Scenes from Rick Bayless’s Top Chef viewing party from The TOC Blog

 by Laura Baginski

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2009/08/scenes-from-rick-baylesss-top-chef-viewing-party/

Two margaritas and one Bohemia (and two glasses of wine beforehand) at Rick Bayless's Top Chef viewing party last night at Frontera Grill impairs my ability to give a blow-by-blow recap of the event—not to mention that I couldn't really see or hear the show, though I knew Bayless was going to win because some jag leaked it a couple months ago online. So I'll grasp onto a few moments of lucidity for some interesting anecdotes:

* Art Smith showed up early on, and was charming and talkative as you'd imagine he'd be. I had three questions for him: What's under Gael Green's hat? (He didn't seem to understand the question.) Is Michael Chiarello really as much of a jerk as he came off in the last episode? (He said, no, Michael's a great guy, very friendly.) What is Table 52's goat cheese biscuit recipe? (For some reason, he gave it to me, but I think I may have jacked it up. Here's what I wrote down: 2.5 cups White Lilly flour, 1/4 cup goat cheese, 1/4 butter, 1/2 cup buttermilk. Cut goat cheese and butter into the flour, then stir in the buttermilk. Let it rest for a while, then turn your oven up all the way—he emphasized the oven has to be really, really hot—and bake for…well, I didn't get that part. But I'd guess about 15 minutes.)

* During commercials, Bayless stood on a chair and explained what had happened behind the scenes in the segment we just watched (or didn't watch, in my case). He said many times that this was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. The one minute or so of the chefs running around and cooking on the show was actually five hours of working in a hot kitchen, with no recipes to consult. He said he was completely exhausted by the end of it.

* The food being passed around was unbelievable: crispy, spicy tongue tacos (like Bayless made in the Disneyland episode), ceviche cradled in a tortilla chip, a chicken taquito topped with crema, a fried pouch of something resembling chihuahua cheese. I ate myself stupid.

* Bayless's daughter, Lanie, was there taking photos and obviously very proud of her dad—she could not be more adorable.

* During one of the last commercial breaks, Bayless recounted how he was sure Hubert Keller was going to win, based on what the judges had said at the Judges' Table. (He also noted that while we see about two minutes of the judging, it actually takes two and a half hours.)

* And then he won! The crowd erupted, Bayless talked about how awesome it was that a chef cooking Mexican food beat out the Frenchie and the Italian, and servers started passing around ridiculously rich chocolate brownie wedges. Bayless hung around for a while talking to everyone and shaking hands, but I had to scoot—one more Bohemia and I probably would have begged him to let me live in his garage just so he could throw me some molescraps every now and then.