AN OUTRAGEOUSLY DECADENT GUSTATORY ASSAULT COURSE, FROM WHICH IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT WE ESCAPED WITHOUT A GUSHING EMBOLISM EACH: Squee! Cheftestants for Top Chef Masters 2 have been announced, including Rick Tramanto (TRU, Chicago); Marcus Samuelsson (Aquavit, NYC) and back-for-another-go-round Wylie Dufresne, Rick Moonen and Ludo Lefebvre. TRU was my favorite Chicago restaurant, and you're going to love what Tramanto can do.
Kelly Choi will host, with Gael Greene, Gail Simmons, James Oseland (!!) and Jay Rayner (!!!) returning as judges after a fantastic first season. The season begins on April 7.
Here's an example of something I thought was going to be bad (I mistakenly thought it would be running the brand into the ground and be just limp and tired), and instead it was completely awesome. I'm so excited for the second go around!
ReplyDeleteAlso of interest are some of the guest judges--Matt Groening (who doesn't do a ton of TV on his own), Hank Azaria, and the cast of Modern Family (I assume just part of it, likely the adults).
ReplyDeleteOnly one of the batch I've eaten at is Spiaggia in Chicago, which was good, but suffered from the typical "fancy restaurant" problem of "let's see how little food we can justify giving you."
I don't understand how they can have 22 chef contestants. The elimination system from Season 1 would seem to need a number divisible by four.
ReplyDeleteOh, Rick Tramonto, how I loved what you gave me at Tru. You are my favorite right from the start.
ReplyDeleteI still regret that I never got the chance to visit Samuelsson's restaurant before he moved to NYC. Come back, Marcus!
ReplyDeleteSquee!!! Double squee!!!
ReplyDeleteShocked that Ludo is coming back, considering he came off so poorly last time...
ReplyDeleteCambridge is represented well, with Ana Sortun (Oleana) and Jody Adams (Rialto), both great picks
ReplyDeleteThat's me.
ReplyDeleteAwesome news on an overly snowy day.
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