Product Details

• Actors: Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Carla Hall, Emeril Lagasse, Stefan Richter
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: October 20, 2009
• Run Time: 700 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0026RLMAC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,227 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Top Chef: New York - Season 5" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

The world-class culinary competition only gets fiercer in TOP CHEF: NEW YORK--the No. 1 food show on cable--as 17 new cheftestants head to the Big Apple to test their skills and compete for culinary stardom. Featuring some of the biggest names in food and entertainment, the fifth season of this Emmy®-award winning series welcomes newbie Toby Young to the judges' table alongside host Padma Lakshmi, head judge and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons. In the most challenging season yet, the cheftestants battle to prove they have what it takes to be crowned the next Top Chef.

DVD features:

-Exclusive cookbook
-Never-aired stew room footage
-Extended interviews
-Cooking demonstrations
-PC game demo

Vote for your favorite contestant, read bios, and more in our Top Chef: New York Store.

COMPETITION STAGES

Episode 1: Melting Pot

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs are welcomed to the Big Apple by host Padma Lakshmi and head judge Tom Colicchio and their skills are put to the test with a three round apple tournament. Elimination Challenge: Each of the chefs draws a knife from the knife block marked with one of eight New York City neighborhoods. The chefs teams must cook dishes which represent the ethnic cuisines of those neighborhoods. Guest Judge: Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 2: Show Your Craft

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs are asked to create their version of a classic, well-loved New York dish: the hot dog and the compete against Angelina DiAngelo of Dominick's Hot Dog Truck in Queens. Elimination Challenge: The chefs must now open what Padma calls "Top Chef Restaurant" in Manhattan. They are asked to create a three-course New American lunch menu for fifty diners.
• Guest judge Donatella Arpaia, a successful restaurateur and food expert (Quickfire Challenge)

 Episode 3: A Foo Fighters Thanksgiving

Quickfire Challenge: Padma announces that this week's challenge is about "rolling with the punches." The chefs are asked to draw knives. Each knife is marked with a number, which refers to a specific page in "Top Chef: The Cookbook." Contestants are given an hour to put their own spin on the recipe from that page Elimination Challenge: The chefs are asked to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the rock band Foo Fighters and its entire entourage of more than 60 guests at the band’s next venue.
• Guest judge and award-winning molecular gastronomist Grant Achatz.(Quickfire+Elimination Challenges), Foo Fighters (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 4: Today Show

• Quickfire Challenge: The chefs are given 30 minutes to create a breakfast amuse-bouche for the Today Show.
• Elimination Challenge: The chefs are asked to create a dish that can be cooked and served for a 2½-minute live television presentation, which will be taped inside the Top Chef kitchen. They are to be taken to Rockefeller Center to cook their dishes for the hosts of NBC's The Today Show.
• Guests Rocco DiSpirito (Quickfire+Elimination Challenges), Today Show Cast (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 5: Gail’s Bridal Shower

• Quickfire Challenge: The chefs pair up and are taken into a darkened kitchen where they are given 15 seconds to taste a specific sauce. They must then bid on the number of ingredients they think they can name correctly.
• Elimination Challenge: Padma asks the chefs to prepare a four-course meal for 40 of Gail's bridal shower. Each course is to be inspired by one of the lines of the traditional wedding rhyme, "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."
• Guest judge Dana Cowin (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 6: 12 Days of Christmas

• Quickfire Challenge: The chefs are asked to create a "one pot wonder" – a holiday meal that can be prepared in just one cooking vessel – and present it to Martha Stewart.
• Elimination Challenge: The chefs must create dishes inspired by lines from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and cater a 250 guest holiday party hosted by the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
• Guest judges Martha Stewart (Quickfire Challenge), Natasha Richardson and Michelle Bernstein (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 7: Focus Group

• Quickfire Challenge: The chefs have 45 minutes to craft a sugar-free dessert so good, the judges will think there is "nothing diet about it."
• Elimination Challenge: The chefs must create dishes that express their individuality and serve the food family style to the judges and an unspecified number of mystery food experts.
• Guest judge Jean-Christophe Novelli (Quickfire+Elimination Challenges)

 Episode 8: Down on the Farm

• Quickfire Challenge: The chefs have 15 minutes to create a delicious dish using only canned goods.
• Elimination Challenge: The chefs are asked to draw knives and split into three teams: Team Chicken, Team Lamb, and Team Pork. The chefs are to create a delicious, seasonal lunch for 16 people based on their team's protein. Their menu must be served family-style, and must include a dessert.
• Guest judge Hung Huynh (Quickfire Challenge), Dan Barber (Elimination Challenge)

 Episode 9: Restaurant Wars

• Quickfire Challenge: The contestants must do a tasting for restaurateur Stephen Starr. The chefs then have 30 minutes and complete access to the Top Chef pantry to create one dish that showcases their concept for a potential restaurant.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YES! AT LAST!!!, August 13, 2009

By 

Elm Street Reader (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Top Chef: New York - Season 5 (DVD)

I dont get Bravo channel but have occasionally seen Top Chef elsewhere. I have waited for Top Chef to be released in dvd forever and I am THRILLED to get even one season of the show!! I hope seasons 1-4 get released ASAP.

I would LOVE to know why it's taken so long and why they've released out of sequence.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun, Great Learning, October 26, 2009

By 

carol irvin "carol irvin" (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Chef: New York - Season 5 (DVD)

I just finished this series and I loved it. I can cook but I certainly am not a chef. Nevertheless, I adore watching these chefs in their competitions plus I am a creative person so I am learning. I will never be able to do the complex dishes but one learns that often the simpler dishes do better in the competitions. The mortal sin seems to be in undercooking or overcooking anything. If you can stay away from this flaw, you are actually in the running for being a heck of a cook. I began watching this show because I've enjoyed Project Runway so much. One thing that is better for the contestants with this show is that the contestants get great prizes all the way through. In season six this aspect improves even more. So everyone seems to go home with some really great prizes. The judges are really generous with their prizes for winners too. Project Runway is a lot stingier towards its contestants. Maybe chefs are just more generous people than fashion designers. It sure seems so. I applaud Top Chef for creating rewards for as many contestants as possible. No matter what your level of cooking skill, you will enjoy this show. I do not watch reality tv generally but I do like it where you can improve your own skill level by watching these competitions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Chef - a quality show, May 23, 2010

By 

barry (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Top Chef: New York - Season 5 (DVD)

I knew of TOP CHEF but just gave it a viewing a couple of months ago when Bravo did a marathon of season four - the Chicago episodes. I never thought I would enjoy a show about cooking but this show pulled me in right away and got me totally addicted. I of course had to then purchase this season taking place in New York. And what a perfect location for a show about chefs. There are so many reality shows on today but there are those rare few that rise levels above the others. TOP CHEF is one of those. It takes cooking seriously and while we get to know the contestants intimately throughout the season the food is the highlight. I am so impressed at how they mold both facets together so perfectly.

Each episode starts off right away with a quickfire challenge which tests particular skills and talents a chef should possess. So much fun and informative. Then we have the elimination challenge. These are always very creative. What is so appealing about this show is the contestants all have some chef experience and the challenges have the cooks cooking food of al different styles. I in no way cook elegant cuisine though I do enjoy eating out. But here the challenges are so creative that anyone who uses a kitchen will find fun new ways to cook. They come up with everything from the basics to haute cuisine. And I have gained such high admiration for chefs and how difficult, challenging and skilled the job is.

I also think this season is a perfect combination of a great show with perfect contestants. We have all personalities and pure entertainment is provided. Stefan, Carla, Ariane, Jamie, Jeff and of course Fabio all stood out for me. And add the perfect judges Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons and magic happens. Some reality shows get off on judges being overly harsh as a gimmick. Judges here are tough but honest and respectful. So bottom line TOP CHEF provides a reality show of the highest caliber that will educate you about cooking, introduce you to some amazing people and pull you in obsessively to the final challenge. I find each episode so chock full of fun and info and great challenges that I will own each season they sell for I know I will watch each season again. Highly recommend this series and particularly this season.