"interviews" news and stories

The notion of a mellow Iron Chef seems to be a bit preposterous, but that's exactly how chef Celina Tio came across on this season of The Next Iron Chef. While some might be scrambling frantically for a spot of parchment, chef Tio demonstrated a steady calmness with a wide variety of cooking techniques, including a heat-by-proximity style of cooking fish and the willingness to accompany a chocolate ganache with grapefruit gel. As the owner of Kansas City's Julian and a graduate of Drexel University's Hotel and Restaurant management program, chef Tio has been hailed by Chef magazine as "chef of the year" in 2005 and in 2007, was recognized by the James Beard Foundation as the "Best Chef: Midwest."

Slashfood spoke with chef Tio about her underdog-inspired run to the final four, an undisclosed hindrance she carried with her throughout the season and which of her fellow chefs inspired her to place a new item on Julian's menu this fall.


You seemed really mellow over this season. Either you have an amazing poker face or you don't get stressed.

CT: I try not to get stressed, because it really doesn't help anything, it just hinders the process. I don't freak out, I'm just not that person. I can count on one hand how many times I've freaked out, ever. That's a week for some people.

Photo Courtesy of Food Network

Once again, Slashfood takes the time to catch up with our favorite reality-TV chefs as they're asked to leave the national stage and return to their respective kitchens. As we've done in the past, we try to avoid spoilers, so click through to read our exit interview with the latest exiled 'Next Iron Chef.''

Over the weekend, Eater tracked down Thomas Keller and asked about a Thomas Keller Hamburger Joint: "It's kind of a secret fantasy. It would be a hamburger restaurant based on wine so the genesis of it needed to be Napa valley. I could have opened one in Las Vegas or New York years ago, but I always wanted to save it to have the original be in Napa Valley." [Eater]

I'm not the most regular reader of Chow, so it took me some time to notice that they have been interviewing all of the contestants from this season of Top Chef as they get eliminated from the competition. So far, they have spoken to Chef Tom, who chats about the previous season's cast and Suyai, who was eliminated in the first episode; Otto, who was eliminated after an infamous lychee incident; Emily, whose food didn't wow the firemen in episode three; Marissa and Josie who were eliminated after their trio of palate cleansers failed to impress; and Carlos, the contestant who left after the most recent episode.

It is definitely interesting to hear the perspectives of the different competitors and to hear what their experiences were like. Some seem like genuinely nice people, while others seem to have a bit of resentment over the way their time on the show went. Type-A personalities working in cramped quarters in record-breaking Los Angeles heat is a recipe for conflict, to say the least. It is also interesting to get another perspective on the chefs and their personalities without Bravo's editing and to see if you still think that the judges made the right decisions.

You've been reading our ramblings here at Slashfood for months now, so isn't it about time you get to know us? Over the next few weeks, we'll be playing 20 questions with our Slashfood bloggers, just so you can see what kind of insanity is cooking in our brains. And kitchens. We've already met Nick, Stefania, Andrew, and Joe. This week, we welcome a brand new blogger to Slashfood, Heather Craven.

Do you have a personal blog? 
I do. It mostly chronicles my daily ramblings about my three children and my skills, or sometimes the lack of, parenting them.

What is your day job, or rather, what do you do when you're not food blogging?
I chase my toddler, try to find matching socks for my brood and figure out healthy food choices for us all.

How long have you been blogging with slashfood and what is your favorite post?
I am spanking new on Slashfood. I have been toiling away on The Life Sciences blog since late 2005.

Do you have any non-food-related, non-blogging hobbies?
I live in the mountains of Colorado so we have a fairly active outdoor life. I love to mountain bike, hike and ski. I also love to paint and read.

Not every foodie does, but do you cook?
Not very successfully. I like to accessorize. I can decorate a mean table, make children's food look spectacular and bake fun goodies.

What is your most prized utensil/gadget in the kitchen?
I have a lovely new red tea kettle. Its happy presence has prompted me to buy a red toaster oven and I am pondering the purchase of a red garbage can to round out the color splash.