All stories about "Videos"

Tonight marks the last "regular" episode of Top Chef before the final four cheftestants head off to Puerto Rico for the finale. From what can be gleaned from the above sneak peek (the product of more elusive editing), it looks like Stephanie and Spike might be in some hot water. The quickfire involves butchering the perfect steak and there to judge alongside Pads, Tommy C and Gail is Rick Tramonto, the outspoken, finger-pointing chef from Tru.
· All Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

Tonight's episode of Top Chef looks like it could be a doozy. With the cheftestant pool down to six, it's time for everyone's favorite challenge (after the relay race of course): restaurant wars. Two teams of three have only five hours to open a restaurant, Anthony Bourdain makes his obligatory appearance, Spike wears a suit sans hat, and according to Bourdain, plenty of "very unpleasant aspects" ensue. For bonus fun, Tom wakes up the cheftestants at 5:45 AM for the Quickfire: cooking in Chicago's busiest diner.
· Complete Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

The above sneak peek from tonight's Top Chef episode starts off with just about every cheftestant yawning following a long and exhausting wedding challenge. A number of power players—including Dale, Richard and Andrew—get defensive in front of the judges, Nikki plays the victim, Lisa looks very very pissed off (0:16 mark, yikes!), and Spike is Spike. Also, this episode will also bring back the relay race, the quickfire challenge that showed last year's Top Chef viewers that Hung Huynh is actually superhuman. Who will be the fastest chef this time and who will drag their teams into the mire? We're putting out money on Dale and Andrew having some serious fast knife skills. Bonus fun: the winner this week will not get immunity.
· All Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

San Francisco's favorite wacky celebrity Robin Williams guest-starred on last night's episode of Law & Order: SVU, and in a true showing of hometown support, his character's alibi is that because he's a locavore, he couldn't have possibly been at the fast food restaurant where the crime took place. And the rise of the locavores continues.
· Robin Williams' Deranged Character on 'Law & Order: SVU' Is Locavore [SE]

San Francisco may be gone, but the coverage goes on. This week's sneak peek of the upcoming episode of Top Chef depicts the cheftestants embracing the mounting pressure as the group thins out: a "fired-up!" Antonia continues to gain confidence in her ability, Mark shares his big dreams while shaving, and Lisa, uh, smokes a cigarette. James Beard award winner and personal chef to Oprah—cue the oohs and aahs—Art Smith is the guest judge. We also know that for the quickfire, chefs only have 15 minutes to make a meal, Uncle Ben's rice is somehow involved, and naturally, they can only cook their dishes in the microwave.
· All Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

Apparently, the Chronicle isn't the only media outlet playing chicken little over the food crisis (though we're not entirely sure if multi-million dollar wineries losing 10% of their crop counts as a crisis either), as the BBC, NYT, WSJ, and other assorted three-letter mainstream media publications have run wild with the story as well. Fortunately, the Daily Show is here to examine the media frenzy and pay a visit to Costco, where food rationing has already begun.
· The Sky Is Falling [~ESF~]
· Media Unhinged: World Food Crisis Edition [~E~]

The seventh episode of Top Chef airs tonight, and with Mr. Scott's untimely departure last week, the San Francisco Quartet is already down to one. We're hoping Jennifer doesn't make it three losses in a row for SF, but the above sneak peek doesn't exactly alleviate any anxiety. Another product of clever editing from Bravo, the clip features Jennifer joking about packing her knives, and later, she's looking nervous in front of the judges along with Spike, Stephanie, Antonia, and a smirking Richard. Jean Georges pastry chef John Iuzinni (supposedly a looker) is the guest judge, which means that it's dessert time tonight for the cheftestants.
· All Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

The fifth episode of Top Chef airs tonight, and from what's seen here and at the end of last week's show, it's going to be a doozy. Last week's previews featured a little tiff between Dale and Jennifer, and the sneak peek above suggests that Zoi might be on the chopping block, so it looks like we're in store for some drama surrounding our local chefbians. Now usually, the Bravo folks send us a preview clip featuring something innocuous (like a quickfire intro), but today's clip is just a strange exercise in elusive Top Chef editing where it looks like every single chef (Zoi and Antonia especially) is under fire from the judges. Bonus info: For the quickfire, cheftestants will have to determine which ingredients are most expensive during a blind tasting and celeb chef Ming Tsai will be the guest judge.
· Complete Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

In all honesty, we didn't think we could be wowed by a simple video game trailer, but after watching the sneak peek for Major League Eating, jaws had to picked up off the floor. Coming to us via Serious Eats, Major League Eating is a new upcoming foodie video game about ... competitive eating. The game itself could have some potential as the characters are real competitive eating stars (including Bay Area hometown hero Joey Chestnut), and we imagine it's more fun than Cooking Mama. Just in the short trailer above, there's a rap song ("I'll be that top gurgitator extraordinaire ... eat you out of house and home no thought or care"), clips of real competitive eating, and shots from the game of characters belching on each other and um, exploding. Heavens.
· Major League Eating: The Game [Official Site]
· Major League Eating Trailer Released [~E~]
· Video Trailer for 'Major League Eating: The Game [Serious Eats]

On Saturday, SNL, hosted by one Christopher Walken, ran a parody of your favorite show and ours, Top Chef. It features a faux-hawk joke or two ("It wouldn't be Top Chef without faux-hawks"), a "weird judge guy who we tell you owns a restaurant somewhere" named Wylie Delmario, and a quickfire where the cheftestants must make a pizza with beets, couscous, froyo and medicine. There's a conspicuous lack of product placement, but a deadpan Walken still manages to steal the show.

Here we have a special sneak peek at the fourth episode of Top Chef. As seen in the clip, there's a big focus on new techniques, which might not bode well for our San Francisco trio, since as far as we've seen, they all tend to fall on the ingredient-driven side of the fence. Film critic Richard Roeper and actress Aisha Tyler are somehow involved, cute as a button Daniel Boulud judges the quickfire, and Padma is wearing a cocktail dress. Also, rumor has it that this week's episode will also feature a big editorial focus on the lesbian relationship and the competitive advantage of having your significant other on the show.
· Complete Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

Tomorrow night marks the third episode of Top Chef: Chicago, and above we have a little sneak peek of the challenge at hand. The clip features the chefs driving through the streets of Chicago in teams—Zoi and Erik are on the same team, and Jen and Ryan join forces on another. What you won't see but we know: the challenge is to turn the everyday fast food taco into a fine dining meal; there's a neighborhood party; and fittingly, your celebrity guest judge is Rick Bayless, who knows something about taco fine dining (though this assertion may not be discernible from Union Square's Frontera Fresco).
· Complete Top Chef Coverage [~ESF~]

It's not on the Top Chef website on Bravo, but Eater LA has gotten its hands on the above video introduction to tonight's Quickfire Challenge. It's not too spoilerish by any means, but rather just a preview of the task at hand. And let's just say that if the Bay Area's claim to fame about seasonal ingredient love holds true, our Fab Foursome should have no problem with this challenge (a prediction sure to go wrong, we're sure). Related: Time Out Chicago staked out the contestant house during filming and is now sharing some substantial spoilers and plot twists involving the current season.
· Top Chef Chicago: Local Debriefing, First Episode [~ESF~]
· Top Chef Preppage: Sizing Up the Four Locals [~ESF~]

This, kiddos, is Myth Cafe's Ryan Scott, one of four local contestants on the upcoming season of Top Chef. In the few weeks since the new contestants were announced, Ryan—a chef at Myth Cafe—has already gained some notoriety for a) being the early candidate to play the smug guy that everyone hates, b) curiously moonlighting as a waiter at Pier 23—though we've received word that he quit that job—and now c) this (more-than-) slightly ridiculous video.

This video—whose purpose is lost on us—will likely put a face to a name for many, while perhaps endearing Ryan to others. After all, we hear the man can cook. Of course, his overwhelming smugness factor will also surely give his haters even more fodder. In any event, we definitely agree that he's the frontrunner to play the role of the talented, annoying guy who polarizes the audience.
· Sexy Dishes #1: Chef Ryan Scott [TasteTV]
· Top Chef Rumors [~ESF~]
· Four Locals Make the Cast of Top Chef: Chicago [~ESF~]