Update Sept. 27, 2007: He's in the final three! Congratulations to Dale, who on last night's episode of "Top Chef" won the Elimination Challenge by substituting a fingerling potato and cauliflower dish for his subpar tart. Watch to see if he comes out as Top Chef on next week's episode, airing Oct. 3 on BravoTV.
The end is near, "Top Chef" fans. Wednesday kicks off the two-part finale of BravoTV's highly rated chef showdown. Chicago fans have a special reason to be excited. Next week, the show announces a winner live from Chicago. Plus, the next season of “Top Chef,” which will be set in Chicago, started filming last week.
There’s an even bigger reason to cheer, however: Dale Levitski, a 34-year-old chef who's cooked at some of Chicago's top dining destinations (Orange, La Tache, Trio Atelier) is among the four remaining contestants.
To paraphrase host Padma Lakshmi, one of the chefs will be packing his knives this week. Because we don't know if Levitski will make it to the next round, we decided to see if we could pry any “Top Chef” secrets from him before the next episode airs.
Congrats on making it to the finale!
Thanks, it was a nail-biter
So what’s the story? It’s a two-part finale, which has already been filmed in Aspen, Colo. But the winner won't be announced until next week when it's live in Chicago?
That’s pretty much it.
I think the virtini I did for [the] Family Favorites [challenge]. I didn’t know that using potato starch from a box would really cause controversy. With that challenge, I think I really kicked some ass, even though I got second.
Until [the lease] is actually signed, I can’t.
Not that we’re going to release, but very soon.
I haven’t completed the menu yet, but there are certain things like the poussin with sweet pea puree from Restaurant Wars—I’ll totally do that.
Oh, yes.
It’s really funny. I was waiting tables last night. One table asked me food advice. They didn’t say anything about the show. So I was like, "This is how you cook the short ribs, blah blah blah." And they write a note on their credit card [receipt]: "Good luck. We’re rooting for you.”
That’s nice.
Yeah … but some people don’t have a filter. They don’t understand if they’re being rude or not when they say, "Well, obviously, you didn’t win if you’re waiting tables."
I just say, "Keep watching. It’s not over yet." … It’s like you put on your little smile, [but] you just want to slap ’em.
Sounds like you've become a celebrity in town.
I am getting recognized around town, and I am getting stared at. I’m not sure that counts as celebrity. You know … it’s extremely flattering, but sometimes it gets a little strange. I was running late for work one day, so I stopped at a Taco Bell … and there are two of us in there, and I’m waiting for my Taco Supremes or whatever and this girl looked at me and said, "You can cook better than that.” And I’m like, “I [got] busted at Taco Bell! That sucks!”
Yeah, the owner of Cocktail is a very, very good friend of mine. He asked me.
I don’t know. I think the softball lesbians came out in full force just to dunk me because I was in the water all the time. One or two dunked me once or twice and were like, "I’ll just stop." They were like, "I’m sorry." It was relentless. There’s a little video of it on YouTube.
I don’t think anything could help my love life at this point. I can’t get a date to save my life. Part of it is that I’m fairly shy in that aspect of life. Not to sound bitchy … but I’m finicky. I’m moody—so I guess I haven’t really pursued it since I got back. Here and there, I’ve definitely gone on dates, but nothing’s really panned out. In this situation, you could definitely use someone more mature that can support you in what’s going on. It sounds good to date someone that’s on TV, but that’s my last priority—to date someone that wants that. Every Wednesday when the episode is airing, I’m a stress ball.
But you know the outcome!
But that doesn’t mean you won’t look like a jackass. There’s so many things that happen, … so many things that you do, that they can … portray in so many ways. A lot of people ask me, "Is this real? Is this really what happened?" I would say that Bravo has done a really excellent job of portraying the truth.
Then let me ask you some questions about you competitors, if you could describe each one as one particular dish …
I don’t know if I can. All their personalities are so complex. Some people look a little different than they do in real life.
Like who?
Hung [Huynh], for instance. His onscreen personality … he was portrayed in a certain way. He was my roommate throughout the entire series—actually, him and Brian. We thought it was funny that the little boys room lasted until the end. Everyone on the series was nice. We all did get along. Whether we liked to cook together or not, that was something different. As far as roommates and friends, we all had a great, great time together. I think that was very surprising to the producers.
Because they like a little more tension?
Yeah, and the one thing we did was that we were our own tension relievers. Even if we didn’t get along in the kitchen that day, we still got along at home because we were in such a stressful situation.
Hung is made out to be the cocky one. Is that true?
I would say it is a reality show and whatever you see on the camera is real. He’s definitely extremely confident.
Tell me about the judges. I don’t quite get Padma.
I kind of can't wait until the finale so everything is over, and we’re allowed to talk to the judges. We don’t have much interaction with the judges. The interaction you see is what we have. We don’t hang out with them off camera or have conversations with them off camera. They’re there to do a job and to evaluate us, and until it’s all said and done, we really don’t know them. I’m looking forward to [getting] to know Padma as well. She is an anomaly. Tom Colicchio is very nice. He’s a sweetheart.
I think Ted Allen has bit of a crush on you.
I don’t know about that. Ted might have a bit more of an affinity for me being a Chicagoan.
Though he did take you to task for your outfit in the Restaurant Wars challenge …
If the only thing he complains about in that challenge was my outfit, fine. Laundry was very unpredictable there. I had jeans and a polo to wear that day. I couldn’t find my dress pants that day. I didn’t know where they went. That’s all I had. Actually, my polo shirt did match the room. … And it’s like, “Big deal—it’s Top Chef, not Top Waiter. Get over it.”
Chris LaMorte is the Metromix dining producer. clamorte@tribune.com