"PadmaLakshmi" news and stories

At this point in the usual "Top Chef" season trajectory, you might expect a certain focus and discipline that naturally comes with narrowing the playing field down to seven ambitious young chefs, each working at the top of his or her game. This year, however, is another story.

Maybe it's that the talented and reliable Jen is off her game, or that the universally derided Robin is still around or that the twerpy Eli can actually put together an interesting plate of food for once. In any event, Wednesday night's episode felt like a detour into a "Top Chef" bizarro-world, where up is down, left is right and nobody knows anything anymore. Well, almost anything: Robin still sucks, Michael V. is still a cocky jerk and Kevin is still the model of modest brilliance.

Rattling off the random highlights of the episode sounds as scattered as Robin's cooking philosophy: Dirty jokes! Vegetarianism! Natalie Portman! No Toby Young! A Quickfire challenge that revealed itself to be a desperate marketing ploy! Make that two marketing ploys! In fact, Portman's description of one dish neatly summed up the entire episode: "It makes me smile and laugh -- and I'm confused!"

Photo: Amazon

'Top Chef - The Quickfire Cookbook'
by Emily Miller with foreword by Padma Lakshmi
Chronicle Books -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

It's Padma's world. The rest of us just cook in it -- just mostly without a gigantic LED countdown clock, a dozen cleaver-wielding competitors jockeying for prep space and a mandate to make haute nibbles from the contents of a 7-Eleven's snack aisle. But if that's what cremes your brulee and you haven't the tats, 'tude and temerity to audition for competitive reality TV, you can live vicariously through this book.

Or you can just go online and save the $29.95.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

If you're like us, you've been waiting all season for the ultimate knock-down, drag-out Voltaggio brothers showdown on "Top Chef Vegas." Ah, the boys next door we love to hate, with their cutting comments, their undermining of each other's abilities, their constant bickering. ... We're not sure what dinner was like in their house growing up, but no doubt it involved lots of flinging of peas and acting out, followed by long, unbearable silences.

You can even see it in their food: Robotic big-bro Bryan and his classically flavored, cooked-to-perfection entrees; sneering bad-boy/skate-punk Michael and his crazy textures, flamboyant technique and exotic flavor profiles. It may be a few episodes too early to say it, but last night -- on the occasion of "Top Chef"'s customary restaurant wars challenge -- we finally saw the their sibling hatred in full effect.

Fried chicken. Photo: thebittenword.com, Flickr

• Fried chicken goes international, from Creole to Korean kitchens.
• L.L. Bean heiress Linda L. Bean gets ready to mass market Maine lobsters and end Canadian lobster dependence.
• A look at "Top Chef" hostess Padma Lakshmi's Sunday routine.
• Jewish delis are suffering from waning popularity, and those that are left struggle to keep the meaty magic alive.
• The end of Gourmet magazine after almost 70 years, and those mourning its demise.
• The dangers of E. Coli and pre-ground beef, and the story of Stephanie Smith.
• When cooking becomes boring, A Good Appetite suggests playing "cupboard roulette."
• The Minimalist makes a crustless, Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart.
• Joining old Italian pros as they chop, stew and jar plum tomatoes in prime autumn tradition.
• Cooking with Dexter finally learns the artificial flavor of the fast food beneath the golden arches.
• Rogacki is "a temple devoted" to Berlin deli fare, in West Berlin, Germany.
• Restaurant: After 10 years, Brooklyn's Saul has only gotten better, Queens' Engeline is a rare slice of Filipino fare and the Lower East Side's Ten Bells mixes wine and charcuterie.
• Food Stuff finds R.W. Apple Jr.'s new book, SoHo crepes and Saratoga chips.
• New York's openings and closings and food calendar.

Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

Got the chops, fire, fauxhawk and facial jewelry to be a "Top Chef" contender? Pack your knives and go on over to a casting locale near you, 'cause the hit show is firing up for its seventh season on Bravo. The renewal was announced earlier today, and in addition to taped submissions, in-person auditions will take place coast to coast from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15.

The host city has yet to be named, but Slashfood is banking on at least one "make a snack for pregnant Padma" Quickfire challenge.

See a list of open casting call locations and dates after the jump.