top chef 7

For an actress with as much star power as Kate Winslet, being on Bravo's Top Chef should be, well, a piece of cake. The New York Post got the early scoop on Top Chef season seven when it ran into head judge Tom Colicchio at Bravo's Upfront Party in New York last night. Not only has shooting been pushed to April (due to the birth of Padma's baby, Krishna), but Oscar winner Kate Winslet hopes to be a part of the production.

"I met Kate Winslet at a party the other night, and she said, 'I want to come on the show,'" Tom told the Post. "So I said, 'Kate, you've got an Oscar in your hands, you can do whatever you want!'"

Kate is a known foodie. Her mom is an award-winning pickler, and the actress has expressed her love for eating and cooking — despite being accident-prone in the kitchen.

I'd love to see someone like her on the show. Do you think she'd make a solid guest judge?

• Make your own Starbucks-style cranberry bliss bars. — Serious Eats
• An inside look at New York's Top Chef season seven casting call. — Eater NY
• Speaking of Top Chef casting calls, here's what the head of casting has to say. — Andrew Zimmern
• Why you should give Spanish paprika a try. — The Atlantic
• Jay Leno does his best impression of Gordon Ramsay. — Eat Me Daily
• Feeling adventurous this Thanksgiving? Then learn how to deep-fry a turkey. — Chow
• Catch up with Top Chef season three alum Chris CJ Jacobson. — Grub Street LA
• At your next party, serve cocktails with homemade swizzle sticks. — Hostess With the Mostess

• Katie Lee admits that having the last name Joel helped her career get started.— New York Magazine
• Black ravioli with pumpkin is the perfect Halloween dinner.— Saveur
• Feeling sick? Start eating these flu-fighting foods.— The Epi-Log
• Here are 10 creepy but festive Halloween recipes— Endless Simmer
• An inside look at Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller's new cookbook. — Eat Me Daily
• Celebrate Fall by turning tortillas into leaf-shaped chips. — Eddie Ross
• Singing and dancing in the grocery store is so much fun! — Serious Eats
• Get a glimpse of the Top Chef season seven casting call. — 7x7

While the sixth season of Bravo's hit reality cooking competition, Top Chef, is hardly half over, the television network has announced plans to shoot a seventh season. Casting calls begin on Sunday, Oct. 18, in San Francisco and end less than a month later in Los Angeles with stops in Miami, Chicago, Washington DC, New York, and Dallas along the way.

There's no news yet as to which judges and guest chefs are attached to the project, but chances are, filming may overlap with Padma Lakshmi's pregnancy.

Besides Top Chef 7, Bravo will also premiere a new docu-series, Chef Academy, on Nov. 16 at 11 p.m. The show follows chef Jean Christophe Novelli as he opens his first US cooking school. Will you tune in for Chef Academy and another season of Top Chef? Or are you over culinary reality TV?

Photo courtesy of Bravo