Season 10 Announced... And Changes Afoot...

Greetings, all!!

Well, that was a longer layoff than I expected. But a post is clearly in order because the big news of the day (well... aside from all of the actually important news) is that Top Chef Season 10 has been officially announced, it will be taking place in Seattle, and it premieres on November 7th.

Here's the thing...

I have reached the conclusion that it's time for me to hang up the Top Chef Power Rankings. It has been a huge amount of fun for, lo, these eight seasons (Top Chef 4-9 and Masters 1-2), and I've been waffling on it for months, but this thing takes an awful lot of time. In addition to family, work and Skillet Doux (which, unlike TCPR, is most definitely NOT going away!), I've managed to pile on even more obligations since season nine, and I'd much rather sign off than turn this into a chore... which is what I fear it would become.

But here's the other thing...

One of those aforementioned new obligations is a community food discussion site we've been trying to get started here in Phoenix called PHXfoodnerds.com. And dare I say, the best thing about TCPR hasn't been the actual rankings, but rather the little community and discussions that have sprung up around it. So I figured if I'm not doing the rankings, maybe we can keep this group going in another location that, quite frankly, is a whole lot better suited to discussion anyway.

So let's officially make this the final missive from the Top Chef Power Rankings, and let me invite all of you to come on over to PHXfoodnerds.com, where I've already kicked off a preseason thread, and will add a new discussion thread weekly once season ten is underway.

Thanks for all of your support over the years, guys... and here's hoping this ends up being little more than a change of venue.

See you there!

Comments

[Dan V.]

Well, this is bad news for me because I loved the walls of text, but I totally understand why. Looks like I'll have to join that forum, then. :)

[Account Deleted]

Any suggestions for where to go for quality recaps and similar rankings? This was the best online resource for talking TOP CHEF I had found.

[Skillet Doux]

'Fraid not, peterme... I never read any others :-) But thanks for the kind words!

[ZRD]

I'll very much miss your weekly writeups; they made watching the show much more enjoyable to me, and I don't think there's anything similar online elsewhere.

Any chance you can at least do the Week 0 intro to each candidate, even if just in tiers instead of strict rank order? Those are always oustanding! (And I know they were a LOT of work).

I'll keep reading your main site regardless; your Las Vegas recommendations a bit ago make my trip there at the time even better than it would have been otherwise.

[Anon Man]

Boooo. But, understandable. Good to know us non-'Zonis are welcome to your valley of the sun virtual location?

[Ronald James Dio]

This sucks

[Bart]

Sorry to hear that you won't be continuing this, but I definitely understand why.

Thank you, Dom, for providing a real treat over the years. I started watching Top Chef and really enjoyed it on its own, but I got so much more enjoyment from the show when I started reading your rankings. And you're right, the community was what made this space very special.

Your rankings will be missed!

[Campbell]

Dom,
I've always eagerly awaited your rankings every week, but understand how much work must go into this. I appreciate everything that you've put in, and losing this will make watching the show slightly less enjoyable, but best of luck going forward!

[pdog]

I came to this site today to get excited about the new season of TopChef as this blog was often way better than the show, especially the past few seasons. Instead, I found this sad news. Thank you for the time and energy! It will be missed.

[Independent George]

Huh. I completely missed the fact that S10 had started. I'll miss the rankings, but hopefully the regulars will make a smooth transition to the forums. I'm going over to register now.