After working under one of D.C.’s biggest culinary stars and getting on “Top Chef” twice, Mike Isabella is ready to be a brand name.
The Washington-area chef left Jose Andres’ Zaytinya this summer to start working on his Italian eatery Graffiato, which will open in spring 2011.
“I have a great relationship with Jose, he offered to do the project with me, but at the end of the day it would be under his tutelage and it would be under his control,” Isabella said. So, instead, Isabella is working with business partner Bryan Voltaggio, also from “Top Chef” season 6, to create a two-story Penn Quarter establishment that serves Italian-American cuisine and late-night pizzas — all while appearing on “Top Chef: All Stars.” The first episode of the show aired Wednesday.
“This season with the ‘All-Stars’ there’s no throwaways,” he told Yeas & Nays. “If you have a bad day or not as a good day as someone else, you go home.”
On Wednesday, the chefs were told to remake the dish that got them eliminated the first time they appeared on the Bravo series. For Isabella that meant making leeks into a meal.
“I thought I had the toughest challenge, I thought I should have been in the winner’s circle [Wednesday] night, but that’s just typical Mike Isabella, I always think I’m the best and I always think I’m on the top,” Isabella said.
And after all of this? He says there could be a cookbook on the way, but with a caveat.
“I don’t want to do it unless it’s my own, or I was going to be on the cover, and I’ll be on the cover of mine,” he said.
