Top Chef Takes on Santa Barbara

By Drew Mackie

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Both those who with an interest in local cuisine and those who would like to see the world of reality television envelope their day-to-day existence may want to catch the next episode of Top Chef, the Bravo network series that pits chefs of varying backgrounds against each other in cooking competitions. As first reported on Santa Barbara food blog Cookies in Heaven, The January 17 episode of the show — titled “Seduction in Santa Barbara” — takes place at the Epiphany restaurant. Located at 21 W. Victoria Street and co-owned by Kevin Costner, Epiphany will be the site of the episode’s elimination challenge, which will end with one of this season’s remaining five chefs packing up his knives and heading home. The episode is especially remarkable as this season has been filmed almost exclusively in the Los Angeles area, making the road trip up to these parts a feather in the cap for both Epiphany and the food scene in Santa Barbara.

Top Chef airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Bravo.