Art Smith vs. Kevin Gillespie: Who ya got?
Considering you’re reading this on a Chicago blog, I’m going to assume you’ll be #TeamArt when the two chefs face off at 9 p.m. Wednesday on Bravo’s “Top Chef Duels.” The Table Fifty-Two chef and former personal chef for Oprah Winfrey is a “Top Chef Masters” alum and one of the most beloved cooking figures in Chicago. Gillespie is a “Top Chef” runner-up who co-owns Gunshow in Atlanta.
Both bearded men will face off against each other in three challenges with the victor moving on to compete against the season’s other winners in the season finale Oct. 8.
“They put us together because we are both Southern American cooks,” Smith said via email Tuesday. “His cooking is Southern but with a dash of hipster and mine is very classical. … His family came from the mountains of Georgia and mine came from the swamps of Georgia. My family members were Bavarians who were sold swampland. His were Scots. I kept kidding him saying, ‘Do you want his family’s heirloom haggis or my great grandmother’s 12-layer-chocolate-cake?’
“The whole time we were competing I was saying to myself, ‘This duel looks like Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo Bear.’ I told him, ‘My gay bear fans were going to have a bear fest with all this fur on the screen.'”
“Grey’s Anatomy” cast members James Pickens Jr., Sarah Drew, Camilla Luddington, Jerrika Hinton and Kevin McKidd will serve as guest judges during Wednesday’s episode.
On Thursday, Smith will host Common Threads’ fourth annual Cook-Off at Revel Downtown. The fundraiser for Smith’s Common Threads foundation – which teaches children in underserved communities how to cook – will include chefs John Hogan (River Roast), Tim Graham (Travelle), Hisanobo Osaka (Japonais by Morimoto), Cory Morris (Mercat a la Planxa) and Amanda Downing (Rockit Bar & Grill). This will be your opportunity to congratulate Smith in person on his “Duels” victory – or tell him that he got robbed.
What can viewers expect from the “Duels” episode?
“Watch me face one of my biggest fears of being a chef,” Smith said, before dropping the hint “People who know me know I am the St. Francis of Assisi of chefs. Tune in because fur will be flung, along with some other stuff.”
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