We watched the finale of Top Chef All-Stars at Stephanie Izard's Girl and the Goat along with many Bravo television notables. The only thing tastier than the eye candy was the incredible food. Enjoy some pictures from our evening! more ›

If the kitchens of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Xoco seem strangely devoid of Rick Bayless in the coming weeks, you can blame President Obama. Bayless has been tapped by Obama to head the kitchen for the upcoming state dinner with El Presidente of Mexico, Felipe Calderón. The New York Times reports that the celebrity chef will be helming the kitchen on May 19th, the second celebrity chef to run a state dinner menu. Marcus Samuellson, currently receiving the arrogant-jerk-edit on this season's Top Chef Masters, cooked for the Indian Prime Minister back in November. more ›

Today through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 9 stories of 2009 according to the Chicagoist staff. more ›

WBEZ's Andrew Gill celebrated local chef Rick Bayless' big Top Chef Masters win by rounding up some Bayless appearances on WBEZ from back in the day before he was the Master. Enjoy! more ›

"That mole was the hardest thing I've ever cooked in my life, as I didn't have a recipe available. The 27 ingredients I used were from memory," Rick Bayless told the assembled crowd between commercial breaks at Frontera Grill last night. Bayless threw what was essentially a victory party last night, screening the "Top Chef Masters" finale to a host of media, VIP and haiku masters like Benjy. If you've never witnessed Bill Kurtis firing off the fiercest finger guns this side of Joe Biden, you're missing one of life's guiltiest pleasures. more ›

Heyyyy, Top Chef Fans! We're getting ready to liveblog the finale of Top Chef Masters. Our esteemed Editor is watching at Frontera with Chef Bayless along with Benjy Lipsman. We'll be getting updates from him on what's going on there, too. Here's his first: more ›

If you ever wondered what a reality show looked like where contestants were civil to each other, there was no backstabbing and maneuvering to save one's own ass and had a host that made Padma Lakshmi look hyperactive, "Top Chef Masters" was that show. That's not to say the show didn't have its moments: Ludo Lefebvre acted so above it all that Stolpman nicknamed him "LeDouche;" Tim Love showed signs of a drinking problem when faced with making a meal in a dorm room; the crestfallen look on Art Smith's face when told he was cooking a vegan and gluten-free dish for Zooey Deschanel and her party. more ›

Quickfire. Oooo, yes! The palate test! Each chef will be blindfolded and will taste 20 ingredients which they are then asked to identify. Each chef will receive stars relative to the number they identified correctly. Let's touch on some notables: Michael thinks hoisin sauce has a texture unlike anything he's ever put in his mouth before. He thinks marscarpone is sour cream. Fortunately, he's able to identify oregano. Hubert does well until he identifies poppadom as potato chips. We have to say...it looks like they went easy on these contestants compared to our regular group of contestants. Some of the ingredients include: corn, peanut butter, ketchup, and maple syrup. This makes us want to do our own blindfold taste test. Now here's a kicker. Rick Bayless knocks back some hoisin sauce like it's a shot of vodka and says, "Ranch salad dressing." No lie, folks. He identifies mango as plum. Anita blanks on hoisin. Heh. She pegs dashi, though. Here they are in order of how they did and the number of stars they received: Michael (7) - 5 stars. Rick (6) Anita (6) - each get 4 stars. Hubert (5) - 3.5 stars. more ›

Last week, Suzanne Tracht was sent home, leaving to compete this week: Chef Hubert Keller, Chef Michael Chiarello, Chef Anita Lo, Chef Art Smith, and Chef Rick Bayless. The chefs walk into the kitchen and a stack of cheeseburgers and fries on a table. Choi wastes no time and we begin the Quickfire. more ›

We're finally nearing the finish line for Top Chef Masters. Competing this week: Chef Hubert Keller, Chef Michael Chiarello, Chef Anita Lo, Chef Art Smith, Chef Suzanne Tracht, and Chef Rick Bayless. For the next three episodes, one chef will be eliminated until we have 3 chefs competing in the finale. The 6 previous winners enter the kitchen and get ready to rumble. more ›

Onward, Top Chef Soldiers. This boring season is our cross to bear. Good gravy, let's see if we'll get a spicy meatball this episode or what. Chefs include: Michael Chiarello, Rick Moonen, Nils Noren, and Lachlan M. Patterson. We learn that Rick has ADD and cooks seafood. Tom tells us about Nils Noren and we experience a sharp inhalation. He's...from Sweden. more ›

Welcome back, food lovers. This week on Top Chef Masters, we have: Chef Douglas Rodriguez, Chef Mark Peel, Chef Anita Lo or Chef John Besh. We've got James Beard winners, a Michelin star recipient, and multiple Best New Chef namings. Another impressive bunch. Oh boy, we're impressed and bored already. more ›

What are the chances that Top Chef Masters suddenly became interesting this week? Let's find out. Tonight we have Wilo Benet from San Juan (who looks better with that goatee), Rick Bayless from Chicago, Cindy Pawlcyn from Napa, and Ludo Lefebvre from L.A. As soon as we see judge James Oseland (Editor-in-chief of Saveur Magazine) who gives us some background on Pawlcyn, we remember where we first saw him. He was a judge on Iron Chef and always spoke with food in his mouth, which kept dribbling out. We don't care. We sort of love him. You know why? Because he has that nerdy-ass charm our Korean mother always told us was such a good thing. What can we say. Some shit sticks better than others. more ›

Hellur, kiddehs. We're back to recap our flav-o-rite Bravo show. We're not going to lie. The loss of Padma breaks our heart a little. Good thing we're fickle enough to mend in the first 30 seconds of the show. Let's get to it. more ›