Just when we thought the biggest thing on Chef Spike Mendelsohn’s plate was the upcoming season of “Top Chef All-Stars,” He tells us this piece of news: he’s getting his own television show. “That’s the next step,” the D.C.-based restaurateur told Yeas & Nays. “It does have a name, but I don’t think I should disclose that.” He wouldn’t tell us what network it would be on either, but he did chat about giving Bravo’s “Top Chef” another try. “I decided to do it again because I had such a good experience doing it the first time,” he said. ” ‘Top Chef’ super launched me into the chef world.” Mendelsohn appeared on the show’s fourth season and came in fourth place, getting the boot for using frozen scallops before he could travel to Puerto Rico for the finale. Since then he’s opened two Capitol Hill restaurants, his hamburger joint, the Good Stuff Eatery, and pizza place, We, The Pizza. He also published a cookbook.
“The interesting thing that I kind of really reflected on was that the first time I did the show I had nothing to lose, I was just some young punk on a reality show,” he said. “Now because of the success of the show and the restaurants, I have a lot more people to really represent.”
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That being said, Mendelsohn didn’t overly prepare. Nor did he stay away from those pesky scallops. “No, I won’t avoid scallops, I know how to cook scallops and I’ve cooked many scallops in my life, delicious scallops in fact,” he said. “Will I try to avoid frozen scallops? Absolutely.”
Mendelsohn is joined by two other Washingtonians on “Top Chef All-Stars,” Carla Hall and Michael Isabella. “I think Washingtonians will be very proud of all three of us,” he said. Yeas & Nays will feature Hall and Isabella later this week. “Top Chef All-Stars” debuts Wednesday night on Bravo.
