The scene inside the Reagan Building

Blue Ridge’s Barton Seaver was gunning for the title for the third straight year at the 2009 Capital Food Fight, held last night inside the Reagan Building. His competition included not only last year’s finalist, Peter Smith from PS 7’s, but also two Top Chef contestants (Mike Isabella from Zaytinya and Bryan Voltaggio from Volt) and one out-of-town ringer, celebrity chef Michael Mina of Bourbon Steak.

Seaver performed honorably but ultimately lost to Mina the Carpetbagger. But, hey, it’s not about competition, right? It’s a fundraiser for D.C. Central Kitchen, the non-profit with the master plan to attack homelessness and poverty.

Below the fold are more pictures from the event, courtesy of Reflections Photography. Used with permission.

Read More “Scenes from the 2009 Capital Food Fight” »

At Sunday night’s RAMMY awards, I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table as Carla Hall, who may be the nicest person on earth, and Ariane Duarte, who was introduced to me as yet another former Top Chef contestant making the rounds. That’s when my embarrassment meter went into the red zone. I couldn’t remember Duarte — and couldn’t immediately cop to the minor embarrassment.

Finally, after sitting there for what seemed like an eternity, I turned to Duarte and asked some questions about her Top Chef experience in hopes of jump-starting my memory. She was kind enough to give me the hint I needed. “They called me the Cougar,” she said.

A light flipped on inside the dull fog of my brain. “I’m sitting next to The Coogs?” I said. “That’s awesome!”

Did I mention that I had a glass or two of wine in me?

Read More “There Is Life After ‘Top Chef’ for The Cougar” »

The good folks at Eater.com are all over the Top Chef beat, and the latest rumor they’re circulating concerns Mike Isabella, head chef at Zaytinya in Penn Quarter. They hear Isabella’s got the right stuff for the show.

And what are Isabella’s qualifications, according to an anonymous Eater tipster? Tats and a “faux hawk.”

[Insert arched eyebrow here.]

Read More “Will Zaytinya’s Mike Isabella Appear on Next Season’s ‘Top Chef’?” »

Note: Busboys & Poets owner Andy Shallal is taking an Iron Chef approach to hiring the chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a Southern-oriented restaurant that pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston. This is the second in a series of blog posts chronicling the competition. This series will not announce the winner; it will be revealed later in the City Paper.

Christina Giallourakis, a former lawyer who now does health counseling, had nothing bad to say about the chef’s dishes. ”I think his whole array of food is like two notches above the others’ food,” the judge said, refering to the other two chefs competing last Friday in the semi-final round of Andy Shallal’s hunt for an Eatonville chef. Giallourakis could, without much doubt, see herself driving across town for this guy’s cooking.

Read More “Scene 3 from the Eatonville Chef Contest: Too Fancy for His Own Good” »

Yes, I watched some of the Top Chef reunion show last night, and let me say this right from the start: The main reason Fabio won fan fave is because Americans are still suckers for Italian accents. Could this show have been less about the art and craft of cooking? That Baldies-with-Photoshopped-Hair segment? Jump. The. Shark. Time.

Whoa, I’m feeling cranky this morning. Let’s move on to the blogs for more reunion commentary.

• Pop Watch wonders if the show is “too concerned with turning the spotlight on likable hotties rather than the sweaty, ugly reality of making deeply delicious dishes.”
• Show Tracker desperately wants the producers to bring Anthony Bourdain back to the judges table—at whatever cost.
• Gawker live blogged the entire show, which I didn’t take the time to read. I have a life.
• Judge Toby Young thinks gay liberation has opened the door to bromances like the one between Stefan and Fabio.
• A couple of commenters on Chowhound think Carla Hall seemed subdued during the reunion, as if she were still kicking herself over the finale.

And one final thought from the Y&H peanut gallery: Do you think an embarrassed Jeff McInnis lied when he said that People magazine had misquoted him? That he didn’t actually call Tom Colicchio’s food boring? I think he lied, and I think it would have made far better TV if McInnis had just reversed tables on Colicchio and said, “Yeah, man, I’ve never had a decent meal in one of your restaurants. Maybe you’re spending too much time on reality TV and not enough in your own kitchens.”

As you may have noticed, I’ve changed the title of this weekly feature, which is usually published under the name of Greatest Hits. I have done so out of respect for the top item about the passing of pastry chef Jérôme Girardot. There was nothing great about his untimely death, even if, in life, Girardot repeatedly displayed greatness in his chosen field.

This week’s most-read posts:

1. Ritz Pastry Chef Jérôme Girardot Found Dead in Cameron Station Park
2. A Day in a Life of a Writer for a Newspaper No One Knows About
3. If Carla Hall Becomes the Next ‘Top Chef,’ She Doesn’t Want Her Own Restaurant
4. Former Brasserie Beck Beer Man Bill Catron Now at De Vinos
5. Two Unsolicited Tips for Hostesses and Wait Staffers

Andy Shallal, the man behind the concept-bending Busboys & Poets chain, loves food shows. It’s no surprise, then, that Shallal has taken a reality-show approach to hiring a chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a southern-food restaurant located across V Street from the original Busboys & Poets location. The owner’s requiring his top candidates to compete in a week-long cook-off to land the gig.

Read More “Andy Shallal Takes a Reality Show Approach to Hiring Eatonville Chef” »

District gastronomes can barely contain themselves about tonight’s Top Chef finale. Their excitement, of course, has to do with Carla Hall, the local caterer who will compete for top honors against a couple of dome-heads: Boulder, Colo. chef Hosea Rosenberg and Finnish hell-boy Stefan Richter, a caterer based in Santa Monica, Calif.

The blogs are bloated with Top Chef chatter. To wit:

Read More “Daily Food Blog Roundup: Top Chef Edition” »

Heading into tomorrow night’s Top Chef finale, D.C.-based caterer Carla Hall tells ZagatBuzz that she has no interest in opening her own restaurant. That would put her in the minority of Top Chef finalists, winners or not. Ilan Hall, Sam Talbot, Harold Dieterle, Hung Huynh, and Stephanie Izard, among others, have all either opened or are planning to open their own restaurants.

Not Hall. She tells Olga Boikess:

Read More “If Carla Hall Becomes the Next ‘Top Chef,’ She Doesn’t Want Her Own Restaurant” »

So secretive that D.C. “cheftestant” (man, it pains me to type that word) Carla Hall couldn’t tell her husband, Matthew, that he has a ticket to the biggest sports event of the year, which, ahem, takes place this weekend. The good folks over at Capital Spice attended the Top Chef watch party last night at Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery and report on events from the burger joint. Be forewarned: It contains spoilers for those who haven’t yet caught the latest episode.

Image courtesy of Bravo’s Top Chef