Top Chef 1.1

When I first started toying with the idea of doing a blog, I was thinking of a hook of sorts; like those numerous blogs that work their way through a cookbook posting their results etc. Then I thought of Top Chef. I love top chef. I own all the seasons that I can get off itunes (7 regular seasons and 2 top chef masters). I constantly have them on in the background and really enjoy the challenges that they put the chefs through. So I was thinking that I could use that as a hook and go through all the seasons and their challenges (I would be so excited to do the final ones of top chef masters). And now I have a blog, so why not try?

So I load up the first episode from the first season to see what the first challenge and I realize that it might be one I have to skip. I know that I would have to shift some of the rules and definitely ignore time limits on some challenges, but this one was difficult to even tweak.

The contestants had to spend 30 minutes on the line at Chef Hubert Keller’s Fleur De Lys in San Francisco. For obvious reasons, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I figured that I would just have to skip it and move on to the next challenge.


Then I got the call. (Doesn’t that just sound so dramatic?)


A chef I had crossed paths with in Montréal had gotten a call from a restaurant that was in a bind for that night, he couldn’t help out, but knowing that I’m looking for work/got time on my hands, he tossed the ball to me and told me to do him proud and not fuck it up. So I made my way to the resto about a ½ before service, which was the regular a la carte menu as well as a special party of 20. And wow did it just feel good to be back in a kitchen and on the line.


They were also short staffed for the next night as well, so I came back to help out with a private party for 60.


And I guess the best way for me to prove that I succeeded at this challenge is that I left there with a job. I’ll be workin’ at San Lorenzo, an Italian restoruant in little Italy, Thursdays and Fridays, my off days from the Burger Bar (once it opens…).


Next Top Chef Challenge: Showcase your signature dish.