YumSugar

Meet Your Top Chef Sin City Contestants!

partysugar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:47:31 -0700

The moment you've been waiting for is here. The contestants for the sixth - and according to Gail Simmons, "I've never eaten better on the show," best - season have been announced. This time around there are 17 chefs who will duke it out in Las Vegas. Guest judges include Wolfgang Puck, Natalie Portman, and Tyler Florence, among others. Set your TiVos: the first episode debuts on Aug. 26. Here you can find a first taste of the competitors – there's one Euro, and brothers!
Source

View Slideshow ›

A Look at the Food & Wine Classic Quickfire

partysugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:48:09 -0700

View Slideshow ›

Gail and Tom Reveal Details From Top Chef Vegas

partysugar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:29:34 -0700

View Slideshow ›

2008's Best Moments at Aspen Food & Wine

YumSugar — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:50:09 -0700

As I mentioned yesterday, Party and I are headed to Aspen this weekend for what is considered the food industry's biggest gathering of the year. Before we report back with inspiring moments and witty words from this year's gustatory fest, I wanted to take a look back at the best that Aspen had to offer last year.

View Slideshow ›

Food Industry's Elite Party in South Beach

partysugar — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:36:00 -0800

View Slideshow ›

YumSugar's Top 10 Things Found in Aspen

YumSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:56:38 -0700

View Slideshow ›

A Peek at the Food and Wine Classic Cook-Off

partysugar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:19:57 -0700

View Slideshow ›

Let's Dish: Top Chef 4.14 - In It for the Win

YumSugar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:45:13 -0700

View Slideshow ›

Let's Dish: Top Chef 4.11 - The War Is On!

YumSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:56:44 -0700

View Slideshow ›

The Live Action Top Chef Cook-Off Results Are In!

YumSugar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 06:58:31 -0700

Yesterday, to kick off New York's Restaurant Week, Bravo TV hosted a cook-off pitting season 2 crowd-favorite Sam Talbot against season 2 winner Ilan Hall. I was really hoping that Sam would show everyone that the wrong winner was chosen, but as it turns out, Ilan won the cook-off with a softshell crab dish. His winning dish, which beat out a quail entrée from Sam, will be tentatively added to some of the top restaurants' menu during restaurant week.

Also present at the event were Top Chef judges Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and the cast of Season 3 (which starts tonight!).

View 5 Photos ›

Source: TV Cocktail

Image Source

Top Chef 4 Star All Stars Recap

YumSugar — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:20:59 -0700

Last night Top Chef kicked off its new season with an All Star battle that pitted season one chefs against season two. On the season one team we had Harold, Stephen (oh how I missed his condescending smug attitude), Tiffani and Dave - surprisingly absent was Leanne, but she couldn't participate because she is now Bravo TV's food producer). The season two team consisted of fan favorite Sam, Elia, Marcel and Ilan. The two teams were going head to head and the team with the most wins contributed $20,000 to their favorite charity.

Overall it was a bit lackluster - there was no drama unfolding, as no one was getting kicked off, and all the food looked delicious - however it was fun to see my favorite contestants back in the kitchen. It was definitely a great tease (or should I say amuse-bouche) to lead into season three. There were a few good quotes and I'm sure you guys want to know about the food, and see some pictures. So let's get started, just read more

First of all, I can't get on with any of the recapping without pointing out three things. (1) Marcel rapped, again... (2) was that the Brooklyn bridge carved into Ilan's hair? I'm pretty sure it was and (3) the immersion blender in Ilan's mouth looked a bit... wrong? Oh my, now on to the recap!

The challenge started off with Padma and Chef Tom telling the former contestants that each team needed a team captain. Initially I thought it would be the two winners, but I should have known better! Instead of having the teams pick captains, the captains were chosen by a quickfire challenge! They were presented with two eggs and a large oven mitt. The oven mitt was for them to wear, because Padma tells them that they will be cooking eggs with one hand behind their back. They then cut to Stephen who says, "If you can't cook eggs, you're probably better off not being in the kitchen." I guess no one told those folks in Hell's Kitchen that.

In the end, Stephen wins with a "perfect omelette" and is chosen captain of season one - competing for the Susan G. Komen foundation. And even though his dish was topped with a dollop of saffron foam, Marcel is the runner-up and is chosen as captain for season two - competing for Share Our Strength.

The teams are then told that they're making a four course meal consisting of scallops, lobster, duck and kobe beef. Each team member chooses an ingredient and they will go head-to-head against the other season's chef. The team with the most winning dishes will be the victors.

Up first: Dave vs Elia with scallops - Elia produces two versions both paired with a marmalade, Dave produces a smoked scallop with a tapenade. In the end Elia's wins, although I must admit, I was rooting for Dave.

Next up: Stephen vs Marcel with lobster - Marcel's dish includes both a gelee and a foam (served tableside even!), both of which begin to deflate in the hot Miami heat. Stephen's is immaculately plated and consisted of beautiful saffron tones. Winner? Stephen.

Third course: Harold vs. Ilan with duck - The showdown is on! Season one winner vs season two winner, should be impressive, no? Actually turned out that the judges didn't really love either of them. Harold's was "incomplete" and Ilan's was a mess. In the end incomplete wins over a mess, and I say hurray, because well it's no secret, I heart Harold.

Last up: Tiffani vs Sam with kobe beef: Both dishes looked great, but Tiffani's was the winner. Chef Tom even mentions how nice it is to have her food again.

With a vote of 3-1, season 1 is declared the victor!

If you missed the show, you can check it out later this week (check the Bravo schedule) or stream it over the internet. Also, for a few hysterical comments on last night's show, visit our pals at We Cook, They Dish.

Now for a few of my favorite quotes:

"If the bitch can cook, let him cook!" - Dave about Marcel

"I have way too many people at home watching, I can't go home against this guy." - Harold about Marcel

"I'm so weeded right now." - Marcel

"I don't want to prove myself to these guys anymore." - Dave

"He's KIND OF cute?!?" - Ted Allen about Sam

"Don't read the blogs because you'll find shit on there that you don't want to know about yourself. Stuff that you probably didn't even know about yourself." - Sam

Oh Sam, was it something we said?

View 10 Photos ›

Image Source

Top Chef News Roundup - Season 3 is coming up!

YumSugar — Mon, 07 May 2007 11:08:00 -0700

There's a bunch of Top Chef related news going on right now - timed to go with the new season I'm sure - so I thought I'd just save some time and post them all at once, here we go!

First of all, Top Chef Season 1 winner, Harold Dieterle, opened up his restaurant Perilla this weekend. His grand opening is tonight - I want to try the Okinawa Yam Dumplings and Spicy Duck Meatballs...
Good ol' Padma (TC host) is heating things up in the current issue of Maxim magazine.
Don't forget, you can chat with Marcel (TC 2) Vigneron tonight at 7pm PT.
Remember how I said to set your tivos on June 13? Well, you better make that June 6. Bravo has a mystery Episode 300, entitled "4 Star All Star" - the first number usually means the season number so what does this sneaky 4 star all star title mean?

Bravo's launching a new site called TopChefOnline.com - they're hoping it will be a year-round destination for TC fans. It will also contain a web show called "Miami Spice" featuring Elia Aboumrad (TC2).
And finally (for now), several of our fave TC faces - Judge Tom Collichio, host Padma Lakshmi, former host Katie Lee Joel, TC 2 winner Ilan Hall and guest judge Ted Allen) - were out last night at the Bon Appetit Magazine & James Beard Foundation's Chef's Night Out. I always wonder if Katie & Padma talk to one another...

View 5 Photos ›

Source: They Cook. We Dish.
Image Source

Why Open a Restaurant When There's Bling to Be Had?

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:59:12 -0800

Okay, now what's wrong with this picture from the South Beach Wine and Food Festival party? Go on take a good look.
Here we have Top Chef winner Ilan Hall, Gail Simmons, Sam Talbot and Tom Colicchio hanging out at the Food & Wine magazine after party. Have you figured it out? I'll give you a hint it has to do with attire. No it's not that Sam is looking under-dressed (although you have to admit that he is), it's that Ilan looks like he's spending his Top Chef winnings on fancy suits and bling!

In fact the folks over at snack spotted Ilan getting on to the plane for Miami and have put together their breakdown of Ilan's attire choices, including a $12,000 diamond encrusted watch.

Moncler black vest: $375
Pink shoe laces for white Nikes: $4
Louis Vuitton duffel bag: $1,100
Louis Vuitton white belt with candy-colored logo:$350
Patek Philippe Aquanaut Luce watch in pure white (with diamonds): $11,950

To check out more pictures of our favorite Top Chef crew partying the night away, read more

In other Ilan news, looks like I missed Ilan's swoonworthy Orzo in one of the latest issues of Life & Style magazine. I absolutely love orzo, but the comments the folks have left definitely aren't too kind.

View 7 Photos ›

Image Source

South Beach Wine & Food Festival Kicks Off

YumSugar — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:25:33 -0800

As I mentioned last week, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival is a big deal in the foodie world. So naturally the event kicked off yesterday with a big bash (make that a burger bash), hosted by our 30 minute meal maven, Rachael Ray. Sadly, I am thousands of miles away on the other coast and wasn't able to attend it, nor will I be able to attend any of the appetite-whetting events (like the Food Network Awards Show, a panel featuring Anthony Bourdain & Tom Colicchio, Al Roker's BubbleQ, Rachael Ray & Giada's Kidz Kitchen, Martha's (and the Mondavi's) tribute brunch, wine-tastings, food-tastings, and other celebrity chef hob-knobbery)... *sigh* oh well... The event (which is expecting over 18,000 people) is mostly sold-out anyway.

Maybe next year, eh?

Until then, I, like most of you (unless you're lucky and if you are, please do share photos and stories with the rest of us!!), will have to settle for images and anecdotes.

To check out some more pictures from last night's Amstel Light's Burger Bash hosted by Rachael Ray (who, in case you're wondering, is getting groped by Lee B. Schrager - a prominent "event planner and public relations expert"), read more

View 20 Photos ›

Image Source