Top Chef
News (Page 2)

Last night, reality TV took us to a farm, a kitchen and a runway. How dare people say this genre is a sign of cultural decline?!? It brings viewers into a series of world with which they previously were unfamiliar. It's educational!

Farmer Wants a Wife: Series premiere. We first meet Matt Neustadt, an evenly tanned 29-year-old who pensively shucks corn and is a decent catch by most standards. Not only is he educated, respectful and owns land, but he's not half bad in the looks department... Zap2It

Top Chef: Lisa was told her Rice, Corn, Black Beans and Peppers with Avocado Crème and Grilled Shrimp was unoriginal and Mark's Miso Glazed Turkey Breast was tough, dry and needed sauce. On the upside, Richard is spotlighted again with his "well-balanced" Tuna Steak and Tomatoes with Yuzu Vinaigrette... -- TV Guide

America's Next Top Model: Whitney, who we really like but doesn't often take the best pictures, won the photo shoot challenge and got to split some shopping prize money with Anya... -- Shiny Style

We haven't fully recovered yet from the injustice of Carly Smithson being voted off American Idol last night, but we'll try to remain strong and deliver a few other reality TV show recaps. To wit...

Big Brother: We found Sheila and Adam utterly charming together, especially when they were shackled after having lost the luxury comp. Sure, Sheila snapped at Adam incessantly â€" but seeing her crawl into bed with Adam while wearing nothing but her bra and panties was all the proof we needed to know that these truly liked and respected each other... -- Entertainment Weekly

Top Chef: Entering the kitchen for the Quickfire competition, Nikki spots a table full of sweets and gets excited â€" she's all about dessert. The guest judge is award-winning pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini. Wow, that would make a cool gangster name... -- Reality News Online

What, did you think our recaps of Big Brother, The Real World and American Idol completed the review of last night's reality television?!? Puh-lease! America's Next Top Model and Top Chef take exception to that notion...

America's Next Top Model: Camera pans to a body on a pile of crumpled white sheets. It's Dominique, she's just waking up, and she looks like...well like Dominique. We get a montage of shots as Dominique diligently applies various CoverGirl products to her face... -- TV Squad

Top Chef: Beer! Whoo-hoo! The cheftestants sample a bunch of frothy brew, then pick one variety and make a "simple pleasures" dish that pairs well with said beer. Spike continues to annoy by saying that all beer tastes the same to him... -- Zap2It

In between donation phone calls to Idol Gives Back last night, we found time to watch a trio of other reality TV shows. Here's what we saw:

Top Chef: The guest judge is Ming Tsai, who Lisa describes as being known for his "east-meets-west cuisine." This challenge is all about a trained palate: it's the blindfold taste test. Antonia's psyched because this is her favorite challenge on the show... Reality News Online

Big Brother: James wasn't laying down on the job this week. After Adam replaced Sheila's nomination with James, the mohawked hamster went to work. His plan? Take out Natalie... TV Squad

Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious: This week's oddly avant garde video message tells the girls that their challenge is about "Star Quality" - the ability to stand out in a crowd and turn heads and all that jazz. When they go to meet Robin, she tells them that the weakest member will go home... Zap2It

As Ramiele Malubay fans continue to mourn the loss of their favorite American Idol finalist, a trio of other reality shows aired last night. Let's see what went down on them...

America's Next Top Model: the girls broke into two teams, got a GPS enabled cell phone, and had to navigate their way around New York City to try and book gigs with various modeling agencies... -- TV Squad

Top Chef: This week's episode required the chefs to think with both sides of their brain, demonstrating their technical skills as well as their imagination. The Quickfire Challenge was almost more demanding than the Elimination Challenge, and it came with a higher reward giving the winner immunity rather than sending someone home... -- TV Guide

Big Brother: As always, we start after the veto meeting. Everything interesting in this segment always comes from the diary room. Although she's now on the block, Sharon feels safe, but she will miss Josh when he leaves. Sheila feels for the former partners being on the block, as they share a very tight bond... -- Reality News Online

Here's a look at what happened on two of the country's most popular reality shows last night. One based around fashion and cat-fighting, the other based around culinary delights... and cat-fighting.

America's Next Top Model: Dominique loves Dominique in the third person, and Marvita is having trouble connecting to the rest of these girls with their cushy upbringings. Whitney takes objection to the F word - fat - unless it is spelled with a ph. Preach, sister. -- Zap2It

Top Chef: In this second episode of the new season of Top Chef, first impressions may change. A fowl-mouthed zebra can change his stripes and some winners who were proud peacocks ate crow. -- TV Guide

Because it's new season, based in Chicago, premiered last night, Top Chef is getting its own recap page. Read on to see what went down between hopeful cooks...

Top Chef: We get a few glimpses into the chef's backgrounds: Ryan comments that he started cooking in his dad's kitchen when he was 11 and two other chefs were fired because he "outcooked" them at 11 years old. Zoi notes that she brings a softer side to the competition.

New Zealander Mark says he came to the States with only $200 and a backpack, and wants to use the winnings to start a restaurant. -- Buddy TV

Who is your favorite Top Chef contestant so far?

Celebrity judge Ted Allen recently previewed the new season of Top Chef - debuting tonight! - with TV Guide. Here are highlights from the interview.

TVGuide.com: Why Chicago?
Ted Allen: You're looking for cities that have enough personality to be a character in the show. Every city has its own culinary traditions. In this season's first episode, they have a challenge with one of Chicago's best-known foods. If you think about Miami [where last season was filmed], you think of hot babes in bikinis and white buildings and beautiful sand... and Cuban sandwiches. It gives the show a look. Chicago is a big, brawny, beautiful, gorgeous city. And it also has a lot of great food.

TVGuide.com: Chicago's a very sophisticated culinary town, too.
Allen: Oh yeah, from the old-timers like Charlie Trotter and Jean Joho to the new kids like Grant Achatz and Shawn McClain, it's a great food town. Lots of Chicago luminaries pop up on the show. This is why Gail and I alternate at the judges' table; they want to reserve a seat to bring in these great culinary luminaries, whether they're Chicago people or people you know from the national stage like Rocco [DiSpirito], Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert. And of course the ever-bilious Tony Bourdain, who's been one of my favorite guest judges.

TVGuide.com: Any other ways the city plays a role in the challenges?
Allen: Besides the very first challenge, there's one that involves a venerable sports team, there are locations you're going to recognize and a lot of new stuff that most of America might not recognize.

Read the full interview with Allen now.

The new season of Top Chef kicks off (or cooks off, to be precise) on March 12 in Chicago. Here's a rundown of the contestats vying for this reality show title...

Andrew (pictured) is a 30-year-old sous chef from New York City. He has studied everything from the French cuisine of Raymond Blanc to the molecular gastronomy of Ferran Adria. The man possesses strong skills in a variety of different types of cuisine.

31-year-old Antonia hails from Los Angeles. She's currently the executive chef at a popular restaurant called Foxtail. The single mother lives with her 7-year-old daughter and has a background in Italian cuisine. Antonia loves root beer floats with her daughter.

Check out the rest of the contestants now, courtesy of BuddyTV.

Greetings, Top Chef fans!

Have you ever wanted to cook like your favorite contestants on the show? Well, a newly released cookbook should help you achieve this goal.

You can pre-order the Top Chef Cookbook right now. Don't wait!