Possible Contenders: Top Chef 5 Casting Call LA

The final casting call for Top Chef season five took place at Cicada downtown this past Monday, and we went to see who actually shows up for these things. It was...interesting, to say the least. What we learned: A lot of people from San Diego think they're the next Top Chef (look what it did for Brian Malarkey), that most applicants think the next season is based in New Orleans, and people will say and do just about anything to get on TV (like bring a carved watermelon and answer all of our questions with New Orleans references). From the 20 or so contenders we talked to, it was painfully obvious that not everyone watches and obsesses over Top Chef like we do, and because of that, there was every caliber of cook waiting to be seen. It was disheartening to see how few came from some of LA's top kitchens---we didn't spot any Jar, Lucques, AOC or Sona line cooks or pastry chefs in the mix---but we do know that Kris Morningstar made the call (we just missed him). If we were to put any kind of money on it, he would've been our pick for the day. Not just because we liked what he did at Blue Velvet, but his experience matches what we see on TC. Plus, that $100,000 would make some nice seed money for whatever he and David Haskell are cooking up. Serendipity, baby. Typecasting opps are minimal (not nearly enough faux hawks or chefbians), but click on the pics to meet some of the wannabe cheftestants.
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