Southern chef Art Smith is back on Bravo in a new season of Top Chef Masters. The local fave and James Beard Award winner owns the Chicago restaurant Table Fifty-Two as well as LYFE Kitchen (in Palo Alto, Calif.), Art and Soul (in Washington, D.C.) and Southern Art and Bourbon Bar (in Atlanta). Smith has published two cookbooks and cooked for such notables as President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama.
He competed for Common Threads, a charity he co-founded that teaches children about cultures through food. In season one of Masters, he raised $10,000 for the agency. (Smith was eliminated last week.) Windy City Times talked with Smith before that episode aired.
Windy City Times: Hi, Art.
Art Smith: Darling, how are you? It just seems like yesterday that you caught me chasing a Scissor Sister and I was just a big old puddle next to Ben Cohen!
WCT: That was a fun night at Berlin Nightclub.
Art Smith: I was just texting him and was hoping to meet up. I am calling you from Southern Art and Bourbon Bar in Atlanta.
WCT: You are all over the place. When did you have time to be in Vegas and film this show?
Art Smith: Honey, I want to tell you something—you make time! When Hollywood calls, you jump to the spot because very few people have this opportunity [and] many audition. It is the world's best chef competition. What it does for you, as a brand, is more than what you would spend millions of dollars with some PR agency in New York.
Ms. Winfrey introduced me to America and Top Chef introduced me to the world. What it allowed me to do was be far more open than I have ever been. I never thought of myself being in the closet. You know I have only been in the restaurant business five years?
WCT: No way! Look at all of your accomplishments.
Art Smith: For twenty-something years I was a private chef. I was there to provide a service. They are the star. I had done that for many years, from the governor to Oprah. Top Chef was the first time I was on my own and didn't have to worry about the person I was representing. I felt empowered to do that, I believ,e because I was so authentic and so myself. That is what created this buzz and I became a huge fan favorite. People loved me when I laughed. They loved me when I cried. I was larger than life. Lord have mercy, I took up the whole screen—I was 325 pounds! People would be making all of this fancy stuff and I would be making fried chicken, hello!
WCT: Well, it is some good fried chicken. I have tasted it!
Art Smith: It was about the delivery. Anybody can fry chicken, but the delivery with charm and Southern hospitality makes it work!
WCT: So this show has changed your life.
Art Smith: It has opened up a whole world to me. With Opra, I had mainly a female audience, but Top Chef Masters is younger, more foodie audience. Remember when we were kids and MTV was on all the time? Top Chef Masters has the same power these days. Chefs are as big as rock stars.
WCT: How is this season different that the last time you were on the show?
Art Smith: There is a big difference. I have lost weight. I found my sexy and I am all fashioned out.
WCT: You have been hanging out with Lady Gaga so I am sure she is dressing you up.
Art Smith: I was in hot-ass Las Vegas so I had to be in tip-top shape! I had my Nikes on and I was zipping around that kitchen. Every time you do a challenge it is always a new one. You never know what the challenge may be. In the first round we all knew each other, but in the second round I only knew a few.
One thing I have found is that chefs are far more TV-savvy than they were four years ago. For many chefs the focus is on that food, but for TV that is boring. People will flip the channel. You have to be able to be an artist in the crowd. There may be a camera above you, below you and beside you.
WCT: Every angle.
Art Smith: Sometimes the director will want to talk to you and you are busy. Sometimes they even make you do it again.
WCT: There are 12 chefs this time and two of them are gay, Clark and Mark.
Art Smith: They are a couple on the show; then there is me, so three. There are three gay folks on Top Chef Masters. Everyone loves a funny gay chef, hello!
WCT: Representing!
Art Smith: Poor ol' Dale Levitski proved that theory, right? He was the first gay chef in your face on national television. He's adorable. I love his little Frog N Snail. I thought it was delicious. I know I am married to Jesus but burn, baby, burn!
WCT: I have to go try that place.
Art Smith: I went with the new commissioner of the public library, him and his partner. It was really nice. He makes this thing with potato chips and pretzel in chocolate.
WCT: Sounds healthy.
Art Smith: It was worth it. I will tell you the first time I did Top Chef I was dropping everything, like chocolate, on the floor. People like to see things not be so perfect. The days of Martha Stewart are gone with the wind! That is the secret of reality TV: People want to see people just being people, making mistakes. We like to laugh at each other. I don't know what is better having a great meal or laughing. They are both very good for you.
WCT: It must be rewarding to raise money for your own charity, Common Threads, on the show.
Art Smith: That is the best part about being on Top Chef Masters: We are able to select our charity. Common Threads was first introduced to America on Top Chef. We will be celebrating ten years this year. It was my partner Jesus' idea and we started out of a church basement. The kids from Common Threads went and cooked for the chefs of Top Chef, which was cool.
WCT: I see Curtis Stone is back as host.
Art Smith: What a tall drink of deliciousness. How do think I lost a hundred pounds with an Aussie trainer! An Australian can just take me over the edge.
WCT: Did you watch Around the World in 80 Plates?
Art Smith: I did. I was very proud of my John Vermiglio. When he was sent home I told him it's not about winning; it's about being remembered. He will be remembered for being a professional, young charming man. I had already taken him halfway around the world, cooking from Hong Kong to South Africa. I loved the show because it showed young chefs interacting and cooking in exotic locations. Sadly, so many people don't even have passports. I just got back from Italy and took my mom there. That would be a good reality show: Drag Momma Around the World!
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