Go behind the scenes of ‘Top Chef’ ahead of Season 21
A rotund Midwestern summer sun was beating down on a group of well-dressed strangers as we waited to be corralled into a mystery location.
Despite the promise of an upscale setting, we were standing in an open-air parking lot in Madison, Wisconsin, lining up to sign paperwork and surrender our phones to ensure confidentiality. We were here to get a sneak peek behind the culinary competition “Top Chef” as it heads into its 21st season with a new crop of cheftestants, a new host and a mid-America location that is notably not Minnesota.
A few weeks earlier, I’d been contacted with the tantalizing offer to be a background diner in an episode. Details were sparse, which is how I found myself in this holding pen that, after a cursory glance around, was nowhere near a restaurant. My new stranger-friends seemed equally baffled.
Soon everyone had paperwork settled, shuffled and signed. We were ushered across four lanes of traffic, midblock (without the benefit of a crosswalk) by people radioing back-and-forth with the set crew: maws were on the way for feeding. It wasn’t long before we were murmuring culinary assessments to be cut and spliced into an episode where one chef would be crowned the winner and another sent to pack their knives.
This was TV magic in the making. The rhythm of the episodes is familiar to fans: Someone will likely flub risotto, and the clock is going to catch up to one of the chefs and they’ll miss ingredients on the plate. Personalities will emerge and names unknown right now will become familiar in the famous-chef circuit. But it does raise questions, like how does “Top Chef” find a way to remain fresh? And why not come to Minnesota?
It turns out that Wisconsin had made the hard sell. Magical Elves Productions, the company behind “Top Chef,” worked with the state, ultimately deciding to split filming time between Madison and Milwaukee. According to local news sources, Wisconsin had been wooing production to the state for the better part of a decade.
But there is love for Minnesota. After filming this episode, new host Kristen Kish, who has worked her way from being a participant, to guest judge, to now holding down the job made famous by Padma Lakshmi, sat down to talk about her new position.
There are a lot of eyes on Kish as she assumes “Top Chef” hosting duties, but the gaze wasn’t stressing her out.
“The thing I love about all of my jobs is that they’re vastly different, so I get to delve into different parts of myself. On ‘Fast Foodies,’ I’m a chef — there’s no makeup and that’s really fun. ‘Iron Chef’ was very polished. ‘The End of the World’ for Nat Geo was outdoorsy — lots of mosquitoes,” she said. “‘Top Chef’ was very much a homecoming.”
The way Kish speaks of “Top Chef” mirrors how others might talk about grad school or other formative, educational experiences. “It’s iconic in a lot of ways — it’s also responsible.”
The show’s responsibility that Kish appreciates is due to chef Tom Colicchio, who’s been a “Top Chef” judge since its 2006 debut. “He would give the chefs feedback like he would the cooks in his kitchen,” said Kish. “All the critiques come from a place of wanting the chefs to be better — not just to retain viewers. Those dramatics just happen to follow.”
Filming, then fasting
Back on set, eaters are corralled into a hushed dining room setting and seated; we mutter excitedly to our seatmates. There’s a rumor that the flowers on the table are bugged, and that’s how they’ll hear our reactions to the food.
Suddenly, we’re called to attention and given the heads-up that the chefs are ready and the food is coming. They stand at the front, but we can’t hear everything that’s being said. It’s for the benefit of the camera and the judges’ table, which is in another room. The first round of food comes and we all do our best to eat intelligently, delivering hopeful bon mots to the mums and each other like this is all totally normal.
“I have to fast the day after filming,” said Colicchio after production had wrapped for the day. “I have 20 different things, I have to take a day off,” he laughed. “I can’t eat like that anymore.”
It’s not just his capacity to handle eating four consecutive tasting menus in one day, but he’s also experienced firsthand major shifts in the culinary world. “When I was at Gramercy (Tavern) I’d get in at 10 in the morning and not leave until 12 o’clock at night — and that was fine.” At that time, the hard driving never ended for many chefs.
Colicchio has a unique perspective on the industry as a restaurant owner and someone with a front-row seat to how “Top Chef” can change a person’s career and life trajectory. “When I took my first chef job, I was the first one in and the last one out and, yeah, it was too much. It’s totally crazy hours and that’s not good for a lot of reasons, but you know you also have to work hard. It’s a profession.”
On my way out, I could see Kish on the monitor delivering her line, “So, tell us what you’ve prepared for us tonight.” A faceless chef described a dish and gave context we wouldn’t get with our bites. It was all part of the big show, and to find out what happens next, we’ll have to tune in.
‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’
When: Season 21 premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on Bravo, available the next day on Peacock.
Added value: This season’s episodes will be supersized at 75 minutes. There are two digital companion series, too: “The Dish With Kish” and “Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen” will air on bravotv.com.
The judges: Tom Colicchio returns with Gail Simmons. Guests include Dominique Crenn and Sean Sherman.