Daily Loaf

Like me, most of you Top Chef fans probably get a little anxious by this time of the week – it’s been how many days since the last episode?! Well, I’m here to give you a Top Chef fix to help you get through the next few days. Since the Restaurant Wars episode aired last Wednesday, I have come across some very exciting news about  future seasons and a few stupidly entertaining videos from the current season.
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This is it — the final episode, where we learn who is the Master of the Top Chefs.

I was quite impressed with this episode because they did away with the drama and really focused on the food (well, there was some nail-biting drama at the final judging). The chefs had to cook a four-course meal that told a story about their culinary career: Their earliest food memory, the experience that made them want to become a chef, their first restaurant, and where they’re heading in the future with their career. Their dishes were gorgeous (except for Michael’s whole fried fish) and made me want to reach through the screen to taste them.

Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and the five former Top Chef winners joined the judges to feast upon the cheftestants’ dishes (yes, Hosea is still alive). We also got to see some old pictures of the chefs, from childhood to their early career days — not pretty pictures, these guys definitely were late bloomers.

Highlights: Rick Bayless’ orgasmic mole (mo-lay, as in, the sauce) which took Jay Rayner’s “mole [mo-lay] virginity”; our fantasy Padma-on-Kelly chick fight; Keller’s former life as a dirty hippie; Chiarello’s diss at James Oseland; Jay wanting to bathe with Gail in Chiarello’s food; and the revelation of the winner.

At the end of our podcast, we discussed the new season of Top Chef and ragged on the newbies (and their crazy body art), but tune in next week to hear our rants on the first and second episodes of the season. Yes, we’re continuing this podcast — much to your delight.

Hear the exciting podcast after the jump:
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This week we discussed episode 2 of Top Chef Masters: The Lost Supper. Our special guest this week was Jeff Houck, food writer for The Tampa Tribune, who added a great dose of humor to the show and kept us in stitches.
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If you have been paying attention to all of the ads and the commercials on Bravo, you’ll already know that the Top Chef series is back (and we’re hoping you’ve watched). This time, there’s a twist: 24 well-known, seasoned chefs go head-to-head and compete in challenges just like they’ve put the contestants from past seasons through, all to win money for their charity of choice.

Top Chef Masters is a bit different than the original show, though. Instead of sticking all 24 of the “masters” in an apartment and make them eat, sleep, booze, and live together, four of them at a time compete in an episode. I was thoroughly surprised when I saw this – they didn’t mention that in the previews, but I can understand why this was done. (Do you really think these chefs are going to give up the reins of their uber popular restaurants and two months of their lives just for a TV show? Though I would liked to have seen a Hosea-Leah hookup scenario between, say, Roy Yamaguchi and Cindy Pawlcyn.)
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Bravo announced today the line-up of its new Top Chef Masters show, which premieres June 10. The concept is simple: How would established chefs — some of them culinary celebrities of a sort — fare under the challenges of of the Top Chef-style competition?

There are some problems with the look of the new show, most glaring of which is the lack of gloriously scarred Padme Lakshmi and the beefy Tom Colicchio. Replacing Lakshmi as host is Kelly Choi, a former model and NY food show host. More interesting are the judges. Although the red-hat old lady Gael Green and Saveur editor james Oseland don’t hold much promise, Bravo has brought Guardian restaurant critic Jay Rayner over from across the pond. Can he out-wit the rather sheepish Toby Young?

The biggest problem with the show, however, may be the successful competitors. Do any of them have anything to gain from the show, other than the potential of a tad more celebrity pull?

Check out the list of contestants — and the cool celebrity judges scheduled — after the break: Read the rest of this entry »