The world has had a week to digest the news that Bravo has picked up a second season of Top Chef Masters. The show, in which celebrity chefs competed in elimination challenges, regularly drew 2.22 million viewers; the new season is scheduled to air in 2010. Food and Wine writer Gail Simmons will join critics Jay Rayner, James Oseland and Gail Greene as a judge.
There is joy in attempting to guess who will make up the cast for next year's show. I'd give you even money that chef Art Smith will return, on the basis of his popularity and the possibility that he would have a cookbook to promote at the same time. In addition, Todd English has appeared as a guest judge and would seem to have the right personality for the show. Yum Sugar suggests chefs Charlie Palmer and Tom Douglas are possibilities as well.
I'll also offer up two unknown chef candidates: Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen in Portland, Oregon and Johnathan Sundstrom of Lark in Seattle. Dolich is a former Food and Wine Best New Chef winner, while Sundstrom is a 2007 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Pacific Northwest.
It would be nice to see an Internet gambling site offer odds for food shows -- it could serve as a gambling-fix replacement for the food prop bet, wherein you bet someone a certain amount of money that they'll be incapable of ingesting a certain amount of food or drink.
[Image via Flickr: jimsideas]
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