Hello chefs! For this challenge, you will have 15 minutes to prepare a five-course meal, which symbolizes your greatest weakness as a human being. But here’s the catch: you’ll each be making this meal using a simple camping stove while floating down the Colorado River in an inflatable raft.

I kid, but I could envision this as a legitimate future challenge on Bravo’s hit reality TV show, Top Chef, which puts 17 highly skilled chefs into a competitive culinary pressure cooker. Even more insane, within minutes you’ll see chefs dusting arctic char with fennel pollen, brunoised purple top turnips flying about, a filet au poivre swimming in a shiitake demi-glace, ceviches steeped in citron vinegar, a deconstructed béarnaise and possibly a sherry-kumquat emulsion or two.

Needless to say, it won’t take long for you to realize that these chefs are not just good, they’re culinary wonders. Perhaps that’s why it feels so gratifying that two of this season’s cheftestants hail from our beloved Philadelphia. I sat down with Jen Zavala and Jennifer Carroll to talk about Philly’s dining scene and what Top Chef is really like.
 

The Road to Philly
Both in their early 30s, Carroll and Zavala have few things in common besides having been introduced to the kitchen at a very young age, their determination to make a mark in the culinary world and that both were chosen out of 53,000 candidates to compete on Top Chef Season 6. Actually, that's all they have in common.

Carroll comes across as a consummate professional, both on TV and in reality, while the heavily tattooed and pierced Zavala couples an effortless smile with a sailor’s tongue. Carroll took a well-paved road to success: she graced the halls of the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College and Eric Ripert’s famed Le Bernardin kitchen in Manhattan before getting her current spot at the Ritz Carlton's 10 Arts. Self-taught Zavala had a bumpier and longer journey: catering as a “rock ‘n roll chef” for Ozzfest, dabbling with BBQ in North Carolina, opening up her own Nuevo Latino 160-seat restaurant in LA at the age of 25 and returning to Philly to work at Silk City and Amada simultaneously, Deuce, as head chef at El Camino Real and now as sous chef at Xochitl.

Their blaringly divergent progressions to the culinary world resulted in absolutely different cooking styles. Carroll is a more technical chef, paying attention to every minute detail to create something “very simple and delicate but, at the same time, full of flavor.” Zavala's cooking is more spontaneous. “I don’t like recipes,” explains Zavala about her love of experimenting to find surprising flavor combinations. “You might not think of it,” she says of her dishes, “but you definitely won’t forget it.”

In the spring of last year, Zavala and Carroll crossed paths in the Las Vegas desert when both chefs were selected to showcase their skills on America’s No. 1 competitive cooking show.
 
 

Cooking in the Desert
A Bravo executive was required to listen in and monitor my conversation with Carroll, as she is still a contestant on the show and somewhat of a protected Bravo commodity (given she knows who wins). But I was set on finding out if Top Chef was all real or entertainment; I wanted to know the prime-time secrets.

Zavala revealed a thing or two about the scripted elements of the show. "You think [the show] works a certain way when you’re watching it on TV but behind the scenes, that’s not really how they roll," leaks Zavala. Product placement for advertisers was a scripted addition and huge annoyance to Zavala. "‘I’m going to use my GladWare® when I put away my mis-en-place.’ Do I say that s&%^ when I’m cooking everyday? No I don’t." And the after-show interviews to pry out drama about women in the kitchen made no sense on a cooking show, says Zavala. "For me, it was a distraction from the competition. I don’t care about drama, who’s kissing, who’s making out, GladWare®, cars. I don’t care about that stuff. Let’s focus on what we’re here for.”

But for all her complaints, Zavala confirms that the cooking aspect of the show is far from fake. “The challenges, the situations, those are real," she says. "27 seconds to shop for a five course meal at Whole Foods? That’s absolutely real. Standing in front of the judges table and whatever, that’s all real. Worrying that you’re completely humiliating yourself on national television is real," she laughs.

The competition was as real as it could get. "You don’t know where anything is,” explains Carroll of working on the set kitchens. "You have no idea what the product or the scene is going to be, and you have nobody working with you on your team. It’s you against everybody else.” For Zavala, the experience on Top Chef seemed unfair; she was impressed with the skill level of the other contestants but was disappointed most of the chefs on the show were already head of their game, instead of up-and-coming artists looking to hone their skills. Eliminated after the first episode, she really didn’t have a chance to prove her skills--a misunderstood seitan-stuffed chile relleno would end any hope of Zavala’s Top Chef quest for skill refinement.

Back to Broad Street
With the filming of Top Chef complete, both chefs have returned to the city with somewhat back-to-normal lives. “Some people are starting to recognize me,” Carroll says, “but I haven’t changed, my personality is still the same in the kitchen with all my guys. It’s just being recognized on the street, it’s a little weird, but I’m starting to get used to it," which is a good thing considering the attention she is accruing at 10 Arts on Wednesday nights for the Top Chef viewing parties. Zavala is keeping low at Xochitl after returning home, streamlining her passion and experimentation. “I think I just want to focus on one kind of food,” she explains.

Both chefs, however, can still be found dining at their favorite restaurants in Philly, a city they describe with love and passion. “I love Philadelphia,” Carroll says. “I think the dining scene, within the past five years, has grown amazingly and there are so many good places to eat." But Carroll and Zavala both think Philly is underestimated. "It’s a shame that Philadelphia doesn’t get all of the acclaim that it really needs," explains Carroll. "It gets shattered by D.C. and New York. People don’t give Philadelphia the credit that it truly deserves." But Philly is on the rise, says Zavala. “It’s crazy to see how much the city has evolved just in the last five years. When I first came to see it, I felt like Philadelphia was like the uncharted city; it was as gritty as the lower east side used to be like 12 years ago. Everyone was heavily tattooed and no one blinked an eye. I loved the grittiness of the people, the realness of the community and I was just feeling the vibe . . . I plan on being here for a while and I hope to raise my son here. Gunshots aside, I love what Philadelphia has going on.”

Carroll and Zavala have already made our city proud and helped to improve our culinary street cred. Next time I’m left with half an hour to prepare a meal with only a can of beans, a few bananas and a blow torch, I know just who to call.

Quick Facts
	Jennifer Carroll	Jennifer Zavala
Age	33	31
Hometown	Philadelphia, Pa	Cromwell, Ct
School	The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College	Self taught (some training at the Culinary Institute of America)
Where to find them	Chef de Cuisine 10 Arts by Eric Ripert	Sous Chef, Xochitl
Favorite summer recipe	Compressed Watermelon, Chesapeake Bay Jumbo Lump Crab, Fennel Pollen and Wild Boar Prosciutto Chips.	Fiddle Head Ferns Sautéed in Butter Garlic Wine and Crushed Red Pepper.
Favorite Philly eats	Zahav, Vetri, Osteria, “all of Jose’s places,”, Mémé	El Camino Real, Vetri, Osteria, Zahav, Mémé, Amada, Distrito, Sang Kee, Porky’s Point, the Taco Loco truck on 4th and Washington, Paesano’s
Last meal	“The macaroni and cheese that my Mom used to cook for me every year on my birthday, maybe some angel food cake for dessert. I would be with my entire family, both of my sisters, and my Mom and Dad in the house [where] I grew up.”	“I would have fried chicken, that’s what I would have… like fried chicken, potato salad, corn, and homemade muffins or cornbread. Just really comforty food. To stay true to my Mexican side, I’d throw in a couple of homemade tortillas and maybe some pickled jalapeños. And I’d have it with my family on the beach.”