date friendly burger, where everything remains intact, and still flavorful. That is not to say that it is not as good. Not at all actually. But when you need a burger recommendation from me, the first thing you should tell me is if you want your burger "fancy style," "chow down style" or "sloppy sloppy style (which means, a totally sloppy burger, hence the second sloppy)." This burger was fancy style.

On to the croque monsieur. This was actually a little greasy. But OMG did this sandwich melt in your mouth. Alex said he was surprised because he thought the croque monsieur would come on a fancy baguette, but instead it came on toasted white bread, and resembled a melt more than a sandwich. But it was delicious. And SURPRISE, salad on the side. That was a nice touch. The croque monsieur was definitely a full meal, and for $2.50 less than the burger, the value was much better.

All in all, Absinthe was just lovely. The service was great. The menu items for lunch, although just sandwiches, are such upscale versions of sandwiches, that you don't feel cheated, like you could have made it and put it in your lunchbox next to your thermos (omg I want a thermos so badly. where you drink out of the top cop. maybe a full house thermos. a girl can dream).

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Perilla (2)

theminx thought she'd get into the act and reprint her MinxEats post about her trip to Harold Dieterle's Perilla, where she dined with ATC's own Laura K., plus fashion designer Malan Breton and model Amanda Fields (Project Runway).

Laura and I arrived at Perilla before our dining companiions and while waiting at the bar, we sampled a Village Mojito, made with silver rum, fresh watermelon, cucumber and mint. It was summery and refreshing, tasting mostly of cucumber, and dangerously easy to drink. We stopped at one each because we knew there'd be plenty of opportunity to drink later at the party (not that we would, mind you....)

Once they arrived, we got to sit in one of the curved booths in the back of the restaurant. After a bit of chattering, we ordered.

Malan and I both chose to start with the Crispy Rock Shrimp Salad mizuna, piquillo peppers, red onion & spicy mushroom soy vinaigrette. I enjoyed the contrast of the crisp shrimp and the soft mizuna. The dressing was subtle and there was just enough of it to moisten things. The piquillo was a nice addition but I wished there was a little more. We were all so busy chatting, I forgot to ask Malan what he thought of the salad.

Laura K got the Heirloom Tomato & Lomo Salad toasted pine nuts, red mustard greens, feta cheese & brown butter balsamic. Lomo is a dry-cured Spanish ham, like Serrano, but better. Laura was kind enough to give me a piece to try, and I found it to be seriously delicious.

Amanda had the Edamame Falafel with lemon-tahini sauce and she had already dug in before I got out the camera, so no photo of that one. Basically it was a fairly large serving (6 pieces?) of greenish orbs. She said they were delicious.

Laura chose the Seared Diver Sea Scallops plum kimchi, radish sprouts & chilled corn sauce as her entree, which was something I was also eyeballing. As we ordered appetizers as entrees, the portions were too small for me to go sticking my fork into everything to try, so I can't tell you what this tasted like. The scallops appeared to be perfectly cooked, however, and Laura had no complaints.

Malan chose an actual entree, the Summer Truffle & Sheep's Milk Ricotta Ravioli lobster mushrooms, snap peas & truffle butter which looked and smelled beautiful. Again, I didn't partake. We were so busy chatting, I kinda forgot to ask for a nibble.

Here's Amanda delicately salting her Faro Risotto artichoke confit, parmesan & chili-grape salad. We had a bit of discussion about what risotto was as we perused the menu, and I hadn't noticed at all that this particular one was made from faro, a grain popular in Italy. So that wasn't rice you ate, Amanda. Sorry for telling you otherwise. :)

Here's my entree, the Crispy Berkshire Pork Belly pea tendrils, trumpets & banyuls-vanilla gastrique appetizer. I *did* get to taste this one, of course. The pork belly was perfect - meltingly tender with a thin crispy layer on top, and remarkably un-fatty. The trumpet mushrooms were appealing earthy nuggets dotting the greens and the vanilla in the gastrique was not at all distracting. Of course, having eaten nothing since a yogurt at 7 AM, my palate was registering mostly the sensation of eating really good food and not paying much attention to the subtleties of the dishes.

Judging from the table full of clean plates, I'd say we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The bread was really good too.

Laura K's mantra is "it can't hurt to ask" and she did ask our waiter if we could meet Harold. So after we finished our meal, he ushered us into the kitchen where we found Chef Dieterle. I pointed out that we were having a Bravo evening, what with Laura from BPR, myself from BSG, and Harold from Top Chef. Not to mention Malan and Amanda.

I even got my picture taken with him. Laura told him I was a food blogger, at which point he turned to me and said, "please go easy." Ha! Of course - Harold was my favorite cheftestant that season and I pegged him to win from the beginning. I knew I would enjoy his food. This was Laura's second visit to the restaurant so she obviously enjoyed it as well.

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Perilla

NYC Menu Girl shares her Top Chef Restaurant Experience at Season 1 Champ Harold Dieterle's NY eatery, Perilla....

First, lets set the stage. Flashback to - March 9, 2006. I watch the first episode of the first season of Top Chef. I had just returned from Spring Break in the Bahamas (spring break woot woot!) and while on the JetBlue flight, I watched a Project Runway marathon. There were endless commercials for this new show called Top Chef. I sit down to watch Top Chef, and I am thoroughly amused. The season continues and I fall in love with all things Top Chef, and with its very first winner, Harold Dieterle. So cute. Such a good chef. When Harold took the title, he opened a restaurant in NYC called Perilla, in the Village, on 9 Jones Street.

Flash forward to - 3 years after Harold wins Top Chef, and I get my day in the sun. I made an opentable reservation for last night at 7:15, to celebrate the holidays with my boyfriend. We turned left off of West 4th street and onto Jones Street, residential, quiet, and quaint. And Perilla was smack in the middle. I am always so impressed by restaurants that have such a strong following, regardless of the fact that they are tucked away on these small side streets with no other restaurants in sight. This means that these restaurants create such a strong buzz, on blogs, word of mouth, etc., that they do not need to rely on "passerby" customers. This restaurant will be a full house every night, on its little side street. And for really nice restaurants where you are spending a lot of money, the fact that the restaurant is tucked away means that the bustle and distraction of what is going on outside of the restaurant ceases to exist. The focus is the restaurant you are in, and the experience you are going to have. So calming. Such a relief.

We walked into Perilla. It looked like everything you want a trendy, amazing NYC restaurant to look like. I loved it. They took our coats and seated us immediately at a nice table for two in the back. The waiter asked us if we wanted to order drinks, and we had not looked at the drink menu yet. Then he says water for the table? And I said "Yes, tap" just as he was saying "sparkling or tap?" I love that about some of the nicer restaurants. You even get to choose your own water. We peruse the wine menu. And then, I see him. It is HAROLD!!!! He looks great. Very calm. I was so pleased. Add him to my list of Top Chefs I have seen.

My boyfriend ordered a beer, and I ordered a glass of white wine ($10). The wine was fabulous. The waiter poured a little into my glass first to let me try it. That is pretty customary when you order a bottle of wine but not as common when you just order a glass. It was a pleasant surprise. And the wine was fantastic. A sign of a really great glass of wine in a restaurant, for me at least, is that just 1 glass gets me through most of the meal, and I have no desire to order another one. The fact that it delightful, nothing I want to rush through, pleases me. It was $10 so it should be very delightful and filling.

Appetizers. Appetizers. Hmmmm. They have some salads. Nah. O wait. SPICY. DUCK. MEATBALLS. Done. We order them and the waiter asks "would you like me to split them for you?" Why sure! They are probably afraid we will make a mess if we reach over to eat them.

While we wait for the appetizers, we each get a piece of bread. So, this debate could go on for awhile, but basically at a restaurant, you can get a basket of bread, or a piece of bread delivered to you. Although I love a good basket of bread, I prefer hand delivered bread. Why? Because I have no self-control. If there are 7 pieces of bread in that basket, and I am with one other person, and that person only wants 2, well, I am going to eat the rest of it. It is there. I am hungry. And I want it. But I know I should not eat SO MUCH bread before an amazing meal.

At Perilla, you get the hand delivered bread. It was good. Small. They pour the olive oil in a little dish. I kind of wanted another piece. A few minutes later, another piece came! Yay! But then, within the next ten minutes, we each got two more pieces - 4 pieces of bread delivered to our table. It was kind of strange. They just kept filling up our bread plates like they were glasses of water. I had to stop eating the bread after the third delivery. From my point of view, hand-delivered bread helps me manage what I eat, but not when you deliver so many pieces.

Spicy duck meatballs arrive. We each get our own dish. This appetizer was the best appetizer in the world. Hands down. I do not like super spicy things, but this had just the right amount. Do you ever watch those food shows and the judges say "you can taste the smokiness that was infused in the meat and cooked in a bag and blah blah blah" and you just think, "what the hell are they talking about?" With these spicy duck meatballs, there was a spicy kick and flavor to it that was just part of the meatball - there was almost something intangible about the flavor, that made it so exciting.

So far, I am in love. I have had some hand delivered bread, am enjoying a lovely glass of white wine, all of the people in the restaurant are just as happy to be there as I am, and I have a spicy duck meatball taste in my mouth. The waiter checked in on us occasionally. He was so cute, and really knew the right balance of "how are you doing?" without bothering us.

Moving on. Dinner arrives. My bf ordered the Hanger steak, and I ordered the Kingfish, which came with braised kale, applewood smoke bacon (YES), and polenta fritters. The kingfish, pictured here (you can see the steak in the back) was delightful. Very light. The polenta fritters looked like croutons, like when you try to tell kids lies about what they are eating. Hey kid have a crouton (mwahaha it is actually polenta). The kale, which was not the main event of the dish, was incredible. With bacon, yes please. Amazing.

The steak was also incredible. I loved it, and usually steak is just fine for me, but not amazing. This steak was amazing. The sauce was excellent. I ate most of my meal. Usually with these small dishes, I devour it. But everything here was so delightful, that I took my time, and was actually pretty full when I had a few bites of fish left.

The waiter asked us if we wanted to see a dessert menu. I was a little full, but I did not make a reservation to finally go to Perilla without dessert. We went with the dark chocolate ice cream sundae with hazelnut praline and marshmallow. Look at it. Homemade marshmallows. Yes. Amazing ice cream. Yes. Pralines, ohhhhhh yesssssssssssssssssssss. We loved this dessert. I love simple ingredients that combine to make something incredible. And I love ice cream sundaes.

The bill came. It was $100. My bf's fun times on a casino trip earlier in the week left NYCMenuGirl with just paying the tip. I wanted to tell you how much it was so you can gauge how your dream restaurant might fit into your budget. This was one of the absolute best meals I have had in NYC. Everything was not only cooked amazingly, but every single thing I ate was so unique. Kale - I have had that. Kale with bacon - never had that! It was so pleasant. The music was great. The waiters were cute. There was an abundance of bread. The energy and ambiance of this place made it a most pleasant evening. For a special Christmas dinner, it was worth a splurge.

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Woodfire Grill

In this installment of the Top Chef Restaurant Experience, Evy of Chemist Foodie shares with us her meal at Kevin Gillespie's Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. Take it away, Evy....

My name is Evy and I am a Top Chef junkie... I am such a junkie that I own the Top Chef cookbook and Wednesdays at 10:00 are sacred... In the spirit of my junkyness I decided to start trying out the restaurants that some of the cheftestants work in. This is limited to those restaurants in Atlanta or South Carolina. I started with Woodfire Grill, owned by Kevin Gillespie and YUM!!!

We decided to go with the 5 course tasting dinner and to me it was a great idea not knowing what we were going to get and tasting what the chef believes are his best recipes.

As soon as we were seated, we were given the amuse bouche... Fried Okra with garlic aioli. I hate okra and I totally despise Fried Okra but this was amazingly good. I was happy.

The tasting started with olive oil poached shrimp on a shrimp toast with microgreens and some type of aioli. It was divine, the shrimp felt like butter and to be honest I have never tasted such delicious and tasty shrimp. I was in heaven.

The second course was Pan-Seared Diver Scallop on top of a Lima Bean puree with Bacon Jus and Smoked House Bacon. I do not love the texture of Scallops, i find them chewy and weird but the taste was incredible. I still do not like scallops so this was my least favorite dish of the night. The puree was really good as was the Bacon, I found the bacon just a little sweet but still amazing.

While we waited for the third course we were given an intermezzo... Green Beans. As you can see I sucked at paying attention at the name of this course. The green beans were good but they had too much acid which made them a little bitter.

The Third Course was my first OMG!!! It was roasted quail on top of peppered corn grits with raised greens. I've never had grits before and if they all taste like those ones I have been converted. They were delicious and amazing and a little piece of heaven, however they were nothing compared to the quail. HOLY JESUS! (not really trying to be blasphemous here) That quail tasted so incredible, so delicious, and so amazing that I was upset that my plate wasn't bigger. After it was over I kept wanting more.

Before the Fourth and Final Main Course we were given another Intermezzo to clean our palate. This was an orange sherbet. It was good, nothing earth shattering but good.

The Second OMG!!! came from the Fourth Course, Wood Fired Pork Loin with Dried Sherry Jus and Creamed Greens. The creamed kale was like butter in my mouth, it was tasty and delicious. The pork was stupendous with and without the sherry jus. Another piece of heaven... Ahhh... Just thinking about it now makes me happy...

The dessert course... OH Lord... The dessert Course, we were given different desserts. Manuel was given the moist chocolate cake, maple panna cotta, brown butter cream sauce, chocolate ganache and toasted pecans. I was given the banana fritters, milk chocolate mousse, banana bavarian cream salted caramel, candied bacon. At first I was apprehensive... HOW DARE THEY NOT GIVE ME CHOCOLATE! but they gave me bacon and candied bacon which should be one of the wonders of the world. There are so many things that were right about that dessert that I can't even start mentioning them... Another thing that I want to say was that neither Manuel or I wanted to share our desserts... they were THAT good. The salted caramel was delicious and I really wanted to lick the plate afterwards... which might have been a little frowned upon but I did not care... I almost cried when a piece fell off the plate and into the mantel but I quickly applied the 5 second rule, there was no way I was going to let anything ANYTHING go to waste.

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Top Chef Restaurant Experience - Circa

All Top Chef reader Meghan, of the blog Travel Eat Love, shares with us her dining experience at season 4 cheftestant Erik Hopfinger's restaurant, Circa, in San Fransisco. Take it away, Meghan!

Our drive to San Francisco was nothing short of stunning. We made it just in time for our dinner reservation at Circa, where Top Chef contestant Erik Hopfinger is the Executive Chef.

We started with the hummus and tzatziki.

I love grilled bread. Its so simple, but so delicious. The hummus was a tiny bit smoky and spicy, and the cool cucumber laden yogurt added a nice creamy balance to it.

For our main courses we split the truffled lobster mac and cheese, the roast chicken with spinach and mashed potatoes, and of course, the parmesan truffle fries.

Carb heaven for me!

These were all true comfort foods and were perfect after a long day as the night got chillier. I had a few bites of the chicken which was juicy and tender and paired perfectly with the spinach, which was just amazing. I don’t often enjoy cooked spinach, but this still had some bite in it; it wasn’t mushy or overdone at all. The prices were very reasonable, and the food was just to die for. We cleaned the plates and left stuffed and satisfied. The atmosphere was sort of big city chic but with a level of comfort that made us feel right at home and perfectly relaxed. . . so much so that we were slightly falling asleep after our long day!

Chef Hopfinger was in the kitchen which was visible from our seats, and I wanted to say hi but didn’t. Maybe next time. . . I should probably get over my shyness if I ever want to work in the food and wine industry!

After that we drove around a bit, watched the sunset, took a spin through Castro, and called it a night fairly early, still adjusting to the time zone and totally happy after a day in the valley.

If you have a Top Chef Restaurant Experience that you'd like to share with our readers, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.

Calling All Diners!

Hey Top Chef fans - have you eaten at any one or more of the Top Cheftestants' restaurants? Did you take photos? We'd love for you to share your experience with our readers.

If you'd like to do a little write-up about your meal, we'd love to post it here on All Top Chef. If you're interested, drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com.