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Meet the Lesbians of “Top Chef ” Season 4

You don’t have to know if lemon zest is an ingredient or a bar soap to enjoy a TV show about food, especially if the person whisking her heart out is a lesbian chef. Season 4 of Bravo’s hit reality show, Top Chef, which premieres tonight, features not one, not two, but three chefbian contestants: New Yorker Lisa Fernandes, and San Franciscans Jennifer Biesty and Zoi Antonitsas. Mouth-watering dishes, heated drama and women wielding extremely sharp knives: What more could anyone want?

How about a lesbian romance? Adding a twist to this season is the fact that Biesty and Antonitsas are longtime partners who applied knowing they’d have to out-sauté each other to win the coveted title of Top Chef.

I recently talked with all three contestants about their favorite dishes, sexism in the kitchen, and how to boil the perfect egg.

 

Lisa Fernandes

Toronto native Lisa Fernandes currently resides in New York City, one of the most culinary-rich cities in the world. She began her formal training at the age of 17, and after working at several well-known Manhattan restaurants, now hopes to open an Asian-influenced eatery that reflects her own tastes. When asked about being a female chef, Fernandes said, “Women make better chefs because we’re better multi-taskers.”

AfterEllen.com: Did you like being on a reality show? Was Top Chef your first time on television? Lisa Fernandes: Definitely my first time on TV, yes. It’s a reality show, but it’s different. It’s not like Real World. I feel strongly about my show and Project Runway, that they’re in a completely different category. People are like, “Oh, you’re on a reality TV show,” but that’s not what it is. It’s not about finding out the gossip, or putting people in stupid situations to see who sleeps with whom and who beats who up.

This is a career opportunity. People are obsessed with cooking now. The Food Network is huge and cooking shows are huge and everyone wants to cook. It’s definitely been an experience, but I would never do it again.

AE: I imagine once is enough for anybody. On Bravo’s website, I noticed that you, Jennifer and Zoi all chose lamb as your “Spring Recipe.” What’s that about? LF: ‘Cause there’s a giant conspiracy.

AE: [laughs] The Great Lamb Conspiracy of ’08. LF: No. I really don’t know. Spring lamb was the first thing that came to my mind.

AE: What’s your biggest crowd-pleasing dish? LF: Definitely a favorite of all the restaurants that I’ve worked in, and everybody that’s ever had it, is snapper rolled in kataifi dough.

AE: I think I should warn you I don’t know anything about cooking. LF: Kataifi is a kind of a shredded version of a phyllo, so essentially, you wrap a piece of fish in it and fry it, and it looks like a giant piece of shredded wheat.

AE: It sounds great, even if I can’t spell it. LF: It’s the best.

AE: Did everyone on the show know that Jen and Zoi were a couple, or was it kept on the down low? LF:We weren’t told ahead of time that they were a couple, that’s for sure. But I could kind of tell just by watching the way they were interacting.

AE: Asian cuisine is one of your biggest influences. Do you have a favorite? LF:I think it’s probably a tie between Thai and Vietnamese. There’s a lot of spice, a lot of fish sauce, lime. I like the balance when it’s all done: sweet, salty, savory, spicy, all together.

AE: Did you see the recent article in The New York Times about MSG? Chinese restaurants have gotten the brunt of its bad press for years – they still make those “No MSG” disclaimers, but apparently, MSG is everywhere. LF: Yeah, MSG is in tons of stuff. People don’t realize it’s in Doritos.

AE: Do restaurants use MSG? LF: I worked in one restaurant that used MSG in very small amounts for very specific things like marinades. But a lot of places will say that they don’t use it, but you can tell [they do]. For me, I kind of get a high off of it. I get hyper and crazy, and then I crash. I get a headache.

AE: So, you’re against MSG? LF: I think if you can’t make a good chicken and broccoli without MSG, then you shouldn’t be making chicken and broccoli.

AE: If only we could make that a law. LF: [laughs]

AE: As a chef, do you think vegetarians and vegans are missing out? So many dishes involve meat or dairy. LF: It’s what [vegetarians and vegans] want to eat, but I could never do it. Half of the dishes I love take pork and beef and lamb and all that. If I couldn’t eat meat, I don’t think I’d be too happy about food.

AE: Would you ever date a vegetarian? LF: Definitely not.

AE: Have you ever cooked for a woman as a way to impress her? LF: Absolutely.

AE: But then you’ve raised the bar and they’ll expect something awesome every time. LF: [laughs] That’s fine. I can hold my own.

AE: When you get home, though, aren’t you sick of cooking? LF:I can be. If I’ve worked a 10-hour day and I’m exhausted [but] I meet up with my girlfriend, if I know that making her a dish that she really likes is going to make her happy, then I will do it.

AE: You sound like a catch. LF: Making my girlfriend happy is up on my list.

AE: That’s nice to hear. Does your girlfriend cook for you? LF: Occasionally.

AE: Is she a professional chef, too? LF: No, she’s not a chef. She’s looking at me really funny right now.

AE: What’s your favorite meal that she makes for you? LF: I don’t know. [speaks to girlfriend] What’s my favorite meal that you make for me? [pause] Yes you do, don’t lie.

AE: Put her on the phone. LF: [speaks to girlfriend] She wants to talk to you. [laughs] She makes awesome pasta. She has a very strange method to cooking. I watch her, and I have to leave because I just can’t watch it.

AE: How does one make pasta a “strange” way? LF: She puts vinegar in the water. And salt, which is normal, but she puts vinegar in the water, which I’ve never seen before. And then sometimes she’ll throw the pasta in and the water’s not even boiling yet, and I’m expecting it to come out like a giant clump of starch. And it comes out perfect.

AE: I guess there’s more than one “right” way. Do you ever make crazy things? LF: Absolutely. I go into the kitchen and find a bunch of random things and come out with a dessert or a dish. And that’s the fun of cooking; you get to play with food.

Go to interviews with Zoi Antonitsas and Jennifer Biesty.

Zoi Antonitsas

Zoi Antonitsas is a self-taught chef from Seattle who now works in San Francisco, where she lives with her girlfriend and fellow contestant, Jennifer Biesty. “We don’t fight over who cooks dinner,” Antonitsas said. “One of us will have an idea, and the other person just sits back and enjoys it.” But she also reported that their two-chef household eats a lot of take-out.

AfterEllen.com: How was it competing against your girlfriend? Zoi Antonitsas:Well, on one hand, it was great having someone there that you know and you trust, [someone] to support you and help you. Obviously not help with the actual challenge, but help you along emotionally.

It was really a challenge to separate the personal from the challenge, because it’s a little distracting when you’re looking at your girlfriend and you’re also trying to beat her. I mean, we talked a lot about it before we went on the show. But definitely, it was hard. You want the other person to do well, and at the same time, you want to beat them.

AE: I’m not up on every single reality show, but this might be a first: a couple who competes, but not as a team. ZA: Yeah, I think that we’re definitely the first at this. It’s pretty exciting. We’re really honored and thrilled that we got to represent in that way.

AE: When you’re at home, do you two fight over who cooks dinner? ZA: No. When we’re not working or have a day off, we’ll try to cook dinner at home, I would say, once out of the whole week. We end up eating a lot of take-out food ’cause we cook every day, so we don’t always need to cook at home.

AE: What about a meal you wouldn’t necessarily cook at work, like breakfast? ZA:Yeah, we cook brunch sometimes, but we’re lucky to live in San Francisco – it’s sunny here a lot of the time of the year, so for brunch, we’ll go sit outside somewhere with our dog and hang out outside and relax.

AE: Are chefs still primarily men? ZA:I feel like the playing field is definitely evening out. Now you walk into the kitchen and there’s a female chef, or female sous chef, or you see females in the line. When I first started cooking, you didn’t see a whole lot of that. I might be the only woman in the whole kitchen, and there might be one other woman, but for the most part, it was mostly men. I think that you’re definitely seeing a turn for a woman being in a chef position. For Jen and I, obviously, that’s something we’re really proud about, being on the show; that we get to represent in that way.

AE: What do you think is the most common mistake people make in the kitchen, besides not hiring more women chefs? ZA: Probably not tasting the food. It’s simple, but often times you [get] caught up in what you’re doing and you’re kind of on autopilot. That’s something that can take a dish from being OK to being great. Does it need a little acid, does it need a little salt? Does it need more heat? Whatever. That’s probably the biggest mistake, and that’s a really easy thing to solve.

AE: Did you know all three of you chose lamb as your spring dish? How can meat be seasonal? ZA: It’s the time of year when the lambs are of age. The lambs have been born, basically, at the perfect time, and it sounds kind of hardcore, but they’re ready to be killed and eaten. It’s the time of year when they’re essentially harvested.

AE: You’re going to freak out our vegetarian and vegan readers, you know that, right? ZA: I know, I understand. I have a lot friends who are vegetarians. I’m very respectful of all foods. I only use naturally raised, organic meats. When looking at lamb, it’s hard to think about an animal being killed, but this is life. We’re humans. We’re at the top of the food chain. I feel it’s our responsibility [to] make sure when we eat meat, we’re being respectful to the animal and choosing local, organically raised meat.

AE: How do you hard-boil an egg? I’m asking because I’ve seen it a few different ways, and I wonder if there’s a “professional” way. ZA: There are many different ways to cook an egg. I don’t like an egg with a super-hard yolk. I like it to still be really vibrant and yellow. So, the method that I use is boiling water. You plunge the eggs in boiling water and you cook, for nine minutes. As soon as nine minutes is done, you plunge them into ice water. That result should yield a thoroughly cooked white, and the yolk will be cooked but will still be bright.

AE: Thanks for finally putting that to rest for me. Do you get to wear one of those paper chef hats? I like those. ZA:[laughs] Yeah, no. I don’t generally wear those hats. It was just lucky that I got to wear one in [a Top Chef] picture. Pretty awesome, huh? I actually went out and bought a case of them because I thought I looked really hot.

AE: Right on. ZA: Yeah, yeah. So I’m going to rock it out, it’s going to be my new look. Hair down, and hat.

Go to interviews with Lisa Fernandes and Jennifer Biesty.

Jennifer Biesty

Jennifer Biesty started her cooking career busing tables at a small restaurant in Brooklyn, where she was born and raised. She later worked and lived in Europe, and those influences can now be found in her cooking, which she describes as seasonal, rustic fare. When asked about competing against her girlfriend, Biesty said, “Flirting [with Zoi] definitely made it more interesting. For everyone.”

AfterEllen: Do you prefer Jen or Jennifer? Jennifer Biesty:Jen’s fine. My friends call me Beast.

AE: Beast? Are you sure they’re your friends? JB:[laughs] My last name is Biesty.

AE: I’ll think I’ll call you Jen. So, when you and Zoi both made it onto Top Chef, you knew you’d have to compete against each other. How did you work that out? JB:We processed it a lot before we went. I had fear that the other contestants would think it was unfair [or] that we would come up against some aggravation, that there would be some drama, either because we were a couple or because we were gay.

AE: You were processing and worried there would be drama? Do you realize how gay that sounds? JB:Yeah. [laughs] It was really difficult to compete against your partner. You have a lot of fun with it, though. When we were processing, we were thinking about all the bad things that could possibly happen. And then we were like: “Just throw that away. Think about all the fun this could be and the excitement.” And if we had to go up against each other, [we’d] try to keep a sense of humor about it.

AE: Did you meet each other at work? JB:Yes, I was a chef at a restaurant called Bizou. When Zoi moved from Seattle to San Francisco, she came in looking for a job. The owner, who was also a chef, hired her, and then we worked together for six months. Then I left to take another job.

But it was kind of like love at first sight. [However,] we were just friends because we were both in relationships for about four years. Then [we] ended up getting out of those relationships and we met back up. I pursued her, and four years later, we’re still together.

AE: I asked Zoi this, and now I’m going to ask you: How do you hard-boil an egg? JB:I like to start with boiling water, drop the egg in with salt into the boiling water and then, nine minutes. Eight and a half is better for the perfect yolk. Then the other way is to start with cold water and let [it] boil and go three minutes; that will you give you a perfect set-up yolk. But if you miss it, coming to a boil …

AE: You’re screwed. JB:The safer bet is to start with boiling water and go for eight.

AE: You and Zoi do it the same way, but I’m sure you know that. JB:[laughs] That’s funny.

AE: On The L Word, the sous chef character Lara was mistakenly called a soup chef. JB:[laughs] Yeah.

AE: Is there such a thing as a soup chef? JB:No.

AE: I think there should be. JB:I would make a good soup chef. I love soup. I love to make soup, actually.

AE: What’s better when its cold and raw outside? JB:Seriously. Some ribollita.

AE: Some what? JB:Ribollita? Ribollita means “reboiled.” It’s a Tuscan-style soup made of beans and usually a cavolo nero, which is black cabbage, like a kale. You take day-old bread and then throw that in. … It’s like a really rich, thick soup that is finished with Tuscan olive oil.

AE: What is your signature dish? JB:It changes seasonally, but I’d have to say it’s a pasta dish where it’s coriander, seared ahi tuna with cappellini, dressed with a bottarga vinaigrette, finished with preserved lemon.

AE: Does this dish have a name? JB:No, not really.

AE: You could call it Pasta à la Beast. And what the hell is bottarga? JB:Bottarga? All through southern Italy and Sicily, they take tuna roe and salt it, press it and hang it to dry in the sun. It’s considered to be one of the great seasoning elements in southern Italian cooking. It has the same quality as anchovy, but it’s very distinct.

AE: Food is a big memory trigger – the smells and tastes that instantly take you back to a moment in your life. What brings you back to your childhood? JB:Salisbury steak. That was my favorite thing my mom would make [for me]. If my mom said, “What do you want to eat for your birthday?” it would definitely be Salisbury steak, smothered in onions and mushrooms. And mashed potatoes.

AE: When you go to a lesbian pot luck, do you make all your friends feel bad about their dishes? JB:[laughs] I don’t go to lesbian pot lucks, but no, I try not to. People are often intimidated to invite me over for dinner, but I’m just thrilled for someone else to cook for me.

AE: That’s probably the last thing you want to do after working all day or all night. JB: Actually, what also happens is people invite you over for dinner and they’re actually inviting you over to cook.

AE: Nice! JB:Yeah, exactly.

Go to interviews with Zoi Antonitsas and Lisa Fernandes.

The fourth season of Top Chef 4 premieres Wednesday, March 12, on Bravo at 10:00 p.m. ET. Look for our Top Chefrecaps beginning on Monday.

 

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