Padma Lakshmi -

by gansie

The Sweetheart

I think Antonia is a doll.

And *souffle* is a doozy!

Padma’s boots are to die.

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by gansie

Virgin Quick Fire

Rocco can go away at any time now.

Richard’s Atlanta themed pie — peaches and sweet tea reduction — could be the most interesting, if it tasted good.

Padma: VERY DEEP DISH re: Nikki. Not good.

Andrew has a potty mouth. I like him.

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by BS

Hott Links: Has Anyone Heard About this Top Chef Show?

Sorry to hit you with the back-to-back Bravo action, but Top Chef 4 starts in Chi-town this evening, and, hey we’re excited. As always, you can count on ES for all your TC gossip, ramblings, and of course, our world wide web famous Padma Lakshmi photo gallery.

– Bravo has a completely unnecessary and completely amazing “Which Top Chef judge are You?” quiz. I won’t tell you which one I matched up with, but let’s just say “though always graceful and poised, I can be playful when the time is right, and I bring a zest for life to everything I do.”

– There’s only one interesting question in this Grub Street interview with Padma Lakshmi, and it’s the last one.

– Time Out NY has the lowdown on Top Chef 3 winner Hung and his latest restaurant stint in NY (they also explain why he’s wearing a yarmulke).

Photo: Time Out NY

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by BS

The Kumquats of Wrath

UPDATE: Good idea, Margot…consider this “Lakshmi-Spiegel Green Chutney” entered in AFAM

I never spend much time with dead tree cooking publications. After I get through all the blogs, there’s just no time left. Plus, as you can probably tell, I’m not one for following recipes.

However, as Gansie mentioned previously, every time I go down to D.C., she sends me back on the bus with a pile of Bon Appetites, Gourmets – and if I’m lucky – Cook’s Illustrateds. Because she’s ~~strangely obsessive~~ a truly dedicated co-editor, she even steals little arrow flags from her office and marks every page for me that mentions pine nuts, phyllo or Padma Lakshmi.

It was this way I learned that the December issue of Gourmet featured the famed cookbook author/Top Chef host/2nd runner-up for Eater of the Year, and offered a few of her chutney recipes. The new Gourmet.com doesn’t seem to have this one in their archives, so here it is:

Anthony Bourdain is Your Eater of the Year

He can always see you…

Despite certain commenters protestations that he is so over already, and others’ pleas that he needs to get off the book tours and back into the kitchen, there was virtually no contest: Anthony Bourdain is the 1st Annual Endless Simmer Eater of the Year.

With 450 of you voting, Mr. Bourdain more than doubled his nearest competitor, Joey Chestnut.

Padma Lakshmi came in a respectable third, cementing her often contentious status as a bona fide eater. Al Gore, meanwhile, had to settle for his frequent position as always the nominee, never the top dog.

Thanks for voting – and don’t forget to send us news on your favorite eaters throughout 2008. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on the many exploits of the talented Mr. Bourdain.
[poll id=”5″]

Photo: KQED

in Celebs / Contests / Trends / TV 9 comments

by BS

Don’t Worry, That Duck Bacon Hasn’t Gone Bad Yet

So I have to admit, I’ve been less of a crazy chef since moving back home to New York. When not surrounded by 10 like-minded culinarians living on the same block, I’m a lot less likely to come up with insanity like hot dog sushi. If I’m just cooking for myself, I often end up preparing a non-blog-worthy sandwich, salad or stir-fry. Which kind of sucks, because, you know, I have a food blog.

But this week, I finally got around to watching the Top Chef Holiday Special on DVR. In addition to such scenes as Padma playing Dirty Santa (not nearly as exciting as it sounds), it got me right back into the mood to be running around my kitchen, hastily throwing random ingredients together in attempts to semi-invent something semi-fancy. Remembering I had some awesome leftovers like duck bacon in the freezer, I put together this quickfire dinner.

If I was Rachel Ray, I’d call it a gourmet 30-minute meal. But then I would have to tell you dumbass things like its OK to substitute baloney for prosciutto, so let’s just call it a tortellini explosion.

Eater of the Year Update

The Eater of the Year award has already logged nearly 300 votes and, as usual, endless simmer has set the Interwebs afire.

So far, ya’ll still have a lamb-boner for Mr. Bourdain, who is semi-running away with this thing. Midseason Replacements offers a thorough analysis of the race, and explains why you all are so enamored with Bourdain.

If anyone can catch Tony, it looks like it’s gonna be the giant slayer himself, Joey Chestnut. New York Magazine wonders how you guys could consider anybody but Chestnut, but over at fEATs, some are claiming he isn’t even the best competitive eater of the year.

Not surprisingly, the most controversy came from our inclusion of Pretty Padma (Ms. Lakshmi if you nasty). Fishbowl LA says she’s more like “Eaten of the Year,” which sounds dirty but I don’t think I quite get it – anyone? But perhaps my favorite comment was back over at MSR, where May says “Padma Lakshmi sounds like something Rachel Ray would serve on a garden herb triscut.”

Al Gore chimed in saying “even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, ‘we must act.”

Honestly, I think that sounds a little optimistic for a guy stuck at seven percent, but thanks for the love, A.G.

The Locavores, meanwhile, took to paraphrasing John Lennon, and are just happy to be more popular than Chocolate Jesus.

Voting continues into next week, and anything can happen. For the full explanation of the nominees, check out the original post – and if you haven’t voted, cast away below.

[poll id=”5″]

in Celebs / Contests / Desserts / Red Meat / Trends / TV 5 comments