Top Cheffage: Notes from the Halfsteak Screening

Before we get to our weekly Top Chef recap, coming up in mere moments, a glimpse at last night's Top Chef screening with a group of current and former cheftestants over at Craftsteak. Oh and if you want to find out what happened after the screening, NYMag's Jada Yuan has all the juicy, somewhat disturbing details. Now, our Top Chef correspondent, on the main event:

Except for one lonely stray who wandered in by accident, everyone at Craftsteak last night circa 10pm, were Top Chef viewers screening the latest episode. The place was completely packed. The first peak moment commercial break was met with groans. Carla’s challenge victory was met with whoops and applause, which she complimented with a gracious bow/wave combo.

Meanwhile Fabio’s arrivederci brought on cries of disappointment, even though he wore a calm smile on his face as he watched the audience take in the loss he already knew was coming. The cast, crew and friends occupied a series of tables lined up along the left-hand wall of the restaurant; true to his TV personality, Stefan, acting better than everyone else, seated himself away from his peers and alongside the bar. Tom and Padma were in attendance along with Jamie, Hosea, Gail, and other contestants of Top Chef’s past.

I asked Tom and Carla if they felt people were fairly portrayed on the show. "I’m hyper, I’m always running around, that’s me", Carla explained, "My friends who watch the show were like, 'Hey, that’s really how you are all the time.' Tom interjected that, 'There’s what people say and how they really are and cutting and editing can’t really change that. Everyone really is pretty accurately portrayed."