Video du Jour - Bryan Voltaggio

TC News & Information 1.7.10

Creative Loafing's final Top Chef podcast of the year features Michael Voltaggio. Click here to listen.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs, Pa., hosts the second annual Gourmet Getaway Friday-Sunday, January 8-10. Bryan Voltaggio will headline several chefs giving demonstrations. Cost is $399 per couple including two nights' lodging and several meals. Day packages available. Call 1-800-452-2223 or go to 7springs.com.

Jennifer Carroll - One of Philly's Top Ten

Jennifer Carroll has come in at #2 on the FYI Philly Top Ten List of What's New for 2010. Her part of the segment starts at around the 3:30 minute mark.

Poll - Where Will Top Chef 7 Be Located?

Top Chef has filmed seasons in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas so far. What U.S. city will be the location for season 7? Your guess is as good as ours....

poll by twiigs.com

Sending Good Thoughts....

...to Jennifer Carroll's mom, Joan, who had brain surgery last week. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

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.

Poll Results - Padma's Babydaddy

The results of All Top Chef's very informal, extremely unscientific poll are in. We asked you who of several men was most likely to be the father of Padma Lakshmi's baby. Almost a quarter of you were honest and didn't venture a guess, choosing "I don't know." Billionaire Ted Forstman came in first among the actual candidates, with 19% percent of the vote. And amusingly, Michael Voltaggio came in second with 17%.

What's New at the Bravo Store?

Bravo has been adding tons of new Top Chef-related items to their online store. Currently available are Terlato's Top Chef Quickfire Wines, and bouquets by Teleflora. And let's not forget Top Chef meals by Schwan's Home Service! But there are more interesting items available...let's take a look.

Click to go to site

Wow - who doesn't want to look like the lovely Gail Simmons?

Or head judge and favorite of bears everywhere, Tom Colicchio?

But my favorite items in the Bravo store are these fab bobbleheads!

What would you like to see in the Bravo store?

Video du Jour - Lisa Fernandes

This video is old, but I had never seen it before today. Season 4's Lisa Fernandes shows us how to make Chinese dumplings.

To Our Readers