Billionaire buyout king Teddy Forstmann died last November after a struggle with brain cancer. He had been involved with Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, and now it turns out that he left a trust fund to Lakshmi's two-year-old daughter Krishna. more ›

Remember way back in September, when we first met Ty-Lör Boring, the New York-based Top Chef-fer with the unusual backstory and a penchant for posing in artsy nudie gay mags? Well, as the season has gone on, we've grown to love Boring even more—he's actually the most level-headed contestant on the damn show—but he still can't manage to keep his clothes on. more ›

Those New Yorkers looking to eat food that may have been touched by a Top Chef contestant have one less option to choose from. After just six months Octavia's Porch, the Alphabet City "Global Jewish" restaurant from Top Chef contestant Nikki Cascone, has closed (shame, the brunch wasn't bad). The news comes almost exactly a year after Cascone's previous joint, 24 Prince, closed up shop. But just because Cascone is out of the game doesn't mean there aren't other Cheftestants in the Big Apple looking to sell you food. Below, the six still standing: more ›

Thanks to a new food truck boasting a former Top Chef contestant, Belgian frites are hitting the road. Double-fried french fries with pink prickly pear mustard, anyone? more ›

Fans of Top Chef don't have to go far to try the show's toques techniques. Just this week two alums—Angelo Sosa and Sam Talbot—have opened up restaurants in town. And while Sosa's Social Eatz is a relatively modest affair serving comfort food takes on Asian standards in midtown, Talbot's Imperial No. 9 in the new Mondrian SoHo is a decidedly more lavish beast. So of course the Times Dining section gives Talbot a lovingly undermining profile today. more ›

The third edition of Bravo's Top Chef Masters has announced its contestants, New York City is represented by chefs Suvir Saran of Devi, George Mendes of Aldea, and Floyd Cardoz of the late Tabla. The chefs are competing to win up to $15,000 for charity during each episode and another $100,000 as the winner of the entire competition. And would you believe that they'll have to please guests like Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, pop group Maroon 5, and singer Kelis along the way? Wonder if they are serving...milkshakes. more ›

Last week, venture capitalist Adam Dell filed a lawsuit against Padma Lakshmi over custody of their almost-one-year-old daughter. His lawsuit paints a nasty picture of Lakshmi, with the Top Chef star allegedly telling Dell that she found him to be "unambitious" and that she was also sleeping with billionaire Teddy Forstmann (and hoped Forstmann was the baby's father). Today, the Post digs up what might just be called Godwin's Law of Paternity. more ›

Yesterday the Post gave us Adam Dell's side of Padma Lakshmi's baby daddy drama and today People gives us the Top Chef host's side (or, rather, her "friends" and lawyer's side). The short of it? She is "devastated" about the lawsuit from the father of her almost one-year-old daughter. more ›

Thanks to the New York Post's two-fer today, we've gotten a good long glimpse into Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi's baby daddy troubles. You see, according to a new suit, though Adam Dell, brother to Dell computers empire founder Michael, is the biological father of 11-month-old daughter Krishna he just gets no respect from the former Mrs. Salman Rushdie. more ›

Following in the footsteps of everyone's favorite fake alma mater Trump University, reality TV cooking program Top Chef is breaking the bottle on their own online school: Top Chef University. more ›

Alfred Portale became Gotham Bar and Grill’s chef in May of 1985. The restaurant had been open for a year: despite a strong opening, business was seriously flagging and the food didn’t taste so good. Portale basically cooked his pants off for six months, at which point the restaurant was re-reviewed and awarded three stars from the Times. It was also around that time that the chef started attracting young, talented cooks with names like Colicchio, Telepan, and Valenti to work in his kitchen. Later, Wylie Dufresne and Chris Lee spent time on Portale’s line, and the talent roster continues to grow. more ›

Last night was the finale of Top Chef New York. The final cheftesants standing were Stefan (aka the European), Carla (aka the chef with love), and Hosea (aka the chef who really hated Stefan), and they were tasked to create a three-course meal—not including the last minute twist, of course. Some thoughts about the finale and season overall below (spoilers are after the jump): more ›

Former Top Chef contestant Mark Simmons has joined Park Slope’s all local, all the time grocery store turned restaurant Get Fresh Table and Market. Simmons, whom you may remember as the talented, softspoken guy from New Zealand who didn’t quite strike anyone with an ultra-competitive edge, has joined Juventino Avila’s locavore kitchen. Born and raised on a sheep farm, Simmons previously cooked with Avila at Double Crown. He cites work at a slaughterhouse when he was a teenager as an inspiration for cooking; Simmons and Avila are also currently appearing together as part of a nose-to-tail butchering/cooking package, part of an online benefit auction. Park Slope of late has sort of become the repatriation grounds for those returning from reality television land: One can now have dinner with Simmons at Get Fresh, then dessert with Naima “Next Top Model” Mora at Cocoa Bar on 7th Avenue. more ›

Often armed with not much more than unwieldy liberal arts degrees, the mass exodus of 20-somethings from urban areas to farms outside of the city was a much reported story last year; the underlying idea being that growing vegetables from seed to harvest might be more appealing than hitting up the mediabistro classifieds every two minutes during temp job downtime. more ›

Last night Top Chef celebrated the holiday season, and even though the episode was filmed sometime in July (check out the cheftestants summertime gear)—Christmas miracles were abound! Or at least forced down viewer's throats like Sous-Vide Duck with avocado foam. more ›

Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, owner of Craft, Craftbar and Craftsteak, and a familiar face to millions for Top Chef, is being sued in Federal court by a former waitress who accuses his company of denying employees a portion of their tips and distributing the earnings among supervisors. Nessa Rapone, a Brooklyn resident who worked at Craftbar from March to May 2007, says the company also "failed to pay proper overtime compensation," and illegally retaliated by firing her when she objected to the policies. According to City Room, Rapone's lawyers say they hope other Craft employees will come forward so the can certify the lawsuit as a nationwide class action. (There are Craft restaurants in Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Ledyard, Connecticut.) Colicchio has not yet released a statement. more ›

Top Chef usually has a wedding-related challenge of some sort, and this season's event was to cater the bridal shower of Top Chef judge—and Food & Wine special projects manager—Gail Simmons. Of course, Padma Lakshmi announced she was throwing the bridal shower for Gail. Cue cheftestant Danny saying that Gail would be a "hot bride." more ›

It was an episode full of corporate synergy! Sort of reminiscent of when Project Runway designers had to create an outfit for Today Show contributor Tiki Barber, last night's episode of Top Chef had contestants develop a dish they could demonstrate on TV for the Today Show. Plus there were reminders that the chefs are using...GE Monogram appliances in the kitchen! more ›

Wonder what the Top Cheftestants were in for on the road with the Foo Fighters (in the episode that aired) the other night? Check out this recent concert rider from the band, which The Smoking Gun found out the Foo's tour manager made funny so it's "interesting to the woman in Oklahoma City who has to go out and get the hummus." The rider includes soup, of course ("every lunch should include a soup of the day--please try to to make it a vegetarian selection. Meaty soups make roadies fart."), which was the surprise twist of the Quickfire challenge this week when the band guest-hosted. Too bad the cheftestants didn't have to come up with a "healthy cookie" though, which the Foo's also demand a box of on their list. more ›

Chef Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago appeared alongside the Foo Fighters on last night’s Thanksgiving themed Top Chef New York episode (which was actually filmed last summer). Reached last night by telephone, Achatz himself was settling in for Thanksgiving Eve. Spoiler-free insights below. more ›

Last night, Top Chef aired its Thanksgiving-themed episode that featured a holiday meal for the Foo Fighters--and their entourage--as the Elimination Challenge. Grant Achatz, named Best Chef in the U.S. by the James Beard Foundation last year for his Chicago restaurant Alinea, was the guest judge for both the Quickfire and Elimination challenges. more ›

Last night the 2nd episode of Top Chef New York aired, beginning with an oh-so-NY-themed Quick Fire challenge: Hot Dogs! After Padma declares that New Yorkers spend $100M a year consuming the "dish," the cheftestants were put up against the Top Dog (heh) in New York, Angelina D'Angelo (from Dominick's hot dog truck in Queens) and had 45 minutes to cook up their own recipes (which season 4 cast-off Spike says is enough time "to build a cart"). more ›

Top Chef aired its season 5 premiere last night, and believe it or not, this is the first time Padma & Co. have filmed an entire season in New York City. Right now there are too many cheftestants at the starting line, so it's a little difficult for any to stand apart when the first half of the episode merely showed (spoiler alert!) them chopping apples. But there are two emerging factions: Team Rainbow (the LGBT folks) and the Euros (Italian guy, Finland guy). more ›

In 1994, Eric Ripert became the executive chef of Le Bernardin after chef-owner Gilbert Le Coze died of a sudden heart attack. The following year, Ripert was only 29 years old when the restaurant was re-reviewed and kept its four-star rating from the New York Times. Le Bernardin has had a total of four four-star New York Times reviews since its New York opening in 1986, and has consistently been awarded a top rating of three Michelin stars since guide inspectors first set up shop here in 2005. more ›

Top Chef fever is spreading like salmonella, and who among us can resist the hype, especially considering that the new season of Top Chef, premiering next month, was filmed here in NYC? Last week the Top Chef Truck concluded its tour in Union Square with former cheftestants Richard Blais and Andrew D'Ambrosi cooking for us in the tractor trailer's kitchen. And yesterday a slew of Top Chef stars, past and future, were wrangled for cooking demos and flesh-pressing at the Taste of the Five Boroughs fundraiser for City Harvest. Blogger Life Vicarious was on the scene, which turned into a bloodbath:

We did find Andrew D'Ambrosi at his knife skills demo across Vanderbilt Hall where he was proud to represent the restaurant "rockin' the three stars." And how he represented! Showcasing his non-sissy knife skills at breakneck speed, he started supreming fruit before carving into his finger, began bleeding, turned to the demo sinks disappointed to discover they're just props, was first handed paper towels, then a bandage, then finally left the stage as an EMT arrived, and wanting to shift the focus and cameras away from him and back to his demo partner Spike Mendelsohn he went backstage to be tended by the EMT. (We can't even imagine how an actual sissy would have handled this!)

The big Top Chef Truck rolled into Union Square this morning for the last stop on their 20-city tour, with Season Four's rejected cheftenstants Richard Blais and Andrew D'Ambrosi on board to give cooking demonstrations in the kitchen housed within a 48-foot tractor trailer. The two day event, which continues into tomorrow, gives fans of Top Chef an experience that Knight Rider nerds would surely kill for. more ›

Surely you're aware by now that the next season of reality cooking show Top Chef was filmed right here in New York. It premieres next month, and to crank up the enthusiasm, Bravo is displaying some serious marketing flair. This week Top Chef: The Tour, a 20-city barn burner featuring a customized 18-wheeler semi-truck, rolls into town, promising "the ultimate culinary experience" with cooking demonstrations and tastings hosted by former cheftestants. more ›