TC News & Information 1.15.2010

Here's an article about the fall and rise of season 4 cheftestant Dale Levitski.

Top Chef Masters competitor Art Smith will be celebrating his 50th birthday at Soldier Field in Chicago during the 5th annual World Festival benefiting Common Threads on March 1st. Gail Simmons will be hosting, and participating Chicago-area chefs will include Top Chef season 4 winner Stephanie Izard and Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless, plus Graham Elliott Bowles. A live and silent auction will feature a dinner cooked by Season 5's Radhika Desai, and lunch for 2 with Top Chef Las Vegas guest judge Nigella Lawson.

According to Grub Street: On March 19th and 20th, chef Charlie Palmer will be hosting his fifth annual Pigs & Pinot event in Healdsburg featuring chefs Bryan Voltaggio and Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef, along with the Food Network's Tyler Florence and Roland Passot of La Folie. Weekend package tickets are on sale by phone only, at 800-889-7188.

StarChefs.com has named the Rising Star chefs of the LA and San Diego areas, and not surprisingly, Michael Voltaggio is one of them.

What's been going on with Robin Leventhal since Top Chef? She's been teaching, among other things. Read about it here.