All you foodies into the hit show on Bravo, “Top Chef,” will get a strong dose of competition beginning on December 1 as “Top Chef All-Stars” kicks off with finalists from previous seasons. As always, Padma Lakshmi will host, along with judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, and new judge Anthony Bourdain.

I had the chance to talk to Colicchio and Bourdain briefly during a conference call for the new season last week, and here is a full transcript on Premium Holllywood.

But below is my question and how the two responded to it. I feel like I probably should have had a more in-depth or thoughtful question, but, well, I was curious!

Mike Farley: Hey guys how are you doing?
Tom Colicchio: Hey Mike, good how you doing?
Mike Farley: Good. So when I first took a look at this press release the first thing that came to my mind was wow, there is going to be a lot of big egos this season. I’m curious…
Tom Colicchio: You talking about the two of us?
Mike Farley: …no the contestants.
Tom Colicchio: Oh, okay.
Mike Farley: But I’m curious if there were any fights or bickering that might have may, you know, been stepped up this season as compared to seasons in the past.
Tom Colicchio: I guess you’re going to have to just watch that.
Mike Farley: Okay.
Tom Colicchio: Just watch it happen, as they say – the tag line goes, watch what happens. We can’t comment on…
Anthony Bourdain: I think if you look at the players, you know, it is fair to extrapolate or anticipate that they’re, you know, it would not be unusual or unnatural for some of these personalities to clash.
But we don’t really – there is not a lot of duking it out in front of Judges Table. Though there was some of that.
Mike Farley: Right. Okay, well thanks guys.
Tom Colicchio: Sure.

I ran this on the Bullz-Eye blog last week and will be sharing some of the content I’ve posted there on Mikey’s Kitchen. Enjoy!

Yes, trying and reviewing food and drink, and even alcoholic drinks, is a tough job. But someone has to do it. Here are a few new products that either came to me with promotions attached to them or not:

Hint flavored water–I drink a ton of flavored seltzer, so the thought of non-carbonated water scared me just a bit. But alas, this Hint stuff is pretty damn good. They sent six flavors, including Watermelon, Blackberry, Mango-Grapefruit and Strawberry-Kiwi. The Strawberry-Kiwi flavor comes with a special label–that of Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo to promote the new Yogi Bear movie that debuts in December and stars Justin Timberlake and Anna Farris. You can win tickets to the movie by visiting www.drinkhint.com/yogi. Anyway, this stuff is delicious, and it doesn’t come with a sugary aftertaste because there is no sugar at all. If you need a break from carbonation or need flavor in your water, definitely start here.

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