Top Chef Texas–Dakota’s Sauce Sinks and Gazpacho Flies

Ah, it’s holiday time in LA. Lit like drunken fireflies, 50-foot yachts cruise the harbors at night. Steaming sweet tamales delight the air above a Los Posadas procession on Olvera Street. Scientology Santa greets menorah lighting Santa in Hollywood. Ice skating hotel guests, in shorts and tank tops, slip, spin and slide on synthetic ice in the 70-degree sun over the pool at the W, Westwood.

Foodie Factors’ Future Top Chef Daughter

Dakota’s cheftestant introduction video on Bravo TV’s Top Chef Season 9 website should not send me into some kind of crazy swirl of overly sweetened chocolate and caramel sugar high, but it does. The premier countdown is on. Oh good Lord, what will I do if I hear Tom Colicchio tell her, “Please pack your knives and go?” What will I do if she’s in the final three or less?

Top Chef Cheftestant Mama

Dakota’s road to Top Chef began after a long labor some 30-plus years ago in my home where I gave birth to Dakota. The unconventional birthing included a male midwife, my late husband, a psychic, an astrologer, and my Siamese cat who was very concerned throughout the entire 22-hour birthing drama.