‘Top Chef’ returns

by Joshua Maloni
Niagara Frontier Publications, March 6, 2008

Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi return to host “Top Chef.” The
fourth season kicks off on Wednesday. (Bravo photo: F. Scott Schafer)

“Top Chef: Chicago,” the fourth season of cable’s No. 1 food show, premieres at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, on Bravo (Ch. 53 Time Warner Cable).

Cookbook author and actress Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio, himself a top chef, return to judge the reality competition. Gail Simmons of Food & Wine Magazine, “Queer Eye’s” Ted Allen, and celebrity food experts Anthony Bourdain and Rocco DiSpirito will join them in different episodes.

Sixteen competitors will vie for the title of “Top Chef” and the stardom it brings.

In the season premiere, the competing chefs are asked to come up with a deep-dish pizza in honor of their host city. Their creations are, shall we say, interesting.

“You know, that pizza challenge that you speak of – the ‘Quickfire’ – it was surprisingly one of the most difficult ‘Quickfires’ I’ve had to get through just because of the sheer volume of food that I had to ingest,” Lakshmi said Wednesday.

Later in the episode, the chefs must assemble a classic dish. Here again, they are responsible for some interesting choices. Some are confounded by the assignment, which surprises Colicchio.

“I think that’s indicative of culinary school these days and of, you know, young cooks and young chefs or what their focus, you know, is sort of coming up,” he said. “You know, it used to be – back when I came up 25 years ago – you learn the classics because that’s what you were cooking in kitchens. But nowadays, I think there’s so much interest elsewhere. I think they’re ... casting a broad net and that often they just, they don’t have to go through those dishes and learn them.”

Still, Colicchio said this season’s lineup will impress viewers.

“I think on balance, these are the strongest, you know – I always need to sort of make sure I get this exactly right. This is probably the best talent pool,” he said. “So as a whole, the talent runs a lot deeper than it has in the previous three seasons.”

For Lakshmi, the secret to the show’s success lies within.

“People often ask me, ‘Like what is the secret to the success of this show?’ And I say, ‘Well there are many secrets.’ But I said one of the secrets to the success of the show is my digestive tract because, you know, everything goes through my pipes,” she joked.