I recently had the chance to catch up with Top Chef Season 7 and All-Stars alum, Tiffany Derry, to talk about her post Top Chef life and she shared some of her recipes for us to try at home.

Since her second stint on Top Chef All-Stars, Derry has opened her first? Restaurant in Dallas, Private Social. She says that the restaurant is “Global cuisine, but definitely with a little Southern in there.”

In addition to dealing with the whirlwind of opening a new restaurant and the recognition that comes with being a Top Chef alum, Derry is has been filming her own yet-to-be-named reality TV series that focuses on the rigors of being a chef.

“It is more of a reality documentary show about the stories that a chef goes through balancing work, and a home life,” says Derry. “Those darn cameras are a part of my life now!”

Given that her home state of Texas is playing host to this season of Top Chef, I couldn’t resist asking her take on the show: “I feel that we have not seen a true …

Continue reading Talking with Top Chef’s Tiffany Derry »

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SPOILER ALERT

Out here in the real world, a week has gone by since we endured the onslaught of Heather-zilla, but we are quickly reminded how fresh the experience is for the rest of the chefs, especially Beverly. She keenly observers, “The universe is full of karma…and it always comes back to you.”

As the chefs continue to swelter in that hotbox of a kitchen and try to ignore the commentary from Heather, Padma re-appears to tell the remaining 10 chefs to pack their bags. Time to get their hipster on and head over to Austin. And you know what that means!

That’s right! Another Toyota Sienna montage!

Highlights: Heather would forfeit $5,000 and immunity for a night with John Besh and Chris C. earned the nickname Malibu for his pretty boy ways. And he would also trade $5K for a night with John Besh and those stunning white teeth.

QUICKFIRE

As soon as the chefs enter the kitchen and see that Tom has “graced [them] with his presence”, they know something is up. In …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 8: And the beast was done »

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If you don’t know there are SPOILERS in here, I feel no pity for you.

So we finally have our first villain. After this week’s episode, there is no doubt in my mind that Heather’s abrasive persona isn’t a result of creative editing. You can’t fake that kind of awful.

QUICKFIRE

The chefs enter the kitchen to find Padma and this week’s guest judge Tim Love, a Top Chef Master and chef/owner of The Lonesome Dove in Ft. Worth. And a whole bunch of hooch.

The chefs taste and pick a Don Julio tequila to build a dish around it. Ty-Lor is pumped, both because he is getting sick of being on the bottom and because he freakin’ loves tequila. In fact, it seems all of the chefs love tequila.

I think we all cheered a little inside – or, as in my case, so loud it scared the dog – when Chef Love puts Heather in the bottom, saying that her rock-shrimp dish “felt like a new special at a new chain restaurant.” Chris J. rushes his chicken and overcooks the meat, and Sarah gets …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 7: Time to pay the fiddler »

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On this week’s Top Chef, Georgia’s last remaining contestant was told to pack her knives and go. And though Chef Whitney Otawka of Farm 255 in Athens’ was eliminated from the primary competition, all hope is not lost.

For those not following the show this season, Top Chef has introduced Last Chance Kitchen, where eliminated chefs get a final opportunity to compete for the title of Top Chef in a series of head-to-head battles. The winner lives to cook another week and the loser goes home for good.

This week, on Chef Whitney’s Last Chance round, she competed against Chef Chuy in a battle of the burgers, ultimately coming out on top with her elk and pork sausage burger. To honor Whitney’s victory, both Farm Burger Decatur and Farm Burger Buckhead will offer up their version of the burger that kept her in the competition.

Whitney passed on her recipe to chefs Terry Koval and Dan Latham, but with the caveat that they use their grass-fed beef instead of elk. So, …

Continue reading Farm Burger to offer Chef Whitney’s Last Chance Kitchen burger today »

Everything is bigger in Texas….except for the Judge's Table Credit: Bravo

I’m too busy yawning to warn you about the SPOILERS below…..

I never thought I’d say this, but I really wish this episode had some vapid uber-rich socialites in it. At least I could have entertained myself by making fun of them. Instead, I’m left feeling like Tom’s face looked during his steak dinner: Not mad, just disappointed.

QUICKFIRE

This week’s episode of Toyotathon…ahem, Top Chef…sends the chefs into the kitchen of Le Cordon Blue in Dallas, Paul’s alma mater, where Padma and James Beard winning chef Dean Fearing are waiting for them. This Quickfire challenge tests the chef’s skills as a saucier, one of the most respected stations on any kitchen line. As legendary French chef Ferdinand Point aptly described it, “the saucier is a soloist in the orchestra of a great kitchen.”

The chefs each get one of the five “mother sauces” – béchamel, espangole, velouté, hollandaise, or tomate – to use as a base …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 6: Feelin’ Saucy »

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Read this recap and this week’s episode will be as SPOILED as a trust fund kid with a gummy bear fetish…

Just as the chefs began settling into their television-studio home in San Antonio, Padma opens this week’s episode with the news that this rodeo is moving to Dallas. The chefs pack their gear into a Toyota something-or-the-other and we get a nice little montage of road tripping where get to know some of the key players a little better.

My favorite revelation from the ride? That Bromance – the cheftestant formally known as Chris C. – used to sport 70 extra pounds dulling the edges of that chiseled chin. His shot from the Chef Works catalog wasn’t going to land him a supporting role on any Fabio cover art any time soon.

In what was clearly not a staged encounter with the law, the parade of product placements comes to a screeching halt at a mid-afternoon roadblock on a deserted access road in Middle of Nowhere, Texas. This rattles Dakota, as she has some …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 5: The rich and tasteless »

As part of our ongoing Top Chef Texas coverage, Atlanta Top Chef alum Hector Santiago of Pura Vida and Super Pan Latino Sandwich Shop will drop in from time to time with an insider’s perspective on the week’s events on the show. Here is Hector’s take on episode four….

This is a crucial moment thru the competition as everybody starts thinking of themselves and how to win or save themselves through the challenges to come. Some may put it all out there, some may play it safe, and some will try to ride the line between not getting eliminated or being in the middle.

Quickfire

Chiles, all kinds of them, and 20k on the line! You know that for all our love for chilies and hot foods (chefs in general) they are not used as much as they could be. Many chefs fear the heat factor that can overpower a dish if not used correctly, and you can see it as most of them go for the less hot ones. My experience with chilies is that the tastier they are, the hotter they are. The trick is to control …

Continue reading Behind the curtain with Hector Santiago: Top Chef Texas, Episode 4 »

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Spoiler alert y’all!

Things open with the chefs commiserating over drinks, and we learn little more than Nyesha’s realization that this is a competition. Sorry sweetheart, things “turned cutthroat” a while back during Shrimpgate, but you probably don’t remember because I’m pretty sure that you weren’t even in the last episode.

QUICKFIRE

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger of Border Grill serve as the celebrity chefs this week for a Quickfire that hurts so good. Spread before the cheftestants is an array of chili peppers spanning the Scoville scale, and they much pick one to showcase their ability to balance heat and flavor. As the capsaicin increases, so does the payout, with the infamous Ghost chili topping out at $20,000.

Product Placement #1: Tabasco hot sauce beautifully adorns the smorgasbord of peppers. Too bad they couldn’t get a sponsor that makes hot sauce that is actually hot.

Not surprisingly, sickly-sweet Beverly opts for the weakest chili of the …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 4: There is no crying in cooking »

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Spppooooooiiiilllllerrrrrssss….

Ahhh, things are getting back to normal.

Finally down to our 16 chefs, we begin with a quick re-introduction to some of the contestants. The editors take the opportunity to re-hash things we already knew: Chris J. and Richie work together, Keith (AKA Rick Ross…if you don’t know who he is, Google it) went to prison, and Beverly’s Stuart Smally moment confirms that she is a little too sweetly optimistic to be trusted.

Then we jump straight into something that I didn’t realize I was missing so much, the Quickfire!

The chefs enter the kitchen, and it doesn’t matter who the guest judge was – Johnny Hernandez of La Gloria – all eyes are on the giant terrarium and albino rattlesnake. In front of each chef is some sort of snake box that holds the “not really going to be a surprise” ingredient. Is Top Chef going to get all Fear Factor on us?? Alas, no, it is all just a tease. The rattlesnakes lurking under the lids are dead and …

Continue reading Top Chef Texas recap, Episode 3: Snakes in the grass »

As part of our ongoing Top Chef Texas coverage, Atlanta Top Chef alum Hector Santiago of Pura Vida and Super Pan Latino Sandwich Shop will drop in from time to time with an insider’s perspective on the week’s events on the show. Here is Hector’s take on episode two….

Episode two was still full of surprises. This group seems pretty mature (or at least has less guys with funny mohawks!) This was a tough challenge for this elimination, especially for those that got only 20 minutes to cook for their coat. That really isn’t enough time to get your thoughts together for a dish that can make or break you. To me, the easiest ingredient was the Brussels sprouts with a cooking timetable of 40 minutes, but somehow Jonathan screwed that up.

Now, 60 minutes for a large, raw octopus?! That is a challenge! I would have blanched it for a few minutes, chilled it and slice it paper thin…but cooking it in 60 minutes?? Thank goodness that the awesome flavor of gochujang( ok I admit it I’m a …

Continue reading Behind the curtain with Hector Santiago: Top Chef Texas, Episode 2 »