'Top Chef: Las Vegas' review

Padma, Gail and a couple of their baldest foodie friends go all in for season six

By Amir Kenan

Posted August 17, 2009

Metromix

They've gobbled up a big ol' slice of Chi-Town and taken a bite of the Big Apple.

Now in its sixth season, Padma, Gail, Tom and the token rude British judge are bringing TV's greatest cooking series, "Top Chef," to that ultimate all-you-can eat culinary mecca, Las Vegas.

The buzz: You can have your "Hell's Kitchen," your "Chopped" and even your "The Next Iron Chef"—"Top Chef" is the "Citizen Kane" of reality cooking shows. And since we're in Sin City, the series has raised the stakes (in the season opener, the winner of the Quickfire Challenge receives a surprise $15,000 bonus) and added an element of schmaltz (a gaggle of showgirls somehow finds its way into the kitchen... and awkwardness ensues).

The verdict: Perhaps "Top Chef" spinoff "Top Chef: Masters" has spoiled us, but the level of cooking on the season premiere ultimately comes off as tired and uninspired. (Seriously, can we just put a moratorium on ceviches once and for all, folks?). And with a cheftestant talent pool that includes a recent James Beard award winner, the level of talent on "Top Chef" is truly remarkable—especially in a medium that favors D-listers, burnouts and whatever the heck Bret Michaels is.

Did you know? ...that "Top Chef" contestants are a bunch of lushes? In the season's first Elimination Challenge, a good three-quarters of the assembled crew chooses booze as their greatest vice.

"Top Chef: Las Vegas" premieres Wednesday, August 19, at 9 p.m./8c on Bravo.