"Top Chef: The Tour" stopping here
Chefs Nikki Cascone and Jamie Lauren will be on Dilworth Plaza.
"Top Chef: The Tour," which Bravo sent out on the road a few weeks ago to bring the celeb-chef experience to the colonies, will stop in Philly on May 17 at Dilworth Plaza (the west side of City Hall). Comcast is the presenting partner.
Registration for free tickets will go online Monday afternoon at thetour.bravotv.com for the three demos, at 10:30 a.m., noon, and 1:30 p.m. If you're shut out, don't fret; you can watch from the side.
Besides the demo kitchen, there will be Top Chef games (prizes), autographs, a "Judges' Table" where you can get your photo snapped next to large cut-outs of Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi, a food-guessing station, a Top Chef-themed putting green, and Bravo and Top Chef books and merchandise.
Restaurant-style seating will be set up for the 25-minutes demos, which will be followed by 20 minutes of Q&A. Food gets passed out to the audience.
Philly's demo chefs will be Nikki Cascone from Season 4 and Jamie Lauren from Season 5. (So you're thinking, "Where's Jennifer Carroll from Season 6? Um, her restaurant, 10 Arts, like is across the street." Bravo says it wanted to send Carroll to other cities; she was just cooking in Charlotte.)
Cascone, who was at Penn's Landing with the tour in 2008, worked this year's first tour stop, in St. Louis.
She has no idea what they will cook. "It's fun to go the day before to get inspired," said Cascone, who is fitting the tour between wedding plans. She will marry her business partner next month.