Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Top Chef Doubles Down Tonight!
Photo via Bravo
Photo via Bravo
The "supersized" sixth season premiere of Top Chef airs tonight at 9 on Bravo. 17 new contestants will be battling it out at The M Resort Spa & Casino in Vegas this season, including local culinary rising star Michael Voltaggio. Padma Lakshmi returns to preside over the judges' table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, and judges Gail Simmons and Toby Young. Guests this season will include Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Natalie Portman, Penn & Teller, Hubert Keller and Nigella Lawson.
The premiere will have a secret twist - come on, is it really a secret? When does Top Chef not have some mind-blowing twist? The new chef'testants' (Ummm, are they trying to coin that word? chef'testants? Really?) first challenge will be to create a dish based on their own signature vices (a cigar smoking salmon? An adulterous foam? How do you make a dish of pasta bitch and complain?). Check out a preview here.
But we will all be biting our nails throughout the Vegas premiere just waiting for the Top Chef Masters finale at 10:15 when finalists Rick Bayless, Michael Chiarello and Hubert Keller duke it out (Is anyone still rooting for Chiarello? Personally, I think he got a bad rap).
The Top Chef Masters' final challenge will be the creation of a four-course meal. Each course is to be inspired by a memory from their past. It sounds riveting. Mom's apple pie? A noodle dish from a dream trip to Asia? The first meal they ever cooked for their romantic partner? So. Exciting. Every "Top Chef" winner - Harold Dieterle, Ilan Hall (who is about to open his LA eatery The Gorbals), Hung Huynh, Stephanie Izard and Hosea Rosenberg will appear, alongside Top Chef's Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons, as the Top Chef Master is chosen. Can you stand it?
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
