Rejoice, Top Chef: Just Desserts fans! Season one winner Yigit Pura has a new San Francisco patisserie, Tout Sweet, opening this Saturday, Sept. 8. Billed as a French patisserie inspired by Northern California produce, this très chic pastry shop is sure to tempt all but the most stalwart sweets-averse. For those of you living outside the SF Bay Area, don't fret: chef Pura is currently penning a cookbook titled Sweet Alchemy, due out next Fall, and has plans for eventual nationwide expansion.
Gail Simmons has a pretty full plate right now: in addition to being in charge of special projects at Food & Wine magazine, she's also got some pretty steady gigs as a judge on Top Chef and the host of Top Chef: Just Desserts. But on top of that, her first book, Talking With My Mouth Full, was just released yesterday.
Over the phone, we caught up with Gail, who despite being at the top of her game, offered plenty of her time to share candid thoughts on everything from the health hazards of celebrity chefdom to her plans 15 years from now.
Find out her thoughts on current food issues, her plans for now (and later), and the one question she'd be happy to never hear again, when you keep reading.
Want to get on the family's good side this turkey day? Then bake a pie! Sweet, buttery, and comforting, these pastries are a wonderful closing statement to an all-out meal. While it isn't too late to bake up your favorite recipe, pie can be a delicate balance of art and science. So to help you get started, we enlisted Tim Nugent, pastry whiz at San Francisco's Scala's Bistro and Top Chef: Just Desserts season one contestant. His tips for maximum pie finesse here.
Photo courtesy of Bravo
These days, Marcel Vigneron — of Top Chef and Marcel's Quantum Kitchen — isn't just playing with molecules. He's also playing with words, as demonstrated by the tako taco he was demonstrating at LA's Taste event. In between plating his signature dish, Marcel took the time to chat about molecular gastronomy and why you shouldn't be afraid to toy around with it at home.
Staying in this Wednesday night? Not to worry — with the premiere of Top Chef Just Desserts tonight, there'll be plenty of sugar and spice to keep you occupied. The show, which is back for its second season at 10 p.m., to be hosted once again by Gail Simmons, will feature a new set of pastry chefs living together and facing off in weekly eliminations. There will, obviously, be lots and lots of sweets. Here are four we're hoping will get some screen time — and another four we're hoping to be done with for good.
Photos courtesy of Bravo
Gail Simmons revealed to us that the second season of Top Chef Just Desserts would air before the end of the year, and now Bravo's finally unveiling more details.
The latest season of the Top Chef spinoff will premiere Aug. 24 at 10 p.m. on Bravo. It'll be led by the usual suspects — Gail Simmons as host, Johnny Iuzzini as head judge, with Hubert Keller and Dannielle Kyrillos as regular judges — plus a few famous guest judges, among them Cat Cora, Francois Payard, and the Beastie Boys' Adam Horovitz. Oh, and the cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Bravo's revealed the season two lineup of contestants, too.
Will you tune in?
Photos courtesy of Bravo
Top Chef Just Desserts is back and better than ever: just ask the show's returning host, Gail Simmons. Simmons talked shop about the Bravo show's second season, not confirming an air date but hinting that "the second season will air before the end of the year."
Will season two have the same frenzied, diva- and drama-filled cast of characters that the first season had? "The chefs, the pastry chefs on this next season are really, really special — really talented. I mean, what they accomplish just blows my mind," said Gail. As for what will change on-set: "I think the way they're going to make it different is just that everything is going to be bigger, higher, sweeter, more colorful, more visual, and the challenges are going to be even more unbelievable."
Sounds like a lot more of, well, everything! Are you excited to tune in to Top Chef Just Desserts 2 when it returns?
After we introduced you to the contestants yesterday, the premiere of Top Chef's sweetest spinoff, Top Chef Just Desserts, aired last night. Contestants were challenged with creating the most decadent chocolate dessert, to be judged by Mr. Chocolate himself, Jacques Torres. The pastry chefs were also met with head judge Johnny Iuzzini's somewhat intimidating, no-nonsense style — something I found immensely entertaining. Did you tune in, or are you Top Chef-ed out?
Photo courtesy of Bravo
Photo courtesy of Bravo
