Top Chef will hit its tenth season this year, and they are looking for San Francisco-based gastronomic talent for the big one-zero. Might you be the next cheftestant? While Bravo's food competition show shows slight signs of age — let's face it, it's no RuPaul's Drag Race; a show on par creatively and critically as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and even Bad Girls Club, it is the most important thing on TV right now — they still showcase major cooking prowess and drama, something the Bay Area has in spades. more ›

Yigit Pura, San Francisco's own delightful cupcake of a pastry chef and proprietor of the coming-soon Tout Sweet pastry shop is adding "TV Critic" to his resume. Yigit, who you'll remember won the inaugural season of Top Chef: Just Desserts, has taken to Bravo TV's TC:JD blog to grade the latest round of contestants and share with us his thoughts on the nature of pastries. It's kind of folksy! Observe: more ›

A few days before this season's finale of Top Chef Masters airs, Traci Des Jardins will serve some of the dishes that landed her in the final three. Made under pressure and without recipes, Jardiniere will serve several of the dishes that, we predict, will help anoint her Top Chef. Tonight's dinner wil be a prix fixe of three courses and three wine parings for $45. more ›

will appear on the next season of Top Chef Masters, Bravo's successful spin off of Top Chef. more ›

An astounding spin-off of the popular Top Chef -- because pastry chefs are a wacky bunch, to say the least -- last night's season finale of Top Chef: Just Desserts was extra sweet after Yigit Pura, of Taste Catering in S.F., won the whole shebang. It was a welcome surprise for those of us who assumed Morgan, Pura's equally-attractive, heterosexual archrival, would take home the top prize. more ›

The trio still standing on Bravo's Top Chef comprises The Brothers Voltaggio (brusque, tattooed, envelope-pushing Michael and staid, straight-laced, classically trained Bryan) and beardy Kevin from Atlanta, who has proven that simple food with Southern influences can compete against more innovative, haute cuisine. Tonight they go head to head in one final, Healdsburg-based challenge, with Douglas Keane of Cyrus serving as guest judge. more ›

For the final couple of episodes, the cast of Bravo's ever so popular chef showdown relocated from Sin City to our neck of the woods, staying at the Le Mars Hotel in Healdsburg and eating at Brix in St. Helena. Cyrus was closed a week ago Thursday to accommodate the contestants along with Padma and Tom, and presumably Andy Cohen, Gail and that priggish British dude as well. more ›

Although we find this season particularly listless -- for reasons we can't put our finger on, exactly -- Top Chef will return for another cycle of fast-paced cooking and egregious under-salting. And with that, Bravo will hold open casting calls for folks interested in competing in the foodie competition. Chefs in the Bay Area interested in trying out, listen up: season Top Chef auditions will happen on Sunday, October 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Parlor at 2801 Leavenworth. more ›

As SFist Deborah and your editor took advantage of Orson's first-ever lunch service today (we both recommend the fried chicken sandwich on parmesan bun, complete with expertly fried dark meat that made us binge), we got word from our regular bartender, Jessie, that they're having a quasi-screening party for tonight's premier episode of . See, famed SF chef Elizabeth Faulkner (executive chef/owner of Orson and Citizen Cake) will be a contestant on the show. So, we recommend you heading over to cheer her on to victory. more ›

Previously on "Top Chef," local chef Jamie Lauren made crab, NOT scallops. more ›

Previously on "Top Chef," local chef Jamie Lauren did NOT make scallops. more ›

Previously on "Top Chef": Scallops. And also, an episode we only got to see half of because of a screwed up recording, and a complete lack of desire to seek out another airing to see the whole thing. Is it just us, or is this season really kind of...boring? Anyway, local girl Jamie's team did win the challenge, which means she was still here for last week's episode. And this is what happened on that... more ›

Previously on "Top Chef," Jamie made scallops. Twice. more ›

We're back from our little holiday hiatus. Did you miss us? (Don't answer that.) Luckily, "Top Chef" has been on hiatus too. So try to remember back two weeks when that last new episode aired... more ›

Previously on "Top Chef," Jamie couldn't keep her whites from running. more ›

Previously on "Survivor: Gabon": Clip show. Pffft. more ›

This week "Surivor: Gabon" was a clip show, and the only new thing we learned about Sugar was that prior to the show, she had a septum nose ring. Thrilling. So let's move on to "Top Chef," and Jamie Lauren, a chef at Absinthe in San Francisco. more ›

Previously on "Survivor: Gabon," Sugar shocked them all. more ›

Previously on "America's Next Top Model," Marjorie delighted the Dutch locals with her charming lack of direction and poise. more ›

The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, as most of you know, host some amazing speakers. Nothing new, right? But tomorrow night's gathering is, as they say, not to be missed. Tomorrow night, you see, some of San Francisco's top chefs (and Top Chefs) tell all. And then some. Zoi Antonitsas (chef/restaurant consultant, Zazu), Jennifer Biesty (chef/restaurant consultant, formerly of COCO500), and Ryan Scott (executive chef/partner at Mission Beach Cafe) sit down to gossip about the city's (in)famous food biz, what to do in the kitchen, and just who in the Chez Panisse mafia has a hit out on who. more ›

First off: Lisa lost "Top Chef." Stephanie won. All is right with the reality TV world. The reunion show is this Wednesday, and we can't wait to see what the other chefs have to say about Lisa making it to the final three. And we'll see if Lisa continues to badmouth the stupid, poor bloggers who can't even afford to eat in her restaurants. more ›

First, let's once again acknowledge the enduring presence of Lisa on "Top Chef." No, she's not a local, but we like to think she is at least partially responsible for the elimination of our four locals from the competition, so she's worth mentioning. Part one of the finale last week demonstrated what is inherently wrong with "Top Chef"'s judging scheme. It's not cumulative; any chef can go home based on the dish being judged during that particular week, regardless of past excellence. Which means completely mediocre chefs can stay on week after week because another, better chef happened to under cook some beans. Hence, Antonia was eliminated and Lisa goes to the final three. And we know you all hate her, but you could at least offer her some congratulations, don't you think? [/sarcasm] more ›

Let's start with a little bit of "Top Chef" coverage. Lisa was in the bottom two again last week. AND SHE WASN'T ELIMINATED. AGAIN. Which means she's made it to the final four. It also means someone on the "Top Chef" staff has a bitch face fetish. more ›

As you may have noticed, "Your Locals..." has taken a break for a few weeks, a result of our locals being picked off of "Top Chef" one by one, as well as a growing sense of disgust with this season in general. Our disgust wasn't tempered with last week's episode, when Dale was kicked off, and Lisa--LISA!--was kept on, AGAIN. (The week before, Lisa, Miss "I HATE POLISH SAUSAGE!" called out Andrew for not following the rules of the challenge. He was eliminated.) more ›

Man. For the second week in a row, "Top Chef" has really pissed us off. Not for the obvious reasons of losing our locals, but because it seems like the judges are making some really boneheaded decisions, and it's just annoying to watch. more ›

Quick! There are "Top Chef" try-outs going on from 10am to 2pm at Postrio today. Get down there! We want more locals next season! more ›

Previously on "Top Chef" our remaining trio of local chefs remained in the running to become America's Next Top Chef, but how long will that last? more ›

To the disappointment of probably no one, there will be no recapping of "The Bachelor" this week because our boyfriend TiVo decided it couldn't stand to even have the show on its hard drive any longer and deleted it before we had a chance to watch it. But apparently local girl Amy did not get a rose. That's that. more ›

Previously on "The Bachelor," Tiffany from San Francisco was denied a rose, but Amy from Stockton stuck around because she knows what time it is, she has love for Matt Grant, and she wants to continue to rock his world. more ›

Here's part two of today's reality TV locals coverage. You can read part one here! more ›