Las Vegas Weekly

November 11, 2009 · 2:32 PM

Tonight! “Top Chef” watch party with Las Vegas’ top chefs

By Sarah Feldberg

Wynn Las Vegas chef Paul Bartolotta hangs with Padma Lakshmi on "Top Chef: Las Vegas."

Photo: Trae Patton / BravoTV

Eleven weeks into Top Chef: Las Vegas, local fans probably haven’t gotten any closer to Bravo’s hit culinary competition than their living room TV set. As Weekly columnist Steve Friess addressed in a recent column, the show has been largely ignored by Las Vegas restaurants and chefs, even ones that have been featured this season. Unless you were invited to recent events with Rick Moonen of RM Seafood or Paul Bartolotta of Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, most Top Chef fans have spent the season drooling over the dishes (and maybe competitors) at home.

Not tonight.

Friess and I figured we’d take things into our own hands and throw a Top Chef watch party complete with members of Las Vegas’ culinary elite, big TVs and something chefs universally love, good beer. Tonight at 9 p.m. at the Freakin’ Frog, we’ll be joined by local top chefs, fans and a few food-inclined writers to watch the new episode and see which of the final six competitors will be packing their knives and leaving the kitchen. Attending will be recent Top Chef guest judges Paul Bartolotta and Rick Moonen, Weekly chef blogging badass Jet Tila and Wynn Las Vegas’ Alex Stratta. Beyond sage commentary from culinary professionals, we’ll also be giving away prizes like cookbooks and restaurant gift certificates.

If you’re a Top Chef fan, there’s no better seat in the house tonight, than right next to one of the city’s top chef’s watching the big screens at the Freakin’ Frog. See you there!

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