Top Chef Mania

I was on a Top Chef marathon a while back - my interest in the show (and others of its format) was a result of my having watched Junior MasterChef Australia. I wanted to see how good the adults would have performed.

Top Chef is interesting because the cheftestants are all already chefs of their own right. They have had years of experience and most of them are chef owners or chef de cuisine of top restaurants. Its amazing how they are able to make dishes seemingly on the fly - whether it be a Quick Fire (given only 15-45 minutes to create a dish based on a theme/challenge) or an Elimination Challenge (wherein cheftestants are given hours to create and shop for their dishes).

I, of course, have a list of my favorite Top Chefs. And if I ever have the luxury of coming to the US for a vacation, I would definitely try and go to one of their restaurants. Provided, of course, that it's reasonably near and not, say, on the other side of whichever part of the country I would be in.

My favorite season would have to be Season 6 - having three of my fave Top Chefs taking part in it.. going all the way to the finals. The Voltaggio Brothers (Michael and Brian) and Jennifer Carroll. To be honest, while watching the finale, I didn't know who I was rooting for to win - Michael, the more avant-garde chef with his out-of-the-box way of cooking or Bryan, the older, calmer and intense one with his attention to detail and on the spot flavor profiles. Jennifer Carroll is just plain bad-ass. I really like her. I was really disappointed when she left early during Top Chef All-Stars.. I wanted to watch her more.

I can't wait for the next season of Top Chef. This show is highly educational, very informative - and I find that I'm usually either hungry or eating while watching it. It's that mouthwatering.


* photos of the cheftestants taken from Bravotv.com.