With Top Chef: New York fans and lovers of cute things still mourning the premature loss of adoragay Patrick (those rosy cheeks!), Team Rainbow soldiers on to cook another day. But, hey, maybe the fact that you have an official T-shirt will console you. Consider Bravo's status as the gayest channel on TV cemented.

Meanwhile, Team EuroTrashers are busy feeling superior both to everyone else and each other. Stefan calls Fabio his biggest competition. Am I the only one who keeps seeing Harlequin romance covers every time someone says his name? It doesn't help that Fabio insists on repeating his competitive credo: “It doesn't matter how many dragons you kill, it's who takes home the princess.”

Wow, that's just wrong in every way possible. … continue reading

Dana and Helen of Mombian.com celebrate this week's season premiere of Top Chef with a vlog about teaching children to cook.

They wield some of their favorite kid-friendly kitchen implements, offer tips on how to involve even the youngest tots, and share some of the many ways cooking can help children learn.

Let me be the first to lead the cheer: Team Rainbow! Team Rainbow! Team Rainbow! Oh, sorry, I've gotten ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

Welcome to your Top Chef: New York mini-cap. The fifth season takes a bite out of the Big Apple with 17 cheftestants vying for the title. We begin with three queer contestants who have lovingly named themselves “Team Rainbow.” No, seriously, I couldn't have made that up if I tried.

Team Rainbow: Richard, Jamie and Patrick

The cheftestants arrive in New York and before they've even put their luggage down, host Padma Lakshmi and head judge Tom Colicchio have them peeling apples. Proving that the first cut is the deepest, the Quickfire Challenge is also an Elimination Challenge. The first nine to peel the apples are safe, the next six to successfully brunoise them are safe, and finally, the last two remaining chefs must prepare a dish with them to decide who must pack his/her knives and go.

Finnish chef Stefan is the first to peel his apples and wins immunity. Team Rainbow members Richard from Long Island and Jamie from San Francisco are safe in the peeling round. But poor cutie Patrick, a 21-year-old culinary student, is not so lucky. He makes the bottom two, but his apple slaw saves him from elimination. … continue reading

Foodies and lesbophiles unite. Top Chef returns tonight with out lesbian chef Jamie Lauren among the 17 contestants competing for culinary supremacy.

The fifth season of the hit Bravo reality series has the cheftestants packing their knives and heading to New York City. Chefbian Jamie is the executive chef at San Francisco's Absinthe Brasserie & Bar. According to her Bravo profile, the 31-year-old New York native has a thing for tattoos, Madonna, Indian food and — I'm not making this up — onions.

… continue reading

Finally, it's the sultry and summery season premiere of This Just Out with Liz Feldman. Liz is back at her kitchen table and she's celebrating Gay Pride alongside her trusty friend, Raimy.

This week, Liz and Raimy mix and mingle with some lovely ladies in Dolores Park in San Francisco, making some friends (and maybe more). Plus, watch what happens when Top Chef Chicago's Jennifer Biesty lets Liz into her kitchen.

Check out Liz Feldman's MySpace page for more info on Liz performing live. Also check out This Just Out's brand new Facebook and MySpace pages. And keep your finger in the v-hole of pop culture at Raimy's blog.

Sixteen chefs entered, three remain. The season finale of Top Chef: Chicago airs tonight with lesbian chef Lisa Fernandes among the three finalists left to battle for the title. New Yorker Lisa, Chicagoan Stephanie Izard and Atlantan Richard Blais will now cook their “meals of a lifetime” to impress the judges in the culmination of the fourth season of the Bravo reality series.

The season started with three lesbian chefs, the most in the show’s history. The finale will also break ground with the most-ever female chefs competing for the top prize. The finale of the two-part season ender set in Puerto Rico has the contestants prepare their ultimate meal for the judges – host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and Food & Wine special projects manager Gail Simmons and former Queer Eye food guru Ted Allen. Something tells me they all know their salad fork from their dessert fork. … continue reading

Foodies and Padmaites rejoice! The Top Chef: Chicago two-part finale begins tonight and among the final four is chefbian Lisa Fernandes. (The second half of the finale will air next week and conclude with the naming of the new Top Chef). Out New Yorker Lisa outlasted 12 other contestants to make it to the finale, which was filmed in Puerto Rico. Joining her are Chicago chef Stephanie Izard, Los Angeles chef Antonia Lofaso and Atlanta chef Richard Blais.

Stephanie, Lisa, Antonia and Richard

It’s been a long, sometimes infuriating, sometimes exhilarating season on the Bravo reality series. (To see exactly how long and how exhilarating, check out my Top Chef recaps.) The culinary challenge pits up-and-coming chefs from around the country against one another in a series of challenges with one chef being told to pack his/her knives and leave each episode by the show’s delectable host Padma Lakshmi (AfterEllen.com Hottie No. 85).

For the first time in the show’s four seasons, three women have made it to the finals. If one of the trio goes on to win, she will also become the first female Top Chef ever. As much as I like Richard and his faux lesbian haircut, I am totally rooting for one of the ladies to prevail. … continue reading