Top Chef Re-caps

In honor of the Restaurant Wars epi scheduled to air tonite, I thought I'd share a little Top Chef news:

First, there will be a Top Chef spinoff according to L.A. Eater, the same producers who brought you Top Chef will soon be serving "Top Chef: Masters," where the best of the best will be competing against each other for . . .even more money? gold? a lifetime supply of Calphalon appliances? I don't know. And who could be worthy of judging these Masters? Mmm.

Second (and this is a bit old), there will also be a Top Chef tourney for teens: "Top Chef Junior." According to Reuters, Chef Jean-Christophe Novelli will be opening a cooking school for teens in Los Angeles and the docu-series will be focusing mainly on the chef.

Last, but certainly not leasto, Top Chef Season 5 will be heading to the Big Easy for its season finale. It seems they had enough of the Big Apple and decided to kick it up a notch with Chef Emeril Lagasse as guest judge. According to Grub Street, "Season five will travel to New Orleans for the finale, where guest judge Emeril Lagasse will try to out-catchphrase Padma Lakshmi. Bravo’s PR machine tells us that there will be a “shocking twist” on part one of the finale on February 18, one that we hope will make the show interesting to watch again. Our unenthusiastic predictions:

• Stefan is actually from Delaware
• Everyone on Team Rainbow hated each other
• Hosea knocks up Leah"

In addition to this last bit, we were in touch with a certain Season 5 contestant from San Francisco last week when we received her out of office: "Thanks for your email. I'll respond when I get back." Hmm. . . I wonder where she could have been. Coincidence that we learned today of the finale's location? Perhaps not? Bon appetit!

Bridal Shower on Top Chef tonite!

All of my friends know that I'm a big fan of wine, food, cooking, anything epicurean. So I'm sharing this passion with all of you by encouraging you to watch tonight's epi of Top Chef. Why? Why, Miss Keswick, would we want to watch Top Chef? How could it be relevant to our wedding planning lives? Because tonite the chefs are catering Gail Simmons' bridal shower party. What a great way to get some ideas for your menu - and who doesn't love a drama in the kitchen (as long as it's not between you and your mother or you and your betrothed).

Top Chef airs tonite at 10 PM, encore at 11 PM, on Bravo.

Bon appetit!

Top Chef Premier at Good Stuff Eatery

This post is long overdue, but as many of you know, I'm still trying to play catch-up on my posts. Now, if you haven't realized by now from all my posts on food, I'm a little infatuated with anything culinary and the epicurean lifestyle. (I'm only getting started on register for all the kitchen tools I will actually be using and have expressed a need for in the last 2 years.)

Naturally, I am a major fan of Bravo's Top Chef. You can imagine, therefore, my excitement when Chef Spike Mendohlson opened Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill this summer - so excited, that I went there twice after its opening week: First, my new co-workers drove me there all the way from Ballston to try out the place and check out the space. Second, I met my former co-workers there after a reception on the Hill. It was wonderful and I won't even tell you about how giddy I became when I spoke to Chef Spike as he expedited the orders while I waited in line. He's very charming. Let's leave it at that.

So, of course I watched the premier of Season 5 of Top Chef in style last Wednesday at Good Stuff Eatery! Spike invited me via email (and the rest of his restaurant's subscribers) as he was on Twitter for the show. Lauren and I arrived super early to fend off the non-existent lines (I mean, it was packed. I wouldn't recommend going ;). We sampled Ryan's Milky Way milkshake (divine). Then we shared the famed Toasted Marshmallow milkshake.

This little beauty was, seriously, a girl scout campfire in your mouth-minus the fire and the mosquitos. Somehow, you could taste the toasted outside of the marshmallow in the milky ice cream concoction - almost like you were slurping off the outside of the marshmallow and it turned liquid in your mouth. Heaven. Milky, marshallowy, heaven.

At 11 PM, Chef Spike offered beer on the house to all of us watching the show (they normally close at 11 M-F), but the premier went until 11:15 PM - super special. It was aroud this time that I summoned up the courage to ask him to sign my Top Chef cookbook that Lauren gave me for my birthday.

And, like the gracious host he is, he greeted all of his guests at the door. I will definitely be back for future showings - but I definitely recommend that you check out his place if you haven't. I'm not sure if the restaurant caters yet, but this would be a great little site to show your visiting friends and family that is unique to D.C.