top chef tour

now that i'm back and semi-rested, i wanted to spend a few moments to reflect on the two top chef tour stops i've been on (new york city and louisville, kentucky):

mainly, i wanted to send a shout-out to the people responsible for making the tour happen. these guys drive around a huge rig full of knives, pots, pans, propane, water, boxes of who-knows-what, etc. and have to set the whole thing up in a matter of hours. then the celebutard chefs like me come rolling in and make a mess of their space. we do our best to not blow up the rig, but i can't say that we leave it spotless (or anywhere close to as clean as we found it). we cook hundreds of orders of food in a 15 square foot space and then go off to sign autographs. in addition to pulling in the canopy, folding 100 chairs, putting away the tents, and dealing with police, health inspectors and media, they have to put the kitchen back in traveling shape - and then drive the bus hundreds or thousands of miles to the next stop.

so here's to you all: Cory, Tom, Nina and the rest of the crew, thanks for kicking ass!

kentucky derby

well well well.  now i get what all the fuss is about.  the kentucky derby is one of the coolest events i've been to in my life.  i vow to make it every year from this point on.  i had so much fun. the infield is a party beyond description and everyone is dressed to the nines.  there are races all day on friday (the oaks)  and saturday (the big day), music, food, bourbon, and huge hats.  the horses just look so proud and regal.  they must know how good they are.  the whole thing culminates with the big race and i was fortunate to watch from "millionaires row" with the likes of people who sweat more money than i make in a year.  but the nicest folks you'll find anywhere.  and that race....wow, what a finish.  i really had my hopes up for papa clem, but alas, he came in 4th.  not bad, but not a win either.

the breakdown:

got in thursday night and had a few bourbons with stefan richter and stephanie izard

got up early friday and set up the top chef tour bus.  cooked some halibut with stefan, some pork tenderloin and savory bread pudding with stephanie, and got to show tiki barber a few things on NBC sports.  

friday night we attended the briar rose party with some of the horse owners and quite a few celebrities.  i felt like kentucky royalty for a night.

got up WAY TOO EARLY on saturday morning and taped the Today Show with stefan.  we made some mint juleps (8am? no problem, it's the derby!) and some kentucky hot brown sandwiches.  we made them again later in the day for tiki and stefan's was named the best (i still think it was because stefan complimented him on his watch)

stephanie and i did some bbq shrimp a little later and then it was time for the big race!

well, i didn't make any money on the race but i walked away with a little piece of americana. good times, great food, and an experience i will never forget.  thanks to the folks at bravo for making this happen.  i highly recommend the derby to everyone.  get yourself there one of these years!

century city

so i'm sitting here in a hotel room in century city, los angeles.  as i understand it, cc is sandwiched between the beach of santa monica and the glamour of beverly hills.  i am writing my recipes for tomorrow's cooking demonstration at bloomingdale's.  i am representing the colorado tourism office along with chef mark fischer of restaurant six89 and phat thai, both in carbondale.  we are going to cook some food and extoll the virtues of living in beautiful colorado.  our mission:  feed the shoppers and convince them to take a vacation to colorado.  i am doing a cold plate of haystack aspen ash cheese with ciolo artichoke tapenade, beets, crostini and burnt orange-balsamic dressing and a hot plate of colorado's best beef sirloin with miso glaze, san luis fingerling potatoes, hazel dell mushrooms, and a ginger-red wine reduction.  i'm hoping that chef fischer and i do something worthy of the mission bestowed upon us.  i think we will.  i'm excited to see how well i can make 200 portions of food using four electric burners and a toaster oven.  the nice part is that we are smack dab in the middle of the housewares department and have free reign on any equipment/wares we want to take off the shelf and dirty up.  i think i might need to use that brand new blender....

this morning i was on the "what's cookin" show on crn (cable radio network) and i spoke with michael horn and paul stern.  we discussed top chef, bloomingdale's, jax, colorado, and my travels.  they were really fun to talk to and invited me back.  

tomorrow morning before the demo, i'm going to be recording a spot for "good food" which will air soon on npr.  i'm not sure when it will air, but i will certainly let everyone know when i figure it out.

i'm also trying to write down some recipes for the kentucky derby.  that is happening this weekend, may 2nd to be precise, and the top chef tour will be there.  i am doing several cooking demos with stefanie izard and stean richter.  i think we are all going to have a ton of fun and i can't wait to see what the derby is like in person.  i was told to dress up, so i bought a pink shirt.  cool, right?  according to the producers, stefan and i will be doing a live demo for the today show on saturday morning, a live demo for nbc sports that afternoon, and stefanie and i will be doing a bravo special event on friday evening.  i just hope that i can pull off some kentucky-ish food and fool the audience into believing that i grew up on that stuff...