Stephanie Izard Goes from Top Chef to Iron Chef

Stephanie with our own Laura K!

...as a competitor. Watch Stephanie go up against Michael Symon on August 26th at 10PM ET!

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Cooking With Top Chef Champion, Stephanie Izard

Photo: Hello Giggles

"Hello Giggles" blogger, Caitlin Fitzgibbons cooks Artichoke Fideos with Stephanie.

Click here for the story including the recipe.
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Top Chef Magazine Debuts, Eric Ripert Loses a Star, Hubert Keller Gains a TV Show, and What Stephanie Izard Cooked for the CMTs

The new Top Chef Magazine is out. Actually it’s an insert in the January edition of Food + Wine. Eater has a review – and a slide show. If you check out the mini-mag yourself, let us know what you think.

New York Magazine reviews the recently revamped Le Bernardin and is sufficiently ill at ease to demote the restaurant's rating from four stars to three, nonetheless proclaiming: “happily nothing much has changed in [frequent Top Chef guest judge Eric] Ripert’s legendary kitchen.”

Variety reports Hubert Keller (frequent guest judge and TC Masters contestant memorable for cooking pasta in a dorm room shower stall) will be part of a yet another new reality competition show premiering January 21 called The Big Time, sponsored by Budweiser.

And the Tennessean has a great behind-the-scenes look at Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard cooking for the CMT Artist of the Year taping, including whipping up a last-minute vegan dessert. Always innovating, that Steph!


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Expansion Plans for Top Chef’s Voltaggio, Isabella, and Izard

Season 6’s Bryan Voltaggio will be switching things up between his Frederick, MD flagship, Volt, and his newest venture, Lunchbox, which kinda sounds like little bro’s ink.sack. Maybe great brothers just think alike? For more on Lunchbox, Bryan’s once-stalled project North Market Kitchen, and a possible diner tentatively called Range, check out reports here and here. Our heads are spinning.

Mike Isabella of Season 6 and All-Stars, who opened Graffiato in June, plans to open another DC area restaurant, called Bandolero, serving “modern Mexican” small plates in the form of “salsas, guacamoles, ceviches, tacos, vegetables.” This maestro of multiples is apparently looking at spaces for yet a third concept as well. Reports here and here.

And Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard has revealed details about her upcoming “Little Goat,” a diner concept across the street from her wildly successful The Girl and The Goat in Chicago.

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TC News and Information 10.3.11

Have you been reading the hilarious Just Desserts recaps on Eater this season by the guys from NYC's Big Gay Ice Cream? Tuesday from 2:30 to 4:30, they're welcoming as "interns" TCJD contestants Rebecca Masson and Amanda Rockman! Details here.

Speaking of ice cream, here's a nice piece from Creative Loafing about Season 6 TC contestant Kevin Gillespie's partnership with Morelli's ice cream parlor in Atlanta.

Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle took third place at Meatball Madness, which kicked off the NYC Wine & Food Festival. Click through the slideshow here for a pic of his Goat Meatball with Boiled Peanuts, Tatsoi, and Penang Curry, and some of the other contenders.

We're glad to read Harold also was ranked one of New York City's 17 best chefs by Robert Siestsema of the Village Voice, alongside TC Masters contestants Anita Lo and Marcus Samuelsson, as well as a number of chefs who've appeared as judges on the show.

Season 7's Tiffany Derry (now Derry-Mitchell) recently opened Private Social in Dallas, with her S7 cohorts Angelo Sosa, Kelly Liken, Ed Cotton, and Kevin Sbraga and All-Star Carla Hall in attendance. She talks to Eater about how her new restaurant came into being after her former employer, Go Fish, shut down shortly after she returned from taping her season.

Season 2 winner Ilan Hall has branched out from his LA restaurant The Gorbals to develop pizza specials for Urbano Pizza Bar. Some mouth-watering photos here, and more about how Ilan got involved in the venture from KCET here.

Speaking of pizza, after saying he wasn't going to be a media whore (at least for Bravo), Fabio Viviani is now shilling for Domino's "artisan" pizza (video here) - Fabio himself has a few words to share in the comments). And he's been posting on facebook like crazy that he'll be debuting a new show called Chow Ciao on Yahoo. We'll have to see what that's all about.

Stephanie Izard's new cookbook hits the shelves Wednesday. You can watch the trailer here.

And Megan Ketover, competing on this season of Just Desserts, assisted with a cookbook coming out Tuesday.

Host Gail Simmons talks about the evolution of Just Desserts in an interesting piece here, and credits the increasingly knowledgeable audience of Top Chef as a motivation for upping the challenges.

Bravo has also posted a couple of great behind-the-scenes videos, this one about the culinary production team headed by Season 3 contestant Sandee Birdsong, and this one about the differences between Just Desserts Seasons 1 and 2 - an interesting trip down memory lane that kind of makes you think a lot of the changes this season were a reaction to the crazy cast of characters last time.

This Wednesday's episode of Top Chef is a double elimination. Who do you think will stay, and who do you think will go?

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TC News and Information 9.19.11

Stephanie Izard is on a mission to raise $500,000 for Share Our Strength, and one facet of that effort is a national tour – cooking with local chefs and promoting her upcoming cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen. Eater has coverage here. More on the Goat Tour website – and whether she’ll be coming to your town – here.

Steph will also be in charge of creating the menu to feed this year’s CMT Artists of the Year nominees, according the press release here.

In a similar gig, TC Masters contestant Tim Love was the chef behind the performers’ food at last week’s Austin City Limits Festival. Check out what he has to say here about cooking on that scale since he started doing it in 2009.

Michael Voltaggio’s Ink. is now set to open this Wednesday in LA, and brother Bryan hosts a benefit for Share Our Strength at his Baltimore restaurant Volt September 27.

Another long-anticipated venture, Richard Blais’s haute hot dog restaurant, HD1, is opening Thursday, reports Eater Atlanta.

Fabio Viviani tells Grub Street he’s done building Bravo’s legacy for free and instead building his own. You can read what all up to, in inimitable Fabio fashion here. (P.S., since it seems to be a topic of endless fascination, he says he has a girlfriend.)

Author and frequent TC judge Anthony Bourdain gets his own imprint (that’s publishing-speak for “line of books”), for which he will act as talent scout to acquire three to five books a year written by other authors that “reflect his remarkably eclectic tastes,” according to this item from the NY Times.

And the Emmy went to - Amazing Race. Despite Top Chef's upset last year, the best competition-reality award is back in the hands of the long-time winner in the category.

Need something to sweeten the blow? As you look forward to Wednesday's episode of Just Desserts, you can brush up on some of those terms they throw around on the show with this handy translation guide.

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TC News & Information - Recipe Edition 5.31.2011

Season 4 champ Stephanie Izard offers up a recipe for chickpea fritters with tapenade. The tapenade, made with olives and preserved lemons, has a Moroccan flair.

Season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio shares his recipe for beef short ribs. While cooked initially in a pressure cooker before grilling, a long braise would probably produce the same results.

Sam Talbot, from season 2, shows us how to grill seasonal fruit in this video (watch out - it plays automatically).

iVillage features 21 recipes from Top Cheftestants and hosts, including Jamie Lauren's seared scallops with fennel cream, Carla Hall's green eggs and ham, and Tom Colicchio's Slow-Roasted Pork with Red Cabbage, Jalapenos, and Mustard.

Richard Blais has developed some recipes for McCormick spices, including this one for arugula and peach salad that looks perfect for the upcoming summer season.


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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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TC News and Information 5.9.11

Happy James Beard Awards Day! The Beard media/cookbook winners were announced last week, with Top Chef Season 7 winning for best studio program, and Eric Ripert's public television show "Avec Eric" winning for best on-location program.

Tonight the James Beard Foundation's chef and restaurant awards will be announced, with Tom Colicchio, Trace Des Jardins, and Ming Tsai hosting. The event will be live-streamed and live-blogged. Stephanie Izard's Girl and the Goat restaurant is a nominee in the Best New Restaurant category, and fellow TC Chicago chef Dale Levitski's shares some thoughts - and faces - of her in this video.

If you're looking for an alternative to those Beard awards, you can cast your vote in this competition sponsored by Zagat. You'll probably recall contestant #6, whose red beard had its own facebook page.

Speaking of Southerners, current TC Masters contestant Hugh Acheson's restaurant Five and Dime is featured in this NYT piece on sophisticated Southern cooking.

Hugh is also on the council of the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, set for May 19 to May 22 this year. With themes that include Old Traditions, New Traditions and Imports & Inspirations, Kevin Gillespie is cooking up an "inspired" contribution at Woodfire Grill.

TC Masters Season 2 contestant Anita Lo discusses the difference between appearing on Top Chef Masters and Iron Chef in this Wall Street Journal interview: “Iron Chef” was, by far, the easier challenge – a “walk in the park,” as Lo describes it. “It’s just one competition and you can go home after it,” she says. Plus, on “Iron Chef,” you “can have whatever ingredient you want.” With “Top Chef,” Lo was limited to what she could find in Whole Foods – and that meant foregoing harder-to-find Asian ingredients.

Former Gourmet editor and current Masters judge Ruth Reichl (yeah, she'll be back for this week's episode!) has a new gig with the Gilt Groupe, reports the Village Voice. She also had some insights to share about food, culture, and writing at the College of Brockport recently.

Finally, Eater LA is reporting a July opening for Michael Voltaggio's new restaurant, Ink.

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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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TC Video Sunday 4.10.11

In case you missed them, or want another taste, the All-Stars Reunion repeats at 11:00 a.m. Eastern today on Bravo, followed by a repeat of the Top Chef Masters Season 3 premiere at noon EDT.

Now that the All-Stars Season is over, Bravo has released some extended behind-the-scenes videos I found fascinating, starting with Behind the Scenes with the AD, which spotlights Team Hogan, who make a lot happen that we don’t usually get to see. (You can also find out what “8008” is code for.)

How Real Is Restaurant Wars has some great footage of the logistics behind this Season’s RW episode, including some face time for Season 3 competitor Sandee Birdsong, who is now part of the TC culinary production team. Yikes, one RW team’s oven caught on fire this season without it ever making it to air.

There’s also a great extended interview with Dale Talde and a tour of the All-Stars Top Chef house.

All-Star winner Richard Blais reveals his plans to open a “pig-centric hot dog charcuterie gastropub” in Atlanta and a small little pop-up restaurant in NYC on the Lower East Side, in this video interview from Cooking With Caitlin at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago.

And here’s a video of Richard’s sous-vide demo from the Home + Housewares Show via EatnListen.

You can also catch up with Stephanie Izard via NBC Chicago. Not only was she named one of Food + Wine’s 10 Best New Chefs last week, she has two cookbooks and a new restaurant in the works, and is a James Beard Finalist.

And if you're jonesing fror Spring, check out this video of Dale Levitski's new brunch at Sprout via ABC Chicago.

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TC News and Information 4.4.11

In case you're not sated with interviews from the final two after last week's show, here are interviews with Richard Blais from the Chicago Tribune, TV Guide, and Slashfood. And don't miss Eli Kirshtein's Bravo blog, which reveals a little more about the personal side of Blais, his mentor and hero.

Mike Isabella talks to Grub Street and the Chicago Tribune.

For a couple of different perspectives, here's an interesting blog about teachable moments from the finale. And here's a thought-provoking piece from the Village Voice about why more women don't win Top Chef, with comments from several of the female chefs from the All-Stars season (thanks to reader Jennifer for mentioning it in the comments!).

Speaking of girl power, NYC pop-up-of-sorts, What Happens When, is launching a Monday night series featuring "female chefs, female pastry chefs, and female sommeliers." Check out the line-up, which includes Season 1's Lee Anne Wong, All-Stars Jennifer Carroll and Carla Hall, and Season 5's Leah Cohen.

You can find more about Fan Favorite Carla Hall's petite cookies here.

And as a new winner is crowned, Season 5 winner Hosea Rosenberg is shutting down his Boulder food truck business, while Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard continues to pursue Olympic dreams and the prospect of being a James Beard Award winner for her Chicago restaurant, Girl and the Goat.


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TC News and Information 3.22.11

As we reported previously (and other sources have reiterated), this season's "finale" runs four weeks. So don't let the name of tomorrow night's episode, "Last Supper," fool you. The final installment of the finale airs March 30. The All-Stars Reunion airs April 6 in the usual 10:00 p.m. Eastern time-slot, followed by the premiere of Top Chef Masters Season 3 at 11:00. Fan Favorite will be revealed on "Watch What Happens" March 31, according to host Andy Cohen on Sunday night's WWH, which featured Carla Hall. OK, I get it that the reunion show was filmed before Fan Fave voting was completed. But I'm still bummed Bravo chose not to figure out a way to announce Fan Fave winner within the context/time-slot of the reunion show. I'm hoping for a Housewives-free "Watch What Happens" March 31 following the actual All-Stars finale, but who knows.

In case you missed Carla Sunday night on WWH, here's a brief clip via Eater without Housewife interruption.

Meanwhile, this year's Top Chef Tour dates and cities have been announced. Details on these tours have been notoriously sketchy in the past, but I'm hoping they may be getting their act together as they take it on the road this year - especially since the schedule includes two cities in my metropolitan area and rumor has it that Richard Blais may be here . . . If you hear of details in your city, please email us and we'll be happy to share!

On to Monday's announcements about the 2011 James Beard Awards, where Top Chef Season 7 is in the running in the "Television Program, In Studio or Fixed Location" category - hmmm. Making the short list in the Chef and Restaurant section are TC winner Stephanie Izard for her Girl and The Goat as Best New Restaurant, and upcoming Top Chef Masters Season 3 contestant Sue Zemanick for Rising Star Chef of the Year (her third nomination in that category). Naomi Pomeroy, another Top Chef Masters S3 contestant, prepared "Cattail Creek poached lamb pastry with pickled sour cherry and spring herb salsa verde" for the pre-announcement James Beard event in Portland, OR, according to this.

If you haven't read this juicy interview with Tom Collichio from AV Club, check it out now. It includes some hints about the reunion.

Dale Levitski launched what some have called a "no-kids" brunch at his Chicago restaurant, Sprout, last weekend. (He says he just doesn't offer a kids menu.) Chicago Time-Out's coverage here, and Huffington post has more - including photos - here. Lingonberry French Toast or Foie Gras Deviled Eggs, anyone?

For news about Kevin Gillespie's long-anticipated new bbq restaurant, click here.

For video of the interior of Sam Talbot's long-delayed restaurant, Imperial No. 9 at the Mondrian Hotel in NYC, and a recipe demo from Feast, click here.

And for info about The Voltaggio Brothers Cookbook scheduled for release October 25, click here.

Plus Marcel Vigneron's new show on Syfy premieres tonight!

TC News and Information 3.8.11: Timing Is Everything Edition

The All-Stars Reunion Show was taped in NYC Friday, and much interwebular speculation has ensued over what the seating chart might reveal as to who the winner is. I'm inclined to agree with Eater, which offers a photo and compares the seating chart to reunions of seasons past. Photos that appear to have been shot during a break in taping were shared by Tom, Padma, Casey, and Marcel, and probably others, so methinks there's nothing too spoilerific going on here. But feel free to take a gander and make up your own mind.

While they were in town, auf'd All-Star Angelo Sosa had the gang over to his soon-to-open restaurant, Social Eatz, and received some plugs from his co-stars.

Meanwhile, another contingent of Top Cheftestants gathered for the Charleston BB&T Food + Wine Festival. Tiffany Derry had been scheduled to emcee a cook-off among six TC'ers, but she, Carla Hall, and Casey Thompson had to cancel when the All-Stars reunion taping was scheduled for the same day (as we passed along back in Feb). Marissa Churchill, Brian Malarkey, Ryan Scott, Ariane Duarte, and Kevin Gillespie were in attendance, and Season 1's Dave Martin took first place in the Giddy Goat Cheese cook-off. Food pics and commentary from the Charleston City Paper here (guess who wore a hat). And replacement emcee Kenny Gilbert's blogs about the event here.

Stephanie Izard, who will be cooking head-to-head with both Richard Blais and Antonia Lofaso in this week's installment of the All-Stars finale, will also be opening The Little Goat, a mere footsteps away from her Girl & The Goat in the fall. Time Out Chicago reports it will be a "diner/bar/bakery." She tells Eater Chicago it will feature such fare as "an awesome club sandwich with homemade bacon and our own roasted turkey, tasty malt milkshakes ... we'll poach our own tuna for a tuna melt . . . We're not doing a foie gras burger, but we will obviously have a goat burger. It'll be like old school diner favorites without making them all gastro foofy."

In other expansion news, Spike Mendelsohn tells Feast he plans to franchise his Good Stuff Eatery in this video interview from SOBE. And his sister and spokesperson says he plans to launch a deli-style Kosher food truck in April according to this item.

As for this week's All-Stars episode, there's been a lot of speculation that because five contestants were allowed to move forward last week, a double elimination is in store this week. I'm not so sure. As we reported previously, TV Guide mentioned in its Feb. 9 article that a four-part All-Stars finale is in store (yep, the same piece with the photo of Padma in a bikini). We know there's a reunion episode and that the All-Stars Season will be wrapped up before Top Chef Masters premieres April 6 - at 11:00/10:00c per the TCM facebook page. Which means it's likely that either the reunion show or the last installment of the finale is slated for the usual 10:00/9:00c timeslot on April 6. I've read variously that the finale and the reveal of Fan Favorite will be March 30, although these are usually on two separate dates. I, for one, would be happy to have Fan Fave announced during the reunion show rather than on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens. So, kids, what do you think? Are they messing with our heads on the schedule? Have they just not figured it out yet? Or is there a crazier plan afoot?

TC News and Information 2.21.11

To start Presidents Day off on a, well, Presidential note, Just Desserts winner Yigit Pura recently made finger-lickin’ good pie for Obama. And TC Season 7’s Kelly Liken says on facebook she’s cooking for the First Lady.

If you have the day off, you might want to check out Fabio Viviani’s risotto cooking class, which will live-stream 12pm-2pm LA time. (The last time he did one of these, you could catch it later too.)

Angelo Sosa talks about the food at his soon-to-open Social Eatz in Part II of Fork in the Road’s exit interview: “We're going to take something like a sloppy joe, which I have great childhood memories of, and turn it into a Sloppy Ho Chi Minh. We do our own proprietary meat blend and infuse it with tamarind and some gochujang, which is a fermented Korean chili paste. So it's luscious and flavorful like a regular sloppy joe, but with an Asian twist. Our burgers are going to raise a couple eyebrows. And we'll do yuzu beignets for dessert.” You can find Part I here.

All-Star Mike Isabella is also working on a new restaurant, Graffiato, which he calls Italian-inspired, but not strictly Italian. Potential dishes include chicken wings with black-garlic Romesco and baby-back ribs crusted with Sicilian oregano and served with coriander yogurt and a small salad of blood oranges, sliced radishes and marinated onions, which you can read about in Part II of the Washington Post’s three-part story. Part I, which focuses on the build-out of the space, here.

Following his penchant for naming restaurant’s after fabrics (like Searsucker), Season 3’s Brian Malarkey is calling his new restaurant Burlap. It will feature “Cowboy Asian” cuisine, with a menu ranging from steaks, seafood, roast chicken, duck, and pork butt to sashimi, hamachi, salads, and stir-fry. "It's a protein house but we'll have subtle flavors like ginger butter, yuzu sauce, soys, pickled cactus and sage,” he says in this interview.

Season 7’s Amanda Baumgarten has been named Executive Chef at LA’s Water Grill.

Season 6 finalist Bryan Voltaggio (who happens to be an investor in Mike I.’s Graffiato) is slated to appear at DC’s “Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience” in June.

All-Star Carla Hall cooks up a feast honoring Edna Lewis at Manassas Thursday night, with a menu featuring a salad of wild watercress with vinegar and oil, chicken with dumplings, glazed carrots, crusty yeast bread with butter and deep-dish apple pie with nutmeg sauce. More about the event, and Edna Lewis, Grande Dame of Southern Cooking, here. And on February 25, Carla will speak at the Green Matters Symposium on "Real Food Renaissance” at Brookside Gardens.

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard will participate in Cochon 555 in Chicago March 20. For more about the porkapalooza that is Cochon 555, don’t miss the video here. Steph will also be part of the line-up of all women chefs at Hot Chocolate’s 6th anniversary party and benefit for Share Our Strength February 28 and another benefit, for TC Masters’ Art Smith’s Common Threads, on March 7.

As if that weren’t enough, Feast speculates an announcement may be forthcoming this week about Steph’s second restaurant.

Yigit Pura will be a celebrity judge at COOK Orlando March 27 to benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

And Top Chef Canada premieres April 11!

TC News and Information 2.16.11 - Jay Rayner Out, 5 Cheftestants In

Jay Rayner tells Eater he's been "sacked" from Top Chef: Masters: "All I know is that the new host is non-American and therefore they couldn't have another non-American accent on the panel. And that's fine. I'm reasonably assured that is the reason. I don't examine these things too deeply, because all jobs come to an end. Being involved with TCM was fantastic. Being able to say I'd done it was fantastic. But it was difficult. I have two small children, and doing the show meant I would be in Los Angeles for a month at a time. And that was very, very hard. It ended up with me phoning my wife and saying, "I've got good news and I've got bad news: the bad news is that I'm no longer involved with Top Chef: Masters, and the good news is that I'm no longer involved in Top Chef: Masters." I knew she'd be delighted."

Meanwhile, Food + Wine is opening up its annual Best New Chef Awards this year to online voting from the public. You have until March 15 to vote for 10 nominees in 10 regions. And the Top Cheftestant nominees are:

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard (Great Lakes)
Season 5 contestant Jeff McInnis (Gulf Coast)
Season 5 contestant and ousted All-Star Jamie Lauren (Pacific)
Season 6 finalist Kevin Gillespite (Southeast)
Season 3 finalist and ousted All-Star Casey Thompson (Southwest)

Voting linkage from Food + Wine here, and more from their "People's Choice" partner, CNN's
Eatocracy here. F+W has more details about each of the nominees, or you can find a quick and dirty list of all 100 nominated chefs from Eater, which assures us the press release says, "Inclusion as a nominee for The People's Best New Chef award does not preclude consideration for a Best New Chef award" (aka the traditional Best New Chef award decided upon by F+W) and that results will be announced in F+W's July issue. Guess our press release got lost in the mail :)

Meanwhile, Stephanie Izard's Girl and The Goat gets a positive write-up from Saveur, launching the magazine's venture into long-form restaurant reviews that aim to be "expansive, thoughtful pieces about very interesting restaurants of the moment," explains TC Masters sometime judge and Saveur editor-in-chief James Oseland, who offers no tidbits as to whether he - and his sweaters - will be back for TC Masters Season 3.

So who were you surprised to see on Food + Wine's list, and who are you proud to see from your own region? And what the heck do you think is going on with the revamp of Top Chef Masters?

TC News and Information 1.28.11 - Vacation Edition

Top Chef All-Stars took a holiday this week (sigh). So how about catching up on the recent getaways of some of our TC faves?

Auf'd All-Star Jennifer Carroll traveled to the Caribbean with her boss, Bravo vlogger and frequent TC guest judge Eric Ripert, for the third annual Picnic in the Caymans, based at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which houses his restaurant, Blue. Ripert's buddy, Tony Bourdain, who sometimes judges All-Stars (glad he'll be back next week), also made an appearance, as did TC Masters contestant and All-Stars dim sum judge Susur Lee. Bourdain claims Tom spends more time in hair and make-up than Padma. What do you think? More about the Cayman event here.

TC Masters contestant Jonathan Waxman headed to Hawaii for the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour. Cooking with Iron Chef Michael Symon, you can bet pork was involved - in fact, a "reserve" pig. Waxman and Symon also spent some time answering questions from culinary students. Here's video of the $250 per person dinner Waxman and Symon whipped up on the Big Island.

In a chillier but nonetheless prestigious setting, Season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio and Season 3 contestant Brian Malarkey cooked at Chef Dance, er, Sundance. From Utah, MVolt also shared his thoughts about whether Marcel is really an a**h*le or just plays one on TV.

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard appears this weekend at Bon Appetit's Master Chef Classic in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Her "Snowshoe Excursion and Luncheon" is sold out. She'll also be up against Jose Garces and Joey Campanaro in the food festival's "Master Chef Challenge," where the competitors will be given 20 minutes to create a dish from a surprise ingredient.

If you're not lucky enough to be in one of those exotic locales but find yourself traveling through Chicago, Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless has a new outpost in O'Hare's Terminal 1, with another on the way for Terminal 3.

Stay warm, all. And Minx, good luck digging out the Ion.

eggy

TC News and Information 1.17.11

At this weekend's Tasty Awards, Top Chef won for Best Food Program, and TC judge Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations was named Best Food Travel Series. All-Star Fabio Viviani, Season 1's Candice Kumai, and frequent TC guest judge Hubert Keller were in attendance. For more info and a slideshow of the event, click here.

Congratulations to D.C.’s new Secretary of Love and Relationships, Carla Hall! Following in the footsteps of Dr. Ruth, Carla’s involvement is part of a February promotion billed as a "28-Day Stimulus Plan for Love & Relationships," designed to "boost business for hotels, restaurants and attractions with date night deals and discounts while encouraging locals and visitors to rekindle their romances in the nation's capital,” according to this. You can find video of Carla's swearing-in ceremony uploaded by her husband here, and a shorter version here.

Last week's All-Stars winner, Dale Talde, is also feelin' the love, in his blog post dedicated to his fisherman dad and the fish he caught for the episode, which he named Diesel.

Meanwhile, Jamie Lauren has done some complaining in her post-exit interviews about the edit she got (here, here, and here), and in this interview, Marcel Vigneron sounds off about the edit he's been getting.

If you saw Eric Ripert's Bravo video blog about last week's episode, you know he offered Jamie a stage at his restaurant at Le Bernadin. Well, it appears she said yes. She tweeted: "@ericripert I would love to take you up on that amazing offer, from an amazing chef, at an amazing restaurant..let's do it!" And followed up with: "ps: any chance you can you throw in 1st class airfare and a room at the plaza?

The Herald Sun reports that Curtis Stone will make $1 million per season as newly named host of Top Chef Masters.

In this interview, Season 3's Howie Kleinberg talks about the new Bulldog Burger he plans to open next to his current restaurant, Bulldog BBQ. About the venture he says, "I originally started crafting the menu for it as part of a contest for a reality show, but the more I worked with it, I wanted to open the restaurant." Hmmm, wonder if that reality show would be America's Next Great Restaurant, on which Curtis Stone will appear as a judge.

Season 3's Camille Becerra was apparently just hours from opening her new restaurant, APL, when she backed out, according to this item.

Meanwhile, Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard will participate in Chicago's Couchon 555 March 20, according to this piece, which says she'll be one of the competitors breaking down and preparing a 150-175 pound heritage breed hog. The winner will go on to compete against Couchon 555 winners from other cities June 19 at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival.

Stephanie will also be competing January 28 at the Beaver Creek Master Chef Classic sponsored by Bon Appetit, where she'll have 20 minutes to create a dish based on a surprise ingredient.

Season 6's Eli Kirshtein will appear at the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience January 28-30.

Finally, judge Tom Colicchio participated in the $250-a-plate headline event of the Food & Wine magazine-sponsored Barbados Food & Wine and Rum Festival, and this attendee calls him out for serving food ill-suited to the beach. The LA Times gives Colicchio slightly better marks after recent trips to three of his NYC restaurants in anticipation of Restaurant Wars.

TC News and Information 1.3.11

We are sorry to hear that Tiffani Faison's Boston restaurant, Rocca, has closed, apparently abruptly. Guess that means no more All-Stars viewing parties there featuring global noshes that pair well with Bud Lite. Maybe Tre Wilcox will invite her to cook at his Dallas Restaurant, Loft 610, for a viewing party, as he has Tiffany Derry and Casey Thompson.

Speaking of Casey, plans are in the works to open a second outpost of her DFW restaurant, Brownstone.

Just Desserts pastry-cheftestant Erika Davis also has a new venture in the works, according to her facebook page. The Ultimate Cookie Dough Company plans to ship frozen cookie dough. TUCDC's website doesn't seem to be up and running quite yet, despite a projected Jan. 3 launch date, but we'll let you know whrn we hear more. While we wait, here's a great article about Erika.

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard is also working on a new project, her first cookbook. You can see samples of the outstanding photography here. Originally slated for a Fall 2010 publication date and entitled How to Think, Shop and Cook Like a Top Chef according to this item, apparently the book is now slated for next fall. In addition, she's working on a pilot for a cooking show, developing the concept for a second restaurant, and working on a slew of other projects you can read about here, while helming Chicago's much-buzzed-about The Girl and The Goat.

Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle's second restaurant, Kin Shop, is also garnering lots of buzz, including this New York Times 2-star review. Well done, Chef Harold!

TC News and Information 11.10.10

It's a big week for Stephanie Izard! In addition to her impressive sweep of the Eater awards, her restaurant, The Girl and The Goat, has learned it's won a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation. It seems the Windy City is abuzz with anticipation of next week's release of the Michelin Guide, with special events lined up that include a panel discussion/radio-show taping with Stephanie and TC Masters contestant Graham Elliot on November 18 and a live chat November 19 featuring Rick Bayless and Art Smith of TC Masters with former NY Times food critic Frank Bruni. More info about both events here. The Girl and The Goat also took the top spot on Chicago Magazine's November Hot List. Want to try some of Stephanie's food but don't live in Chicago? You might be in luck if you're near Miami or NYC. This month all of Mercadito's locations are featuring her braised chicken taco with avocado crème fraîche, fermented black bean, nicoise olive tapenade, mint, preserved lemons, sambal, smoked tomato and shaved brussel sprouts, at 4 tacos for $16 to benefit Share Our Strength. TC Masters contestant Wylie Dufresne is another chef who will design a taco for the year-long benefit. You can find out more here and here.

Where else can you meet and eat with Top Chef contestants? All over, it seems. Here are just a few upcoming events.

Mike Isabella and Carla Hall will be at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertainment Show in D.C. November 13. And here's something a little different - Carla is also appearing at the 17th Annual Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest December 2.

Meanwhile, Dave Martin will be doing a cooking class in the "other" Washington November 17, at Desert Wind Winery in the Yakima Valley, and has other upcoming appearances in Washington, Oregon and Nebraska.

Dave's Season 1 rival, Tiffani Faison, will be participating in Eat Your Heart Out Boston November 14 at the Paradise Rock Club where chefs and local bands team up to benefit local charities. In an interesting twist, the chefs will "style plates in homage to their music idols" - Tiff's dish: pork belly agrodolce, house-made “hots,” foie pastrami mayo, and crispy onion, inspired by Ray Lamontagne’s "New York City’s Killing Me."

If New York isn't killing you, you can catch Richard Blais demo-ing sous-vide equipment at Bloomie's on November 20.

Jen Carroll and Rick Moonen will be headlining the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour in Las Vegas November 15.

And this one sounds like a lot of fun - if you're in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina November 20, you can see Gail Simmons, Kevin Gillespie, Kevin Sbraga and Kenny Gilbert at the Music to Your Mouth Culinary Festival. How much more fun could the Low Country be?