Take Five with “Top Chef” Contestant Kevin Gillespie, On the Impact of TV Fame

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Chef Kevin Gillespie of "Top Chef'' grills up succulent pork belly in South Carolina last weekend.

Only four remain.

As Season 6 of Bravo TV’s wildly popular “Top Chef” show winds to a close, Atlanta’s Kevin Gillespie still remains standing. Executive chef and partner of Woodfire Grill, the poised 27-year-old has held himself above the dramatics and hi-jinks exhibited by some of his other competitors. He makes no apologies for his food being simple. Indeed, his longevity just shows that food needn’t be fussy to be spectacular.

I caught up with Gillespie this weekend when I was invited to attend the third annual “Tyler Florence’s Palmetto Bluff Lowcountry Celebration” at the serene, sumptuous Inn at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina.

Clearly a fan favorite, he was mobbed by well-wishers as he manned the grill, where he was turning out smoky pork belly served with pickled apples and a pureed peanut sauce. Talk about a succulent dish with true Southern twang.

Kevin's grilled pork belly with pickled apples and a zippy peanut sauce.

Everyone wanted to ask him if he ended up winning “Top Chef.” But he remained mum. You’ll just have to keep watching to find out how much farther he gets.

Q: Kevin, how did you get involved with “Top Chef”?

A: They came to me about it. I had to really think about it. I had not really watched the show before, and I feared TV would cheapen what I was doing, that it would add this novelty aspect to it.

Q: How has being on the show changed your life?

A: It’s made the restaurant significantly busier. We’ve had a 330 percent increase in revenue. We didn’t even think that was possible.

The celebrity part is crazy. I was surprised how much people like the show. People really care, and it’s nice to see how much they want to see someone who believes in food succeed. I think it’s also spurred a lot of people to be interested in something they had long forgotten. Television has given people like myself a vehicle to say what they think about food. You have to use it as a vehicle to help shape young people.

Q: Do you like the way you’ve been portrayed on TV?

A: I had a generous portrayal. They didn’t create a person who didn’t exist. I’m not a person who talks negative about others. I’m very purposeful. I think it’s given me credibility on the show.

Q: What surprised you most about doing the show?

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Putting On the LBs at LB Steak

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Crisp, airy pomme souffle.

It can’t be helped. Not when you’re at the swank LB Steak in San Jose’s Santana Row, where there are calories galore.

But Chef Roland Passot’s latest creation, run by Chef de Cuisine Chris Joslyn, is a place where you just have to dine with a devil-may-care attitude. All the better to enjoy the numerous meaty and rich offerings.

On a warm evening, the dark, striking restaurant throws open its front, floor-to-ceiling windows, so that you feel like you’re dining al fresco even if you’re seated inside underneath the glittering chandeliers.

The steaks are all USDA “prime.” But this is one steakhouse where you don’t have to indulge in red meat to have a good meal. There’s also an array of fish and pastas, and even a vegetarian burger of oats, bulgar, wheat, brown rice and crimini mushrooms.

I was invited in to dine recently. My companion that evening at LB Steak was — who else — Meat Boy (my husband). As if you think he’d let anyone else go in his place?

The waitstaff brought over an order of the pommes souffle ($9) — thinly sliced potatoes that puff up and get super crispy from being fried twice. Although a little oily, these were gossamer puffs that crackled when bitten. Eat them fast because they taste best while they’re still hot.

Escargot with bone marrow.

I couldn’t resist the dramatic starter of escargot in Pernod garlic butter piled inside a shank of bone with its marrow ($15). The tender snails were enveloped in richness. I don’t even want to know how many calories are in that dish. But it was a dish worth busting any diet for.

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New Steak Place, New Breakfast Place & More

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Steak with sherry mushrooms at Medallion Steakhouse. (Photo courtesy of Rick Camargo)

Carnivores are flocking to Burlingame with the recent opening of Medallion Steakhouse.

Chef Thomas Sazo, also of Medjool restaurant in San Francisco, features sustainably sourced beef and local products in such dishes as prime rib spring rolls ($10) with roasted onions, peppers, provolone and cayenne ketchup; fennel and sausage pizza ($11); American Kobe sliders (two for $14); and Maine lobster risotto ($26).

There are nine different steak offerings, from a 10-ounce corn-fed skirt steak ($25) to a 12-ounce corn-fed Chateaubriand ($46).

Spring rolls stuffed with prime rib. Really. (Photo courtesy of Drew Altizer)

On the other side of the Bay, the Sunny Side Cafe has opened in downtown Berkeley, serving breakfast and lunch daily.

It’s the sister restaurant to the original locale in Albany.

Chef Aaron French, who has a master’s degree in ecology from San Francisco State University, primarily uses locally-sourced, sustainable, certified-humane ingredients. Specialties include seasonal pancakes, Croque Monsieur, “Not-Your-Ordinary Sesame Chicken Salad Sandwich,” and a weekend tasting menu.

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A Taste of Tuscany

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Tender lobster with fluffy gnocchi.

Truth be told, it was more than a taste.

It was more like the ultimate Italian gorge fest.

That’s what happens when Donatella Zampoli, executive chef of the wine estates of Marchesi de` Frescobaldi in Tuscany, whizzes into town for 48 hours to cook with Dominique Crenn, chef de cuisine of Luce at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco.

I was invited to the multi-course dinner last Wednesday, which was a benefit for CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture.

Each dish was paired with a different wine from Frescobaldi, which has been making wines for more than 700 years. The two chefs took turns preparing each course, volleying back and forth, for a most memorable and filling repast.

An unusual buckwheat amuse.

The evening began with two amuses: First, Crenn’s unusual combination of organic buckwheat, trumpet mushrooms and lobster puree. It came to the table looking like a loose-formed granola bar of sorts. And the crispy grain puffs almost made the amuse akin to a new-wave, savory Rice Krispie treat.

Creamy, rustic duck liver.

Zampoli’s rusticly wonderful duck liver mousse followed, topped with crispy sage leaves.

Next came Zampoli’s organic eggplant timbale tower filled with diced carrots and squash, and Scarmorza cheese. You don’t even have to be a devout vegetarian to love this comforting, satisfying dish.

Eggplant timbale.

Crenn followed up with what was probably my favorite dish of the night: an updated rendition of her mother’s potato gnocchi with lobster and a sphere of bone marrow custard. Lobster, which so often suffers from over-cooking, was perfectly moist and tender here. The gnocchi were incredibly fluffy and buttery. I’m not sure the dish even needed the tiny round of bone marrow custard. Still, it was an intriguing addition.

Zampoli presented parmesan risotto that hid a well of intense duck jus in its center. Thinly sliced smoked duck breast was fanned over the top, and fried leeks finished this elegant dish.

Risotto with smoked duck and fried leeks.

It was time for an intermezzo, and Crenn provided a doozy — a bubble of apple cider balanced on a silver spoon.

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The Phenomenon Known As Kogi BBQ

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Chef Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ talks about his unlikely business that's become a runaway hit.

We in the San Francisco Bay Area like to think we have access to everything tasty.

But one thing we sadly don’t have is Kogi BBQ.

At least not yet.

Roy Choi, a Seoul-native who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and cooked at the likes of Le Bernardin and Aureole, both in New York, has turned the world of tacos topsy turvy on the streets of Los Angeles.

The classically-trained, extremely articulate chef has taken his high standards and top-notch skills, and applied them to humble taco truck offerings. Ten months ago, he started hawking his own brand of Korean tacos from one roaming truck that announces its location via Twitter. Now, he has four trucks, each of which serves more than 2,000 people a day. How crazy is that?

Fortunately, I didn’t have to drive all over Los Angeles to chase down one of his trucks to try the famous Kogi taco. Instead, I was able to snag one when Choi did a cooking demo at last weekend’s “Worlds of Flavor” conference at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. With this year’s theme, “World Street Food, World Comfort Food,” what could be a more perfect fit than a Korean taco?

And a most delicious one at that. As Choi explained, street food often gets the bum rap of being something thrown together, slap-dash. But take a bite of one of his tacos and discover how incredibly complex it is.

The sweet, smoky, tender taste of Korean short ribs transforms the taco into something all together new. The meat is marinated in a blend of soy sauce, maple syrup, yellow onions, green onions, garlic, kiwi, Asian pear, mirin, orange juice and 7-Up. It’s cooked at high heat to char and caramelize it. Then it’s diced, cooked on the flat-top, and heaped on two soft corn tortillas along with salsa verde or salsa roja; diced onion; a mix of shredded cabbage, romaine and green onions; Kogi chilie vinaigrette; and toasted and crushed sesame seeds.

Grilling corn tortillas until they're puffy and a little crisp.

Constructing the famous taco.

Aren't you dying for one?

It’s a thing of absolute beauty. And it sells for an absolute pittance.

“We make everything from scratch, and we sell our food for $2,” Choi said. “I’m not sure if that’s the best business model, but our goal is not to lose money. My other goal — I don’t achieve it every day — but it’s that every single bite hopefully makes you stop in your tracks.”

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