Top Chef

Top Cheffy News: Izard Speaks, Mantuano and Grueneberg Compete

What it looks like when Stephanie Izard signs a book.
What it looks like when Stephanie Izard signs a book. Photo: Sky Full of Bacon

One thing we’re not suffering from this season on Top Chef is a shortage of Top Chef, what with that whole parallel universe of competition running on the web like Top Chef: The Purple Dimension. Still, we’re intrigued by a trio of events happening in the next several days. First up, Chicago’s still only Top Chef winner, Stephanie Izard, will be giving two public events in the next two days. Tonight at 6 p.m., she’ll speak as part of the Museum of Comtemporary Art’s Culture Catalysts series, devoted to showcasing “Chicago’s Movers & Shakers.” It’s free with museum admission, and will be followed by a signing of Izard’s cookbook “Girl in the Kitchen.” Then Wednesday night, Izard will be on a panel sponsored by Slate at The Murphy Auditorum of the American College of Surgeons, 50 E. Erie, on the subject of reinventing your career, alongside the editor of Slate and a couple CEOs and such folk. (Find out more here.) It’s also at 6 p.m. and also free, but you need to register at the site.

Meanwhile, you’ve seen a Jedi fight his master, now see a Top Chef contestant battle her Master… and boss. Sarah Grueneberg, who apart from a bout of heat stroke seems to have as good a shot as anybody at joining Izard as a winning Top Chef, will square off against her boss Tony Mantuano (who has been both a Top Chef All Stars judge and a Top Chef Masters contestant) at Spiaggia on Saturday, January 21 at 11:30 a.m. $125 gets you tickets for the event watching them make the dishes they made on the show, as well as lunch, wine pairings, and tax and tip. For reservations, call 312-280-2750.

Top Cheffy News: Izard Speaks, Mantuano and Grueneberg Compete