Rick Bayless eviscerates a pig.
The final chapter in Top Chef Masters‘ first season came to a close last night. Hate us if you will, but if you read spoilers early on in the season, you’ll be either happy or pissed to know that said rumors were indeed true, and we’re happy for Illinois farmers. Here’s how it went down:
The Masters were given a single task—cook a four-course autobiographical meal: the first course representing their first food memory, second being the experience that made them want to become a chef, then the opening of their first restaurant, and finally where they’re headed in the future. For judging, they brought back Tom, Padma and Gail, the previous Top Chefs, and the original Masters judging trio of Greene, Oseland and Rayner. Read more »
Jonathan Waxman makes ladies weak in the knees. (Photo courtesy NBC Universal)
Love was in the air on last night’s Top Chef Masters. Though, we should have known something was awry the minute Art Smith (most notably Oprah’s chef) stepped into frame. Smith was joined this week by Michael Cimarusti of Providence in L.A., Roy Yamaguchi (Roy’s)—whom James Oseland described as “the king of fusion”—and NYC’s own Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto. Critics for the episode were Gail Simmons, Gael Greene and James Oseland.
The quickfire was a throwback from Top Chef season three, wherein the chefs were given an aisle of the supermarket to shop for ingredients with a budget of $20. Smith gaily laughed at the notion, and then started name-dropping it like it was hot, listing a host of VIPs he’d cooked for including Julia Child and the King of Sweden. Read more »
Tags:
Art Smith,
Barack Obama,
Common Threads,
Gael Greene,
Gail Simmons,
James Oseland,
Jonathan Waxman,
Julia Child,
Lexus,
Michael Cimarusti,
the King of Sweden,
Top Chef Masters,
Toyota,
Whole Foods
The many faces of Top Chef Masters' judge James Oseland.
Last night’s Top Chef Masters featured restaurant-chef-cum-TV-chef-cum-restaurant-chef Michael Chiarello; Nils Noren of the French Culinary Institute (holla!); Lachlan Patterson of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado; and Rick Moonen of RM Seafood in Las Vegas, all reinterpreting classic junk foods and cooking a miniature three-course menu for 100 guests. Read more »
Tags:
Art Smith,
Clinic Ole,
Frasca Food and Wine,
French Culinary Institute,
James Oseland,
Jonathan Waxman,
Lachlan Patterson,
Michael Chiarello,
Michael Cimarust,
Nils Noren,
Rick Moonen,
RM Seafood,
Roy Yamaguchi,
Top Chef Masters
The judges get snacky on Top Chef Masters.
Last night’s installment of Top Chef Masters featured the culinary handiwork of Wilo Benet, “Puerto Rico’s first celebrity chef,” according to Tom Colicchio; Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago; Cindy Pawlcyn, chef-owner of Mustards Grill in Napa; and Ludo Lefebvre of Ludo Bites in L.A. Is it just us or does it seem like every week there’s always one “celebrity chef” to three lesser-known toques? Read more »
Top Chef Masters' first champ, Hubert Keller
Last night, Bravo premiered a softer side of Top Chef; an older, more aware-of-itself version of the brand we’ve come to pick apart like the petty vultures we are know and love. For one thing, there’s less on the line for these chefs. They’re not playing for fortune or fame—they already have both. They’re playing to win money for the charities of their choice, an act of altruism which certainly helps validate a spin-off series that lacks the teeth-gritting tension of its forebear. The real pleasure comes from watching the big-name chefs cook, and the fact that many are former TC judges. Read more »
