Host
KRISTEN KISH
Judge
GAIL SIMMONS
Judge
TOM COLICCHIO
"THIRTEEN MINUTES, CHEFS!"
The warning kicks the contestants into overdrive. They chop faster. Stir quicker. A camera crew zooms in for closeups of their faces-and the ingredients they just scooped up from the Dane County Farmers' Market in Madison. Ruby red cherries on a cutting board. Bricks of golden cheese. Honey dripping from a spoon. In TV lingo: food porn.
"Hot pan, right behind you!" yells a contestant as she sprints to the oven, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a guy wielding a giant microphone.
Amid the chaos, Kristen Kish watches quietly from the sidelines. She knows what these cooks are going through. She went through it, too, when she was a contestant on Top Chef. Now, 11 years later, the Michigan-raised, Chicagotrained chef sits on the other side of the judges' table, as the new host of the long-running cooking competition.
The influential show has turned contestants into celebrity chefs and spawned multiple spin-offs. Its current season-No. 21!-airs March 20, and Wisconsin stars as the setting. Fifteen Top Chef hopefuls spent six weeks on location last summer, putting their spin on cranberries, fish boils, supper club fare and other Dairy State staples in a bid for the $250,000 prize. Most of the action unfolds in and around Madison and Milwaukee, where an industrial building in south suburban Oak Creek served as the Top Chef set.
This story is from the Spring 2024 edition of Midwest Living.
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This story is from the Spring 2024 edition of Midwest Living.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
At Long Last - At sunny meadows flower farm in Columbus, Ohio, the same cutting beds that feed summer's fresh bouquets also provide bunches of everlastings for use in dried arrangements
At sunny meadows flower farm in Columbus, Ohio, the same cutting beds that feed summer's fresh bouquets also provide bunches of everlastings for use in dried arrangements and wreaths-both their own creations and yours. color us inspired.
NATURAL FIT
WITH LANDSCAPES NEAR AND FAR AS THEIR GUIDE, A MINNEAPOLIS COUPLE BUILT A NEW HOME THAT COMPLEMENTS ITS ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORHOOD AND SOFTENS THE LINE BETWEEN INDOORS AND OUT.
COLOR SHOW
FALL IS A BIT LIKE THE HOLIDAYS, WITH SPECTACULAR DISPLAYS OF COLOR AND LIGHT EVERYWHERE-EXCEPT NATURE DOES THE DECORATING. TREAT YOURSELF TO THE SEASON'S SIGHTS AND SOUNDS ON A VISIT TO ONE OF THESE DAZZLING PARKS.
IT'S CHILI TIME
AT A TAILGATE, A CAMPOUT OR JUST BECAUSE IT'S FALL, NOTHING HITS LIKE CHILI. AND FEW MEALS STOKE MORE REGIONAL PRIDE AND DEBATE. (TEXANS, WE SEE YOU. WE RESPECT YOU. BUT WE LIKE BEANS.) SO WE'RE GIVING YOU FIVE NEW CHILI RECIPES INCLUDING ONE FOR LEGIT CINCINNATI CHILI-PLUS CHEESY SCALLION CORNBREAD AND AN ODE TO CINNAMON ROLLS. (DON'T ASK. JUST READ ON.)
The GREAT ESCAPES
IN WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA, HISTORIC LAKESIDE RESORTS KEEP ALIVE A CENTURY OF TRADITION. GENERATION AFTER GENERATION, THEY HAVE YET TO GO OUT OF STYLE.
TWO FOR ONE
PLAN A FALL WEEKEND TO BENTON HARBOR AND ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN, AND YOU'LL HAVE DOUBLE THE FUN.
DAY OF THE DEAD
DURING DÍA DE MUERTOS (NOVEMBER 1-2), TRADITION HOLDS THAT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SPIRIT AND LIVING WORLDS WEAKENS, ALLOWING A REUNION WITH PASSED LOVED ONES. HERE ARE SIX PLACES TO CELEBRATE.
MAIN ATTRACTION
FRESH LOCAL FARE AND SLEEK COFFEE SHOPS RUB SHOULDERS WITH STYLISH BOUTIQUES AND VINTAGE MARKETS IN MOUNT VERNON, IOWA.
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
GLACIERS ONCE SHAPED THE TERRAIN OF SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA. TODAY, PEOPLE DO. THEIR IMPRINT SHOWS EVERYWHERE IN A LIVELY FOOD AND COCKTAIL SCENE, THROUGH A KALEIDOSCOPE OF OUTDOOR ART, AND AT A WATERFALL PARK THAT LOOKS BETTER THAN EVER.
PEAR HUGS
AS COMFORTING AS A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP (AND AS SPECIAL TOO), THESE PEARS COME WRAPPED IN PASTRY, DRIZZLED WITH CARAMEL AND INFUSED WITH GOOD FEELS.
