The Chefs/Cheftestants of Top Chef

[caitmcg]

37 minutes ago, buttersister said:

Happy for you and your Mom, caitmeg. The chef referred to in the article is Grant Achatz, who was very open about his experience. Wishing Shirley the same recovery.

I'm sure Shirley is aware of Achatz's journey, as she chooses goes through chemo and radiation and a potential higher chance of recurrence over having her entire tongue removed, as she describes her choices in her Instagram post.

[Rai]

Oh no, poor Shirley. She's always been one of my favorites. I'm rooting for her!

[ZettaK]

On 5/16/2024 at 8:55 AM, tv echo said:

Harold Dieterle is opening Il Totano in May in the West Village...

A Top Chef Winner Finds a New Italian Perch
By Florence Fabricant   May 14, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/dining/nyc-restaurant-news.html 

The First Winner of ‘Top Chef’ to Open a New Manhattan Restaurant
by Melissa McCart  May 15, 2024, 
https://ny.eater.com/2024/5/15/24153822/il-totano-opening-harold-dieterle-flex-mussels 

I always liked Harold. Nice, no drama, creative, competent.

[Souris]

Oh my gosh, what TERRIBLE news about Shirley. I pray she will beat this like your mom, @caitmcg.

[DEL901]

9 hours ago, Souris said:

Oh my gosh, what TERRIBLE news about Shirley. I pray she will beat this like your mom, @caitmcg.

It is terrible.   She was told that to have the best chance of survival, they need to remove her tongue.  She has decided against that route. 
https://people.com/top-chef-alum-shirley-chung-diagnosed-with-stage-4-tongue-cancer-8686273

[caitmcg]

I recently read Kwame Onwuachi's 2019 memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef (actually, listened to him read the audiobook). It was interesting. At times he does come off as having a bit of a chip on his shoulder, though not without reason given the subtle and unsubtle racism he was subjected to as one of the few Black people in fine dining kitchens.

On 5/12/2024 at 2:29 PM, mlp said:

Not long after the show, he opened a high end, high cost restaurant with some novel concept I've forgotten and it failed in very short order, a couple weeks as I recall, losing a lot of money for his investors. 

That's not quite how things happened. The investors, who had no experience with restaurants, basically recruited Kwame and his best friend and fellow restaurant guy (they met while at CIA), gave him carte blanche on concept, and proceeded to spend money hand over foot on outfitting the place, sparing no expense on anything. They then insisted on charging much more than Kwame wanted for his tasting menu to try to make some of it back, but they were relying on pre-selling tickets and when Tom Sietsema of WaPo gave a not-great review after they'd barely opened those dried up. The two investors weren't even speaking to each other and in the hole, and they pulled the plug. Kwame admits he and his partner were naive not to have done some due diligence regarding the investors before embarking on the project, instead of assuming they were good for all that expense ((they were only in their mid twenties)..

[dleighg]

Edward Lee shows up in a cooking competition show in S. Korea, called Culinary Class Wars (on Netflix). It's set up rather differently than your typical competition show (Lee is one of the "white spoons" who are established, famous, chefs, going up against the "black spoons.") Won't go into more details, but it's entertaining if you can handle not being able to scroll your phone while watching it, unless of course you speak Korean. And no, Lee doesn't speak more than a few words of Korean, so they subtitle him in the original :).

[meep.meep]

Several Top Chef alums were on Food Network's Last Bite Restaurant that had its finale last night:  Byron Gomez, Brittany Anderson, and Nini Nguyen.  The gimmick was that each chef could bring a set number of ingredients and there weren't any others available.  They were down to fractions of a clove of garlic at the end.  Great to see Brittany especially, since she left early in her Top Chef season.

[ALittleShelfish]

I really enjoyed Last Bite Hotel!  I liked that the camp and the gimmicks were limited to the host (who was perfectly cast in that role) and they let the chefs cook what they know.  Nini and Byron were really fun to watch play the game.  

[Rai]

I also enjoyed Last Bite Hotel! It had actual fun twists and gimmicks, and the Will and Testament part was particularly clever. Everyone played it up pretty well, very little drama, and the conflict that did occur was pretty organic to the stressful conditions.

Brittany really proved herself in this format after struggling in Top Chef, and that was great to see, but I admit I was enough of a jerk to laugh when one guy was like, "I've seen Brittany on Top Chef, so I know she's competitive!" Bro, you saw her when she left on episode three of her season after being in the bottom two in the previous episode? Aw, I kid, Brittany. You did great.

[Trey]

I'm glad to see a few comments about Last Bite Hotel.  I really enjoyed it.

[dleighg]

it's a fun show! I just started it! And it has enough differences from the standard cooking competition to make it interesting.

[dleighg]

and following on, since I'm near the end now; I really enjoy the "reuse/save/repurpose" mentality that the show setup requires. It's how I personally cook, so it's fun to see how creative they are.

[tv echo]

The Graceful Ordinary’s Chris Curren x Top Chef’s Kaleena Bliss: Big City Burger Collab, January 17th
December 30, 2024
https://www.chicagofoodmagazine.com/news/the-graceful-ordinarys-chris-curren-x-top-chefs-kaleena-bliss-big-city-burger-collab-january-17th 

Quote

Chef Kaleena Bliss is bringing her flavors to the Chicago 'burbs for the first time with an exclusive burger collaboration at The Graceful Ordinary! For her collab with Executive Chef Chris Curren, Kaleena is presenting the Seoul Burger, which was first introduced to Chicago foodies at the 2024 Chicago Gourmet Food & Wine Festival. This creation features an 8-ounce burger nestled in TGO’s signature soft potato bun and topped with Kaleena’s house-made white kimchi and savory ssamjang. It’s layered with sriracha-lime aioli, fresh cilantro, scallions, and pickled Fresno chiles. Try out this limited-time dish available from January 17th to January 26th, ....

[caitmcg]

Buncha TC alums nominated for James Beard Awards

Quote

Danny Garcia: Time & Tide in New York, NY -  Emerging Chef
Monique Feybesse: Tarts de Feybesse in Oakland, CA - Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker
Compère Lapin (owned by Nina Compton) in New Orleans, LA - Outstanding Hospitality
Laura Ozyilmaz and Sayat Ozyilmaz: Dalida in San Francisco, CA - Best Chef: California
Avishar Barua: Agni in Columbus, OH - Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH)
Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite: EsterEv in Milwaukee, WI - Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)
Hosea Rosenberg: Blackbelly in Boulder, CO - Best Chef: Mountain (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY)
Kwame Onwuachi: Tatiana in New York, NY -Best Chef: New York State
Valentine Howell: Black Cat in Jamaica Plain, MA - Best Chef: Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Sheldon Simeon: Tiffany’s in Wailuku, HI - Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA)
Sara Bradley: Freight House in Paducah, KY - Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)
Ashleigh Shanti: Good Hot Fish in Asheville, NC - Best Chef: Southeast (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)
Evelyn Garcia: Jūn in Houston, TX - Best Chef: Texas

 

[Mountainair]

I saw that Ashleigh Shanti was nominated. Good Hot Fish gets so-so reviews around here. I love fish but my husband has an allergy and she only serves fried fish which I don’t care for so I have not tried it yet. 

[Bastet]

9 minutes ago, Mountainair said:

I saw that Ashleigh Shanti was nominated. Good Hot Fish gets so-so reviews around here. I love fish but my husband has an allergy and she only serves fried fish which I don’t care for so I have not tried it yet. 

I really liked her on TC, but I just looked up the restaurant and I do not want a single thing on that menu.  It's a moot point as I don't live in the area and have no plans to visit, but if I were local or traveling there -- If someone brought me there, I'd order the shrimp burger, but nothing entices me such that I'd be sure to give it a try on my own.

[buttersister]

Good luck everyone, but especially Sara, Sheldon, Kwame and Ashleigh!

[Vermicious Knid]

Kwame opened new restaurant Dogon in DC a few months ago and has been getting rave reviews. Tom Siestema, food critic for the Washington Post, heaped praise on him which is a major endorsement. I would link but I have canceled my digital subscription out of protest for the direction the paper is being taken. But Vogue loved it too.  Then he went on Netfilx's Chef's Table and was very excited over Tom's review. 

[Lovecat]

Chef Eric Adjepong will be opening a restaurant in Washington, DC called Elmina, focusing on Ghanaian and West African cuisine.  He's also the new co-host of the Pack Your Knives podcast, after Kevin Arnovitz's departure.  I thought the restaurant was to open sometime this month, but can't find anything concrete. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Season 13 winner Jeremy Ford opening the second outpost of his Michelin starred restaurant Subborn Seed in Resorts World Las Vegas.

[Vermicious Knid]

Kwame is also coming to Las Vegas.

The Sahara is much easier to get to than other Strip properties and still has free parking. But I will probably only be able to afford an appetizer with water. 

[tv echo]

Bobby Flay and Food Network Costar Brooke Williamson are Dating: 'Love Bloomed' (Source)
By Angel Saunders and Ana Calderone   March 24, 2025
https://people.com/bobby-flay-brooke-williamson-are-dating-source-11702687 

Quote

The Beat Bobby Flay star, 60, and the Top Chef season 14 winner, 46, are dating, PEOPLE can confirm.

"They have been friends for a while and recently decided to jump in," a source tells PEOPLE. "Her divorce last year probably gave them some additional shared experiences and over the last few weeks, love bloomed."
*  *  *
The longtime friends work together on Bobby's Triple Threat. However, a romance did not start until Williamson and her ex-husband, Nick Roberts, separated two years ago and finalized their divorce in early 2024. She and Roberts share a son. 
*  *  *
The Iron Chef America star was most recently linked to Christina Pérez. The former couple dated for more than three years before PEOPLE learned of their split in June 2024.
*  *  *
Flay was previously married three times. He shares a daughter, Sophie Flay, with his second wife, Kate Connelly, whom he was married to from 1995 to 1998.

Edited March 26 by tv echo

[jcbrown]

Has anyone heard anything recently about how Shirley Chung is doing?

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, jcbrown said:

Has anyone heard anything recently about how Shirley Chung is doing?

I just posted on that in the Media thread last week:

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/6561-top-chef-in-the-media/page/27/#findComment-8612280  

On 3/20/2025 at 9:18 AM, Yeah No said:

On 3/19/2025 at 10:37 PM, Rammchick said:

Shirley Chung is on a new Food Network show called House of Knives which premiered yesterday.  Apparently filmed before her cancer diagnosis.

Thank you. This article from "Reality Blurred" discusses that and Shirley's recent progress. It also discusses a "new" to us episode of GGG with Shirley as judge, also filmed before her diagnosis:

https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2025/01/shirley-chung-guys-grocery-games-all-star-all-swap/

Here is her most recent post on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/chfshirleychung/p/DDsjEVvp-w9/?hl=en&img_index=1

 

[jcbrown]

17 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I just posted on that in the Media thread last week:

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/6561-top-chef-in-the-media/page/27/#findComment-8612280  

 

Yeah, I saw the first episode of that (very bad) show--it features Shirley before she knew she had cancer and Jonathon Sawyer before he got sober. Kinda hard to watch. It was filmed in 2023, I think.
That's actually what made me wonder if anyone had seen anything from her recently.

[kirklandia]

42 minutes ago, jcbrown said:

Yeah, I saw the first episode of that (very bad) show

I had seen promos for it, and ignored them. But then when I saw this thread about Shirley, I decided to watch it.

Even after watching the first episode, I wasn't sure I understood how the competition works. The confusion was the only interesting part about it.
A big snooze - but I was happy to see Shirley.

They are really  overdoing it with new food competition shows now - I think they have run out of ideas.

I could definitely live without the Game of Thrones references.  Ugh.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, kirklandia said:

I had seen promos for it, and ignored them. But then when I saw this thread about Shirley, I decided to watch it.

Even after watching the first episode, I wasn't sure I understood how the competition works. The confusion was the only interesting part about it.
A big snooze - but I was happy to see Shirley.

They are really  overdoing it with new food competition shows now - I think they have run out of ideas.

I could definitely live without the Game of Thrones references.  Ugh.

I know, I watched one episode myself and had similar thoughts. I don't know who is running FN these days but they've gotten rid of a lot of their regulars especially the women over a certain age. I was surprised to see Anne Burrell on this because she was not on "Worst Cooks in America" last season and I don't think anywhere else on FN right now. Rachael Ray is gone - she went over to A&E where she has not 2 but 3 shows, and they canned Valerie Bertinelli from not only her own cooking show but from hosting the baking championships. Giada is gone too. She said she left FN because she was "bored and burnt out". I don't know why because she was underutilized after a while anyway. I also wonder about Alex G's. show "Supermarket Stakeout". They aired 10 episodes last season although more were filmed but not aired. And she wasn't on "The Kitchen" for a while either although she might have come back recently. That show doesn't even air regular episodes anymore.

A lot of former Top Chef alum are featured on all of FN's cooking competitions but it's the same group over and over again and it's getting stale and boring by now. The network has not come up with any good ideas and seems intent on beating the same note over and over again to death. I can't imagine it's a winning formula.