Here's what it's like to be a 'Top Chef' judge, according to 5 Milwaukee chefs and celebs

Roughly halfway through Season 21 of “Top Chef,” viewers have been taken across Wisconsin, from the Mediterranean fine-dining spot Lupi & Iris in Milwaukee to the Cupola wedding barn in Oconomowoc to modern supper club The Harvey House in Madison.

And as we’ve been introduced to these sites, we’ve met some unique Wisconsin characters along the way. Wisconsin cheesemakers were guests at the show’s first-ever cheese festival, a Miller rep lived the high life dining in the Historic Miller Caves, and a Frank Lloyd Wright preservationist welcomed the chefs to the iconic architect’s former home.

But a handful of local chefs and celebrities also have been tapped to serve as guest judges to taste, judge and deliberate the food created in the competition. Being so close to the action for this once-in-a-lifetime event, they offer a unique perspective on what goes on behind the scenes and the impact “Top Chef” will have on the state as a whole.

Starting with Paul Bartolotta, the Milwaukee chef and restaurateur whose eponymous restaurant group includes stalwarts like Bacchus, 925 E. Wells St.; Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993, 7616 W. State St., Wauwatosa; Harbor House, 550 N. Harbor Dr.; Lake Park Bistro, 3133 E. Newberry Blvd.; and more. A longtime friend of perennial judge Tom Colicchio, who’s been with the show since its inception, Bartolotta has been a “Top Chef” guest judge on multiple episodes throughout the series and was a major factor in bringing the show to Wisconsin. This season, Bartolotta appeared as a guest judge on Episode 1 alongside Lupi & Iris chef/owner Adam Siegel.

Dane Baldwin is the James Beard Award-winning chef/owner of The Diplomat, 815 E. Brady St. Baldwin appeared on Episode 3 of “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” where he traveled station-to-station with Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and guest judge Carla Hall at a “cheese festival” in Oconomowoc.

Omar Shaikh is a restaurateur and developer who owns Carnevor, 718 N. Milwaukee St., and the 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave. Shaikh was one of 10 judges on Episode 2, when the judges dined on dishes inspired by bar snacks inside the Historic Miller Caves.

Charlie Berens is a Wisconsin-born comedian and Emmy award-winning journalist best known for his popular “Manitowoc Minute” video series. Berens also appeared as one of 10 judges on Episode 2 inside the Historic Miller Caves.

Gregory León is the James Beard Award-nominated chef/owner of Amilinda, 315 E. Wisconsin Ave. Leon will appear as one of the guest judges on an upcoming episode taking place at American Family Field.

They recently shared their experiences as guest judges on “Top Chef: Wisconsin.”

Question: Why do you think “Top Chef” chose to set its 21st season in Wisconsin?

Bartolotta: I think the point of difference is the hospitality in our culture in Wisconsin — we care and we show it, and we’re flexible and adaptable people. I think the response we gave them showed them we genuinely wanted them here, and we’re going to do what it takes to make that happen.

When I had the idea initially, they didn’t feel like we were going to be enough to anchor a season. But I told them, “You have to come here, you have to see it.”

So I reached out to Joel Brennan (now president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee) when he was part of the Evers administration, and he got the state tourism and government on board. I asked Peggy (Williams-Smith, president & CEO of VISIT Milwaukee), the Wisconsin Economic Development, Mayor Johnson, County Executive Crowley, and there was a whole group of people that got together to make it happen.

So when the production came here, we dined around the city and we gave them a list of things they might consider to touch on here, but I was impressed to see how much of their own research they’d already done.

They knew. They were like, “This is going to be cool.”

Q: How were you asked to be a guest judge on “Top Chef”?

Bartolotta: I’ve judged four or five seasons of the show, all the way back to 2009 when I judged a Quickfire challenge with Padma in Vegas. So I know these people. I took them around before the show came here and took them on a custard crawl.

I love it, I think it’s a lot of fun! So they called me to ask me to be a judge, and of course I’m gonna do it here in Milwaukee. They called me a few days ahead of the episode and asked if I’d be available.

Dane Baldwin: I was contacted a few weeks prior to taping, but I didn’t know what I’d be judging right away. There were a couple ideas thrown out there, but going into it, I didn’t know exactly what to expect, and that was part of the excitement.

Omar Shaikh: When the show was here scouting they came into 3rd Street Market Hall, so I got to know them a little bit. They said, “Hey, do you want to come on the show as a special guest?” I said sure, but I didn’t really know what I was doing when I got there. I showed up and went through wardrobe and makeup and I really thought I’d just be in the background or would have one line.

Then it came time to sit down and I realized that I was a judge! And there I was, sitting next to Tom Colicchio!

León: In January of last year, VISIT Milwaukee reached out and said, “We need a huge favor. There’s a food show that might come to Milwaukee and, we can’t tell you what it is, but we want to show them the caliber of food in Milwaukee. It’s between us and another city.” So I did a dinner with a couple other chefs and then didn’t really hear anything else about it after that.

Later, I was at a motel in Viroqua after cooking at the Driftless Cafe, and, lo and behold, there was an email from the production team asking if I’d like to go on. I couldn’t answer that email fast enough. In the past 30 years I’ve been cooking professionally, I’m met some amazing people and done some amazing things, and this one was probably in the top five.

Charlie Berens: My manager at the time was a huge fan of “Top Chef,” and he saw very early on that they were going to be in Milwaukee, so he reached out, then they got in touch later.

Q: Did you follow certain criteria when judging the dishes?

Bartolotta: Having done this for a number of years and mentoring young chefs for a number of years, it’s important to give truthful feedback. Because if you genuinely care about your craft and about the person, you have a responsibility to be honest and truthful and give them feedback to help them be better.

Berens: The whole part of judging a dish made me a little nervous — I didn’t know what to say. I grew up one of 12 kids, and it would be very rare to go out to eat; and if we did, it was maybe at the Olive Garden. So there was a little concern I didn’t know what the heck I was talking about.

So if I tasted something interesting, or something I hadn’t tasted before, I just had to kind of trust my palate to know if it was good, bad or otherwise. So that’s what I tried to do.

Shaikh: I know food, but I’m not a chef. So I was listening to the other judges and they were articulating foods like I’d never heard in my life. I felt a little intimidated and I didn’t initially want to say anything, but, thankfully, the stuff they did take of me talking turned out great.

There was a budino that was served — and this didn’t make the show — but I’d never had budino before, and I said it was delicious. “Oh I could eat 10 of these,” I said. Then the rest of the judges basically said, “Oh, this is terrible.”

I asked why they didn’t like it, and Tom broke down how the dish should be. The flavor was fine but it was grainy, he said. So I appreciated that expertise.

Q: What kind of pressure do you think the contestants feel that they wouldn’t otherwise when cooking in a restaurant?

Bartolotta: When I watched these people, I literally could feel their heart beating through their chef coats. You see the adrenaline and the intensity of that experience, the time and the environment — you're out of your home and you're in a foreign kitchen, and some of the ingredients are a curveball. It’s really difficult.

And then you look at who you're cooking for, and there are lights around you with cameras. You are really vulnerable as a person and as an artist. So I take my hat off to these chefs who get out there and do that. They have to live through their fear.

Baldwin: It was a hot day (at the cheese festival), but, let’s face it, even on a mild day, cooking in a kitchen can get really hot, so they were probably not as affected by the heat as you’d think. They were working with some pretty nice equipment, and to me, it was a fair playing field. But some of the 13 chefs were wildly successful and some were not.

In a culinary competition like this, not everything is going to come across as a winner. In a restaurant environment, you have the decision to say, “OK, we’re not going to serve that today.” But there, with the constriction of time, you have to pivot from your original ideas and attempt to take risks to pull it off. And sometimes those risks don’t end in reward.

Q: What are your honest opinions about the food you tried while judging on “Top Chef”?

Bartolotta: It’s been great to witness how the food has grown from (my first year judging) to today. It just continues to get better.

(On Episode 1), the decision was made relatively quickly. It was obvious who had the weakest performance and it was the person who did not respond to our feedback. I feel bad, because I want everyone to succeed, but you could tell he was joking a little more than he focused on his food. I felt like it was a defense mechanism for the fact that he was overwhelmed by the experience. And in the end, neither of his dishes was very good.

But Manny’s pozole, I could’ve bathed in that — it was so spot on. He was playing to his strengths, that was his culture’s food, so it was smart. But talk about a 10; it was amazing.

Berens: All the stuff was great, and that’s not just me being a people pleaser. The food was incredible. I can’t think of one dish I didn’t like. I’m a member of the Clean Plate Club.

I remember having one dish and saying, “It looked like a bluegill but felt like a bass,” because it didn’t look like much but, oh my gosh, was it good.

León: I’ve always wondered how amazing the food is on the show, and I was impressed with the kind of cooking they could do given the parameters and the things that are thrown at them. I left thinking, “These people are amazing.” There was one dish that had a chorizo sauce on it and I’m still trying to figure out how it was made — it was so incredible.

Q: What surprised you about how “Top Chef” filming operates?

Baldwin: What struck me was picking up the parallels between the crew and the chefs on the show operating like a restaurant experience. The crew was so welcoming, and seeing all the moving parts and organization, it felt like the setup for a busy Saturday night of service. And I walked away thinking, “Wow, I just had a really great meal.”

Berens: We shot for about five hours and there wasn’t really too much down time. Everyone’s got a job to do; they gotta hit the lines, make it entertaining, stay on, and then they need a break between all of those things to kind of recalibrate their minds. But they were very generous with their spare time.

León: It was a long day. I think we were there for about six or seven hours.

The mechanics of filming the show was really interesting. They’d ask us to come back to the table with our food, or Kristen would say, “I’m going to ask you this question, and I want you to give the same response you just did.” And she’d ask the same question three different times wanting to hone the way you responded. It was cool to see and a really fun experience that I’d do again in a heartbeat.

Q: What was it like working with Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons?

Bartolotta: Tom and I are very good friends; I’ve known him since around 2000. I mean, before Tom first went to do (“Top Chef”), he called me to ask what I thought he should do. I said, “I think you’d be great on it, and I think you should do it as long as it represents the integrity you have for being a chef.”

He signed on and made sure he would be an executive producer so it would have that integrity.

When I’m judging, I like sitting next to Gail to hear her incredible experience and feedback. As a foodie and a diner and a judge, you learn and listen to people like her and Tom and Kristen, and I feel like I’m learning something myself.

Baldwin: The chemistry between the host and the judges is really impressive. Kristen had already gone through the gauntlet of “Top Chef” and that helps her come across as natural. I have a lot of respect for Tom and Gail, too. Tom Colicchio is a chef I’ve always looked up to.

León: They were very nice. It’s nice to meet these people who, in our community, we look up to, and we realize they’re just people, just like us. They worry about payroll and complain about what the asparagus looked like when it came in yesterday. It’s nice to see them be so human.

Berens: They were all very nice and kind. Kristen, you can tell she’s got a sweet soul on her. Just kind and laughing at small jokes. What you see on screen is what you get.

Q: Did anyone from "Top Chef" eat at your restaurant while they were in town?

Baldwin: Tom and Gail came in. They had a pickled deviled egg, the salt cod hash brown, the rib-eye with smoked shallots and maitake mushrooms, and the knife-and-fork chicken that’s easy to share.

León: The production team came in here a couple times. But one day, it was an afternoon, and we had the door open, and a few people came in asking about lunch. I told them we didn’t do lunch but showed them a menu for dinner. I looked at them and thought, “Well this is a diverse group of people — men, women, different ages and ethnicities...” Then one of them said, “You don’t remember us?” So I looked closer and it came to me. “You made this dish, you made this dish...” It was some of the eliminated contestants! They were sequestered in Milwaukee after.

So they came in for dinner and I didn’t tell anyone who they were. But they were handing me cards and taking pictures and it was a pretty awesome experience.

Later, I told Dan (Jacobs) they came in. And Dan said, “I’m so glad ... I’ve been telling them to come eat at your restaurant.” Thank you, Dan.

Q: How did you feel learning Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs would be on the show? Was it difficult to be unbiased when judging his dishes?

Bartolotta: When I was getting ready in the back before they called us out on set, Tom didn’t mention it, Gail or Kristen didn’t mention it — nobody did. So I walked out and was like, “Dan?” It was great! Go Milwaukee, right?

It’s really hard for me not to be honest. I think if his dish would've been a real miss, I would’ve had a hard time, but I would not have shied away from the truth or how I felt, because I owe that to the integrity of the show. But he made it through, so, woo hoo!

Baldwin: I didn’t know until I saw him that day, but I wasn’t surprised. It’s an area that suits him well, and I was happy he presented a good dish, because I was definitely going into my role judging objectively, and I couldn’t be biased.

Shaikh: The truth is I would have never said anything bad about Dan’s dish. I just couldn’t do that to a Milwaukee guy who is just a good guy and doing things for the city.

León: I love Dan. I can’t think of a better chef and human being to represent Milwaukee on a national platform. I’m so proud of him.

Q: What do you hope viewers take away about Wisconsin after watching the season set here?

Bartolotta: Come and visit. People today travel for food — they want to see and taste what the judges have on the show. We’ve already seen it when the judges were visiting. They went to Three Brothers and to Leon’s for custard, and they talked about it and posted it. And after, those restaurants, which have been around a long time, said they’ve never been busier.

So I hope that’s going to happen for everyone, that there’s a greater level of tourism that will come here and support our businesses, but also that our own community takes it in with a fresh set of eyes and doesn’t take it for granted. I hope it will make Milwaukeeans further proud of the city and create a renewed energy.

There was once a time when you only found great restaurants in New York, Chicago, Vegas, San Francisco and Miami, so to speak. That's not the case anymore. There is incredible food to be found everywhere. And we have this incredible breadbasket of ingredients in Wisconsin — we have great farmers markets, we have great ingredients, we have great food.

Baldwin: For a show of this caliber that has been in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and a number of other culinary destinations ... for them to choose Wisconsin as the backdrop for this culinary competition is great.

There’s a farmland backdrop for the Midwest that’s the ultimate connector between farm and restaurant. I don’t think that’s ever going to go out of style, and we’ve had so many restaurants in Milwaukee find phenomenal success highlighting that. And there will be even more with “Top Chef” shining a light on the Midwest.

Shaikh: I just want them to see different parts of our state and come here and visit. Maybe they see things on the show they never knew about Milwaukee or Madison and they’ll want to come here, support Milwaukee, support Dan Jacobs and some of the rest of us who’ve been on the show.

Berens: I just hope they see it as a place they want to come to and see more of. From the very unique geography between the lake and the Driftless Area, all of Wisconsin on a broad level — but Milwaukee in particular — has such a beautiful, deep history. And the brands the show showcases, whether it be Harley-Davidson or Miller, these are brands that have been inserted into the fabric of not just Milwaukee or Wisconsin, but America.

And the food here is incredible. I know I have a bunch of jokes about cheese curds and fish fries and all that, but when you look at the history of why our food is the way it is, it tells a story. And even if you start with those cliches, it’s an entryway into the sort of Wisconsin food story that goes much deeper than that, deeper than the cheese curds ... but you better not skip the cheese curds.

I think when people see the show, they aren’t going to leave disappointed; and I think it’s cool they selected Milwaukee because it’s not the first city a lot of people think of, but it’s my home, and I love it. I’m so glad this show decided to share it with the rest of the country in such a unique way.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee chefs, celebs share what it's like to be a 'Top Chef' judge