Last night, CIA hosted one of their many well publicized $195 cooking events with a Top Chef alum at the Astor Center, this time with last season's Dale Talde. These events aren't always notable, however, this one deserves a mention based on DT's entertaining Q&A session after his demo where he revealed his dreams for a new restaurant, explained how Top Chef "helped with the ladies," and hinted at a cameo on season 5. An attendee sends us some of the choice quotes:
On his future plans: In addition to a screenplay and a TV show idea he's working on, Dale mentioned he wants to open a low-key restaurant concept that sounds like Momofuku-type Noodle Bar meets Sports Bar where he can "watch my Bears play." He seems to have very high regard for David Chang, but hasn't been able to get to Ko yet. Nobody asked him about it, but there have been some rumors circling that an Atlanta restaurateur has made an offer for Dale to open up a fusion concept there.
On the effect Top Chef has had on his life: He says it "helped big time with the ladies." Although hard to tell from the show, he said he is typically kind of a shy, reserved type and that it's been nice to have women constantly approaching him...though he made it sound like he may be off the block now.· All Top Chef Coverage [~E~]On the chefs he admires: Mario Batali who, Dale claims, "did it the right way"...starting as a wash boy and then moved on to work with Marco Pierre White. Lidia Bastianich. Morimoto (where Dale started as a sous chef and who to this day, he says serves the best and freshest sushi in NYC).
On a cameo spot on season 5: He looked towards Bravo representative in attendance and then replied, "Can't comment on that." His body language seemed to indicate that he would be appearing in one of the episodes.
On his fellow cheftestants: Dale said that Andrew, who coined the 'I have a culinary boner' phrase, is actually pretty laid back and not nearly as spastic as he came across in the show. Dale did mention one time that Andrew almost threw his head through a window late-night after Dale had "drank lots of champagne" and told Andrew that he should have been the one to go home on the episode where Zoe was eliminated.