North Side native, Janine Falvo, shooting for 'Top Chef' spot
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Janine Falvo
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Janine Falvo has worked in construction. She once created a nine-course meal for 30 journalists in the middle of a vineyard. The woman's from Pittsburgh.
Put those seemingly disparate elements together, and she's actually the perfect candidate for a reality show.
But not just any reality show: tonight at 10 is the Season 9 premiere of Bravo's "Top Chef: Texas." Ms. Falvo, 38, is one of the 29 candidates shown vying for 16 spots in the cooking show's stable of overworked, under-rested chefs.
"I watched 'Top Chef' from the very first episode and was immediately drawn to it," said Ms. Falvo, a North Side native who played soccer and rowed crew at North Catholic High School.
In fact, she DVRs all sorts of reality cooking shows, but the episodes tend to pile up: "My schedule is so insane, I can't say I've gone through them all."
This season "Top Chef" throws two twists at the "chef'testants" from the start. First, when they arrive at the Alamo in San Antonio, host Padma Lakshmi informs them that they're not necessarily in the main draw yet.
Broken into three groups, 16 must survive a preliminary competition. Also, chef'testants eliminated from the main draw will get a second chance to reach the final through an online competition judged by regular panelist Tom Colicchio.
The show has been a reliable career launch pad for winners, and this year's prize includes $125,000, a feature in Food & Wine magazine and an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo., next June.
For Ms. Falvo, it's been a long journey into the kitchen. When you grow up in a traditional Italian family, she said, "everybody's mother is a really great cook," and she felt comfortable there.
But it wasn't a vocation. Despite aspirations of becoming an architect, she bought into father Frank's construction business. Eventually, a different kind of construction won her over, and 13 years ago -- "the day after Christmas" -- she decided to apply to the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute.
First Published November 2, 2011 12:00 am
