She says local residents seem “happy to finally have a homegirl” on the show. How does she feel about representing DC on the show? There’s definitely some pressure, but Carla welcomes the opportunity because the DC community has really embraced her.
She also felt a quick connection with Ariane Duarte who runs her own restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey. I asked about her time on the show, and although she couldn’t give many specifics, she said the experience of living with so many strangers in tight quarters was “interesting.” As she put it, “I remember my 20’s, but I don’t want to live like that again!” Her tidy nature was put to the test by the living arrangements.Īmong her competitors, Carla said she made fast friends with Baltimore’s Jill Snyder – apparently DC and our neighbor to the north contributed the two tallest females to the cast and they bonded above their opponents’ heads. “I trusted that it was where I was meant to be,” she said. In fact, she credits her on the job training for preparing her for the rigorous coursework. When the cooking bug bit she worked for a lunch delivery service for five years, gaining valuable real-world experience before her stint at L’Academie de Cuisine. After college she modeled in Europe for three years, where she developed her love of classic continental cuisines. Some background on Carla – she’s a Howard University alumna who studied accounting and hated it. And when talking about whether she felt odd being one of only two caterers competing, she correctly pointed out that there have been several caterers who have done fairly well in previous seasons before suggesting that her combination of catering and restaurant experience gave her a leg up approaching group challenges. When I asked if there were any previous contestants whose performances she hoped to emulate or to avoid duplicating, she said she admired Antonia and Stephanie from last season but then she reached back to Season 2 to say she definitely didn’t want to come off as arrogant like Marcel did. More insights into DC’s next Top Chef – including some of her favorite dishes around town and former cheftestant Spike Mendelsohn’s take on Carla – after the jump.Ĭarla was introduced to Top Chef by her husband, who saw the show and knew right away that it would be perfect for her. And Carla works with her clients to get an understanding of who they are, then she uses that to inspire her dishes – she will completely rework a dish or just make a few small tweaks to better suit a person based on their interactions. They source much of their produce and heritage-breed meats from local producers like Tuscarora Farms and South Mountain. But she was gracious, taking the time to explain that her approach can be best described as “elegant comfort food.” Her biography on the Top Chef website talks about her introduction of classic French techniques (honed at Bethesda’s L’Academie de Cuisine) to traditional Southern recipes, and her description seems to sum that up perfectly.Ĭarla and the folks at Alchemy Caterers take it even further than that: it’s about changing the way people experience food. We started out talking about Carla’s approach to cooking – something she’s probably discussed dozens of times since the show started taping.
If you’re like us and can’t wait for Wednesday night to come, this chat with Carla Hall should help to tide you over. She was really sweet and eager to talk to local writers, so we scheduled an interview through Bravo’s publicity folks (a necessity to ensure that candidates don’t give away anything TOO juicy). This time, DC and Baltimore are both represented: Carla Hall, chef and owner of Alchemy Caterers, is our hometown favorite, and Jill Snyder of Red Maple hails from Charm City.Įager to learn more about our local competitor, I reached out to Carla through Alchemy. Top Chef is back, and they’ve brought their biggest cast ever for Season Five. Tomorrow night, the first of seventeen cheftestants will be told to pack their knives and leave.
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