Watching Season 2 of Top Chef Masters now, months after we filmed in Los Angeles, the stress comes back as though it was yesterday.
Filming the show was extremely difficult work. The days were long and each episode actually took two days to shoot. Days were filled with cooking, judges tables, interviews and, the most fun part of all, hanging around with the other chefs enjoying some wine and cheese as we awaited our fate.
Out of all of the episodes that I was a part of, the Tailgating episode was where I felt the strongest about what I cooked. I was very happy with the quality of the grilled pizza and I thought it was delicious! Obviously the judges didn’t agree with me and I was sent packing!
In the end I was pleased as to how far I got in the competition, we started with 22 chefs and I made it to the the final 6! Not bad!
Most importantly, we raised $15,000 for Feeding America and the local Chicago Food Depository! We raised another $10,000 by inviting Spiaggia guests to viewing parties held in our newly remodeled Private Event Space at Spiaggia. Guests were encouraged to make donations and we cooked up food that I had prepared on the show. The $25,000 total is enough to purchase 90,000 meals!
We will continue to support the Chicago Food Depository here at Spiaggia and are currently working on a field trip with our team members to their facility.
written by Tony Mantuano