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The Chefs/Cheftestants of Top Chef

Veruca Assault

By Veruca Assault
in Top Chef

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Bastet

Bastet

Thursday is Beat Bobby Flay night on Food Network, and tonight they're running some old Valentine's Day-themed episodes.  In one from 2017 that is airing right now, Eric is one of the competitors in the first round.  His opponent is picked to move on to challenge Flay, and I understand the reasoning behind that, but his food sounded/looked better to me.  The episode is called She Loves Me ... Not if anyone wants to hunt it down.

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biakbiak

biakbiak

(edited)

Eric was on the Pack Your Knives podcast and mentioned that he actually tried out for last year and got very far in the casting process but dropped out when he found out that the it started filming a day before his wedding and they stayed in touch and brought him back for this season.

In addition to working with Kwame to open Kith and Kin, he staged with Bryan Voltaggio at Volt before he went to London to get his masters in Public Health. 

Edited by biakbiak
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CrazyInAlabama

CrazyInAlabama

For the last episode, they are having a huge street party here, and for $50 a ticket to the Top Chef Wrap Party at a local event space.      Proceeds go to the local Humane Society, and they're asking for pet food donations also.     I wonder how much all of the Top Chef local viewing parties have raised for various charities all over the country?

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dleighg

dleighg

^So a chicken-and-egg question. Was the Top Chef franchise just amazingly good at choosing excellent up-and-coming chefs, or did the exposure that Top Chef affords (including fans like me that make an extra effort to visit their restaurants) make it more likely that they get noticed by James Beard Foundation? (I tend to lean to the latter).

(I do know that some of these chefs are already "noticed" by the time they appear as contestants)

biakbiak

biakbiak

5 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Top Chef affords (including fans like me that make an extra effort to visit their restaurants) make it more likely that they get noticed by James Beard Foundation? (I tend to lean to the latter).

(I do know that some of these chefs are already "noticed" by the time they appear as contestants)

The awards are voted on by restaurantuers, chefs, front of house so I doubt they need TC to reinforce their choices and as you noted a lot of contestants were nominated befor they were on the show. 

AriAu

AriAu

(edited)
Quote

I spotted Kwame, Nick, Tiffani and Isaac on a quick scan. I'm sure I missed some alums because I don't remember most cheftestants' last names.

Saw several others-Lindsay Autry, Gregory Gourdet , Michael Cimarusti (from Masters) , Carl Dooley, Tyler Anderson, 

ETA-Top Chef's PR people count 15-I missed Claudette and Laura Cole as well as restaurants owned by Nina and Sheldon...and someone named James Rigato that I dont recall

https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/the-feast/james-beard-2019-restaurant-and-chef-awards-semifinalist-list

Edited by AriAu
Because we missed some
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rafibomb

rafibomb

On 2/27/2019 at 6:45 PM, dleighg said:

Ooh! I went to Carl Dooley's restaurant in Cambridge. Very much enjoyed it. He was in the kitchen and even served one of our courses but I was too shy to speak to him 🙂

I'm taking a cooking class with him in Cambridge next month! I'm super excited about it, he was one of my favorites. 

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jmcd44

jmcd44

I went to the Watch What Crappens podcast in DC last night (if you aren’t listening you should be). When my friends & I were waiting to get in, I saw a guy walk by & said “that looks like a tiny Michael Voltaggio...” It was him! The hosts introduced him. He is small. I’m 5’11 in heels & I was taller than him. He’s also very skinny. It took care of my crush on him. 

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dleighg

dleighg

7 hours ago, mlp said:

Remember Philip "Manbun" Lee from the California season?  Here's a review of his most recent restaurant:

.....  eight-seat, $550-per-person culinary experience

The review lost me at talking about gold leaf on the caviar. I am philosophically opposed to putting gold where it's going to end up in poop.

But hey, those folks in Montecito apparently have money to burn, or poop.

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mlp

mlp

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

.....  eight-seat, $550-per-person culinary experience

The review lost me at talking about gold leaf on the caviar. I am philosophically opposed to putting gold where it's going to end up in poop.

But hey, those folks in Montecito apparently have money to burn, or poop.

I agree.  I can't imagine spending that kind of money on one meal but I live in downstate Illinois.  I'm sure there are plenty of people in the Los Angeles area who either can afford it or are pretentious enough to spend it.  In any event, I'm happy to see that Philip is doing well.

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dleighg

dleighg

(edited)
28 minutes ago, mlp said:

I'm sure there are plenty of people in the Los Angeles area who either can afford it or are pretentious enough to spend it. 

Montecito is actually a pretty long hike from LA (It's right near Santa Barbara). But they do love their cars out there, and Montecito itself has lots of celebrities (like Oprah).

Edited by dleighg
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Bastet

Bastet

8 hours ago, dleighg said:

But hey, those folks in Montecito apparently have money to burn, or poop.

Oh, they do.  It's quite a wealthy little area near Santa Barbara; numerous celebs have homes there (not their primary residences, mind you, just nice little multi-million dollar beach homes).

Has anything ever sounded more like what Phillip would come up with for a ritzy area than the opening paragraphs of the linked review:
 

Quote

If there was any confusion about what to expect during a multicourse meal that costs as much as a plane flight across the country, the first proper dish flickers with gold flakes, as if to reassure that the cost is warranted. Beneath that is a mound of caviar, floating in a transparent gelée of lobster essence, strategically pockmarked with miniscule dollops of hazelnut cream and square nuggets of smoked eel that circle like the hands of a clock. Encasing it all is an iridescent bowl, its color somewhere between silver and platinum, with handcrafted floral flourishes framing those flickering flakes and black fish eggs.

But over-the-top opulence is not the only technique on display at The Silver Bough, the eight-seat, $550-per-person culinary experience now served in a hidden corner of the Montecito Inn. The three-plus-hour experience — which involves tastes of nearly two dozen different creations and sips of about a dozen expertly curated beverages — is a culinary lesson of the highest order, featuring techniques both primal and prototypical that are dutifully explained, if you so desire.

Yet it’s also like visiting a fine art gallery, in the eye-wowing manner that each dish is presented, complete with custom-made utensils and flatware; like a night at the theater, with storytelling and performance interwoven; like enjoying the ballet, with carefully choreographed kitchen movements and simultaneous server deliveries; and like a hangout with old pals, as the banter is convivial and casual, and diners are encouraged to linger long over post-everything beers and digestifs. And, oh yeah, you eat and drink ’til your stomach and soul are more than content.

What's funny to me is this is all within the Montecito Inn - not a standalone restaurant, and not contained within the nicest place to stay in the area, but in one that has a Hollywood history.  Again, how very Phillip.

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JTMacc99

JTMacc99

On 3/9/2019 at 10:21 AM, jmcd44 said:

I went to the Watch What Crappens podcast in DC last night (if you aren’t listening you should be). When my friends & I were waiting to get in, I saw a guy walk by & said “that looks like a tiny Michael Voltaggio...” It was him! The hosts introduced him. He is small. I’m 5’11 in heels & I was taller than him. He’s also very skinny. It took care of my crush on him. 

Season six was my favorite. I was all in for Kevin and disappointed when Michael Voltagio won. 

I’ve seen enough of him on TV since then to completely change my mind. He was a very worthy winner, and I genuinely enjoy seeing him here and there on TV these days.

I really want a knife made by the guy who makes his knives, but it seems as though that guy is too busy making stuff for fancy schmancy people to make one for me. Heh. 

Ashforth

Ashforth

(edited)
On 3/9/2019 at 9:21 AM, jmcd44 said:

I went to the Watch What Crappens podcast in DC last night (if you aren’t listening you should be). When my friends & I were waiting to get in, I saw a guy walk by & said “that looks like a tiny Michael Voltaggio...” It was him! The hosts introduced him. He is small. I’m 5’11 in heels & I was taller than him. He’s also very skinny. It took care of my crush on him. 

Ha! I'm watching an episode of Beat Bobby Flay that Michael Voltaggio is judging and after seeing this post all I can think about is what a wee fellow he is.

Edited by Ashforth
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Ashforth

Ashforth

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

Sweet story about our newest winner.

https://www.dothanfirst.com/news/whats-good-in-the-neighborhood-kbc-makes-young-ladys-dream-come-true/?fbclid=IwAR16mffaJmc-gQ3bRTVZKwqj7g5wPbEpVvNonIQ5L2i7cNuGKREdqwGgqx8

Someone must have been chopping onions in the kitchen, because now I'm crying.

A lot of people on these boards dismissed Kelsey because she's pretty on the outside. Well hot damn, it turns out that she is beautiful on the inside as well.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I had something in my eye, too.

I’ve been Facebook friends with her for a while and she is definitely one of the nicest, sweetest people I’ve come across from these shows.

Arnold Myint is another one, the guy just keeps giving and giving. His mother died not long ago, and the restaurant she ran for years was recently torn down. Double hit for him, but it doesn’t stop him from teaching others, doing his Suzy Wong stuff. I really believe if he’d come out as Suzy a few times the year he competed he would have won. Imagine having someone who can be two different personalities on their own show!

Here’s a story he told recently. I got something in my eye again...

Quote

This morning, International Market was demolished and now I’m in Chicago for a pageant. 

My friend Alberto met me for his break between pageant prep and dance class. I usually stay with him but ended up getting a room next door to his building so I could have some space. He left for rehearsals and I am finishing my wine and start talking to this lady at the bar who also lives next door. She’s in a brand new arm cast. She couldn’t find her credit card and I helped her find it. 

Cut to: She worked in Nashville for 12 years. Her daughter went to Vandy...is in residency at Vandy now. Best friend lives on 12th south. And she grew up with the really flamboyant one from ”Queer Eye”. She loves to cook but can’t because of her arm. Her husband gets back tomorrow. 

We just had an hour conversation, finding many unexpected parallels. We discussed minority challenges and discrimination. She asked about my struggles growing up. I asked about hers. She commented on the evolution of the new Nashville. We laughed when I said “I never got my bar mitzvah” 

I was admiring her jewelry. It was thick, very yellow Thai gold. She was in a simple white shirt but so put together. Effortless. 

We were chatting like old friends; almost like she wanted to invite me for a bottle or I cook for her. 

At the end (thinking I’d never see her again), I said “By the way, I’m Arnold”. 
She said, nice to meet you, best of luck, I’m Patti.” 
“OMG. That’s my mom’s name” 

😳❤️😭

(My mom broke her arm four days before she passed)

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