"padma lakshmi" news and stories

We're winding down on Top Chef. With five contestants and still no clear front-runner, anyone could go home. The tension is high. The challenges are ever-more bizarre. Padma is wearing a weird tuxedo-jacket-and-men's-necktie combo. And the need to get the hell away from the stifling thematic confines of Washington, D.C., are more apparent than ever.

The second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin? NASA food scientists? Entrees meant to be freeze-dried and served in zero gravity? Really?

With just one elimination to go before a change of scenery, we were anxiously awaiting the announcement of the exotic locale. Apparently, we weren't the only ones.

In one of the bigger surprises of this year's Emmy Awards, Top Chef took home the award for "Best Reality Competition Series," beating out The Amazing Race. It was Top Chef's first win in this category (even though it's been nominated four consecutive times) -- and the first win for any show aside from The Amazing Race, which has had that category in lock-down since the award was introduced in 2003. The Top Chef team of Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, Tom Colicchio and the rest of the producers took the stage in disbelief to accept the award.

The award was given for season six, Top Chef: Las Vegas, which featured one of the stronger competitions of recent memory. It certainly helped that the contestants were much more down to earth than backstabbing. The finale aired on December 16, 2009, where Michael Voltaggio edged out his brother Bryan Voltaggio and Kevin Gilespie to take home the title of "Top Chef."

In related news, Top Chef is currently winding down season seven, in Washington D.C. Bravo has just announced that the show's finale will take place in Singapore, marking the first time a winner is crowned outside the U.S. or its territories (season 4 ended in Puerto Rico).

Want more of Gail Simmons? Watch Gail Simmon's and get her recipes on KitchenDaily.com.

After a while, you start to know the telltale signs that someone's going home on Top Chef. It's when someone has the "I've gotta be bold with my flavors!" epiphany. When they get a care package. It's the call home to the wife and kids. The "just once, I'd like to win a challenge" complaint.

In a season where we've seen so many contestants we've liked -- some of whom seemed to be pretty great chefs, mind you -- sent home, we react to any of the above moments with queasy dread. No! Don't say that! Don't you know it means you're going to be sent home?!

Only this week, the producers had us fooled. It was like bizarro Top Chef: Overconfidence was rewarded! Sentimental nods to your family meant you were staying! Complete and utter self-doubt was punished!

Perhaps the happiest outcome of this topsy-turvy episode was that Tiffany, a straight-shooting, quick-witted personal fave of ours for weeks, finally got some love from the judges. When guest Marcus Samuelsson showed up for the Quickfire to dare the chefs to incorporate "authentic" Ethiopian flavors, we were sure those unfamiliar with the cuisine were going home. But Tiffany whipped up a beef goulash with poached egg and currants that rung true -- and kept him ruminating on her flavors long afterwards.

Okay, Top Chef. Time to bring it. The first three episodes in D.C. have been, well, a bit underwhelming. As we awaited episode four, we were beginning to wonder if those lackluster ratings have less to do with the unsexy locale and more to do with the mostly simpering cast of characters Bravo's assembled this time around.

Sure, there have been sparks of life here and there: Frizz-haired Andrea never ceases to bring the sass. Headstrong Arnold can't give up feeling put-out by his snotty colleagues -- even as he snottily complains about barbecue grilling clogging his pores. And Alex -- well, Alex is one of the biggest jackasses the show has put in front of us in a long time. (Asked what he'd do with a Quickfire cash prize: "A hooker and an 8 ball, please!") But at least we loathe him, eagerly awaiting his every Andrew Dice Clay-ism. Did we mention he's from Hollywood?

But mostly it's been the Kenny and Angelo show, both to Top Chef's benefit and detriment. We hate Angelo and his ridiculous malapropisms (this week: "It's like you want to get out of the pool and the piranhas are biting you!"). But we have to say we kinda-sorta admire his "magazine cover food," to use guest judge Jonathan Waxman's description. Sure, it's not what we'd make -- like this week's marinated "beef slivers," everything he makes looks dainty and fussy, like it should be presented in lettuce cups or rice-paper baskets -- but it takes skill we can't deny.

Who's the alpha dog now? Top Chef DC may have premiered with the usual macho fireworks, namely, self-proclaimed "alpha" chopper Kenny vs. self-loving sandwich slinger Angelo. But now that we're settling in, we've found all the testosterone to be, shall we say, premature.

In episode 2, the women stepped to the fore, the conniving men were put in their place, and perhaps most entertainingly of all, the blame games started. It was a full-on, bickering, tear-welling, head-waggling, eye-rolling, finger-pointing, name-calling survival of the whiniest. And where better to be petty than in a middle-school cafeteria?

Like a class of 16 assigned to turn in team papers -- and claiming the dog ate their homework -- our all-new motley crew was dispersed into teams of four apiece and given a $130 stipend to make a full meal for 50 schoolkids. Even we could do the math: Pubescent appetites minus cash equals 0 truffles, 0 sea urchin, 0 Reggio Emilia balsamic.