Bravo has renewed its spin-off of the popular Top Chef, Top Chef Masters for a second season.  Looks like everyone is coming back for the second season and Top Chef judge, Gail Simmons will even be joining the cast full-time.  No word yet as to when the second season will air, but I would say that the safe bet is that it will air next spring or summer right before the new season of Top Chef.  Here is the full story from Reuters:

Bravo has ordered a second season of its “Top Chef” spin-off series, “Top Chef Masters.”

Food journalist Kelly Choi returns as host, with restaurant critic Gael Greene, culinary expert James Oseland and critic Jay Rayner as judges. “Top Chef” regular Gail Simmons also will serve as a judge.

After a sluggish start, the show became the highest-rated first season of a competition series yet for the network, averaging 2.2 million viewers and 1.5 million adults 18-49.

O site Grub Street que faz parte do New York Magazine , fez um balanço de como estão os restaurantes americanos, com a ajuda de diversos críticos e especialistas da área, fizeram um relatório aonde apontam Mario Batali, David Chang e Grant Achatz os grandes nomes da cozinha dos EUA.

Comentaram também sobre qual chef famosão deveria/poderia instalar suas caçarolas pelo país. As sugestões foram desde Ferran Adrià (óbvio) até Michel Guérard, que dos altos de seus 76 anos não sei se terá pique para mais uma empreitada destas.

Quando perguntaram para Gael Greene qual era o chef mais bambambam do momento, eis a resposta:

- Como posso dizer que é o Ferran Adrià, eu não comi sua comida, apenas imitações. Ele certamente é o chef mais tóxico para este momento.

Esta semana cheg as livrarias o livro de Santi Santamaria, aonde ele destrincha e arregaça a cozinha molecular e suas firulas.

E soa o gongo!

assunto lido no site Paladar do jornal estadão

In this first episode of the Championships Round, we welcomed back Hubert “The Other French Guy” Keller, Suzanne “Cold Fish” Tracht, Anita “Cowardly Lion” Lo, Michael “Brown Noser” Chiarello, Art “Honey Bear” Smith, and the delicious Rick “Hot Mexican Chili” Bayless (I’m not partial, I swear).

For the quickfire challenge, the chefs got into two teams and had a Mise en Place Relay Race (a.k.a: chopping and prepping food items) to see whose team was faster, the winner then getting an extra point toward the Elimination Challenge. Let me tell you, that Rick Bayless sure knows how to use a whisk for some hot whisking action – those egg whites sure were at stiff peaks…among other things. Anyhow, back on track, the Bayless/Lo/Keller team took the win.

The chefs were then asked to cook their signature dishes for each other to enjoy. I swear Michael Chiarello put roadkill on a plate and called it dinner, the balsamic glaze looking very much like blood on top of the quail which was sprawled out on the plate. Not cute. Hubert Keller made an interesting lobster and truffle “cappuccino” which was an interesting take on soup (I think it was soup) and Rick made an amazing-looking roasted rack of lamb with pasilla chiles and mission figs (Did I mention I’m not partial to Bayless?).

For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to cook another chef’s signature dish but put their own spin on it. What did we get? Cold grouper (Tracht), undercooked ground lamb in a “Scotch egg” (Smith), creamed sea urchin (Keller), lobster on a biscuit (Lo), rack of lamb with figs shoved in it (Chiarello), and some delightful looking quail and parsnips (Bayless).

Highlights: Kelly Choi seeming to be withering away, Art’s “egg issues” and name dropping, the Gael Greene and Elvis affair, the possibility of Anita Lo sabotaging her own food in future episodes just to get kicked off the show, and Rick Bayless’ magical powers of Mexican cuisine.

Hear the hi-larious podcast after the jump:

Download the episode here.

Tune back in next week for rants, raves and reviews on the latest episode of Top Chef!

This week we discussed episode 2 of Top Chef Masters: The Lost Supper. Our special guest this week was Jeff Houck, food writer for The Tampa Tribune, who added a great dose of humor to the show and kept us in stitches.

In a nutshell: the four players this were were Graham Elliott Bowles, Suzanne Tracht, Wylie Dufresne, and Elizabeth Falkner. The quickfire was to make an amuse bouche from items bought from a vending machine (one we’ve seen in a past season), as judged by season two’s winner Ilan Hall, along with Betty and whats-his-face from that season. The elimination challenge was to cook a meal for the producers and writers of Lost (hence the episode’s title). They could only use ingredients that could be found on the island (chicken, boar, bananas, etc.) and items provided on a “Darma Initiative-approved” list (read: canned goods), but nothing from the Top Chef kitchen. Wylie ran around like a chicken with his head cut off, Graham made a bunch of jokes, Elizabeth made a weird ice cream and beef jerky concoction, and Suzanne was a real firecracker.

Download episode 2 now.

Tune back in next week for rants, raves and reviews on the latest episode of Top Chef!

If you have been paying attention to all of the ads and the commercials on Bravo, you’ll already know that the Top Chef series is back (and we’re hoping you’ve watched). This time, there’s a twist: 24 well-known, seasoned chefs go head-to-head and compete in challenges just like they’ve put the contestants from past seasons through, all to win money for their charity of choice.

Top Chef Masters is a bit different than the original show, though. Instead of sticking all 24 of the “masters” in an apartment and make them eat, sleep, booze, and live together, four of them at a time compete in an episode. I was thoroughly surprised when I saw this – they didn’t mention that in the previews, but I can understand why this was done. (Do you really think these chefs are going to give up the reins of their uber popular restaurants and two months of their lives just for a TV show? Though I would liked to have seen a Hosea-Leah hookup scenario between, say, Roy Yamaguchi and Cindy Pawlcyn.)

The scoring is also different: they can receive a possible total of 25 stars- 5 from the quickfire challenge, 5 from the diners’ scores in the main elimination challenge, and 5 from each of the three judges. The chef with the most stars at the end wins money for their charity and gets to come back to the final round, where the six winners will compete against each other. The official site says, “The six winners of each episode will then meet up for the final four weeks when one person will get eliminated each episode until the finale where one winner is crowned Top Chef Master. The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice.” Interesting.

Where are Tom, Gail, and Padma, you ask? Bad news: they’re not judging or hosting this season, though Tom does a little “talking head” segment to describe and inform the viewers about each chef contestant, and I’ve seen a snippet of Gail being a guest judge of some sort. The new host is Kelly Choi, a food journalist and host/producer of foodie shows in NYC. (Another hot, ethnic chick- do I see a pattern?) The judges are well-known food critics: Gael Greene (of New York Magazine), Jay Rayner (of The London Observer), and James Oseland (editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine). I’m assuming they picked critics with some street creds to do the judging, instead of chefs, like Colicchio, because they didn’t want chefs judging their peers. Or more like: the chefs wouldn’t want to judge fellow chefs.

For episode one, the “cheftestants” are: Michael Schlow from Boston (Radius, Via Matta), Hubert Keller from San Francisco (Fleur de Lys, The Burger Bar), Christopher Lee from New York City (Aureole, Suite & Tender), and Tim Love of Dallas/Ft. Worth (Lonesome Dove Bistros). Four heavy-hitters, each representing different style of cuisine.

Their first challenge is the Quickfire, and its what many chefs fear most: dessert. You see, some chefs aren’t too keen on the Pastry Arts (I say some, not all). Some of them find it too fussy or don’t like dealing with the sweeter side of food. (I can relate). Michael Schlow made this very apparent and stated that he doesn’t like to do desserts and hates baking. So he chooses to bake a cake – smart move. The challenge was to create a dessert in 60 minutes and it was going to be judged by four Girl Scouts. Some might say this would have been easy, but I think it was more of a challenge to try to make something that a kid would like. They’re so used to cooking fancy schmancy dishes with crazy sauces and garnishes for high-paying customers and restaurant critics; they actually had to get out of their comfort zones and be innovative in a different way for this one. Highlights: Love’s “chicken fried strawberry” from his strawberry trio, Lee’s French toast with caramelized bananas on a stick, and Keller’s meringue swan and whipped cream mouse (kids love animal-shaped foods – good move, Keller). Oh, and Love slugging back the tequila shots for his nerves.

For the elimination challenge, they had to think outside of the box and get outside of their comfort zone again. The challenge: cook a three-course meal for the judges and student diners at Paloma College (a Lib Arts school in Cali) with 2 hours to prep and cook. The catch? They each had to prep and cook in a student’s dorm room, using only a toaster oven, a hot plate and a microwave to cook their dishes. Most of the chefs admitted that they didn’t even own a microwave, with Keller adding in his slick French accent, “I thought it was to dry the newspaper in.” It was amusing to see these chefs with amazing restaurants and beautiful kitchens in their restaurants hunched over dorm room desks, dressers, and mini refrigerators to prep and cook their meals. Highlights: Keller going all MacGyver-style by cooling and re-warming his cooked pasta in the shower (his mac and cheese with prawns, a.k.a.: shrimp, dish looked amazing and didn’t do so badly with the judges); Lee using popcorn as a garnish; and Love mistaking the freezer for the cooler (thus freezing all of his groceries, including the kale) but putting out some tasty dishes nonetheless; and Schlow, a.k.a.: Schlowmo, overcooking his pork dish but putting out a decent cabbage soup.

All in all, Top Chef Masters feels a lot different than its counterpart, but I don’t think we should judge it so harshly too soon. I like to compare to it Bravo’s current fashion design show, The Fashion Show – it’s not quite Project Runway, but it doesn’t try to be and it’s a good show in itself (I apologize if you haven’t seen or don’t like The Fashion Show).

So who won? Like I’m going to give up the spoilers and not make you listen to our Podcast (if you haven’t already watched the show). Check it out and tune in again next week for more ranting, raving, and reviewing of Top Chef Masters.

Listen here.

Don’t like the new host and judges? Can’t figure out the culinary terms used on the show? Leave us comments or questions below, and we might address them in our next podcast session.

Booking Through Thursday 6-4-09
“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

1. The Trial – Franz Kafka (If you’ve read it, WSBFOS)
2. Blue Skies, No Candy – Gael Greene
3. Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman
4. Invisible Monsters – Chuck Palahniuk
5. Vamped – David Sosnowski (not what you may think!)
6. Uglies – Scott Westerfeld
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling
8. Anthem – Ayn Rand (Orwell is an ass)
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathon Safran Foer
10. Lover Awakened – JR Ward (so sue me!)
11. The Story of O – Pauline Réage (Oooh…)
12. The Looking Glass Wars – Frank Beddor
13. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon (*swoon*)
14. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
15. Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman (read it.)

I can’t just not comment on some of those, but I kept it under five words, props for that?

24 World-Renowned Competing Chefs Revealed Along With Guest Stars Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Morgan Spurlock, And For The First Time Together All “Top Chef” Winners

NEW YORK – April 7, 2009 – Calling all foodies…it’s time to salivate! “Top Chef Masters,” the spin-off series of the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning No. 1 food show on cable, “Top Chef,” will premiere on Wednesday, June 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The judges’ table has finally turned – and we’ll see what happens when these top chefs are now on the other side. “Top Chef Masters” will pit 24 world-renowned chefs against each other and see how well they fare in the tried and true format of “Top Chef.” In each episode, money will be at stake for the chefs, with the winners of eliminations being awarded cash donations for their charities. The first six episodes will consist of four chefs competing against each other to name one winner. The six winners of each episode will then meet up for the final four weeks when one person will get eliminated each episode until the finale where one winner is crowned Top Chef Master. The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice.

“Top Chef Masters” will feature guest stars and judges Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel, “Lost” writers and executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, “Flipping Out’s” Jeff Lewis, and for the first time, all past “Top Chef” winners will be together during an episode. The series will also showcase chef’testant fan favorites as well as appearances by “Top Chef’s” Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons.

“On ‘Top Chef,’ the biggest names in the industry join us as guests to pass judgment on the chef’testants,” said Dan Cutforth, Executive Producer, Magical Elves. “Now we’ll get to see how they handle equally tough challenges.”

“We are thrilled to have such an amazing line up of celebrated chefs putting their reputations on the line for their charities,” said Jane Lipsitz, Executive Producer, Magical Elves. “‘Top Chef Masters’ will take the kitchen competition to the next level.”

To meet the cast of “Top Chef Masters,” visit www.BravoTV.com. Photography and bios are available at www.nbcumv.com.

Following are the 24 “Top Chef Masters” competing chefs:

- Rick Bayless – Frontera Grill, Chicago, Ill.

- Wilo Benet – Pikayo, San Juan, Puerto Rico

- John Besh – Restaurant August, New Orleans, LA

- Graham Elliot Bowles – Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.

- Michael Chiarello – Bottega Restaurant, Yountville, Calif.

- Michael Cimarusti – Providence, Los Angeles, Calif.

- Wylie Dufresne – wd~50, New York, N.Y.

- Elizabeth Falkner – Orson, San Francisco, Calif.

- Hubert Keller – Fleur de Lys, San Francisco, Calif.

- Christopher Lee – Aureole, New York, N.Y.

- Ludo Lefebvre – Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, Calif.

- Anita Lo – Annisa, New York, N.Y.

- Tim Love – The Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, Texas

- Rick Moonen – Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev.

- Nils Noren – French Culinary Institute, New York, N.Y.

- Lachlan McKinnon Patterson – Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder, Colo.

- Cindy Pawlcyn – Mustards Grill, Napa Valley, Calif.

- Mark Peel – Campanile, Los Angeles, Calif.

- Douglas Rodriguez – Alma de Cuba, Philadelphia, PA

- Michael Schlow – Radius Restaurant, Boston, Mass.

- Art Smith – Table Fifty-Two, Chicago, Ill.

- Suzanne Tracht – Jar, Los Angeles, Calif.

- Jonathan Waxman – Barbuto, New York, N.Y.

- Roy Yamaguchi – Roy’s Restaurants, San Diego, Calif.

Kelly Choi, food journalist and creator, producer and host of NYC TV’s weekly restaurant show “Eat Out NY,” will host this highly competitive spin-off uniting some of the brightest stars in the world of food, showcasing the often cutthroat world of the culinary arts. A former model, Choi recently finished her book called “The 20 Most Delicious Dishes in New York,” which is set to hit stores in spring of 2009.

Joining the judges’ panel is Gael Greene, New York Magazine’s famed restaurant critic for over 40 years, a best-selling author and co-founder of Citymeals-on-Wheels, which provides food to the homebound elderly. James Oseland, culinary expert and Editor-in-Chief of Saveur magazine, and British journalist, writer and broadcaster Jay Rayner, will also serve as regular judges for the series.

Each episode of “Top Chef Masters” holds two challenges for the chefs. The first is a twist on the classic “Top Chef” quickfire challenge which tests their basic abilities – for example in season 2 of “Top Chef” where the chef’testants had to create an amuse bouche out of items from a vending machine. Each quickfire challenge will be judged by a blind taste test and a five-star system, similar to fine dining reviews.

The second challenge is a more involved elimination challenge designed to test the versatility and invention of the chefs as they take on unique culinary trials such as working with unusual and exotic foods or catering for demanding clients. The food will be tasted and evaluated by the judges and a wide range of tasters for whom the challenge is aimed, whether it is patrons at a five-star restaurant or a room full of hungry kids – the food has to appeal to the diner as well as the critics if the chef is to survive.

This season, www.BravoTV.com will host a “Top Chef Masters” B-Hive sponsored by Stacy’s® Pita Chips where viewers can host weekly viewing parties for their fellow food-obsessed friends, including provided party kits, game ideas, and more! Fans can also visit the site weekly to find out how to make each winning dish through video demonstrations. Visitors will be able to watch interviews of the eliminated chefs and the winning chefs of each challenge. The tables turn with “Rate the Plate,” where the user can determine which dishes were the best each week. Also, fans can play “Memory Match” and test their foodie and chef knowledge with our challenging — and addictive — IQ quizzes. Television Without Pity (www.televisionwithoutpity.com) will recap each episode in their signature snarky tone.

“Top Chef Masters” fans can visit m.bravotv.com from their web-enabled phone for exclusive content including trivia games, video and behind-the-scenes dish. Viewers will also be able to voice their opinion each week with live voting and later share their vote with Facebook friends on www.BravoTV.com.

“Top Chef Masters” is produced by the Emmy-nominated Magical Elves. Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz and Shauna Minoprio serve as executive producers. “Top Chef” head judge, renowned culinary figure and chef/owner Craft Restaurants Tom Colicchio serves as consulting producer.

Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been an NBC Universal cable network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information, visit www.BravoTV.com.

I recently read Insatiable:Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene. Greene served as New York Magazine’s ‘Insatiable Critic’ for more than thirty years. The memoir encompasses Greene’s exciting and glamorous career: cooking and wine tours in France, access to the world’s best restaurants, recipes skimmed off the top of top chefs’ repertoires. Its all about food and…other appetites. Greene’s need for immediate gratification in every sense both mystified and mortified me.

My boyfriend (jokingly?) calls me a prude. The truth is, I’ve never been one for vulgarity. I developed the automatic reflex of pointing my pinky finger in the air while drinking from a glass somewhere between elementary school and braces. I cringe at dirty jokes; I’m offended by movies that use the “gross out factor” to deceive ignorant audiences into believing that they’re enjoying comedy. That doesn’t mean I can’t drink like a trucker, swear like a sailor, [insert other applicable similes here]. My life is a blurry and fine line, apparently.

As much as I appreciate Greene’s book, mainly her vivid and mouth-watering descriptions of food, restaurants, and food travel, the rest is, well, quite candid. In the first chapter, twenty-something Greene attends an Elvis concert, then talks her way into his hotel room. There, after a quickie, Elvis asks Greene to call room service for a fried-egg sandwich. Later in her career, Greene ever so fortunately has the opportunity to “interview” both Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood. Greene carries on a series of affairs through the years…chef after chef, restaurateurs, even a porn star. All under the guise of exploring new tastes, immediate gratification, and in my opinion, addiction. All carried on while married (to obviously, the biggest schmuck that ever lived).

Every woman who loves food and who has experienced physical and emotional “love”with another undoubtedly has found herself connecting the two. Thriving, nurturing relationships lead to dinner dates for two, home-cooked meals, menus devoted to aphrodisiacs. Break-ups lead to deprivation and the “I’m going to get sexy again, hit the bars and meet someone else” mantra that everyone has practiced. Obviously, there’s a connection here. Pleasure can be found in both food and sex, so why not combine the two? But Greene’s philosophies take this idea to an extreme. Should marriage/long term relationships be sacrificed for pleasure’s sake? Can someones life be measured in the number of affairs they have, or the number of dishes they try? If food and love are so closely linked by pleasure, can they ever be distinguished?

Finally, how is Gael Greene not walking around weighing 500 pounds, with every STD known to man??

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ReMARKable Palate #71: CityMeals on Wheels and Chicken and Grapes

Jennifer and I speak once again with Gael Greene, founder of CityMeals on Wheels, on the occasion of the organization serving its 34 millionth meal to homebound elderly New Yorkers. Consider making a donation to citymeals.org this holiday season to help in the effort.

And I go into the kitchen to show you how to make an easy weeknight meal of Chicken and Grapes (yes, grapes!)

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