It's finally the night we've waited almost four months for: the return of Top Chef! Okay, so it's Top Chef Masters, but it's better than having to watch Shear Genius or the train wreck that is the Real Housewives series (though my guilty pleasure is Atlanta). Besides, TCM actually focuses on the food and less on the drama, and we get a different lineup of master chef'testants each week whose work we get to pick apart admire.
I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Gail Simmons — because where Kelly Choi lacks in a rack, Gail definitely makes up for both of them. We'll also get to see more of James Oseland's fun sweaters and get our weekly fix of Jay Rayner's mole again. It also looks like there will be tons of shameless pimping of Sprint and Lexus this season to look forward to (so much classier than Gladware).
From the looks of the preview videos below, the first round of chefs will include: Govind Armstrong, Susan Feniger, Anna Sortun, Jerry Traunfeld, Jimmy Bradley and Tony Mantuano (who claims to be the President's favorite chef, but I know that Rick Bayless still holds Obama's heart).
My bets are on Feniger, because she looks wily, like she could seriously eff someone up (culinarily speaking) and Armstrong because, hello, he's gorgeous. I'm pulling for Armstrong to make it to the finals so I have someone to drool over throughout the season. (If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you know very well that culinary prowess has no effect on my affections — and you also should know that we ooze snark and sarcasm.)
Tune in to Bravo tonight at 11 pm EST/10 pm C, check out our own live Tweets during the show (Jeff: @TheStew, Katie: @culinarypirate), and listen to our podcast here tomorrow! (You can even download us on iTunes!) Check out our fellow Top Chef fanatics, Please Pack Your Knives And Go and All Top Chef, for the latest news (and some laughs).
Videos after the break:
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2010.