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Which Chef Would You Like to See on Dancing With the Stars?

Katie Sweeney — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:20:13 PST

Apparently, Top Chef season two winner Ilan Hall has a new dream. The owner of Los Angeles restaurant The Gorbals wants to be on Dancing With the Stars. He hopes to be on the dance competition, which takes C-list and reality stars and turns them into ballroom dancers, so much that he's started a Facebook campaign.

Although ABC has not announced the cast for the 12th season of the show, which is set to debut on Monday, March 21, one can't help but wonder if a celebrity chef will participate.

Previous competitors have included Rocco DiSpirito and Iron Chef America's chairman, Mark Dacascos. While Rachael Ray recently bared all in a Dancing With the Stars costume, I would love to see someone like Eric Ripert or Padma Lakshmi compete in the show. How about you? Which chefs would make good entertainment on Dancing With the Stars?

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Yummy Links: From Avec Eric to The Gorbals

partysugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:00:40 PDT

Chef Eric Ripert brings his cool cuisine to PBS. - W
Top Chef season two winner Ilan Hall has finally opened The Gorbals, a restaurant in Los Angeles. - Eater LA
Meet Brooklyn's new backyard farms. - Serious Eats
Moving past the burn: how to taste spirits. - Chow
The chairman from Iron Chef America will compete in the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars. - Eat Me Daily
Tips for cooking on college campuses. - The Epi-Log

Name That Dish!

partysugar — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 08:01:31 PDT

This is a traditional Mexican dish whose main ingredient is Ilan Hall's guilty pleasure food. Do you know what it's called?

Small Talk with Ilan Hall

YumSugar — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:56:12 PDT

Last week our very own FabSugar had the opportunity to chat with Top Chef Season Two winner, Ilan Hall. They were both backstage at the Cynthia Rowley Spring 2008 show - Fab reporting on the looks, and Ilan feeding the masses. Luckily for us, they were both able to take a few minutes from their jobs and provide us with a fun interview.

FabSugar: What did you have for breakfast?
Ilan Hall: I think I had baked chicken skin.

FS: Baked chicken skin?
IH: Yeah, because it's part of one of the dishes, and so I was just tasting it. That's what I got full on.

FS: Any juice or coffee?
IH: I had coffee, lots of coffee.

FS: A successful party is ....
IH: One that you get woken up from on the floor... I don't know.

FS: What's your guilty pleasure food?
IH: Pork skin.

FS: All of the skins!
IH: I know, I know, I've got a fetish.

To read the rest of the interview - or hear it for yourself, we've got a new built-in audio player! - and see pictures of the event,

read more FS: Do you cook at home, or do you tend to eat out? IH: I eat out most of the time, but once in a while. FS: When you do cook at home, what are your favorites? IH: I like roasting fish. I like roasting chickens. I like, um.. I like making french fries. That's my favorite when you get a beautiful, perfect crispy french fry. To make a really good french fry, it takes a long time. There's a lot of care that goes into it. FS: So what's your favorite kind of french fry? Steak fries? Curly fries? IH: Steak fries, traditional. FS: If we opened up your fridge, we would find... IH: Nothing, I'm homeless right now. To listen to the audio, use the player below:

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Be sure to visit FabSugar for pictures of the Cynthia Rowley Spring Collection 2008.

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

YumSugar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 06:58:31 PDT

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!).

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Source: TV Cocktail

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Yummy Link: Top Chef Live Cook-Off!

YumSugar — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:00:18 PDT

If you're a Top Chef fan who lives in New York, you might want to head over to NYC's Union Square Park next Tuesday. To kick off the 16th Annual Restaurant week, Bravo TV is hosting a Taste of Top Chef Cook-Off pitting season two winner Ilan Hall against season two fan favorite, Sam Talbot. Man I wish I lived in New York. - Will Work For Food

Food & Wine Magazine Celebrates The Best New Chefs

YumSugar — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 06:58:48 PDT

Yesterday I mentioned how Food & Wine magazine announced their Best New Chefs of 2007, well turns out that when you announce this kind of a list, you throw a big party to celebrate it too. Last night in Manhattan at 7 World Trade Center, past Best New Chefs, along with Top Chef winners Harold Dieterle and Ilan Hall (and I'm guessing Sam Talbot too, based on the fact that he looks like he's ready for the kitchen in this photo), prepared dishes for the new winners. The 2007 Best New Chefs will be featured in the July issue of Food & Wine.

To check out more pictures of the new best chefs, your favorite former Top Chef contestants (including Miguel, Dave "I'm not Your Bitch Bitch" and Andrea), the party atmosphere and the Food & Wine Staff (yep, Gail is there too),

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

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:59:12 PST

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.

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