She's got chops

Radhika Desai is known to her friends and family as “Rad.” But soon, everyone will know her by that name: The chef of Between is the latest local to represent Chicago on Bravo’s Top Chef, which premieres Wednesday 12 at 9pm. Desai has some pretty big shoes to fill—Chicago chefs have made it to the show’s finale two years in a row, with Stephanie Izard taking home last year’s grand prize. Still, Desai doesn’t seem nervous about winning—just about coming off as cocky.

Time Out Chicago: With the show about to air, are you remembering anything you did that you now regret? Anything that makes you think: “Oh my God, my family is going to see this”?
Radhika Desai: I tried to represent myself as well as possible. Obviously, the elimination format puts a lot of pressure on you as a chef, and under pressure you can do things a little out of character. In one of the commercial spots I say “I can cook my ass off.” When I saw that, I was worried how my family would react. My parents are from India originally and are fairly traditional, and the show is broadcast in India, so a lot of relatives are going to have the opportunity to get a close-up look at my life on the show. I’ve told them to keep in mind the pressure and watch the show with a filter.

TOC: Has being on Top Chef been a longtime goal of yours?
Radhika Desai: I’ve been a huge fan of the show since the first season. But honestly, as a chef, I didn’t think I was ready to try out until this past season… This is my first job as an executive chef and I think it’s been great preparation for this moment.

TOC: Tell me about the process of getting on the show.
Radhika Desai: At each step of the process I was nervous, [but] my family and my friends were incredibly supportive. Every point I got past, they never seemed surprised, and I thought, if they have this much faith in me, maybe I can do this. For the most part, the process had me nervous, but there were a couple fun points, [like] filming the application video. We shot it at the restaurant and had a lot of fun with it. I’ve never laughed so much. Thankfully, it was well edited.

TOC: Now that you’re about to become a food television personality, I wonder what your impression of other food television is.
Radhika Desai: I think the Food Network has some very good programs—I’m a huge fan of Iron Chef America. Some of the TV chefs that I’m a big fan of are Ming Tsai and Tom Colicchio. The TV chefs I tend not to like are those who aren’t formally trained in cooking and the arrogant chefs. I’ll let the readers use their imagination on that one.

To read more of our interview with Radhika Desasi, head to timeoutchicago.com/blog.