Subject: Top Chef Masters

• Top Chef Masters Contestants Announced; O.C. Chefs Shut Out

  Bravo TVThe food blogosphere is on FIRE (pun intended) right now over the announcement of Top Chef Masters, airing on June 10th. Think of it as Top Chef meets Iron Chef America meets WWE Smackdown. If there's such a thing as a foodie-gasm, this is the thing to inspire it. The judges will be celebrities, including Zooey Deschanel, NPH, and, here's a headscratcher, Jeff Lewis (WTF?), along with past Top Chef-testants, and the usual three judges. But blaringly absent from the roster of contesta

  April 8, 2009

• This Week In Food

  Our favorite SAFII posts of the week:  Edwin was outraged, quite rightly, to discover that not a single OC chef will be featured on Top Chef Masters, and even suggested his own list of contestants, should the producers care to reconsider. Gustavo, meanwhile, raved (in a good way) about Memphis at the Santora's meatloaf sandwich, which features on the new night menu. And I provided a hugely useful service, reminding readers that this year's Happy Hour Week kicks off this Sunday (Easter

  April 10, 2009

• Top Chef Masters Sneak Preview Party at NapaStyle, Tuesday July 14

  South Coast Plaza's "handcrafted home goods and artisanal foods" store, part of a chain owned by chef Michael Chiarello, will host the event to celebrate his appearance on Bravo's Top Chef Masters the following evening.As well as winning several Emmys for his Food Network shows, Chiarello has written several cookbooks and also owns a family vineyard and Bottega restaurant, both in the Napa Valley.The event, held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., will include a sneak preview of the episode, a tasting of the

  July 2, 2009

• Tracht's in Long Beach Closing

  Dave Spataro Photography​Suzanne Tracht, the first winner of the season's Top Chef Masters*, is going to pull the plug on her namesake restaurant at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach. Food GPS broke the story.Other food blogs, at least the ones more concerned with L.A. restaurants, are looking at the bright side: It means Tracht has more time to devote to her newest concept called Suzpree, an Asian inspired place that Tracht is opening with longtime partner Preech Narkthong.Unfortunately, f

  July 30, 2009

• Top Five Lunch Trucks I'd Like To See Roving Orange County

  Edwin Goei ​ After my friends and I saw the ridiculously long line at the Kogi stop in Costa Mesa this past Saturday, we turned around and left to have some Taco Mesa. But I got to thinking, what other foods might do well in Orange County via lonchera (other than tacos, which are already a staple)? A quick internet search yielded these five, which has not yet roamed Orange County streets, and probably never will. 1. What the Pho Truck - Being so close to Little Saigon we probably don't

  August 17, 2009

• Top 5 Reasons Why I Like "Top Chef Masters" More Than "Top Chef"

  Bravo TV1. They don't live together. The first shots of the show isn't of the cheftestants waking up from bed in their undies, yawning, and brushing their teeth. Another plus of not having them shoved into the same living quarters: No possibility of head shaving incidents, hidden-camera kanoodling, and other Real World-type histrionics. The least interesting part of regular Top Chef happens when they go home. 2. No sobbing, farewell confessional. There is none of the played-out, teary-ey

  July 13, 2009

• Top Chef Masters To Return For Second Season

  Bravo TVIt was Restaurant Wars last week in Top Chef: Las Vegas, and finally this season, things got interesting. Now I've never been a fan of Top Chef when the show focuses on the extracurricular antics of the cheftestants -- the head shaving incidents of Season 2 and the hidden-camera canoodling of Season 5 come to mind -- but when there's tempers flare during the heat of competition, like what transpired between Robin and Michael Voltaggio on this episode, now that's entertainment!  A

  October 27, 2009

• Top Chef: Just Desserts...ANOTHER Top Chef Spin-Off

  ​ Hot off the announcement that Top Chef Masters is going to be getting a second season, Bravo is developing ANOTHER spin-off. What is it? Take the original Top Chef recipe, add a pinch of Ace of Cakes, maybe a few telegenic hotties that look like Jennifer Aniston and BAM! (with apologies to Emeril), you get Top Chef: Just Desserts, which is a delicious pun, I admit. The new show, of course, will feature pastry chefs, and is now holding auditions. Desserts, as you know, has never been th

  October 28, 2009

• Travel Channel Bought By Owner Of Food Network

  Photo Courtesy Travel Channel​I don't like where this is going. Scripps Network Interactive Inc., owner of the Food Network, which has slowly but noticeably descended into semi-homemade mediocrity, bought a controlling stake in the Travel Channel last week. For Anthony Bourdain's sake, I hope that the "controlling" part doesn't mean what it sounds like. Bourdain, as people know, jumped the Food Network ship for creative reasons, to put it mildly, taking his food travel show concept to Tra

  November 10, 2009