LVW Col: Top Chef's Bitter Aftertaste

Sorry I didn't get to post this until now, but there will also be a forthcoming podcast of this interview and a transcript of some particularly fun parts coming to the blog later today. For the moment, though, here's the most recent Las Vegas Weekly column:

Stephen Hopcraft took lumps on ‘Top Chef’,
but he’s doing just fine, thank you

By STEVE FRIESS

Stephen Hopcraft knew he wasn’t long for Top Chef when he lost the toothpick challenge. The cheftestants—yes, I gagged as I typed that word, but that’s what they’re called—had to take a dinner entrée that might be served in a restaurant and reduce it to a toothpick-handled hors d’oeuvre.

After being harshly critiqued repeatedly in prior rounds, the executive chef at MGM Grand’s Seablue felt due for some recognition. He had stacked a piece of grilled filet mignon and a grilled vegetable atop a potato cake, then topped it with a baked scallop with Béarnaise sauce.

Alas, he didn’t win. In fact, Hopcraft, 40, would be eliminated from the show in the next episode on a subpar flank steak, eighth among 17 cheftestants to be bounced. The season ended last week, so the next day I asked him, in the nicest possible way, how it feels to lose.

Turns out, not so good.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com