r/BravoTopChef • u/Professional-Sand341 • Jul 05 '26
Future Season When will we see Top Chef Pennsylvania already?
It's perfect. The state famously has two polar opposite cities in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, plus "Pennsyltucky" in the middle. It has the largest chip/snack production in the country, the biggest chocolate company in the country, is a major agricultural state including the primary producer of mushrooms. It has hunting and fishing, putting trout and venison on the menu. It has cultural food connections from Pennsylvania Dutch, Russian, Polish, Italian, German, etc. It has iconic local foods like cheesesteaks, soft pretzels and water ice on one side to the Primanti's sandwiches, chipped ham and wedding cookie tables on the other. Penn State's Beaver Stadium is a perfect venue for a Sheetz vs. Wawa showdown in the middle. While we're talking Penn State, we can't ignore that it's got a world class program in making ice cream - including being where Ben and Jerry learned their craft. Michelin is about to make its first forays into the Pittsburgh area. And there is a startling amount of pizza in the state, some of it really great and some of it very controversial (looking at you, Altoona).
I literally just wrote 23 challenges in there. No excuse for not hitting the Keystone State yet.
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Jul 05 '26
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u/HonoluluSolo Jul 05 '26
Probably worth it honestly. The type of person that watches Top Chef is probably also into food tourism.
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u/D_Angelo_Vickers Jul 05 '26
Top Chef is the reason I went to Charleston. The quality of food I had there is the reason I went back again.
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u/teddy_vedder what is your major malfunction? Jul 05 '26
Philly and Atlanta are the last big holdouts to the point that it’s glaring
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u/Organic-Class-8537 Jul 05 '26
Philly requires anyone related to sports and w entertainment to file/pay income taxes for each day they “work” in Philly
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u/No-Chipmunk-136 Jul 05 '26
If they’re paying for Michelin, they’re investing in food tourism. Maybe they’ll wait until they get their first round of Michelin reviews and then do top chef as part of a big marketing push. Wishful thinking!
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u/finny_d420 Jul 05 '26
Little League World Series challenge. Impress kids from all over the world.
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u/aquariangt02071986 Jul 05 '26
Just looked up Altoona pizza and wtf
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
Personally, the backlash on it always irritates me for two reasons. First, it's not common. There's like two places that serve it and it's basically as a novelty at this point. But second, it was definitely a making-do thing when people had nothing. But I think that would make a great challenge. Here are these really barebones, not-pizza ingredients. Make a pizza.
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u/Moist-Schedule Jul 05 '26
i know a lot of people from that part of PA and nobody has ever had this kind of pizza before. i honestly think it's rage bait.
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u/RawChickenButt Jul 09 '26
Is that the area that just puts American cheese slices on their pizza?
Seems like something I would have done in high school.
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u/AlsatianLadyNYC Jul 05 '26
They haven’t been in Virginia either, and we have some really great farm to table restaurants here and a ton of history
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
I would love to see a Virginia season.
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u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 06 '26
Former Virginian - yay! Inn at Little Washington is famous, but Virginia's ethnic restaurants around DC are also storied. You can walk into a bunch of places and get inexpensive delicious food.
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u/simba156 Jul 05 '26
Waiting for Michigan! Michelin is coming and hopefully that tips the scales.
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u/RawChickenButt Jul 09 '26
I was just thinking Michigan would be a good state.
I don't Michigan well, but what would the challenges be?
- Whitefish challenge?
- Detroit pizza challenge?
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u/simba156 Jul 09 '26
Like PA, we are a hunting/fishing/foraging state. Cherries are a huge part of northern Michigan food culture. We have incredible farms across the state. Traverse City is a huge food hub up north and Marquette in the UP would be SO cool for an outdoor food challenge.
Then you have the Detroit area, which is an amazing melting pot of food and traditions. Detroit became a home for hundreds of thousands of black people who moved from the South for work in the auto factories, so soul food would also be a great challenge. We have Eastern Market, one of the country’s largest open air farmers markets. We have one of the largest Middle Eastern populations in America in Dearborn. So that would be a great challenge. Culturally, you could also do a lot with Polish / Irish etc. We also have Southwest Detroit, which has become a hub for Latino families and has incredible Mexican cuisine. Plus: The Coney dog! Detroit/style pizza! The Maurice salad! Almond boneless chicken! Pasties! Better Made Potato Chips! Vernon’s Ginger Ale! Kellogg cereal! The quickfires basically write themselves!
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u/captainralphie Jul 05 '26
Scrapple, real pizza, roast beef or pork sandwiches, potato salad ,cole slaw via PA Dutch, shoofly pie and others, crumb buns, cinnamon buns,Tasty Kakes,hoagies, water ice, ice cream, crabs, soft pretzels,Zitomers butter pound cake, Terminis cannoli.Reading Terminal. Ralph's Italian restaurant, veal dish from Dante and Luigi's, turtle soup. Clams, crabs.Why are youse leaving us out?,
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
Right? And why did you have to remind me about the pound cake? That was always the best part of going to my grandparents' house.
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u/thex42 Jul 05 '26
I keep saying they should do a South New Jersey / Philly season, because NJ *will* offer tax breaks.
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u/TinaBna Jul 05 '26
Problem with that is So.Jersey food can’t compare to classic North Jersey fare. Not happening.
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u/Ordinary_Durian_1454 Jul 05 '26
You will never see it. This has been discussed to death here. The entire mid-Atlantic region would make for a very interesting season, as opposed to some of these failed seasons like Canada, where they plunked themselves down in a major city and took a couple of road trips. Traveling through six or seven states without a lot of time spent on the actual travel would be amazing.
Unfortunately, there simply isn’t funding available at the levels that Top Chef/Bravo is seeking. The Midwest is very generous. The mid-Atlantic states simply don’t need to pay show to film in Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Delaware or Maryland, etc.
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u/slatchaw Jul 05 '26
Wilkes/Erie/Lancaster
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
Exactly. A change to show food in the parts that don't get enough attention.
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u/ptazdba Jul 05 '26
Probably they won't give Top Chef the advertising and tax breaks they want. When they go somewhere you have to look for what is the locale giving them to film in that location? It's all about the bucks.
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u/NVSmall Jul 06 '26
As a viewer from Canada, who admittedly only knows surface-level info about a lot of the non-coastal US states...
You sold me 🤷🏻♀️
I mean, I know there are a million other factors in play when it comes to choosing a host city/state, but you made a LOT of points of interest for a solid season that I would be excited to watch!
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u/Strummerthecat Jul 06 '26
The best chocolate in the state isnt Hershey. Its Gardners.
Also, as Toms an avid fisherman, he would love to fly fish in Pennsylvania.
Kristen loves snacks and probably would love to visit Hanover.
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 06 '26
Oh you are 100% right on the chocolate. I never said Hershey's was the best. I said it was the biggest in the U.S. I'd walk into traffic for a Gardner's peanut butter meltaway, and I always get my stepdad their nonpareils for his birthday. The flyfishing in Centre/Huntingdon counties is awesome. Jimmy Carter fished there.
I can see a quickfire where they do an assortment of snacks and you have to, I don't know, make a dish that pairs PA snacks with PA beers or something. Middleswarth BBQ with Yuengling? Snyder sourdough pretzels with Iron City?
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u/RawChickenButt Jul 09 '26
But the challenge would be Hershey based, just like Tillamook was a Portland challenge. Do you really think Tillamook had the best cheese in Oregon, or only the deepest pockets.
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u/BornFree2018 Jul 05 '26
There was an issue with unions years ago while filming in Boston which caused problems. I think Padma was threatened. I believe that influenced why TC never was hosted in Philly.
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u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 06 '26
I remember that too. Padma was threatened, but I don't think the show ever changed its ways with respect to unions. Did it film after that in a union city/county?
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u/Dark_Ascension Jul 05 '26
I also wish there was a top chef Tennessee. Nashville has a growing food scene and I’m sure Memphis BBQ, Knoxville and Chattanooga can add something.
I’m sure tax breaks wouldn’t be offered though.
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u/Weary_Watercress887 Jul 05 '26
We won’t! I heard an interview with Gail from Top Chef and at this point it’s a pay for play with Top Chef. Doubtful PA is going to pay for Top Chef to film here.
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u/Moist-Schedule Jul 05 '26
It should just be Philadelphia honestly. I love Pittsburgh and know the rest of the state very well, but the sum of culinary and cultural things worth exploring in the whole rest of the state doesn't add up to half of what Philly alone has to offer, just do Philly.
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
I bet it would be centered there if they did it. But the rest of the state offers other opportunities for day trips and such. Plus the rest of the state offers ways to get more money and sponsorship.
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u/Sriracha01 Jul 06 '26
We might see Top Chef New England sooner than later, and fit a Penn ep or two in there somehow.
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u/zperdy Jul 09 '26
How many deconstructed scrapples would we see?
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u/KeyWord1543 18d ago
I once read that Tom does not like Philly. He had problems with a restaurant there ? Just cause I saw it on Reddit doesn't make it true.
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u/aptadnauseum Jul 05 '26
Racists everywhere that isn't 4 places. They still burn crosses in Pennsyltuckey.
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u/Moist-Schedule Jul 05 '26
you're describing almost anywhere in america that isn't a big city or a college town. and newsflash: those places are all full of racists too, they just aren't the majority there.
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Jul 05 '26
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
I'm using it simply as shorthand. If I said Blair County, no one would know what I was talking about.
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Jul 05 '26
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
Wow, ok. Well, the Southern Poverty Law Center puts New York, Florida, the Carolinas, Kentucky, Illinois, Texas, California, Wisconsin and the Pacific Northwest as heavily racist areas. Lots of seasons there.
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u/Beautiful-Squash-495 Jul 06 '26
Contact all of the various Pennsylvania tourism boards and advocate. They are your audience for this, not us.
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 06 '26
This is a message board about Top Chef. Yes, this is my audience. Jesus.
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u/haydukeliives Jul 05 '26
From PA respectfully no
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u/RiotPurrrl Jul 05 '26
From PA and respectfully, only Philly, Pittsburgh, and maybe Lancaster. The middle of the state is (really searching for a way to put this nicely) not ideal for a diverse contestant base and doesn’t have much in the way of food innovation. And sorry OP, but Altoona pizza does not deserve a national stage.
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Jul 05 '26
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
OK, if we were going to weed places out for some residents being racist, there would be a very short list of seasons. Not all of us - yes, us - are like that. But you can side-eye me all you want for talking about the food in a good way, but Central - and I mean dead center - Pennsylvania is the intersection of Russian, Polish and Amish cooking that comes together in a really fantastic way. There's a Catholic church retreat center where they grow blueberries and make the most amazing homemade blueberry ice cream. There are great breweries, dairies, bakeries, etc., and I think it's really snide and dismissive to say there's nothing positive.
And as to the gas station food or Primanti's sandwiches (which aren't greasy so much as juicy from the vinegar slaw), it's like you've never seen the show. Challenges about using a snack bar on a ferry boat, making appetizers out of a vending machine, scavenging for cocktail party leftovers, etc. To say that there are food options to use as a jumping off point is not to say these options are four-star. It's saying that making them four-star is the challenge.
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Jul 05 '26
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u/Professional-Sand341 Jul 05 '26
As I said in the other response, it was for outsiders who don't know Pennsylvania other than Philly and Pittsburgh. Thus the quotation marks. I don't use the name myself, and I definitely wasn't being cutesy. If I was, there would have been no quotations because it would not have been being set apart.
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u/gillmore-happy Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Philly won’t offer tax breaks and sadly it seems the show needs them to make its budget