"rick bayless" news and stories

Rick Bayless, Photo: Bravo

If you've been faithfully watching the first season of "Top Chef Masters," you know it's not about the drama. It's not about the high-stakes tension. And it certainly isn't about the fashion about one of its namesake Top Chefs. (Mexican-chef extraordinaire Rick Bayless' specs invoke memories of a junior-high chemistry teacher, circa 1996.)

So how climactic could last night's finale have possibly been? Three of the most established, entitled chefs in America duking it out for ... what, exactly?

Well, words like "honor," "pride" and "respect" were thrown around, as were references to the charity money at stake, of course. There were the requisite sound bites about "every one of us deserving to win" or "this will be the closest" of all the season's scores. Yes, the group-hug feel of the entire season culminated in a finale so steeped in admiration, they had to set it in a museum, Malibu's majestic Getty Villa.

All of this made Italian stallion Michael Chiarello's fighting spirit -- so cockily annoying in previous episodes (though this week he attributed this impression to Bravo's editing) -- a breath of fresh air, even if he did overdo the boxing metaphors: "It's like Rocky Marciano, Rocky Balboa and Rocky's trainer all in the ring at the same time," he quipped, leading one to wonder who the Burgess Meredith of this trio of celebrity chefs might be -- graying Frenchman Hubert Keller, perhaps?

The pugilist vibe seemed to indicate that the gloves were coming off, or "the truffles are coming out of the bag." Keller was so enamored of his, which were overnighted from his homeland (what happened to the usual dollar limit on ingredients?) that he did a little celebratory dance, shaking the velvety fungi-like maracas.

Zooey Deschanel Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

Who knew someone as adorable as Zooey Deschanel could be so difficult? Truth be told, when the actress and singer showed up as a guest judge/elfin dinner hostess last night on "Top Chef Masters," we were counting the moments until she threw the inevitable curveball: "I'm a vegetarian."

When she added "no eggs or dairy" -- never uttering the word "vegan" -- and professed her intolerance for soy or wheat, we sensed the evil guiding hand of the show's producers, eager to ratchet up the tension for the five remaining celeb chefs. The only way they could've played it up more would have been to have her break plates and pull a "Mommie Dearest" at the dinner table: "I told you, no gluten ingredients EVER!"

No such luck. The star of the heavily Bravo-promoted "500 Days of Summer" was a model of apologetic demureness when she met the cooks pre-meal, although she did decline Michael Chiarello's request to sing couple of a cappella songs in exchange for his culinary handiwork.

Behind her back, the Italian cuisine maestro was the most outwardly offended by the restrictions, calling them "off-putting."

Chef Anita Lo. Photo: Bravo TV.

Now things get ugly. We've been waiting all season for something to break the respectful, civilized, almost comically cordial spell cast by the "Top Chef Masters" assortment of celebrity chefs, each gingerly battling the other for a claim to Bravo-endorsed superiority (not to mention a philanthropic sack full of Lexus-supplied charity cash). In Wednesday night's first round of finals, the cloud of cheery camaraderie seemed to have finally lifted.

It wasn't the chefs who removed their gloves -- or mitts, to be more appropriate -- but rather, the folks behind the scenes. From the quickfire challenge to the judges' table, the six chefs who've made it this far were subjected to a grueling, baffling psychological experiment the likes of which we haven't seen since the Skinner box.

Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. But right from the start, something was off-kilter. Even host Kelly Choi's usual preschool-teacher diction took on a tinge of deviousness as she announced that each chef would be asked to prepare his or her "sig-na-ture dish," making sure to linger on every syllable.

Rick Bayless on Top Chef Masters. Photo: BravoTV.com

What fresh hell is this?

We could tell "Top Chef Masters" producers were hoping to get an "eww, gross" rise out of audiences with their elimination challenge last night: Cooking with organ meat. (They even dedicated a text message poll to the matter: "Which offal is the most awful? Ears, heart, stomach or tongue?") But to more adventurous viewers -- and to the four masters who regarded their ordained ingredients with either laid-back geekiness or "bring it on" vigor -- the far grislier prospect was the choice of guest judges: amusement-park patrons.

To be fair, the hungry throngs waiting to sample the results of the "street food" challenge seemed mostly to be savvy foodie-hipsters and not some stereotypical coaster-riding troglodytes to whom a mall pretzel with mustard is a culinary leap of faith. But that didn't stop LudoBites bad boy Ludo Lefebvre from burying his tenderly simmered pig's ear pieces under mounds of gloppy cheese in an attempt to fool the masses; similarly, Pikayo's Wilo Benet sliced the beef heart in his colorful pita pockets so thin as to be unrecognizable.

Spinning off the wildly popular "Top Chef," Bravo TV is pitting 24 of the best chefs around the globe against one another in a no-holds-barred knife fight for the chance to win $100,000 for charity in "Top Chef Masters." The show, which debuts Wednesday at 10 p.m. EST, comes complete with its very own Padma in Kelly Choi, a 33-year-old former model born in Seoul and raised in the suburbs of Richmond, Va.

She was cherry-picked straight from local access TV in New York, where, dressed in skimpy outfits and armed with an inquisitive mind, she gave New Yorkers an intimate view of some of the city's top kitchens. We caught up with her to talk about her rise to national stardom, how the best chefs in the world handle criticism and what the deal is with magicians acting as judges.

How did you get involved with the show?
Someone from Bravo called me out of the blue and asked me to fly out to L.A. to meet the producers. What I do on ["Eat Out NY"] is pick a dish and cook it with a chef on TV. I pick all the restaurants that I want to feature and dishes that I think the readers would be into. This Bravo exec saw me on TV and flew me out and my dream came true.

Why do you think this show matters in this economy?
Why not? Everybody loves food. The alternative is to cook at home and you can totally pick up tips. It's a fun way -- to be inspired by fun and passionate people -- to cook at home.