I’m not a rabid reality show fan. In fact, most of the reality show phenomenon makes me groan and remember why I like books. More thought. No need to BLEEP every third word. Characters I actually like.
That said, I have watched a fair amount of Top Chef. For one we actual got Bravo with our minimum cable package until the world went HD. Two, I am somewhat obsessed with food. Hell’s Kitchen strikes me as idiotic… an excuse for the notoriously short-tempered Gordon Ramsey to scream and humiliate aspiring chefs. But Top Chef takes a somewhat less brutal approach and can be entertaining to watch.
This season of Top Chef, which aired its first episode tonight, is filmed in Las Vegas and features two Seattle chefs, Ashley Merriman and Robin Leventhal. Score two for the Northwest. Yet the way I heard about the new season line-up was in a email from Kevin Gillespie, the executive chef at the Woodfire Grill in Atlanta.
I met Kevin during his brief stint here in Spokane. He came to town to take the helm at Luna only to have that position not work out… quite definitively. Then while deciding on his next big move (back to Atlanta) he logged some kitchen time at Bin 98 Twenty up on north Nevada.
We met at Quillisascut Farm in February of 2008 during a weekend when local chefs gathered to talk about developing a sustainable local food system.
He and his wife later helped out on a restaurant review locally before they moved back home to Atlanta. I hadn’t heard from him until about a month ago when he sent me a note about his upcoming Top Chef appearance.
So tonight we headed over to friends who still get Bravo to watch episode one. It will air again next Wednesday night so I’ll not give a blow by blow, but let me say this much: Gillespie gets some significant air time and puts it to good use.
