Last Chance Kitchen
Recap: Sin City Vice
Slice and Dice Showdown: Episode 1
Seared Tuna with Salsa Verde
Lost Footage Sexist Comment
Don't Record Us
The Other Side of the Tracks
Kevin's Slow Cooked Arctic Char
Lost Footage All About Eve
Preview It's Time for the First Quickfire
@padmalakshmi
Emmy-nominated Padma Lakshmi is internationally known as an actress, food expert, model, and The New York Times best-selling author, as well as the recipient of the 2016 NECO Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Padma also serves as host and executive producer of Bravo's Emmy award-winning Top Chef, currently in its 15th season.
Padma was born in India and grew up in America. She graduated from Clark University with a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Arts and American Literature. Known as India's first supermodel, she began her career as a fashion model, working in Europe and the United States.
Padma established herself as a food expert early in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing the best-selling Easy Exotic, which won the "Best First Book" award at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. She followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet, which has over 150 recipes from around the world alongside intriguing personal essays. In 2016, She released her food memoir, The New York Times best-selling Love, Loss and What We Ate, followed shortly thereafter by The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs.
In addition to her food writing, she has also contributed to such magazines as Vogue, Gourmet and both British and American Harper's Bazaar, as well as a syndicated column on fashion and food for The New York Times.
For the Food Network, she hosted Padma's Passport, where she cooked diverse cuisine from around the world. She also hosted Planet Food, a documentary series on the Food Network and broadcast worldwide on the Discovery Channel. Padma was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role as host and judge on Bravo's Top Chef, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Competition Show. Other television credits include co-hosting Rai Television's Domenica In, Italy's highest-rated morning news program.
In 2009, Padma co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America alongside world-renowned Advanced Gynecological Surgeon Tamer Seckin, MD. After suffering from the disease for decades herself, she has been able to make amazing strides with the foundation, like launching the first interdisciplinary research facility in the country for Gynepathology as a joint project between Harvard Medical School and MIT, where she gave the keynote address at the Center's opening in December 2009. Her efforts were recently recognized on the floor of the New York State Senate, where she succeeded in passing a bill related to teen health initiatives. The organization's ENPOWR program has currently educated over 15,000 students about endometriosis in high schools across the state of New York.
In addition to these projects, Padma is a savvy businesswoman with multiple companies of her own. Her debut home décor line, The Padma Collection, hit Bloomingdale's stores nationwide with tabletop dishware, stemware and hand-blown glass décor pieces. She also created Padma's Easy Exotic, a collection of culinary products ranging from frozen organic foods, fine teas, and natural spice blends, to hard goods.
@tomcolicchio
One of the culinary world's most celebrated figures, Tom Colicchio returns once again as lead judge for Bravo's 16th season of the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning culinary series Top Chef, and also serves as mentor to the competing chefs on the series, guiding them through their various challenges. He also hosts BravoTV.com's Emmy-Winning Digital Companion Video Series Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.
Tom is also the chef and owner of Crafted Hospitality, which currently includes New York's Craft, Riverpark, Temple Court and newest edition Small Batch; Los Angeles' Craft Los Angeles; and Las Vegas' Heritage Steak and Craftsteak. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Tom made his New York cooking debut at prominent New York restaurants including The Quilted Giraffe, Gotham Bar & Grill and Gramercy Tavern before opening Craft in 2001. Outside of his fine dining restaurants, Colicchio opened 'Wichcraft – a sandwich and salad fast casual concept rooted in the same food and hospitality philosophies as Craft – in New York City in 2003.
He has published Think Like a Chef (2000), which won The James Beard Foundation "KitchenAid" Cookbook Award in May 2001; Craft of Cooking (2003); and a sandwich book inspired by 'wichcraft (2009). In May 2010, Tom was awarded The James Beard Foundation's coveted "Outstanding Chef" award, the culmination of his 30 years of hard work in the restaurant industry.
Tom appears in and served as executive producer on A Place at the Table, Participant Media's documentary about food insecurity in America, produced and directed by his wife, Lori Silverbush, by Kristi Jacobson. A Place at the Table, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures in 2013, has become the launchpad for a national movement centered on ending hunger in the United States.
In an effort to broaden his long-standing social and political activism, Tom co-founded Food Policy Action in 2012 in collaboration with national food policy leaders, in order to hold legislators accountable on votes that have an effect on food and farming. He has also been an outspoken voice on issues like GMO labeling and the use of antibiotics in food sources, and he continues to lobby for better anti-hunger policies in America.
Tom and his restaurants give back to the community by serving on the boards of Children of Bellevue, City Harvest, Wholesome Wave and Food Policy Action. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Lori Silverbush, and three sons. When he's not in the kitchen, Tom can be found tending to his garden on the North Fork of Long Island, enjoying a day of fishing or playing guitar.
@gailsimmons
Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, food writer, and dynamic television personality. Since the show's inception in 2006, she has lent her extensive expertise as permanent judge on Bravo's Emmy-winning series Top Chef, currently in its 16th season. She was head critic on Top Chef Masters, host of Top Chef Just Desserts, Bravo's pastry-focused spinoff of the Top Chef franchise, and was a judge on Universal Kids' Top Chef Jr. She also hosts Iron Chef Canada and was the co-host of The Feed..
Her first cookbook, Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating, was released by Grand Central Publishing in October 2017. Nominated for an IACP award for Best General Cookbook, it features recipes inspired by Gail's world travels—all made with accessible ingredients and with smart, simple techniques for successful family meals and easy entertaining. Gail's first book, a memoir titled Talking With My Mouth Full, was published by Hyperion in February 2012.
Gail joined Food & Wine magazine in 2004, where she directs special projects, writing a monthly column and working closely with the country's top culinary talent on events and chef-related initiatives. During her tenure, she has been responsible for overseeing the annual Classic in Aspen, America's premier culinary event. Prior to working at Food & Wine, Gail was the special events manager for Chef Daniel Boulud's restaurant empire.
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Gail moved to New York City in 1999 to attend culinary school at what is now the Institute of Culinary Education. She then trained in the kitchens of legendary Le Cirque 2000 and groundbreaking Vong restaurants, and worked as the assistant to Vogue magazine's esteemed food critic, Jeffrey Steingarten. Throughout her career, Gail has contributed to several books, including It Must've Been Something I Ate by Steingarten, Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City and The New American Chef, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.
In 2014, Gail and her business partner Samantha Hanks, founded Bumble Pie Productions, an original content company dedicated to discovering and promoting new female voices in the food and lifestyle space. Their first series, "Star Plates"—a collaboration with Drew Barrymore's Flower Films and Authentic Entertainment—premiered in Fall 2016 on the Food Network.
In addition, Gail makes frequent television appearances on NBC's TODAY, ABC's Good Morning America, and the Rachel Ray Show, among others. She has been featured in publications such as People, New York magazine, Travel + Leisure, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and was named the #1 Reality TV Judge in America by the New York Post. Along with her annual appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, she makes regular appearances at the nation's foremost culinary festivals, including the Austin Food & Wine Festival and Charleston Wine & Food Festival.
In February 2013, Gail was appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Babson College, a mentoring role where she works with student entrepreneurs, helping them develop food-related social enterprises. In April 2016, she received the Award of Excellence by Spoons Across America, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children about the benefits of healthy eating. She is an active board member and supporter of City Harvest, Hot Bread Kitchen, Common Threads, and the Institute of Culinary Education.
Gail currently lives in New York City with her husband, Jeremy and their two children, Dahlia and Kole.
@wolfgangbuzz
The name Wolfgang Puck is synonymous with the best of restaurant hospitality and the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts. The famous chef has built an empire that encompasses three separate Wolfgang Puck entities: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Catering, and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc.
Puck began cooking at his mother's side as a child. She was a chef in the Austrian town where he was born, and with her encouragement, Wolfgang began his formal training at 14 years of age. As a young chef he worked in some of France's greatest restaurants, including Maxim's in Paris, the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, and the Michelin 3-starred L'Oustau de Baumanière in Provence. At the age of 24, Wolfgang took the advice of a friend and left Europe for the United States. His first job was at the restaurant La Tour in Indianapolis, where he worked from 1973 to 1975.
Wolfgang came to Los Angeles in 1975 and very quickly garnered the attention of the Hollywood elite as chef and eventually part owner of Ma Maison in West Hollywood. His dynamic personality and culinary brilliance that bridged tradition and invention made Ma Maison a magnet for the rich and famous, with Wolfgang as the star attraction. He had an innate understanding of the potential for California cuisine, and was pivotal in its rise to national attention during the late 1970s.
From Ma Maison, Wolfgang went on to create his first flagship restaurant, Spago, originally located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. From its opening day in 1982, Spago was an instant success and culinary phenomenon. His early signature dishes, such as haute cuisine pizzas topped with smoked salmon and caviar, and Sonoma baby lamb with braised greens and rosemary, put him and Spago on the gourmet map, not just in Los Angeles but throughout the world. Wolfgang and Spago earned many accolades during its popular 18 years in West Hollywood, including winning the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef of the Year, twice, in 1991 and 1998, and the James Beard Foundation Award for Restaurant of the Year in 1994. Wolfgang is the only chef to have won the Outstanding Chef of the Year Award two times.
In 1983, following the success of Spago, Puck went on to open Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. His early exposure to Southern California's multicultural population intrigued him, inspiring him to fuse the Asian flavors and products of Koreatown, Chinatown, and Thaitown with his French- and California-based cuisine in a fine dining setting. Chinois on Main brought diners a fresh and imaginative Asian-fusion menu that laid the groundwork for fusion cooking in America.
In 1989, Wolfgang opened his third restaurant, Postrio, in the Prescott Hotel off San Francisco's Union Square. Postrio also draws upon the multi-ethnic nature of its surroundings. Its contemporary American cuisine, with its emphasis on local ingredients, continues to draw rave reviews in Northern California's highly competitive culinary market.
In 1997, Wolfgang moved Spago to an elegant setting on Cañon Drive in Beverly Hills. His Beverly Hills menu blazed new ground, with a combination of updated Spago classics and newly conceived items created by the award-winning talents of Managing Partner/Executive Chef Lee Hefter and Executive Pastry Chef Sherry Yard. The seasonal menu also draws from Wolfgang's favorite childhood dishes, offering a selection of Austrian specialties such as Wienerschnitzel and Kaiserschmarren. Spago Beverly Hills recently garnered two coveted Michelin Stars, one of only three Los Angeles restaurants to achieve this accolade.
In 2006, Wolfgang opened CUT, a sleek, contemporary steakhouse at the acclaimed Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel. After only one year, CUT earned a prestigious Michelin star. Wolfgang has changed the way Americans cook and eat by mixing formal French techniques and Asian- and California-influenced aesthetics with the highest quality ingredients. He also has changed the face of dining in cities throughout the nation, first in Los Angeles, then in Las Vegas, where he was the first star chef to create a contemporary fine dining restaurant, paving the way for other celebrated chefs and the city's metamorphosis into a dining destination.
After opening Spago in the Forum Shops at Caesars in 1992, Wolfgang went on to open five additional restaurants including Chinois in the Forum Shops at Caesars in 1998, Postrio at The Venetian and Trattoria del Lupo in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in 1999, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand in 2004 and CUT at The Palazzo in 2008.
Since 2001, Wolfgang and his Fine Dining Group have opened restaurants across the United States from Atlantic City (Wolfgang Puck American Grille at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in 2006) to Maui (Spago at the Four Seasons Resort in 2001). These also include The Source in Washington, DC (2007), Wolfgang Puck Grille at MGM Grand Detroit (2007), Spago at The Ritz Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Colorado (2007), Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck at Reunion Tower in Dallas (2009) and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at L.A. Live (2009).