Well, the date for the premier of Top Chef Season 7, set in Washington DC, has been set for Wednesday, June 16th. Perhaps the biggest and best news is that Eric Ripert will be a judge this year!
Cheftestants have also been announced. Here’s a link to the list and info.
Looking forward to another great season.
Brad
Some serious culinary chops on these contestants- interesting, not a lot of kids…
Interesting. Kelly Liken was just on Iron Chef America as a competitor and a pretty solid one at that. Ripert as a judge along with Colicchio is simply awesome. I am always so much more interested in what the real chefs think of the food.
We’ll have to try the 2 L.A. cheftestants.
Looking forward to the show.
Less than a week to go!
Thank goodness.
In the promos last night I was prettt awestruck at padma’s new “roundness.”
Pregnant and nursing will tend to cause a visit from the booby fairy.
One of the Angeleno competitors, Alex Reznik, was at the Taste of the Nation event last Sunday. Along with a bunch of the alumni like Ludo, Voltaggio, and Marcel who get treated like chef rockstars. (Voltaggio even had the event’s logo, a fresh big red apple, tattooed on his calf. Great food event with most of LA’s big name chefs.
Anyhow Alex Reznik made one of my couple of favorite things amongst what had to be 100. It was a mildly cooked new zealand abalone sliced then topped with a complimetary micro-sliced salad/slaw of veggies. He also made a small bit of a date with some pork belly and a reduction sauce. Anyhow he was very personable and seemed happy to be doing an event for charity and also very interested in feedback and enjoyment of his dishes. I have the feeling his food is not as ambitious as someone like Mike V’s, but it was certainly tasty. I had actually never heard of the place he works, Cafe Was, but am definitely going to go give it a try. Hopefully he’ll make some headway in the competition.
I agree John…the restaurant is Cafe Was and we certainly need to go. The abalone was a highlight of the day and we even brought the beautiful, blue shells home. As to rockstars, my kid spent the day having pictures taken with Ludo, Feniger, Ford and others…I finally gave the camera to her date so I wouldn’t look like such a “stalker.” ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
Cheers!
Marshall ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Looking forward to the new season. Should be a good one with the backrounds of some of the contestants.
So, one episode down. Not too much you can take out of the first few episodes, but John using only three ingredients, one of which he didn’t make, was inexcusable and the right choice to go. Frankly, I don’t think any of the judges wanted to run the risk of finding his hair in any dishes throughout the show.
I have to say my initial gut impression is that this group doesn’t seem at the same talent level as last season’s group, but, again, it’s only the first episode. Seems as if Angelo, Kenny, Alex and Ed may be the standouts.
John seemed an obvious elimination, and that hair was scarily unsanitary. Dude, have a shower and PLEASE get a haircut. Gnarly dreads in the kitchen are just not appetizing.
I agree it seems like a thinner field than last year, but there are a handful of obviously strong people. And OMFG, Kenny on the prep, the dude was scary, Hung-style fast. He just killed it!
Loved the deconstructed borscht from Alex…looks like he might be around for a while!
Cheers!
Marshall ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Those crazy Carla-esque eyes freaked me out too.
I figured he was in trouble when they showed him in the freezer case saying, “I’ve never used this, but the New York Times recommends it!”
That guy was THERE to be the first one out…
Yep, one need not be much of a student of Top Chef to recognize the famous last words as you hear them uttered, especially when someone is holding a prepared product.
He works at a really well respected Detroit area restaurant as Chef de Cuisine, and he trained under Gary Danko - but man, he sure looked out of place!
+1
I was a disappointed with the seeming general quality of the cheffage on the show - though it always takes a few episodes to get to know everyone.
Sadly it seems that this season is the return to egos outweighing culinary ability. I certainly it ends up more like last season though where it’s more about the best chef winning than sabotage and confrontation.