At The Beginning

© Henry Dombey/FACECOLLECTIVE

My name is Laurine Wickett and I own a company called Left Coast Catering. Welcome to our blog! Here, I plan to chronicle the ins and outs of our kitchen in San Francisco and my recent dallying as a chef competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef.

Some of you are likely wondering how a person ends up competing on national television for such a lofty title. Truly, it feels like an accident. One night, during a launch dinner for my private dining venue 2150, a guest and food writer suggested I go to the Top Chef Season 6 casting call the following day, with a promise to expedite me to the VIP list at the call. I honestly hardly heard her. I’m not an avid watcher of the show and I’ve never wanted to become a television chef. I enjoy cooking food in my own kitchen for people in real life. For some reason, despite all of this, I mentioned the suggestion to my staff later that evening. They chimed in to echo that initial encouragement and set to work convincing me to go; after a few drinks and much persuasion, I set my alarm clock and decided I’d go.

I headed to the casting call with a cup of coffee and an open mind, because I frankly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I came with hardly anything prepared to say for myself, except that I was hungover and I hadn’t had much sleep and I had hardly any real interest in getting a spot on the show.  Which probably worked to my advantage in the end. I was completely relaxed. I was hardly desperate. And when I walked into the first interview and they asked me, “Why are you here?” I calmly replied, “I have no idea.”

After a hearty nap, I made it to the second round of interviews, armed mostly with stories. About a wedding catered in Virginia where I sourced all of my ingredients the day I landed in Charlottesville and ended up on Dave Matthew’s farm writing the menu the following afternoon. About the lamb I had slaughtered in Mendocino and brought back to butcher in our kitchen, hung up in our walk in and then pieced out to my closest circle of friends. And about hosting themed dinner parties with intriguing titles like “Tongue and Cheek” and “Baby Jesus.” My boyfriend, Henry and good friend, Josh helped me whip up a stellar demonstration video and then I had to wait. One very long month.

Needless to say, I made the cut. And although I began with low expectations, I realized sometime after the second interview that I had a decent shot at this thing. That realization was pretty exciting. I’m nervous and thrilled and a little scared to see the first episode on Wednesday with all of you. As they say on Bravo…Watch What Happens.