Top Chef


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Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord

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We’re happy to debut a new feature here on Endless Simmer.  The Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord will give you a quick look at the assorted gossip, news and general hubbub in the world of celebrity chefs, food television and culinary entertainment.  You can think of this as the Extra or Daily Ten of our usual content.  While it may not be our most in-depth and cerebral commentary, I can guarantee you that there will be absolutely no Debbie Matenopoulos.

– CELEBRITY FEUD!?!?!  Well, maybe not, but foodie fave Grant Achatz took a swipe at Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio’s Diet Coke commercial.  And he did it via Twitter!  How very high-tech.

– Speaking of Top Chef, you can get a close-up look at one of the cheftestants as the Top Chef Tour comes to your neck of the woods.  Score some tickets and you get to meet the chef, sample some food and take come pics.  For a description of Spike (and his hat) with photos from last year’s tour, check out the write up from the charming and good looking blogger who ran TVFoodFan.com

– The new Yankee Stadium, set to open this spring, announced a huge selection of food choices that will feature selections from a number of high-profile NYC personalities including Iron Chef’s Masaharu Morimoto.  There is no truth to the rumor that the large amount of food available at the ballpark is the result of a clause in C.C. Sabathia’s contract.

James Beard snubs ES again, and the Food Network keeps trying, after the jump…

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in Celebs / TV 3 comments
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Sous Vide or Not Sous Vide?

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We touched on this topic briefly during the final Top Chef live blog, but it’s such a dilemma for me that I really have to expand and get some serious input from the ES community.

First things first, I’m a total food sucker.  OK that sounds really gross, but don’t worry, I chew my dinner like a regular person. What I mean is that even though a try to be an ultra-cynical food blogger, I have to admit I’m drawn in by pretty much every silly, over-hyped food world craze. Tell me grass-fed beef is trendy and I’ll switch to it. Mention that buffalo meat is the new pork? I’m game. Make bacon out of duck? Why not?

But inevitably, I’m never that impressed by these trends and get mad at myself for being sucked in. Grass-fed beef smells bad, buffalo is just kind of meh, and duck bacon is fine, but it’s no bacon-bacon. Yet of course I get suckered again and again. Which brings me to sous vide…

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in Red Meat / TV 18 comments
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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

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Since we were all-Top Chef, all the time this week, I just had to share this photo. First Tom Colicchio for Diet Coke, now Padma Lakshmi for Hardee’s. What’s next? Gail Simmons for Baconnaise? But I digress. On with the comments…

– Is Stefan the new Carla? Maybe, judging by the love ESers are showering on him:

Eick: Over the course of the season I was warming up to Stefan more and more and starting to like Hosea less and less. This interview is the fucking awesome and the icing on the cake. I am now a full-fledged Stefan proponent. His line about how read the blogs he DID win and will be able to lay valuable eggs – awesome.

Leahsucks: I was hating on Stefan for a while but have been coming around and this interview totally won me over. He’s a lovable good hearted jerk. I don’t think I will be buying the cock panties anytime soon though.

– So who is the new Top Chef villain? Casey, obv. Leahsucks: Umm… Casey’s bitter rant. You are done with TC and we are done with you. Good Day sir. Maids: wow talk about a contrast. Carla = gracious and protective of Casey (True mark of a fine competitor) Casey = nasty and hateful toward Carl.

– Most of you are as excited as we are about bacon cheese.  KMango: They serve that on the sammiches you get when you arrive in heaven. But not JoeHoya:

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in TV 4 comments
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Top Chef Exit Interview: The Winner

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Our interview with this season’s tippety-top chef’testant, after the jump.

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in TV 1 comments
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Top Chef Exit Interview: First Runner-Up

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Our interview with the second-place chef’testant, after the jump (viewer discretion is advised).

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in TV 10 comments
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Top Chef Exit Interview: Second Runner-Up (And Contest Results!)

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OK, first things first–the results of our Top Chef Finale Guessing Game. After consulting all of the winning chef’s recipes online, it seems they used the following ingredients: Foie gras, redfish, corn, scallops, venison, wild mushrooms, cilantro, tuna, hamachi, black bass, fennel oil, fried tempura bits, chestnut, celeraic, blackberries, green beans, kumquat, orange juice, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, cucumber juice, ginger juice, jalapeno juice, sriracha, fennel, avocado, cucumber, orange, blood orange, grapefruit, chile oil, garlic, rosemary, Yukon gold potatoes, butter, heavy cream, sugar, veal demi glace, French bread, eggs, milk, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, apples, cider vinegar, star anise, pecans, cayenne, half and half, Tabasco, tomato paste, yellow onion, bell pepper, creole spice.

Phew! It takes a lot to be a Top Chef! I can’t believe no one was able to guess all five with a list like that! A lot of people had one correct. No one had three. Only a few people had two. First off there’s BS(!) with scallops and sriracha. Chris had foie gras and scallops. He came so close to winning it outright but guessed smoked paprika instead of cayenne.  The lovely BS’s Mom had mushrooms and celeraic (nice guess on cleraic! Also used by Stefan.) Ben! had scallops and garlic (hmmm…garlic is close to not counting, but Padma and the judges rule it’s OK.) Queen had cinnamon and eggs. JoeHoya had mushrooms and lemon (well, he used lemon juice, but I’m assuming that came from a lemon, so you get the point). Muffin had cream and foie gras (sorry, we’ll give you points for cream, but not butter–that falls in the too obvious category as stated in the rules).

So of the ppl with two guesses correct, only two had the winner right: BS’s Mom and Ben! Congrats to both of our winners! BS’s Mom, as you may have guessed, is my mom, so conflict-of-interest rules prevent her from receiving ES prizes. Ben! send us your mailing address — the Top Chef cookbook and calendar are on the way.

OK, now on to the good stuff…our interview with the third place chef’testant…

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in Contests / TV 10 comments
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Live Blogging Top Chef: The Finale

in TV 2 comments
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