Lazy, drizzly Sunday. We wander out and duck into Chelsea Square Diner. Somewhere I've walked by a thousand times and have never been to. So we had a craving for pancakes and went. And everything was exactly like I expected....PERFECT. Fast service, diner pancakes, generic maple syrup (and lots of it)...a little bit of grease from over the years....
So continuing on, I had us walk through the Meatpacking because I heard there was some Top Chef thing going on. There is an area where a few streets cross that lends itself to promotional displays, and on the way south when we walk to Soho. And there was the Top Chef tour with a cook off in 10 minutes, perfect timing!. We were the last on the list, but secured 2 spots in the back.
Nikki Cascone (Octavia's Porch) versus Angelo Sosa (Social Eatz, and one of my all time favs). This was the 12th stop on the tour, and it was certainly Bravo promotional heavy, but still 45 minutes of light entertainment, cooking and behind the scenes info.
Both cooked shrimp with a secret ingredient. One had watermelon juice and the other some sort of pumpkin seed, I think. But when I got my sampling plate, they both sort of looked the same. So my moment to be Padma, well, I failed.
But it was tasty and I learned a few Top Chef facts. The "stew room" when they are at judges table typically lasts a minimum of 5 hours, but as many as 9 hours. It's usually the people who think they'll be kicked off that drink the most then. And each episode is really filmed over about 3 days.
Here's looking forward to the next season! And no, they didn't tell us where it would be.
2 comments:
I am so jealous!
I checked the schedule when I wrote this and they were in Red Bank, NJ this week!
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