Top Chef Allstar Reunion Tonight!

Tonight on a special episode of Top Chef, your favorite chef’testants from seasons 1 – 5 are back to reunite and hash out some of Top Chef’s most heated moments! Season 5’s Fabio Vivani hosts this exclusive dinner where some of past seasons most familiar faces let it all out on the table. What will happen when old rivals like Ilan and Marcel confront each other?  And what was the real story behind season 5’s finale between Casey’s role in Carla’s failed dishes?

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Top Chef:Las Vegas – Natalie Portman Stops By

This week on a new Top Chef: Las Vegas, the chef’testants are faced with a TV dinner Quickfire Challenge — inspired by a list of TV shows compiled by the editors of TV Guide! The remaining chef’testants visit Tom’s restaurant, Craft Steak at the MGM Grand, and are tasked with cooking for Oscar winner Natalie Portman and friends — but are met with an interesting twist that makes their mouths drop.

Bravo is Casting for Spinoff Series, “Top Chef: Just Desserts”

Today, Bravo announced the series pickup of its newest culinary competition series entitled “Top Chef: Just Desserts,” a spin-off of the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning “Top Chef.” The series will consist of pastry chefs competing against one another in a series of challenges. Open calls for chefs interested in competing in the high-stakes culinary competition series will be held in cities across the country starting on October 26. The announcement was made by Frances Berwick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Bravo Media.

For additional casting information and to download an application, visit www.BravoTV.com/casting. “Top Chef: Just Desserts” casting calls are as follows:

CHICAGO
Monday, October 26, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Wells on Wells
www.wellsonwells.com

WASHINGTON D.C.
Wednesday, November 4, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Occidental Grill & Seafood at Willard InterContinental Hotel
www.occidentaldc.com

BOSTON
Wednesday, November 4, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
The Westin Boston Waterfront

http://www.westinbostonwaterfront.com/

ATLANTA
Sunday, November 8, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Craft Restaurant

http://www.craftrestaurant.com/craft_atlanta_style.html

NEW YORK
Sunday, November 8, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
CraftSteak
www.craftrestaurant.com/craftsteak_newyork.html

DALLAS
Wednesday, November 11, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Abacus
www.kentrathbun.com

LAS VEGAS
Wednesday, November 11, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Craftsteak

http://www.craftrestaurant.com/craftsteak_lasvegas.html

LOS ANGELES
Sunday, November 15, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Craft Restaurant
www.craftrestaurant.com/craft_losangeles_style.html

PORTLAND
Sunday, November 15, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
The Benson Hotel

http://www.bensonhotel.com

Your email:

 

Catch An All New “Top Chef” Tonight On Bravo

Tonight on a new episode of Top Chef: Las Vegas, the chef’testants get a very special visit from notable chef/restaurateur Charlie Palmer to judge the “Quickfire Challenge”. The pressure is on for the Voltaggio brothers –who both have a history with Palmer – to deliver to his expectations.  And the tension between Robin and the rest of the remaining contestants escalates when Eli gets ticked off.  Does Robin deserve to still be there?  And will she make it to the next challenge?

Daniel Boulud on Tonight’s Top Chef

The stakes in Vegas are truly high this week with an intense Quickfire challenge — famed French chef and restaurateur (and “one of the baddest mothaf*%^&rs there is” according to Eli) Daniel Boulud guest judges this round where the chef’testants must make a winning dish using a very challenging protein: the snail. And the chefs are shocked to hear that while the winner of the Quickfire gets immunity, the loser automatically goes home! Those that make it to the elimination round then have the honor (and pressure) of cooking for another renowned French chef: Joel Robuchon – in his very own restaurant. With now two French culinary experts at the judges’ table, will the chef’testants be able live up to some high expectations?

Catch this episode tonight @ 10/9c only on Bravo.

Meet the Cast of Top Chef Las Vegas

17 New Chefs Rack It Up Along With Guest Judges And Stars Natalie Portman, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Tyler Florence, Penn & Teller And Nigella Lawson

What happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas. The sixth season of the No. 1 food show on cable, Bravo’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series returns with “Top Chef: Las Vegas,” premiering Wednesday, August 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The 17 new chef’testants take on Sin City this season to see if they have what it takes to become Top Chef. And for the first time ever the series has a set of brothers competing against each other.

This season captures Sin City’s high stakes and high rollers in addition to exploring what Vegas has to offer beyond the Strip. Some of the top names in food, movies and entertainment including Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Natalie Portman, Daniel Boulud, Penn & Teller, Hubert Keller, Laurent Tourondel, Tim Love, Michelle Bernstein, Tyler Florence, Charlie Palmer, Paul Bartolotta, Nigella Lawson and Jerome Bocuse will be featured this season on “Top Chef: Las Vegas.”

Once again returning to the kitchen, cookbook author, actress and host Padma Lakshmi presides over the judge’s table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, renowned culinary figure and chef/owner Craft Restaurants, and judges Gail Simmons, of Food & Wine magazine and Toby Young, food critic and best-selling author of the book How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

“Las Vegas has become a culinary destination some of the world’s best chefs and restaurants are here so it’s only fitting that our newest season was the best yet,” said Colicchio. “You’ll be surprised by the quality of chef’testants we discovered this season. They really raised the bar.”

The Emmy-nominated Magical Elves return to produce “Top Chef: Las Vegas.” Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz (“Top Chef Masters,” “Project Runway,” “Top Design”), Liz Cook and Casey Kriley serve as executive producers. Nan Strait serves as co-executive producer.

The 17 “Top Chef: Las Vegas” chef’testants will be whittled down week by week as they compete to outshine their competition. The winning chef will receive $100,000 furnished by the makers of the Glad family of products, $100,000 of merchandise provided by Macy’s, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and will earn the title of “Top Chef.” The M Resort Spa & Casino served as the production location for “Top Chef: Las Vegas.”

To meet the cast of Season Six, see photo galleries and video, visit www.BravoTV.com/top-chef/season-6. Following are the 17 new “Top Chef: Las Vegas” chef’testants:

- Ash Fulk, 29 Hometown: Pleasant Hill, Calif.; Resides in New York City

- Ashley Merriman, 32 Center Sandwich, N.H.; Resides in Seattle, Wash.

- Bryan Voltaggio, 33 Hometown: Frederick, Md.; Resides in Urbana, Md.

- Eli Kirshtein, 25 Hometown/Resides in: Atlanta, Ga.

- Eve Aronoff, 40 Hometown/Resides in: Ann Arbor, Mich.

- Hector Santiago, 41 Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Resides in Atlanta, Ga.

- Jennifer Carroll, 33 Hometown/Resides in: Philadelphia, Pa.

- Jennifer Zavala, 31 Hometown: Cromwell, Conn.; Resides in Philadelphia, Pa.

- Jesse Sandlin, 30 Hometown/Resides in: Baltimore, Md.

- Kevin Gillespie, 26 Hometown/Resides in: Atlanta, Ga.

- Laurine Wickett, 38 Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.; Resides in San Francisco, Calif.

- Mattin Noblia, 29 Hometown: Biarritz, France; Resides in San Francisco, Calif.

- Michael Isabella, 34 Hometown: Little Ferry, N.J.; Resides in Washington, D.C.

- Michael Voltaggio, 30 Hometown: Frederick, Md.; Resides in Los Angeles, Calif.

- Preeti Mistry, 33 Hometown/Resides in: San Francisco, Calif.

- Robin Leventhal, 43 Hometown: Sun Valley, Idaho; Resides in Seattle, Wash.

- Ron Duprat, 40 Hometown: Mare Rouge, Haiti; Resides in Hollywood, Fla. and Naples, Fla.

THE “STEAKS” ARE HIGHER IN SIN CITY ON BRAVO’S “TOP CHEF: LAS VEGAS” WED. AUGUST 26 AT 9 PM ET/PT

“Lost” Inspired Island Cooking on Tonight’s Top Chef Masters

Lost Creators Damon Lindoff and Cartlon Cuse guest star on Top Chef Masters

Tonight on Top Chef Masters, the chefs are operating on an extremely tight budget and must create the perfect amuse bouche using only what they can find in a vending machine (a la Top Chef season 2). Master chefs Wylie Dufresne, Suzanne Tracht, Graham Elliot Bowles and Elizabeth Falkner find themselves “lost” as they are challenged to make a meal inspired by the hit TV show, using ingredients such as fish, wild boar, fresh fruits, and other island specialties. “Lost” co-creators, executive producers and writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof guest star, and one chef moves on to the Champions Round.

Chopping Block Premier

Chopping Block
Wednesday 8pm, NBC

There’s something about the American heritage that makes us love to be brow beaten by the British. It’s as if we can’t get away from colonial subjugation—we defer to their judgment, taste, and rules, as much as we try and pretend that such advice is foppish.

Marco Pierre White of NBC’s Chopping Block follows the long tradition of British expert to relocate stateside and show us uncultured Yanks a thing or two. In the vein of Gordon Ramsey or Toby Young, he’s snarky, dramatic, and obsessed with food. He also has an amazing pedigree as the youngest chef ever to win 3 Michelin stars.

Chopping Block borrows pretty heavily from the other two British-influenced foodie shows (Hell’s Kitchen and Top Chef). That borrowing is more than laziness—it can’t be helped. White, who incidentally taught Gordon Ramsey, is the host of the UK version of Hell’s Kitchen. And everything from  White’s reputation as an enfant terrible to his hair to  NBC’s horrible, horrible opening HK-esque montage reinforced this connection. As for Top Chef, well, any cooking program based on elimination is going to draw comparison’s to Top Chef no matter what it does.

The set up of Chopping Block is as follows: 10 couples are competing for a chance to own their own restaurant. Remember Top Chef’s reoccurring segment Restaurant Wars? Chopping Block is a whole series of Restaurant Wars: 2 teams of 5 couples each build a restaurant and a menu in 24 hours, then compete. The losing team fights for a while, and White then votes off one group.

What makes the Chopping Block so delicious is White. Say the name ‘Marco Pierre White’ to yourself. It brings up images of Italian pomp, French pretension, and British everyman. White is all of those things and more: his clothing is all floppy white cuffs and black suit coats with a shock of 19th-century-composer hair. His commentary is languid and lazy, a purring snark he delivers in suspenders from a deep armchair (with much chin stroking and finger pointing for emphasis). And his kitchen manner is brusque, demanding, and sympathetic—as if he cares about food SO MUCH he’s on the point of tears discussing it.

All this seems very harsh, but the truth of the matter is, White is a delight to watch, and the clipping pace of his show is just as addicting as the shows from which it draws inspiration. The contestants aren’t so dumb and talentless as they are on Fox’s Hells Kitchen, nor are they as gossipy and catty as they are on Top Chef. The resulting show feels like—dare I say it?—adult entertainment. You know, entertainment which treats its audience as adults, not like overgrown toddlers. If only the viewer would be invited to judge cooking techniques or managerial skills—then the show would really sing. As it is, it doesn’t involve the audience, nor teach the audience the secrets of the restaurant business. But it’s still a simple, addictive pleasure, and in this day and age, why not enjoy it?

Emeril Lagasse kicks it up a notch as Top Chef goes to New Orleans

The final chef’testants will need to “kick it up a notch” to impress famed chef and restaurateur Emeril Lagasse in the eclectic city of New Orleans on Bravo’s “Top Chef,” with a supersized episode and a shocking twist that changes the face of game as the field is narrowed from four to three on Wednesday, February 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The three finalists face an extra special challenge and the winner will be revealed on Wednesday, February 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, on the season finale of “Top Chef: New York.”

Lagasse, chef/proprietor of Emeril’s Restaurant, NOLA, and Emeril’s Delmonico in New Orleans said about his experience on “Top Chef”: “In Louisiana, we have an amazing selection of local ingredients: andouille sausage, frog legs, turtle, catfish and rabbit. I was interested in seeing if the chefs would venture out and really try to explore our local flavors and culture. The challenge for some was finding a balance between the bold spices we love and their own personal style. All I can say is that you’ll definitely want to go back for seconds for some of their final dishes!”

Wylie Dufrense on Top Chef Tonight

It’s the last chance to impress the judges before the finale in New Orleans and things get heated as notable chef/innovator Wylie Dufrense puts the remaining five chef’testants through the “Quickfire” ringer to impress him with their own take on an inventive dish.  When the chefs must cook for Wylie and famed author Jacques Pepin in the elimination round, will they be able to pull out all of the stops to secure a spot in New Orleans?

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