Top Chef Masters with A Top Chef Master

I can't believe that I am about to write this post; everything from tonight seems so surreal. Tonight I watched Top Chef Masters with Chef Marcus Sammuelsson (of Aquavit in NYC) one of the five chefs chosen to compete in tonights episode, at the rooftop bar of the fabulous Affinia Hotel in Chicago. 

I heard about this event courtesy of one of Chicago's best food blogs 312 Dining Diva. Immediately I knew I had to invite my cousin and fellow foodie, Dory, to come along. Naturally, she was in, along with her foodie friend Amy. So tonight we met up with very little expectations; at the most we were hoping to get Chef Marcus to sign a cookbook...ah, naivety you keep me young...

We arrive at the Affinia hotel and take the elevator straight to the top to C-view, the sky bar for the Marcus Sammuelsson restaurant downstairs in the hotel, C-house. We head outside to the beautiful patio and sit a long table that stetches nearly half the porch. Looking around I can't believe I am here. The view is unreal, the weather is perfect (70 with a soft breeze) and I know the food is going to be amazing. 

We start off cautiously with couple of cocktails (I got the Yes Chef!) and a plate of three cured meats, a special running on Top Chef nights for $10. To start we had:

- Salmon - "pastarmi" style

- Guanciale - cured pork jowel

- Jamon Serrano - dry-cured Spanish ham 

This was served with grainy mustard and grilled french bread. Out of all three, I think my favorite would have to be the Guanciale. There was such a nice blend of fat and meat that it made each bite melt in my mouth. Before I knew it I had consumed about half the portion and had to be put in cured meat time-out. The salmon was in a close a second. So light and delicate, I easily could have eaten half. the Jamon Serrano was delicious as well, but compared to the other two, this one was my least favorite. While a nice blend of fat and meat, I felt like I had the flavors before. I loved them, but again, the other two were just amazing. 

For dinner we ordered:

- Mini Yellowfin Tacos

- Lobster Club

- Bacon and onion jam flatbread

Thinking about these make my mouth water. The tacos were in fact mini, I dare say even bit size! I didn't order them but was completely happy with the one I sampled. Light, fresh and clean are all the adjectives that come to mind. This would be a great dish to share among a group. The lobster club was about as decadent as they come. Lobster, bacon, mayonnaise - what's not to like? And that's exactly the sentiment I had. It was so delicious and creamy I easily could have eaten the whole thing, but alas it was not my main meal; I ordered the flatbread. When it arrived in front of me I instantly smelled the bacon. Ah, sweet, sweet, bacon. Cheese, bacon, pears, and onions are never a bad combo and this was no different. The flatbread itself was a great balance between crispy and chewy. 

So you would think the food and atmosphere would be enough right? You would be wrong. To top this evening off, we watched the episode in which Marcus is featured with him all night. It was truly an amazing experience to watch someone on TV while they are standing (and yes, he was standing right next to me) during the show.

Chef Marcus was so kind, fielding our questions, signing our cookbooks and in general, just hanging out. He was completely unpretentious and inviting (much like the food at C-view) and created a memorable night for me. I wrote on a napkin my blog, so Marcus if you are reading - thanks for making my night!

It's going to be hard to top this one, but I have a lot of big foodie events coming up so stay tuned!!

Top Chef Masters

I didn't get to write about it, but I will say that last weeks episode was much better than the premier episodes (might have something to do with the Lost tie-in, but who knows...) and I thought Wednesday's episode wasn't half bad either.

This week's Masters:

Wilo Benet - Puerto Rican chef of Payá in San Juan.

Cindy Pawlcyn- Napa Valley chef of Backstreet Kitchen, Go Fish, and Mustards Grill.

Ludo Lefebver - sassy french chef of Ludo Bites in LA. Ok maybe not sassy, but that accent just really makes him seem so.

Rick Bayless - owner of frontera grill in Chicago.

Quickfire Challenge: Create a dish around a color.

I really liked this challenge, but the chef's did not seem too. I understand that plates need lots of

color, but that's why its a challenge...

Anyways...

Wilo won with his smoked salmon tartar and I thought that his looked the best and the most appetizing. Ya know, aside from leaving on the ring that held the tartar together. But other than that...

Moving on to the elimination challenge: Use a protein you normally don't use for a street food dish.

I actually like this challenge too. I always think its interesting to see how chefs can great creative when face with the forgotten about parts of an animal and since I had just eaten tongue I was also interested to see what this guy would do with the tongue.

In the end Rick Bayless' tongue tacos with chorizo, bacon, guacamole and cojita cheese, were deemed "the perfect street food" and everyone left his table looking happy.

I am going to Chicago next week and I am hoping that I will have a chance to dine at one of his restaurants there.

Till next week! And thanks to Bravo's website for posting such pretty pictures that I can take screenshots off :)

Top Chef Masters - Episode 1

First off, do not read this if you have not seen the episode. There will be some spoilers. 

Secondly, ok what did everyone think? A couple of weeks I wrote about how excited I was that Top Chef Masters would fill my TV void this summer, however, after the first episode it's clear to see that this is not going to be like the Top Chef we all know and love.

So first of all, they don't have all of the "Masters" competing at once, they make them compete in heats and then the winners will compete in a "championship" round. Ok, fine, I get it, you

 couldn't get all the Top Chefs available at the same time. 

In this first episode, Tim Love, (who I was personally pulling for...maybe a Texas thing), Christopher Lee, Hubert Keller, and Michael Schlow, all competed in a quick fire and an elimination challenge. Their first quick fire was to make desert in an hour (I think) for four girl scouts (girls, who obviously, know their cookies). While all creative, not all the chefs could rise to the occasion and cooking for kids really isn't easy so I can sympathize with that. Hubert Keller ended up winning with his fanciful swan, whip cream mouse,  and chocolate mouse dessert.

For the elimination challenge the chefs were tasked with cooking in a dorm room using only a microwave, toaster oven and hot plate. It was pretty hysterical to hear how none of the chefs really knew how to use a microwave. I found this extremely comforting and testament to their ability, I mean really, microwaves should only be used to reheat things, not cook them...

Instead of walking through each menu one by one I just want to go over some highlights:

• Hubert Keller's first course of Scottish salmon over creamy whole grain mustard - I just thought the color were beautiful and I would have NEVER guessed he cooked that in a dorm room!
• Christopher Lee's second course of creamy risotto with sage, proscuttio and parmesean - like Gael Greene said I love anything creamy and cheesy
• Which brings me to my other favorite: Hubert Keller's creamy macaroni and cheese with prawns mushrooms and fresh herbs. Um, are you kidding me? I could easily gain the freshman 15 in a week if I has someone cooking that for me. 

Based on my analysis and the judges as well Hubert Keller won this thing hands down. It was like the man could do no wrong (well, aside from taking his macaroni into the bathroom and rinsing it off in the shower to stop the cooking), but other than that everything was pretty perfect!

I am still on the fence about the show in it's entirety, but I enjoyed it none the less. 

What did you, dear foodies, think about last night's episode?

For your enjoyment, below is a video that shows Fabio making Hubert Keller's delicious, creamy mac and cheese:

Top Chef Masters

I am so excited I can't stand it. Last night as I was watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey (don't even act like it's not incredible...) and I saw a commercial for TOP CHEF MASTERS. What? What is this show you are speaking of? Basically, Top Chef is going to start a new show that features prominent chefs defending their honor on the culinary battle ground and competing for charity. If you look at the cast list here you are going to notice some pretty big names and former judges on the show.

A couple of my personal favorites:

• Wylie Dufresne - The owner of WD-50 and molecular gastronomy god.


• John Besh - Adorable New Orleans chef that has been on Iron Chef and I believe he won! Right?


• Art Smith - Oprah's former personal chef and overall southern delight to watch :) He has been on Iron Chef too, but I think he lost...

I am not too familiar with any of the judges, but that's ok I am sure they are legit. I kind of wish that Tom Collichio threw his chef hat into the ring, but maybe they are saving that for another competition - "Top Chef Masters All Star Challenge."

Anyways, I am seriously counting down the days until June 10th at 10pm EST! This is going to be a great summer show!