Did Amanda deserve the heave-ho instead of Alex? As is our habit when we watch Top Chef, Carrie and I placed informal bets on who'd get the boot during last night's "Covert Affairs" episode. I figured the judges would finally send Alex packing, given his controversial history this season and the fact that he looks [...]
Was Tamesha played by Angelo? I'm sorry, but I had to take a break from Top Chef D.C. for awhile. I can only take so much "reality" TV beofre my head feels like it's shrinking to the size of a jelly bean, ready to be eaten by the first self-starving former runway model hosting one [...]
Young & Hungry has become Spiked TV or something like that. For the second week in a row, Spike Mendelsohn has dominated the blog, both with the news of his New York-style pizzeria, due to open today, and with the old, never-say-die story about his apartment eviction on Capitol Hill. Take a look at the [...]
Top Chef: Played out? Hey, I thought we were supposed to be suffering through the summer doldrums in the District? Not with this amount of news, we aren't. So let's waste no time. Proof owner Mark Kuller has just entered José Andrés territory with the grand opening of Estadio. [via Metrocurean] Pssst, the Secret Safeway [...]
As Y&H's colleague Warren Rojas points out over on Gut Check, tonight's episode of Top Chef is all about NoVa. Well, mostly about NoVa. The quickfire challenge will involve Maryland blue crab as the main ingredient and Inn at Little Washington chef/owner Patrick O'Connell as the guest judge. The elimination challenge will ask the contestants [...]
With a turn on Top Chef and a nice run under one of the country's most famous chefs, Mike Isabella was just waiting for the right moment to leave his comfortable perch at Zaytinya. That moment will be August 7, when Isabella cooks his last meal at José Andrés' raucous Penn Quarter restaurant. The chef [...]
The mood over this season's Top Chef is turning dark. The critics are claiming the cheftestants (still can't stomach that word) are inferior to previous seasons. Hell, they can't even make a pie. The media have their say: Joe Yonan and Bonnie Benwick over at WaPo, ahem, knead-le the chefs over their pies: "If you [...]
The news is true. Mike Isabella, head chef at Zaytinya and a former Top Chef contestant, is leaving the José Andrés operation to open his own place. He will remain at the Penn Quarter restaurant until August 7 when he'll start preparing for his own eatery. "José has given me so much opportunity," Isabella told [...]
How many of you felt a slight wave of nausea when Padma used the word, "Bipartisandwich" during the opening minutes of Top Chef D.C. last night? My nausea grew into a full-on case of dry heaves when the quick-fire challenge became the cooking equivalent of a three-legged race: Producers bound two chefs together in a [...]
Last week was not one that Y&H will reflect upon fondly. No, it has nothing to do with the lackluster debut of Top Chef D.C. It had everything to do with item No. 2 below. The subject of item No. 2 was always No. 1 on our list. Here were your favorite five reads from [...]
