Top Chef Returns!

Get ready for Quickfires, Restaurant Wars, gratuitous Glad® product placement and…craps?

Top Chef Season 6 debuts on Bravo, Wednesday, August 26th, at 9:00 p.m., and this time Tom, Padma, Gail (and Toby!) are in Vegas, baby! Expect poker/blackjack witticisms to fly alongside Judges Table critiques. Me? I’m already going full-tilt, especially after checking out the new meat on Bravo’s web site.

The pickings are fierce this season. Our 17 contestants (we’ve got brothers!) hail from across the U.S. and include: a two-time James Beard nominee, the chef de cuisine of Eric Ripert’s 10 Arts in Philadelphia, the chef de cuisine of Jose Andres’ Bazaar in Beverly Hills, and a slew of graduates from Le Cordon Bleu and the Culinary Institute of America. Sole representation from New York is self-taught, 29-year-old Ash Fulk, sous chef at Trestle on Tenth. Ash: you’ve got some stiff competition. But no pressure. Just give ’em that New York ’tude, and don’t let ’em walk all over you. (...and don’t be a d.b., either.)

Below, the judges weigh in:


I am a huuuuuuuge Top Chef fan—I watch it religiously. The only teensy problem I foresee this time around is that I no longer get Bravo. I canceled cable a couple of months ago in a fit of rage after an exorbitant bill arrived once my “Triple Play” had expired. I figure I’ve got a little over a month to remedy this situation. Do I suck it up and spring for cable, or do I look into one of those “Season Pass” thingees from iTunes? (Not sure how quickly new episodes are added to iTunes. It’s a gamble: I don’t want to come into work Thursday morning, still waiting for the previous night’s episode, to my coworkers saying, “Dude, did you see the Quickfire last night? They made deep-fried Oreos!!!” Or “Tom Colicchio totally saved six contestants from a grease fire ...with one hand! …and made a tarte flambée with the other!” Or “Padma literally lost her shirt playing Hold ’Em.”)

Regardless of delivery method, I’ll be watching. And blogging my Top Chef thoughts weekly.

Oh, it’s the MOST wonderful tiiime of the yeaaar…….

Stay tuned!