Top Chef: Just Desserts premieres on Bravo on September 15, 2010 at 11 p.m. Expect guest appearances from chocolatier Jacques Torres, Le Bernardin pastry chef Michael Laiskonis, Sherry Yard of Spago, and others. We’ve got a list of the cheftestants and a little biographical information below.

Danielle Keene, 29
Hometown: Los Angeles, California; Resides in South Pasadena, California
Owner of Bittersweet Treats, an online dessert company. Former pastry chef at the Little Door, Blair’s, and BLT Steak in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter.

Eric Wolitzky, 38
Hometown: Rochester, New York; Resides in New York, New York
Pastry chef at Baked in Brooklyn.

Erika Davis, 40
Hometown: Tamms, Illinois; Resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Executive pastry chef, the Ponte Vedre Inn and Club. President, Culinary Wonders USA. “The mission of the Culinary Wonders USA is to introduce, share and cultivate minorities in the field of the culinary arts.”

Heather Chittum, 37
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York; Resides in Washington, D.C.
Worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan before studying food. Worked at Citronelle, Circle Bistro, and is now the pastry chef at sustainable seafood restaurant Hook.

Heather Hurlbert, 40
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea; Resides in Atlanta, Georgia
Executive pastry chef, Cherokee Town & Country Club.

Malika Ameen, 35
Hometown/Resides in Chicago, Illinois
Former executive pastry chef and co-owner of Aigre Doux.

Morgan Wilson, 37
Hometown: Sonora, California; Resides in Dallas, Texas
Executive Pastry Chef, the Ritz-Carlton Dallas.

Seth Caro, 34
Hometown: Chappaqua, New York; Resides in New York, New York
Former pastry chef at Perilla and Grayz. Facebook friends with Paul Liebrandt.

Tania Peterson, 39
Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts; Resides in Boston, Massachusetts
Pastry chef at catering company Max Ultimate Food. Previously worked at Tremont 647 and Bricco.

Tim Nugent, 41
Hometown: Alburgh, Vermont; Resides in Oakland, California
Executive pastry chef at Scala’s Bistro in San Francisco.

Yigit Pura, 29
Hometown: Ankara, Turkey; Resides in San Francisco, California
First name is pronounced “Yeet.” Former pastry sous at Daniel in New York. Now the executive pastry chef at Taste Catering and Event Planning in San Francisco.

Zac Young, 27
Hometown: Portland, Maine; Resides in New York, New York
Pastry chef at Butter.

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Spending a fetid weekend cooped up in a kitchen sounds dismal right now, but it’ll be all the rage come fall. New York and the French Culinary Institute can make your dreams of hands-on lessons with some of the city’s best chefs come true on October 2 and 3 at the third annual New York Culinary Experience. Play with chocolate as Jacques Torres advises from over your shoulder. Alex Guarnaschelli will critique your glazing technique as together you slow-roast a Long Island duck. Choose sessions with Blue Ribbon’s Eric and Bruce Bromberg, Babbo pastry chef Gina DePalma, Shaun Hergatt, and many others. Tickets ($1,595) include four classes, breakfasts, lunches, and a closing reception each day. Only 175 slots are available, so order your tickets now.

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It takes a lot more than blinding sun and stifling humidity to keep a bunch of Hamptonites out of a tasting event. A few hundred folks in sundresses and seersucker gathered at the Wölffer Estate in Sag Harbor to honor Martha Stewart at the James Beard Foundation’s annual summer gala, Chefs and Champagne. Ms. Martha was perspiration-free, of course, despite her leggings. She loved (we were drinking our own nearby when she said it) the La Caravelle Champagne Rosé, and marched through the tent tasting much of the food offered by more than 30 chefs. We couldn’t compare notes with Martha, but a few of our favorites were Anita Lo’s spicy steak tartare, the it-tastes-like-it-sounds BLT soup from Commerce, and Gavin Kaysen’s decadent summer soup, a corn velouté with crab beignets and chervil. Watch the slideshow to see what else was served. Ta-ta till next summer!

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Filed Under: foodievents, chefs and champagne, james beard foundation, martha stewart, photo plates, slideshow

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When Mister Softee driver Nike Olasokan told CNN last month that she didn’t sell as much on her Brooklyn route when it was scorching hot, we didn’t believe her. Who doesn’t like ice cream when it’s crazy hot, we wondered, while wishing we worked at the kind of place that randomly distributed ice-cream sandwiches on Fridays. Mister Softee’s sales are down 10 percent this summer. It turns out that normal people stay inside in this kind of weather. “When it’s really hot, people are out in the pool or locked up in an apartment with the A.C. on,” a Mister Softee distributor told City Room. “They aren’t out trying to buy ice cream.” [City Room/NYT]

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Filed Under: we all scream, dessert, ice cream, mister softee

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NYC Icy reopened (again) in May on Avenue A, and the perpetually beleaguered Ray Alvarez of Ray’s Candy Store is firing back at the chain. East Village blogger Slum Goddess noticed that Alvarez is now selling icees, too. [EV Grieve via Slum Goddess]

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Filed Under: the new cold war, icees, nyc icy, ray’s candy store

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Chef Anita Lo is now the sole owner of Annisa after buying out longtime partner and GM Jennifer Scism. “Anita and I made an agreement that if I stayed and helped rebuild Annisa, trained the new staff and worked with the old, that she would buy me out of my half of the restaurant,” Scism told Diner’s Journal. She’s leaving New York to join her husband at their home in Maine, where she’s returned every weekend for almost four years. Gregory Fellows will assume front-of-the-house duties in addition to being Annisa’s wine director. Michael Cherry will manage the office. Scism said she made the decision to leave the city while trying to resurrect the restaurant after last year’s fire. She and Lo still plan to collaborate on a cookbook.

Annisa Loses Its Host, and an Owner [Diner's Journal/NYT]

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Filed Under: back of the house, anita lo, annisa, jennifer scism

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One possible side effect of DOH letter grades in restaurants: fewer hospitalizations. According to a 2003 study, hospital admissions for food-borne illnesses in Los Angeles declined by 20 percent after the city tied letter grades to health inspections. A Stanford University economist wants to replicate the study in New York, WNYC reports. The Department of Health isn’t so sure there’s a connection, though: “Association is not proven.” [WNYC]

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Back before the Internet invented Twitter and Foursquare and Facebook, chefs blogged. Though no one’s keeping up with their LiveJournal, Eater researched a few who still do, including Pichet Ong (”Pichet’s Tumblr is a mostly food porn, with the occasional pic of a man-bag he’s got his eye on”) and Daniel Mowles of Lily’s, who doesn’t always write about food but gives an accurate picture of “the life of a hard working young chef in New York.” Daniel Angerer keeps a blog, too, and it’s not filled with as many photos of breast-milk cheese as we feared. All of these sites have plenty of food porn, though, so be warned: NSFW before lunch.

Chef Blogs [Eater NY]

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Filed Under: food.com, blogs, chefs, food websites

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Food writers around the country are poised over their keyboards, chops glistening, waiting for David Chang and Anthony Bourdain to share a stage in September at the 92nd Street Y. Last fall the duo had a public talk dubbed “I Call Bullshit,” during which they denounced culinary tenets from San Francisco chefs (”Fuckin’ every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate,” sneered Chang) to critic Alan Richman (who just wants chefs to “kiss his ring,” Bourdain said). Chefs Piss and Vinegar will jeer together again on September 13. [92Y]

Earlier Ten Things Anthony Bourdain and David Chang Hate

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Follow Chick-fil-A’s Twitter feed to see where the company is distributing free sandwiches today in an effort to further torture those of us without an NYU I.D. Next stop: Pulitzer Fountain, noon-ish.

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Filed Under: freebies, chick-fil-a, sandwiches

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Want to shop like Michael Anthony at the Gramercy Tavern? OpenTable created a map of purveyors for their string-bean salad. The fava beans are from Cherry Lane Farms in South Jersey; the purlsane was grown in Warwick, New York; and the green and yellow string beans were cultivated about 65 miles west of Manhattan in Changewater, New Jersey. If you’re not up for a road trip, you can find all of these ingredients at the Union Square Greenmarket.

Cultivated Plate: Gramercy Tavern’s String Bean Salad [OpenTable]

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Filed Under: shopping list, gramercy tavern, greenmarket, michael anthony

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In recent months, Anita Lo’s time and attention was devoted to reopening Annisa and not so much to the Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. Lo will not renew her contract with Rickshaw, Florence Fabricant reports. Lo is also working on a cookbook, Cooking Without Borders. [Diner's Journal/NYT]

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Filed Under: chef shuffle, anita lo, annisa, rickshaw dumpling bar

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