My Foodie Life

I love being around chefs. They’re creative, talented, surly, passionate, and wildly opinionated. If you’ve ever watched Bravo’s “Top Chef,” then you’ve seen these attributes play out within the confines of their weekly food challenges. I was a huge fan of season 1 and was pleased as prosciutto to see the promos appear for season 2 during this year’s Project Runway. I’ll go into the fine points of why Top Chef is a superior food show relative to all other “be a star” type reality programs in a future post, but suffice it say, this show is about chefs’ cooking. Yes, there’s typical social drama, but if you want to see up and coming chefs strut their stuff, then this is the show for you.

All of that said; imagine my epicurious ecstasy when my friend Shari invited me to a special tasting to kick off season 2 of Top Chef at Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak. This was no ordinary premier kick off meal. Instead, the tasting was prepared by Harold Dieterle (winner of season 1), and was a culinary preview of his soon to open restaurant, Perilla. Make your reservations early, as the food was tremendous.

The party itself was filled with several chefs/cast members from season 1 and season 2; Lee Anne Wong, Dave “I’m not your bitch, bitch” Martin, Josie Smith, Sam Talbot, Candice Kumai, Andrea Beaman, Cliff Crooks, Suyai Steinhauer and Ilan Hall (plus several others).

Words can’t describe how culinarily star struck I was at the beginning of the party, but after a few gin & tonics I was more than comfortable. My favorite chef conversations were with Josie Smith and Dave Martin. Josie is a great, high energy spirit. We talked about how excited she is to be a part of the show and the many culinary doors that are now opening for her. She has future TV star written all over her huge smile. Somewhat surprisingly, Dave was incredibly humble. He’s working on a few show concepts that I won’t divulge, but he too will surely make a swift and seamless transition into future television programming. The best part about talking with Dave, Josie, Lee Anne and crew was how real they were.

My favorite celebrity chat of the evening was with Top Chef judge, Gail Simmons. She’s wicked smart, driven and loves food. I could tell how much she enjoys her personal reality. Not only does she judge Top Chef, but she also oversees special projects for Food & Wine. It was very cool being able to talk with some one who has accomplished many of the life and professional milestones that I aspire to; culinary school, working in a high-end restaurant, writing about food and contributing to cookbooks.

The evening exceeded all of my expectations. The food, drink, and conversation blew my mind; Not only were the chefs and personalities incredible, but I had an amazing time talking with the network marketers, PR team, and sales group. I quickly realized that the reason Top Chef is so successful is not just because of the “talent,” but also because of the dedicated and highly invested Bravo staff.

I left the event walking on cloud ten and pray that I’ll be invited to the wrap party.