Welcome to Brooklyn, bitches. (Bravo)

Artisinal pickle makers, put down your tempeh and perk up your ears! <em>Top Chef</em> is casting for its 11th season, and will be looking for Brooklynites to add to the show. And where better to hold the quick-fire audition than at Chef alumnus Dale Talde's new Park Slope restaurant? But what kind of foodies can we expect to show up for the challenge?

- 1o contestants with food trucks.

-Petite Crevette's Neil Ganic, who will be throwing live lobsters at the judges.

- Eddie Huang, obviously.

- Sun in Bloom's Aimee Follette, who will only cook gluten-free bites, no matter how much Padma Lakshmi explains the rules to her.

-Chris Woehrle, who will just be a total jerk.

-Anyone who has the ability to brine shit.

- The entire Brooklyn Food Coalition.

- The Empanada Lady.

-Anyone with a mason jar and a dream.

Only three hours earlier, when the fish had been delivered at over three times their intended size, threatening to ruin her main course, Becerra hadn’t lost her cool. “The norm is chaos, so we embrace it,” she said.

And Becerra, a former restaurant owner and Top Chef contestant, is making her career on that chaos.

She and friend Lelaine Lau decided to inaugurate their traveling restaurant series, "the Cookery," this summer. Each event is scheduled in a different venue-- ranging from established hotels to artists’ lofts-- with an original five-course menu. There's no permanent wait staff, no kitchen supplies, no backup ingredients. Over the course of a single day Becerra must acclimate to a new kitchen, train her helpers, and cook a gourmet meal. Guests purchase their $128 tickets before they know the venue, the menu, or anything else.

Becerra didn’t question the practicality of creating a restaurant in a single day; nor did her guests, who gladly forked over five star prices for a meal that was far from a guaranteed success. They inhabit a world where, Lau told us, there’s “fatigue around the word ‘pop-ups,’” and novelty equals quality.

Originality pays-- word has gotten out surprisingly fast.  Already, upcoming Cookery events are sold out, and there's even a whisper of an "in-development" TV show.

“The show is meant to be very New York-centric,” Becerra told The Observer, although she was contractually obligated not to say much more. “The show is basically based on these dinner parties from acquiring the product to the end of the night."

Becerra's no newcomer to the restaurant scene. She began working on events after her Brooklyn restaurant, Paloma, burned down.  “At the time I was heartbroken,” she said. “I had put everything I had into it, and I had nothing.”  She seems to think that collaborating with most corporate partners, a near necessity in opening a new restaurant, would be akin to communing with the devil. “Manhattan has become so corporate that I can’t just say, ‘I love cooking, and I want to open a restaurant by myself,’ as I did in Brooklyn,” she said. “That couldn’t happen anymore.”

The “peek-a-boo” dinner series, as she calls The Cookery, is more about the atmosphere than the food itself. "I love the romance of going to different places all the time-- floating around, drifting from one end of the city to another, throwing these little intimate dinner parties,” she said.

And Becerra embodies the feeling she wants to convey in her food.  She's someone who carts her groceries from the farmers' market in bags tumbling around the back of her Vespa.  "I feel like I'm flying," she told The Observer in a far-off tone.

The day of a pop-up event at the boutique Gild Hall hotel in the Financial District, Becerra met The Observer at the farmers' market.

"I saw these little spiky flowers, and I don't know what they are, but I want to make centerpieces out of them," she told us. Five minutes later, The Observer was carrying a plastic bag punctured with tiny snags from the thistle-like petals of some Echinops sphaerocephalus.

Becerra didn't need a shopping list. There was no readily apparent method to her wandering from shop to shop. But she knew what she wanted.

“To always have a new menu and to always tackle something new is so awesome to me,” she said. “I think I’d whither if I had to make mashed potatoes and chicken sandwiches every day.”

Mashed potatoes and chicken sandwiches, incidentally, were being prepared back in the hotel kitchen, though not for the Cookery.  The room service staff skirted around the Cookery chefs, amused by their relative finesse.

"It's my birthday tomorrow," Becerra confided, grinning almost guiltily at The Observer, as she arranged celery in a vase.

Out in the hotel dining room, the lights were low, and Eurythmics’s "Sweet Dreams," repeated on the stereo, playing softly.  There were Becerra’s “spiky” flower centerpieces, at once quirky and elegant.

As Lau delivered instructions rapid-fire (she's someone who knows what she's doing and wants you to know it, too), Becerra rattled off her courses, taking time to note unnecessary details and address the servers-- strangers, for the most part-- by name. First course, paddlefish roe with petals. Second course, “cuchifritos,” ("a take on my Latin heritage,” Becerra said.).  Third course, a watermelon and tomato salad and a zucchini blossom flatbread. Fourth course, the dramatic striped bass and a gypsy salad.

As the guests trickled in, Becerra peeked into the dining room. “Did you go outside?” she asked The Observer. “They’re so cute, right?! Everyone’s so pretty!”

Pretty or, well, colorful. African tribal garb, a pink (Gatsby-esque?) suit, and a few skullcaps graced the dining room alongside the more typical cocktail dresses and business suits.  A friend of Becerra’s, who said he was a producer, rubbed the bare chest of another guest while musing on the relative merits of waiters and pool boys in bed.  A flustered hotel waitress rushed back and forth every few minutes, refilling her tray of red gin cocktails.

It soon became clear that the Cookery doesn't hurry things. Half an hour was allocated for mingling, and the event, slated to begin at 8:00, was still going well into the morning. Guests, who were assigned to large tables of friends and strangers, chatted loudly, collapsing on one another in fits of laughter. Part booze (almost every course came with a specialty cocktail), part ambience-- Becerra had stirred up her "romance."

The kitchen's euphoria, though, dwarfed the dining room’s excitement.  In the final minutes of dinner service, Becerra was all smiles. "And now I can go partay for mah birthday!" she shouted.  She made a dirty joke, and, doubling over in laughter, told The Observer not to print it. "Kitchen pressure release," Brian Sullivan, pastry chef for the night, explained.

Becerra sprinted home to her apartment, and by the time she returned-- cleaned up in a white cocktail dress-- guests broke from eating their flaugnarde and gaznates on couches in the upstairs event space to sing a heartfelt rendition of Happy Birthday. She circled the room, thanking her guests for coming and asking them about their lives. A singer named “Polystylez (The Real Adonis)” played guitar.

"Sometimes I feel like everybody leaped off the galaxy to go live somewhere on MySpace. I no longer have a sense of what’s reality, looking on my iPhone at a Facebook page, yeah. Just wanna ask, anybody left living: What ever happened to the human race?” he crooned.

That sentiment seemed to fit into the tiny world Becerra’s trying to create.  After all, it’s what Becerra is setting the scene for—genuine, if fleeting, interaction.

One guest, lounging on the couch in front of The Observer, extracted his arm from behind a swaying girl to upload a blackberry picture to Facebook.

Is anyone out there suffering from a little post traumatic thanksgiving stress disorder? We understand! And, we suggest you check out 1995’s Home for the Holidays. Holly Hunter stars as a single parent (her daughter is played by Claire Danes, who mainly just chatters about wanting to lose her virginity!) who was recently fired after having an affair with her boss and slinks home for Thanksgiving. Her gay brother is (a truly excellent) Robert Downey Jr.; her stuck-up sister is played by Cynthia Stevenson; her mother is the great Anne Bancroft  and Dylan McDermott shows up to add a little sexual intrigue. Along with Little Man Tate, this is the second and most recent movie directed by Jodie Foster. Do more, Jodie! Oh, and if you happen to enjoy random trivia as much as we do: the filming of the Thanksgiving dinner itself took more than ten days, with 64 turkeys, 20 pounds of mashed potatoes, 35 pounds of stuffing, 44 pies, 30 pounds of sweet potatoes, and 18 bags of mini-marshmallows. Thanks, Wikipedia! [8 p.m., WGNAME]

Tuesday: Parenthood

We defy anyone to come up with a better putting-the-fun-in-family-dysfunction movie like 1989’s Parenthood--for us, Ron Howard’s very best. Steve Martin, Diane Wiest, Harley Kozak and Amadeus’s Tom Hulce star as four very different siblings, each with slightly messed up kids. Jason Robards is the patriarch! Martha Plimpton dates a dummy by the name of Keanu Reeves! Joaquin Phoenix was still credited as Leaf! Oh, it was a better time indeed. In addition to some serious sentimental sniffling, there are some good sight gags (that’s not a flashlight, it’s a vibrator!), excellent dialogue, balloon animals, and a kid named Cool.  What more could you people possibly want? [2:15 p.m., ENC]

Wednesday: Top Chef

It’s part one of the finale of this season of Top Chef, which sends our little white coats out of Las Vegas to Napa, which can only be seen as an improvement. Here’s who we still got left in this race: the very cute ginger-beard Kevin, who must really cook some delicious meals as he keeps winning on seemingly simple dishes. Which brings us to the Voltaggio brothers, who we still can’t totally tell apart except that one of them brings an extra serving of hate to every dish he touches. Seriously, these dudes are mad! And, the lone lady cheft-testant is Jennifer, who seems to be losing her mind but we’re hoping she pulls it together in California. Can’t wait to see Tom’s Northern California clothes! [10 p.m., Bravo]

Thursday: Private Practice

It’s embarrassing enough to still be watching Grey’s Anatomy (no judgments, us too!), now how about copping to that Private Practice habit? While the show has never retained the tension of last season’s cliffhanger (which revolved around a baby getting ripped out of Amy Brenneman), it still has pretty people to look at, like Tim Daly and Taye Diggs, and we’re interested in who else is left for Kate Walsh to hook up with. But first! Tonight is a very special episode, two hours long, and staring Stephen Collins as Addison’s slimy rich bastard father. Which is some awesome casting as Mr. Collins is the uber-Christian good dad from 7^th Heaven. Also? We think Violet sleeps with him, which should really make work unpleasant, especially when JoBeth Williams shows up to play Addison’s mom. Oh whatever,  there isn’t a new episode of Grey’s on till 2010. [9 p.m., ABC]

Friday: Mamma Mia!

Where to begin with this one? We're guessing with Meryl Streep, who truly is the greatest actress of all time, and proves it by really  going for it on this movie. She sings and dances, and is totally believable as a woman who slept with three men, all in one short time frame, making it impossible to know who the father of her grown-up daughter is, played by Big Love’s Amanda Seyfried (who we love and think should be a very very big star). The three daddy contenders are played by Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, and Stellan Skarsgård (real life father of super hot Eric from True Blood) and Christine Baranski shows up just to be awesome. We just can’t stress enough how truly bananas this movie is. Like, it is maybe the craziest thing in the entire world? If you don’t take drugs, trust us, you won’t need ‘em to feel loopy while watching. Also, how was Meryl Streep not cast in Nine? [7 p.m., HBO]

“It’s about time!” exclaimed Zak Miller, pastry chef at Kefi, Gus & Gabriel and Anthos (where his specialties include a concoction involving beet yogurt and tahini). “I may try out,” he said. “I haven’t decided yet. I guess it’s a six-week shoot, so I’m not sure if I can be away from work that long, Our general manager is like, ‘Do it! You should do it!’ I talked to a friend of mine in pastry”—at L’Atelier de Joel Roubochon—“and she said she’s going to try out, so we may go together.”

“I’m still in the process of finding out exactly what’s the deal,” said Gilt pastry chef David Carmichael, who has already logged many appearances on Today and the Food Network and been named among the top 10 pastry chefs in the country. “I would love to become a judge if Just Desserts is more for the beginner. But if they’re just doing anyone, I might consider that as well. … I was even coming up with ideas of challenges I wish I’d get hit with, like maybe one where you’re not allowed to use any measuring devices and you do everything by eye.” Mr. Carmichael hadn’t raised the idea yet with his bosses, but he was confident they’d be supportive if he were cast. “I have four assistants,” he said. “I can easily guide them by phone.”

A Bravo source said the network had not yet settled on an air date or judges for the show, but that it would consider everyone from elite chefs down to cupcake bakery owners. The casting call, like several others around the nation, will be a meet-and-greet with casting directors and not a baking competition.

Pastry, which involves art, science and recipes more than speed and improvisation, will probably require some tinkering with the Top Chef formula. “It’s considered a science, absolutely,” said Colleen Grapes, pastry chef at the Harrison and the Red Cat. “If you’re half a teaspoon off with something, your cupcake can explode.” 

“Pastry chefs are planners,” said Mr. Miller of Kefi. Many have backgrounds or at least interest in the visual arts.

Still, for all their training and artistry, and despite the fact that “we are the ones who finish the meal, and generally, if things aren’t as grand as the meal, it’s the last thing people remember”—as Gotham Bar & Grill’s well-regarded pastry chef, Deborah Racicot, put it—pastry chefs have long been the “red-headed stepchildren of the restaurant industry,” said Ms. Grapes, laboring 10 to 16 hours a day in obscurity as so-called “savory” chefs brand themselves in television appearances and get book deals. The recession has made full-time pastry jobs even harder to come by, according to several chefs, and pastry chefs’ pay caps off at $50,000 or $60,000, about half what the higher-paid executive chefs make. It’s also almost unheard of for a pastry chef to be made a partner in a restaurant, as is now common among the best savory chefs. “The constant battle that pastry chefs face is that we always want to be treated as equals in terms of comparing us to the savory side of the kitchen,” said Alex Stupak, pastry chef at WD-50, who has appeared on Iron Chef. “There’s been a lot of validation that has occurred and this is just one more thing.”

Top Chef’s interest in sweet-tooth programming may have been influenced by the rise of a curious subgenre of food TV known as “wedding-cake television,” best exemplified by shows like WE’s Amazing Wedding Cakes—the second-season premiere of which drew 1.1 million viewers (the latest season of Top Chef has been drawing 2.8, by comparison, according to Nielsen)—TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off and Food Network Challenges like Extreme Cakes and Princess Cakes. In place of makeovers, reality television is now dominated by extreme-weight-loss shows on the one hand and, on the other, massive edible confections designed to look like specific buildings in Barcelona or like Snow White. But Top Chef until now has been “pretty much panna cotta,” said BLT Steak pastry chef Erica Hanson, since savory chefs often find themselves at a loss when faced with flour, butter and eggs. “The number of times they’ve made scallops and panna cotta on that show is ridiculous,” she said.

Some more experienced pastry chefs sniffed at reality TV. “‘Oh, I’m going to make it big, I’m going to become a superstar!’” said Ms. Racicot, of Gotham Bar & Grill. “That should not be why you entered this industry.”

“I’m beyond that, I don’t want to do television or competition anymore,” said Pichet Ong, who years ago left Jean Georges’ employ to open the now-shuttered sweet/savory destination P*ong (he has several new venues in the works). “Maybe for judging,” he added.

And others argue that the grueling artistry of pastry would be lost amid the necessary drama of reality television. “At the end of the day, the show has to be entertaining,” said Mr. Stupak of WD-50. “Sometimes a decision will be made to keep conflict going to the very end. There have been some great chefs on that show who keep a very low profile. You’re better off being one of the two people who’ve been fighting like cats and dogs the entire time. …” Still, he allowed that “it does seem like it can change your life. Rick Bayless just won Top Chef Masters, and he’s always been successful with all his restaurants, but the word on the street is they’re freakishly busy now.”

And who knows, maybe the sugar will be flying! “In every place I’ve ever worked,” Ms. Grapes said, “they’ve all said that pastry chefs are absolutely crazy.”

mbryan@observer.com

Recent Top Chef champ Hosea Rosenberg showed off his chops, whipping up small plates of shrimp and coconut rice, at a cooking demonstration outside the Flatiron Building on Friday afternoon, March 27.

No sign of Leah Cohen, Mr. Rosenberg’s rumored love interest on the popular Bravo reality TV series. (Perhaps Centro Vinoteca is running a killer lunch special or something.)

After the demo, the chrome-domed 35-year-old top toque from Taos, N.M., and his colleague, prior Top Chef contestant Nikki Cascone, co-owner of the Soho restaurant 24 Prince, signed autographs and hawked promotional items for the show, including the curiously phrased (and apparently top-selling) t-shirt: “I HAVE A CULINARY BONER.”

I asked Mr. Rosenberg, “Do you?”

“Always,” he told the Daily Transom, “any time I do something like this.”

“What is that exactly?” I inquired of the cheeky term.

 “What gives me a culinary boner? Or what is a culinary boner?” replied Mr. Rosenberg, who was also sporting a pair of leopard-print shades.

Either!

“It’s just being really excited about your work,” he explained. “It’s about being passionate about what you do. I think there’s a lot of people in different lines of work who don’t get boners.”

“We get twisted excited over things,” Ms. Cascone chimed in. “Like when the seasons change and we see great produce in the market. We get boners over that.”

Everyone complains about the lack of decent sitcoms on television right now, but there are a few winners out there: How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, 30 Rock. We aren't totally prepared to bump The Big Bang Theory into the all-star category yet, but with a little more time, it may just get there. Four nerds, a beautiful woman, lots of science puns: it's cute. It's also pure as the driven snow, given that none of the guys seems to have done so much as hold a girl's hand. [CBS, 8pm]

Tuesday: Brokeback Mountain

Many of us loved Heath Leger for his roles in the underrated Ten Things I Hate About You and Lords of Dogtown,  among other films.

Monday: The Big Bang Theory

Everyone complains about the lack of decent sitcoms on television right now, but there are a few winners out there: How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, 30 Rock. We aren't totally prepared to bump The Big Bang Theory into the all-star category yet, but with a little more time, it may just get there. Four nerds, a beautiful woman, lots of science puns: it's cute. It's also pure as the driven snow, given that none of the guys seems to have done so much as hold a girl's hand. [CBS, 8pm]

Tuesday: Brokeback Mountain

Many of us loved Heath Leger for his roles in the underrated Ten Things I Hate About You and Lords of Dogtown,  among other films. But Brokeback Mountain put him on the map. You've probably seen it before, but watch it again now and compare his sensitive, nearly-silent Ennis Del Mar to his terrifying, delirious Joker in The Dark Knight. Amazing. [HBO 2, 8pm]

Wednesday: Top Chef

The New York season of the Tom and Padma hosted cooking contest has showcased mostly mediocre food, banal personalities, and the Whole Foods on Houston. Still, we can't stop watching. Tonight is super-sized, and superbowl-tastic, with seven  star contestants from previous seasons making chili frito pie and the like. We don't care so much about football, but we  do like the foods! [Bravo, 10pm]

Thursday: Golden Girls

Did you realize that reruns of the most hilarious, adorable show about old people on television air on Lifetime? We didn't either! If you need to fill up your DVR, start taping at 8pm, and remember why you, your mom and your grandma loved this show in the 80s. [Lifetime, 8pm]

Friday: The New World

Although there is some talking in The New World, we like to call it the best silent movie of the modern age. Clocking in at 150 minutes, Terrence Malick's film about Captain John Smith and Pocahontas features an impressive cast of actors-Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale-few lines are spoken; the movie is as much a tribute to nature as it is a portrait of early America, with long, dreamy shots of the marshy reeds of the Virginia coast and the forests around Jamestown.  It's no Days of Heaven, but we'll recommend anything by the incomparably talented Mr. Malick. [IFC, 4pm]

Why? Well, Bravo's reality shows excel at presenting contestants with dumb challenges made slightly less dumb by involving some amount of cool (see also the drag queen challenge on the last season of Project Runway). So we have the genial, feel-good Foo Fighters, a band it seems is almost impossible to hate. Some dislike Dave Grohl for having a good time after the suicide of former bandmate Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and especially for being successful, and rock nerds like to point out he wasn't the original drummer anyway, maaan, but those types hate everything. Oh the other reason is that, according to Dave Grohl, the band members are "fans of Top Chef... we watch it a lot!"

Moving on, wait! This dumb challenge has dumb twists! After a preliminary Quickfire challenge that was notable only for its use of double product placement (Top Chef cookbooks and Swanson broth), "the Foos" appeared (via TV screen) to lay out the challenge: Cook for the band and its crew, paying attention to the official show rider for likes and dislikes (likes include such culinary oddities as "bacon"), and deal with the unrelenting crapitude of the fake privated kitchen the show set up to mess with the chefs. The winner gets to see the Foos play their awesome rockin' show, and the losers have to clean up all the dishes (one wonders who cleans up on every other episode).

As a Spoon song played (is that ironic somehow?), Team Sexy Pants and Team Cougar (yes, in reference to the team's hot older woman: she's 41) faced off to see who would make something totally crummy. The guy making s'mores kept complaining about how tough this challenge was. I wonder if his s'mores turned out bad? The Foos showed up, and someone noted they "look like rock stars," which must have made the band sigh in relief, though another contestant called Tom "Tom-bear-hottie-icon-Colicchio," which is arguably greater praise.

As the band ate and made comments, we learned (again) that Dave Grohl loves bacon, and is also (sorry) quite a ham. His goofy sidekick Taylor Hawkins shared such crits as "I just don't like figs and stuff in my stuffing" and "I don't like pumpkin foam" and "I don't usually even order dessert," while Grohl ruled the night with the simple summation "no more BARFAITS!" Meanwhile the guy who used to be in Sunny Day Real Estate made more serious comments and loved the vegan stuffing (typical!), while Padma put on a kind of devil-may-care burnout act clearly in an attempt to look cool for the band.

The big drama last week was when Padma spit up some overly sweet bit of glop, and this week spit made another cameo, first when Padma made a face a lot like the spit up face, but then managed to not spit, and then when Grohl noted that the vanilla cream on his s'more looked a lot like spit. Next week? more spitting in preview!

Anyway, Team Cougar barfait-ed and spat their way to cleanup duty, and s'mores dude (Richard) packed his knives and went, in tears. Sad, especially when he mentioned he'd tried out three times to be on the show. The Foos won the dumb cel phone poll asking who viewers dumb enough to vote in a Top Chef poll would most want to cook them Thanksgiving dinner. Duh, those guys are famous. In other news, the band recently announced it was taking a long break from touring. Related?

Also, did you know Mr. Colicchio is a sex symbol? We didn't, but the Mr. Clean lookalike's alleged hotness seems to have been a theme of the interview. An explanation, via Grub Street:

Tom on why he’s a sex symbol: “It’s safe to assume more women watch the show than men, or at least straight men…”

Padma on Tom’s sexiness: “I think it’s because of Tom’s authority. I think there’s something very sexy about authority, and Tom dispenses his authority very lightly.”

Things got even steamier when they started in on the food: 

Padma on the sexiness of food: “Food is very sensual — it’s very physical. It’s also something that includes all the senses — the touch, when it’s in your mouth (the mouth feel is what they call it, I guess), the smells, the sights, all of it. It’s very, very sexy and seductive."

Tom on same: “The act of cooking is what’s really sensual — it’s the ultimate foreplay if you’re cooking for somebody. There’s no better way to lube someone’s heart.”

As if all that isn't enough to get you to tune in, the interview reminded us that self-proclaimed Graydon Carter nemesis Toby Young will be taking Ted Allen's place on the regular judging panel. If his presence is half as entertaining as it is inexplicable, we're sure this will be the best season yet.

P.S. If you happen to be someone who understands this whole sex symbol thing, Mr. Colicchio will be eating dinner and watching the season premiere at his Chelsea spot, Craftsteak, this Wednesday. 

So far, the chefs have pretty much kept to themselves, said an extremely well-placed source, leaving around 8 or 9 in the mornings for a soundstage in Greenpoint and coming straight back in the evenings.

“They’re not allowed to talk to anyone, really, or even do their own thing,” the source said. They’re trying to keep things under control before the paparazzi start camping out.”

Luckily, it sounds like they have the typical luxe reality show digs, complete with a private roof deck and a sweeping view of the city skyline, to occupy them when they are not shopping, cooking or shooting.

Though the source would not say which of the two "identical" parkview penthouses the cast is living in, a 1,368-square-foot, 16th-floor unit was sold in April for $1.4 million, according to StreetEasy. (Meanwhile the neighboring unit, 16A, is in contract for $1.295 million.)

According to the duplex floor plans on the 20 Bayard Web site, the first floor has an open-air kitchen, foyer, eating area and living room--with a balcony--and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking McCarren Park and Manhattan. The kitchen is outfitted with a 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Viking gas range with Caesar stone, and Calacutta Gold marble countertops and backsplash. The two first-floor bedrooms overlook the buildng courtyard, while the master bedroom—with a huge en suite bathroom and private terrace—occupies the entire second floor.

The sleek, American Psycho-esque standard penthouse pictured on the site is far from shabby as it is, but we’re told Bravo has done some redecorating.

“They’re already awesome, but they’ve furnished it like a celeb would,” the source said. “One wall is orange, one is gray, one is purple. They’ve got that funky Real World look going on.”

So far the cast has remained pretty incognito. Few people from neighboring buildings were even aware Top Chef was shooting in Williamsburg.

“No way,” said the cashier at Urban Rustic, an organic market down the street, who is a fan of the show. “That’s awesome.”

So will the cast do any shopping there?

“That would be cool, but I doubt it," the cashier said. "They usually give them a budget.”