Mentors of Top Chef's Final 4 Share Their Favorite Memories of Working With the Contestants
Top Chef Season 15 spoilers (and quite possibly a tear or two) ahead!
Top Chef has been quite the whirlwind this season. If you've been following along, you know there are only four cheftestants left in the high-stakes competition. Each of them has showcased their show-stopping skills all season long, and let's face it: They're all worthy of the coveted Top Chef title. Perhaps no one knows that better than these talented pros' mentors in the restaurant industry.
Such notable chefs as Eric Ripert and Top Chef Masters' Jen Jasinski have served as mentors for the finalists — and The Feast caught up with Season 15 mentors to share their favorite memories from their time spent working with the remaining cheftestants. Here's what they had to say.
Eric Ripert on Adrienne Cheatham
"I remember I was involved with a photo shoot for a French magazine and asked Adrienne to help me out. The theme of the shoot was the sea, and the magazine asked if my team and I could prepare fresh oysters. I’ll never forget Adrienne, in the freezing cold, on this old wooden sailboat on the Hudson in really choppy waters, on the floor of the boat shucking oysters. No easy feat! But she was such a trooper and pro that day. She always puts her head down and gets on with the job at hand."
Marcus Samuelsson on Adrienne Cheatham
"I just love to see her blossom professionally as she evolves in her career... I have a lot of favorite memories from cooking all over the country, opening Streetbird, and she was also a huge part of the making of The Red Rooster Cookbook."
Top Chef Masters Alum Jen Jasinski on Carrie Baird
"Carrie is resilient and she handles stress well... When she used to line cook for me years ago, I just loved how we made amazing food at Rioja but were always singing on the line and having fun. Life is to short not to enjoy it!"
Top Chef Season 7 Winner Kevin Sbraga on Christopher Scott
"Thirteen years ago Chris, Mike Isabella, and I all worked together as sous chefs. I will never forget Chris’ calm, cool, collective manner no matter how busy we get. He was always under control."
David Barzelay on Joe Sasto
"On holidays, Joe used to go to the farmer's market in one of many novelty leisure suits that he owned in various bright colors and patterns. So he would stroll around with a giant smile on his face in a banana yellow suit that also had little banana images all over it... The leisure suits just seemed like a normal part of Joe's already-weird wardrobe, but they never failed to make our days a bit brighter."
Watch the Last Chance Kitchen finale to see who will be re-joining the group on tomorrow's jaw-dropping episode of Top Chef, airing at 9/8c.
