Tonight, the always-candid chef-writer Anthony Bourdain begins his fourth season of redefining and re-energizing the staid travelogue genre with his sharp and often hysterical series Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (10 pm/ET, Travel). First up: A culinary tour of Singapore. Bourdain served up his take on the upcoming season and today's celebrity chefs.
TVGuide.com: So did you have a Singapore Sling or two?Anthony Bourdain: No, absolutely not. Nobody in Singapore drinks Singapore Slings. It's one of the first things you find out there. What you do in Singapore is eat. It's a really food-crazy culture, where all of this great food is available in a kind of hawker-stand environment.
TVGuide.com: Where else do you travel this season?Bourdain: New Orleans. Berlin. Romania/Transylvania. And Jamaica. The Jamaica show has easily the single scariest, most terrifying scene we've ever done. We went caving, or spelunki
read more
Hung Huynh, Top Chef
In the end, after 14 episodes and 27 competitions, Hung Huynh was declared the winner of Bravo's Top Chef Season 3. The 29-year-old executive sous chef at Guy Savoy in Las Vegas, who was born in Vietnam and trained in both Asian and classic French cooking, was the season's most controversial competitor (he was accused of not playing well with others). The morning after he won the $100,000, a gourmet vacation and some other nifty prizes, Hung told us why he really is the best.
TVGuide.com: Tell the truth — did you know you were going to win?Hung Huynh: I had a good feeling; I felt pretty confident, but it could have gone any way. I had no idea except after we watched the show last night, and then I felt even more confident.
TVGuide.com: If you hadn't won, who of all the other competitors this season would you have wanted to see as the new Top Chef? Hung: Definitely Tre...
read more
Turn the frowns upside down, friends! This week's episode was loads of fun compared to the stinker last week. There were just a ton of funny moments, some food that actually might have been good, and fan favorite Anthony Bourdain! That’s just a big old bucket 'o goodness there. I really enjoyed this quickfire challenge. I'm a breakfast man myself. If I could eat eggs and bacon for every meal, I would. Then I'd probably own a pig farm and some chickens too, seeing as I might want those things handy if I got hungry. But then I probably wouldn't have a pig farm and work at TV Guide so I wouldn't get to do this blog and that would be bad. Then again, I'd be eating bacon right now. Hmmm… I really might have to give this some thought. So anyway, a breakfast challenge is right up my alley. And what better way to start your day than have Padma walk through your door! Well OK, I'm sure my wife wouldn't want Padma just walking in our home and Dale would have rather had Ted Allen in ...
read more
Tom Colicchio, Top Chef
As Season 3 of Bravo's addictive cooking competition, Top Chef (Wednesdays at 10 pm/ET), enters into its third week, we dished with head judge and famed restaurateur Tom Colicchio.
TV Guide: Tell us about this season. Colicchio: Most of the contestants are either sous chefs or executive chefs, some have their own restaurants or their own catering companies, and so it's definitely a deeper talent pool this year.
TV Guide: What qualities does a Top Chef need? Colicchio: Obviously they have to have a lot of food knowledge, they have to really understand their craft, they need passion and drive and to love what they do. Otherwise they won't stay in the game.
TV Guide: Do you have some advice for this season's contenders? Colicchio: Simple is better than complicated, especia
read more
Hello my friends. Welcome to the blog for Season 3 of Top Chef! I am your host and owner of my own big fat belly thanks to years of loving too much food! People have already asked me why I think I'm qualified to write this blog, and that's my answer. I love food. I absolutely love it. Heck, I don’t know what half the words these chefs use mean, but I'm surely interested in finding out because I want to ask for these dishes in restaurants as if I have some kind of knowledge. Way back when, before I got my empty communications degree, I wanted to be a chef. To this day I still regret not going to culinary school. But that's a story for another day and time. Right now, we're focusing on Top Chef, Season 3. Each week I'll talk about things that stood out, my favorites and my least favorites. While there are still so many contestants, there's just too much to touch on every contestant, but feel free to comment on someone even if I don't. And if you're like me and need a dictionary t...
read more
Question: I read your column regularly and never expected to write in. However, after the day-to-day of Gilmore Girls/Alias/24/Lost, I felt it necessary to shine a light on some of the most entertaining TV no one is watching. My wife and I, while huge fans of Lost and Alias, searched out new programming over the six-week holiday break and discovered — Discovery. Two of the best and most informative shows are on that network and deserve high praise. I'm talking about Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters. While these are lumped in to the reality genre, I guess, they are family-friendly, riotously funny (especially Dirty Jobs) and make us feel like we've actually been productive and learned something after watching them. What is your take on these and other shows (No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain is another favorite) that don't fit into the serial, sitcom or cheesy Bachelor-type format?
Answer: Funny, but when I went home to the Midwest for a week during the Christmas break, I also found myself
...
read more
