Top Chef

For all of you who read this blog, it should come as no surprise that I watch and love Top Chef. The only thing that might surprise me, though, is if you are not watching it. Easily my favorite cooking show on TV, my girlfriend introduced me to it two years ago and I have become quite enamored with it. It just wrapped up the fourth season, but I am pretty sure Bravo will run the entire season at least 73 times in the next month. If you are not watching it, well, shame on you. It, more than any other reality show on television, is focused on food and cooking. Yes, there is drama, and yes, the producers love to edit that in everywhere, but more so there is awesome, outrageous, gorgeous food. The really cool thing about this show is the dedication it has to promoting new chefs. Most of us just go to restaurants from recommendations of flashy advertising, but do you really know the chef behind the food? This show lets you see their flavors and choices under many different situations. I usually gravitate towards a contestant who has a flavor profile similar to my likes. I just think it’s a great thing for these chefs to get national exposure about their food. It has opened my eyes to some awesome restaurants and cooking techniques. Everyone on this show, no matter what place they finish, benefits from the exposure and the spotlight. It's great for their business.

This season (yes, I will spoil it) was won by a Chicago chef by the name of Stephanie Izard. I am excited about this for two reasons. First, she cooks in Chicago, which means that come spring and she opens her restaurant, I can be there in no time flat. Second, her flavor choices just resonate with me. While I appreciate molecular gastronomy, southern Asian, and California When she made duck spring rolls my tongue almost drown itself in my mouth. Notice I said nothing about her being the first woman to win. That is because this show, making it more awesome, does not care about that. It only cares about the food. And that's what it's really all about. flavors, Stephanie's homespun version of food is amazing, and that is just from looking at it (and listening to the judges rave about it).

So congrats to Stephanie, and for those of you not watching this show, I really recommend you remedy that.