The contestant lineup for the latest season of Top Chef is here, and there's a familiar face among the crowd: Valentine Howell Jr., the former executive chef at Greek hot spot Krasi, the owner of taco pop-up Black Cat, and a finalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast in 2023, will be competing on Top Chef: Wisconsin. He joins a pool of 14 other candidates vying for a $250,000 grand prize this year. There's another Boston name on the other side of the judges' table, too. Kristen Kish, who formerly worked within Barbara Lynch's restaurant empire and competed and won Top Chef in 2012, joined the cast after longtime host Padma Lakshmi left the show last year. The newest season premieres on Wednesday, March 20 at 9 p.m. on Bravo, with next-day streaming on Peacock.
Marsha Lindsey, a hospitality veteran who is currently the principal bartender at Italian restaurant SRV in the South End, reflected in an interview with the Boston Globe about her years spent building her bartending career in Boston - including being the first Black woman to bartend in the North End - and what Boston's restaurant industry could do better. "I think Boston's really good at opening up spaces for people to eat, to come to convene, to enjoy each other, to catch a vibe. I think that Boston's not so good at inclusivity," Lindsey tells the Globe. "I think that there's way more room to grow when it comes to having people of color in the front of the house."
After a month-long partial closure, chic seafood restaurant Saltie Girl in Back Bay has reopened with some dining room updates - and new menu items - to show off. The restaurant, which is housed in a townhouse at the corner of Newbury Street and Dartmouth Street, now boasts a swanky, yacht-themed captain's room to dine in, among other interior upgrades.
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