Top Chef

The owners of local hangouts Public House and Bull & Bear are teaming up with"Top Chef"fan favorite Fabio Viviani to open a new restaurant in River North slated for a late 2012 or early 2013 debut. Florence-born Viviani was known for his Italian cooking on the fifth season of "Top Chef," and he also returned to the show as part of the cast of "Top Chef All Stars. " Luke Stoioff, who owns Public House and Bull & Bear with business partner David Rekhson, calls the concept "Italian-ish.

Review: Siena Tavern 51 W. Kinzie St. 312-595-1322 Rating: 3 (out of four) Off to a good start Fabio Viviani was a fan favorite on the fifth season of "Top Chef," but since then, I've seen his charming grin and Italian accent all over the place. There he was on a commercial for Domino's, touting a line of artisan pizzas. Or promoting oatmeal as a healthy breakfast (in red satin pajamas, of course) in an online video for Quaker Oats. And in between, he's teaching his fans Italian one word at a time on Twitter.

Last night, the 16 cheftestants for "Top Chef: Texas" were finalized, and this season is 37.5 percent Chicago. That's right: All six of the Chicago-based chefs included in the group of 29 hopefuls made the final cast.   With five of the six Chicago chefs having completed their first round of competition in the first episode, our eyes were on remaining local chef Beverly Kim from Aria in last night's second episode. Each chef in her group was asked to choose an ingredient to cook with, and each was secretly matched with a preparation time ranging from 20 to 60 minutes.

"Top Chef" Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard has been pretty busy lately, what with the opening of Little Goat and an appearance on the show's latest season based in Seattle -- not to mention sporting the best smile among Chicago's celeb chefs ( more on that here ). When the Bravo crew comes to Chicago on Feb. 24 to host a casting call for the show's 11th season, it will be held at Izard's West Loop restaurant, Girl & the Goat . Other restaurants affiliated with past cheftestants are also serving as host venues for casting calls, including an Austin call...

It looks like we're going to see a whole lotta Chicago on "Top Chef: Texas. " In a qualifying round on last night's first episode, five of the six Chicago hopefuls were awarded a spot in the season's cast of 16 cheftestants. That included Sarah Grueneberg of Spiaggia , Heather Terhune of Sable , Chuy Valencia of Chilam Balam as well as Chris Jones and Richie Farina, both from Moto . The sixth Chicago hopeful, Beverly Kim of Aria , has yet to compete in her qualifying challenge and won't appear until the second episode next Wednesday.

Episodes 1 and 2: All hail Chicago! Because everything's bigger in Texas, the season kicks off with 29 hopefuls vying for 16 spots in the cast. It's impressive that there are more hopefuls from Chicago than any other city, and even more impressive when all six of them make it onto the show. Episode 4: Richie's ouster Tasked with the late-night challenge creating a new dish out of his team's failed chili, Richie Farina from West Loop restaurant Moto is sent packing, spurring the season's most emotional goodbye between him and colleague Chris Jones.

And then there were five … and guest judge Pee Wee Herman on a bicycle. At this point in "Top Chef: Texas," just one Chicagoan, Sarah Grueneberg of Spiaggia, is left competing on the show; however, Aria chef Beverly Kim, as the reigning champ of Bravo's “Last Chance Kitchen” webisodes, still has a chance to return to the show. Quickfire challenge: Make Pee Wee's favorite dish, pancakes, in 20 minutes. Ed wins with his dish of pancake bits with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, bacon and bruleed marshmallow.

Demi and Ashton. Kim and Kris. Celebrity breakups are hard, but nothing was harder to watch on last week's episode of "Top Chef: Texas" than the separation of Chris Jones and Richie Farina, the two fun-loving chefs from Homaro Cantu's wacky fine-dining restaurant Moto who cracked "Star Wars" references, sported short-sleeve work shirts instead of chef's whites and hoped to take first and second place in the show. They goof around like brothers, but have an obvious mutual respect and fierce loyalty for each other.

Although “Top Chef All-Stars” alumus Spike Mendelsohn recently mentioned plans to open a Chicago restaurant on Bravo's “Life after Top Chef,” it looks like it won't be happening anytime soon. Rumors about a Chicago-based restaurant from Mendelsohn date back to early 2011. The eatery was first said to be an outpost of Mendelsohn's We, the Pizza, the New York-style pizzeria he opened in summer 2010 in Washington, D.C. In December 2011, director of marketing and communications Micheline Mendelsohn (who is also Spike's sister)

The 10th season of "Top Chef" takes place in Seattle and features two cheftestants with matching spoon tattoos, a dad-to-be who may miss the birth of his first child and a Belgian knight with an affinity for yelling "Booya!" It also features 31-year-old Chrissy Camba, a Lincoln Square resident who grew up in Hoffman Estates. (For those foggy on the 'burbs, that's "the city adjacent to Schaumburg, which holds the Ikea," she said.) As the first step on her intended path to becoming a neurosurgeon, Camba earned a biology degree at Loyola University before...

Editor's Note:  In the time since our review, Bonsoiree has closed. Review: Bonsoiree 2728 W. Armitage Ave. 773-486-7511 Rating: 2.5 stars (out of four) Take it or leave it Beverly Kim was perhaps the most controversial contestant on "Top Chef: Texas" earlier this year. Despite her quiet and seemingly sensitive personality, Kim at times became a target of other chefs' frustration. Though some fans felt she was picked on, she made it to the respectable final four, and now has an entire restaurant, Bonsoiree, to call her own. Last week, the...

The masters are back! “Top Chef Masters” returns for a fourth season Wednesday, with 12 chefs competing for prize money to benefit the charity of their choice. Takashi Yagihashi and Art Smith are proudly representing Chicago restaurants, and it's a return of sorts for both. Yagihashi made a guest appearance on a Vancouver-set episode of “Top Chef: Texas” and also competed on an episode of “Iron Chef” that aired earlier this year. Smith, known for his legendary fried chicken and his gig as Oprah's chef, appeared on the first season of...

The owners of local hangouts Public House and Bull & Bear are teaming up with"Top Chef"fan favorite Fabio Viviani to open a new restaurant in River North slated for a late 2012 or early 2013 debut. Florence-born Viviani was known for his Italian cooking on the fifth season of "Top Chef," and he also returned to the show as part of the cast of "Top Chef All Stars. " Luke Stoioff, who owns Public House and Bull & Bear with business partner David Rekhson, calls the concept "Italian-ish.

New reality show "Around the World in 80 Plates" has some serious eye candy in the form of co-hosts Cat Cora and Curtis Stone, but that's not the only reason you should tune in. You witness the egos and cooking chops of"Top Chef," the strategy and alliances of "Survivor," and the international travel and adrenaline of"The Amazing Race. " The show debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on Bravo and features a cast of 12 chefs - three with Chicago ties - traveling to different foreign cities and taking over local restaurants in an attempt to recreate the native cuisine.

They both made Chicago proud on Bravo reality TV show “Top Chef.” They both became known on said show for saying exactly what was on their minds. And now Dale Levitski and Chuy Valencia are both bringing their colorful personalities and inventive food to a stretch of North Broadway in Lakeview that's ready for a breath of fresh air. Last week, Sprout executive chef Levitski opened French-American bistro Frog N Snail (3124 N. Broadway) with partner Mike Causevic. Valencia, who until recently was the chef at Chilam Balam (3023 N. Broadway)