Las Vegas Weekly

April 8, 2010 · 12:57 PM

Mandalay Bay’s Susan Feniger scores double win on Top Chef Masters

By Robin Leach

Chefs Susan Feniger of Border Grill in Mandalay Bay and Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago on Bravo's Top Chef Masters on April 7, 2010.

Photo: Bravo TV

Star chef Susan Feniger of Border Grill was the first of our Las Vegas chefs to compete in last night’s premiere episode of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, and the Mandalay Bay culinary queen won both showdown contests on the series.

Susan was partnered with chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago, and both advance into the next champions round. The first Quickfire Challenge had them at a Los Angeles Chinatown gas station where they were given only 15 minutes of shopping time. They had to prep a meal for members of rock group The Bravery. Susan and Tony elected to make a bread pudding and used fruits and nuts from a snack pack! They won the Quickfire and $5,000 each for their selected charities.

Susan, who is representing her new restaurant Street in L.A., is raising funds for the Scleroderma Research Foundation. She said after the taping that Top Chef Masters was far more demanding than she ever expected.

In the elimination challenge, the teams had 45 minutes to shop, 2 hours to cook and had to come in under a $350 budget. The competition this time was to prepare meals for 30 couples out on their first date. My longtime food friend from New York Gael Greene was one of the three judges.

When the verdict was read, Susan and Tony won 16 1/2 stars for a dish of black shrimp and scallops with fresh pasta in cream sauce. The judges said it was an ideal first-date dish.

Next week, new teams including our other participating Mandalay Bay chef Rick Moonen and Las Vegas chefs David Burke and Ludo Lefebvre, compete in their elimination rounds.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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