"TomColicchio" news and stories

Last year Slashfood launched the The 10 Hottest Men in the Food Industry and boy, did we hear about it! From commenters all over, everyone had an opinion. This year, we opened up the polls to our readers and let you decide who would make our final top 10 list.

Narrowing down 30 names to 10, after the jump, see who made the list again, and find out who, surprisingly, is our (possibly not-so-hot) hottest man of 2011.

• Some bakers are taking homemade a step further, unplugging their appliances and getting their hands dirty.
• If you're a fan of matsutake mushrooms, this is your moment.
• The California grape harvest is running late. Really late.
• Top Chef's head judge, Tom Colicchio, gives his restaurant, Craft, the same critical attention he gives his contestants.

"Top Chef" host Tom Colicchio will close one of his New York restaurants, Craftsteak, and reopen it next month as Colicchio & Sons.

Craftsteak, on the city's West Side, had been Colicchio's showcase for "beef sourced from the world's top ranchers and artisanal producers" and dry-aged on the premises. The new restaurant, Colicchio & Sons, will continue a focus on "farm-to-table" food, according to the Village Voice. The front "tap room" will highlight artisanal beers.

The restaurant will close on Friday, the Voice reports. Colicchio & Sons will reopen at some point in January. Reservations are being accepted as of Jan. 11.

Colicchio will help cook along with Craftsteak's chef, Shane McBride, NBCNewYork.com reports.

"With the economy people aren't really coming out for $100 steaks," Colicchio tells New York Magazine. "That aside, it's a space I love, and I wanted to do something just a little personal there."

Colicchio has been doing a special Tuesday Dinner series at Craft.

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!"

Mario Batali, sans Doritos. Photo: Bauer-Griffin.

What do chefs eat when they need a palate cleanser after so much fancy restaurant fare? When they take off their aprons, they reach for the same indulgences we do -- perhaps just with an upgrade. Slashfood asked celebrity chefs to share their favorite cravings.

Mario Batali
When orange-clogged chef and television personality Mario Batali isn't reinventing Italian cuisine, he's still got it in the bag -- of Doritos, that is. "I love two things: good gelato and, strangely enough, Doritos and salsa. It has to be Doritos, though. I especially like the lime-flavored ones with chili."

Nigella Lawson
Which foods make domestic goddess Nigella Lawson feel sinful? None! Nigella, who is famous for her intimate, relaxed cooking style says, "I don't have any guilty food pleasures. The only thing one should ever feel guilty about is not taking pleasure."

See what snacks Bobby Flay, Tom Colicchio and other celebrity chefs sneak after the jump.