TV SHOWS: Jason Stratton on Top Chef!

Jason Stratton (Photo Bravo TV)

Seattle's Jason Stratton (General Manager/Executive Chef, Mamnoon) will be on season 13 of Top Chef! The two-night premiere airs Wednesday, December 2nd and Thursday, December 3rd on Bravo. Top Chef will be road tripping across the Golden State of California with stops in San Diego, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Oakland and San Francisco. Padma, Tom, Gail, Richard and Emeril will be judging the chefs culinary creations through their six-city expedition.

Check out the Top Chef Season 13 preview! Top Chef California: West Coast Here We Come!

Here is Jason's bio from Bravo's Top Chef website:

AGE: 35
HOMETOWN: Seattle, WA
PROFESSION: General Manager/Executive Chef, Mamnoon
CULINARY EDUCATION: No formal training; Worked under the mentorship of great chefs including Bruce Naftaly (Le Gourmand), Holly Smith (Cafe Juanita) and Jerry Traunfeld (Poppy)
FAVORITE SIMPLE FALL RECIPE: Bagna Caoda Flan with Sunchoke Puree

Jason Stratton started in the kitchen at age 16 working as a dishwasher for the "Godfather of Northwest cuisine" Bruce Naftaly where he was immersed in seasonal cooking. While applying to graduate school for poetry, he secured a Sous Chef position with Holly Smith at Cafe Juanita which sparked his long love of regional Italian cuisine. He would later helm the celebrated Spinasse in Seattle, where he was awarded "2010 Food & Wine Best New Chef" after just 6 months in the position.  He went on to open Artusi, a Bon Apetít Best New Restaurant in 2012, and Aragona, a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2014 before taking on his current role of General Manager and Executive Chef for Mamnoon.

I can't wait for the start of Season 13 of Top Chef, and I wish Jason Stratton the best of luck!

FOOD NEWS: COCHON 555 - 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers

COCHON 555 is a culinary competition and tasting event. The event features 5 chefs, 5 pigs and 5 winemakers. The purpose is to promote sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs. The competition will be visiting ten cities across the country, which offers local farmers the opportunity to connect with like-minded agriculturalists, renowned chefs and the pork-loving public. The goal of COCHON 555 is to help family farms sustain and expand their businesses and to encourage breed diversity. This is the only heritage breed pig culinary competition in the country.

The Seattle COCHON 555 will feature five amazing, local chefs:

John Sundstrom - Lark

Holly Smith - Cafe Juanita

Rachel Yang - Joule/Revel

Ethan Stowel - How to Cook a Wolf

Jason Stratton - Spinasse

The five pigs are still yet to be selected from local farms.

The five Winemakers at Seattle COCHON 555:

Syncline Wine Cellars

Elk Cove Vineyards

K Vinters

Scott Paul Wines

Domaine Serene

The chefs will each prepare a 150-175 pound heritage breed hog from head to toe for this friendly competition. Guests and local judges will determine a winner based on presentation, utilization and overall best flavor.

Seattle COCHON 555 will be held at The Westin Seattle at 1900 5th Avenue on Sunday, February 20, 2011. General admission starts at 5:00pm, VIP admission starts at 3:30pm. You can purchase tickets here.

The other nine locations of COCHON 555 are: New York City, Boston, Napa, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and San Francisco.

More info can be found at the COCHON 555 website.