Results tagged “topchef”

WARNING: This post contains Top Chef spoilers, albeit from last week's episode. Read no further if you are behind on this season.

We’re five episodes in to the sixth season of Top Chef, with episode six airing tonight on Bravo at 10 p.m. As we've written before, the cast is relatively packed with local talent. There’s Michael Isabella, executive chef of downtown crowd pleaser Zaytinya; Bryan Voltaggio, who opened VOLT up north in his hometown of Frederick, Md. after spending several years on the Hill at Charlie Palmer Steak; and his younger brother, Michael Voltaggio, who shares his culinary passion and Maryland roots, has a D.C. boss in José Andrés, even if he's based in Los Angeles. All three have firm footing in Top Chef’s Las Vegas kitchen.

Last season, we were excited to see our hometown gal Carla Hall make it to the top three on Bravo's Top Chef. This year, we have three chefs with local ties to cheer for. First, we get some sibling rivalry between brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. Will they pair up to take down the others or fight it out from the very start? Bryan is the chef-owner of Volt in Frederick, and was formerly at Charlie Palmer Steak. Michael now serves at the chef de cuisine at Jose Andres' Bazaar in Los Angeles. Rounding out the three is Mike Isabella, who is the executive chef at Zaytinya. One thing is for sure with this season. We'll have a good bunch to root for, and Jose Andres is going to be raking in some big money with all the publicity. Season 6 premieres Wednesday, August 26.

             

Local cheftestant Carla Hall’s bid to be named Top Chef in the hit TV show’s fifth season came to an end late Wednesday evening. Despite a rally through recent challenges, Carla faltered and Hosea—unexpectedly but convincingly—edged out a snooty Stefan for the win. DCist joined Carla, several dozen of her closest culinary partners and friends, and several students from the CulinAerie cooking class she taught just prior to the finale's airing. Check out our gallery for the evening in photos and captions.

Carla Hall, the Howard accounting major turned model, turned chef, took a summer off from her Silver Spring catering company to compete as one of 17 cheftestants on season 5 of Bravo's popular Top Chef. Hall has made D.C. proud, cooking her way into the final three.

Former Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn packed the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue on Sunday, the first night of Hanukkah, for a lesson in latkes. At Latke Mania, the reality TV personality turned Good Stuff Eatery burger slinger earned laughs lighting a menorah with a butane torch, struggling through candle lighting prayers he said he stayed up all night learning, and bantering with his sous chef for the evening—his mom.

Tune in to Bravo tonight at 10 p.m. to cheer on local Top Chef cheftestant Carla Hall and her ridiculously awesome hair. The show's new season, which was filmed for the first time in New York, premieres tonight. And for those who can't get enough, Good Stuff Eatery's Spike Mendelsohn will be chatting about the premiere episode tomorrow on Washingtonian.com.

The next season of Top Chef, filmed this time in New York, is set to premiere on November 12, and this time we'll have a hometown girl to cheer for. Carla Hall is chef-owner of Alchemy Caterers, and got her schooling at Bethesda's L'Academie de Cuisine. Her bio states that her food is at the "heart and soul of the South and the refinement of her classic French training." Let's hope that she fares better than previous caterers, who in the past haven't demonstrated the chops for the fine dining challenges.

Where: Tackle Box

Slowly, but surely, Chef José Andrés can now knock-off another television network from his list to appear on; this time Bravo. D.C.'s beloved Andrés will guest judge on tonight's episode of Top Chef, which will feature the fan-favorite "Restaurant Wars" contest, pitting two teams against each other in designing and operating a mini-restaurant.

Wagamama - Duck gyoza with cherry-hoisin sauce, chili-garlic salt edamame and chili-beef ramen

Good morning, Washington. It looks like California's still on fire, and likely to remain so. Most versions of the aforelinked AP story include the phrase "firefighters all but concede defeat," and the Post is calling the resulting evacuation the largest in modern history. It all sounds pretty grim. Good luck, West Coast. Yet More Stadium Parking Controversy: The Post reports on the latest in a seemingly neverending series of deliberations over parking at the...

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such...

Allez Cuisine! From Jack Abramoff's Signatures to his own restaurant, Farrah Olivia, Morou Ouattara plans to step into a new venue. His eye is on Kitchen Stadium as he competes for the title of the Next Iron Chef. The first episode airs Sunday, 9 p.m. on the Food Network. Eight chefs with the help of Lufthansa Airlines (yay product placement!) will be traveling through Europe and competing against each other to join Mario Batali, Cat...

Although the DCist Food and Drink team would prefer to associate the word "turnover" exclusively with "apple," we also recognize that staff "turnover" is an inevitable fact of the blogging world. Two writers recently left us for print publications, and three others retired from service. In short, we've run low on qualified Food and Drink writers. When we need to restock, it's not as simple as heading to the local Whole Foods for wild-caught salmon...

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not...

Last week, Top Chef returned to the Bravo network for a second season, complete with a new host and a fresh-faced group of hungry culinary hopefuls. And one of this season's contestants on the excellent cooking competition — which pits aspiring cooks against one another in immunity and elimination battles to win $100,000 in prize money, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, an appearance at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, Kenmore PRO appliances,...

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not all about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's...

Montmartre, Vous Êtes Mon Petit Napoleon It seems that the battle is on. Weeks after the closing of La Colline and the simultaneous news that Dupont Circle's Johnny's Half Shell would be taking over, another Hill business is moving in to secure the soon-to-be empty Half Shell space. Montmartre, the fantastic French bistro by Eastern Market, is expanding its territory. We'd like to think that it's a win for the Hill and a slap in...