r|alex: ... tc revisited (pt. 2)

Y-E-S . . . F-R-A-C-K-I-N-G . . . W-A-Y!

yes ... i have procrastinated my weekend away, but it has been for a good cause. this was SOOO worth it today. so a little bit about how sunday evolved.

it started on saturday ... while in the mix with my regular saturday errands (peet's, bank, groceries, etc.), i was excited to see a truck trailer with the top chef logo. HOWEVER, i actually had no idea about bravo's top chef tour. (bad top chefardy vanna, bad tcv!) soon to end in september and having started in june, here is the schedule.

let's digress for a moment of word association & promotional info on tour locations ... turns out bravo's "san francisco, ca" reference ACTUALLY EQUALS "fremont, ca". really, eh? let's see ... how has this panned out for other preceding tour locations?

• jericho, ny = jericho's whole foods [check]
  
• boston, ma = cambridge's whole foods [check - close enough]
• philadelphia/pittsburgh, pa = shadyside's whole foods [check]
• columbus, oh = columbus's north market's food & ohio wine festival [check]
• st. louis, mo = st. louis whole foods [check]
• denver, co = denver's cherry creek's farmer's market [check]
• phoenix, az = phoenix's (downtown) public market [check]
• san diego, ca = san diego's ocean beach's farmer's market [check]
• san francisco, ca = fremont's festival of the arts [uhm, hmmm, errr ... NOT (!) a check]
  

here's the deal ... fremont is ~ 40 miles south-southeast
surprisingly, there also are a couple of whole foods
sprinkled throughout the bay area.
(oh wait! fremont doesn't have a whole foods.)

(but fremont has an annual arts festival. well played, fremont, well played!)

turns out ... cities that may also have some national name recognition and are closer to fremont include: oakland (has an airport and then some), san jose (has an airport and then some), palo alto (stanford university) ... but who am i to debate. (side note: ryan, who lives in the bay area, mentioned he has never been out to fremont. well, now he has!)

this anti-location thing was a benefit (i'm guessing) ... i'm pretty much thinking that we made the 10:30 AM demo because the pre-registration tickets just didn't max out ... like they already have for the los angeles tour on the 8th and 9th.

how the sunday evolved, and i touched stephanie and ryan ... the recap over here with my partner-in-crime. all this began after a quick jaunt at peet's and signing up on the waiting list. we were, in fact, part of the last 5 folks let in for the 10:30 AM show.

a few more tidbits ... homemade croutons were first prepared and then another little light salad-appetizer(-ish) was prepared. all in attendance were served (tho' not on compostable plates/utensils - note to self, comment to bravoTV). steph & ryan chatted it up, answered questions, and described cooking tips/techniques. relearned about how to pick a watermelon and how to cut a melon.

• homemade croutons - i found ryan's recipe over here.
• mission beach cafe - restaurant (14th & guerrero) where ryan is exec chef.
• one of the best questions asked - by the gentleman (originally from chicago) sitting next to me, asked of ryan ... what did you think of the tailgate party challenge?
• see here is the thing about that episode (epi6) ... THIS ("final stats") is the thing. ouch!
  
• three questions i asked - responses in a later post.
  
• what's up with lisa?
• do the s.f./bay area chefs hang out with each other?
• do you all read the blogs?

fun times!