Posted by Glenn Lazzaro for his series “Adventures in Television”

July 11, 2011, Dallas Texas

Throughout the past seasons of “Top Chef”, Padma Lakshmi has eaten apples, oranges, cake, whipped cream, chocolate, watermelons and tomatoes for the Promos. And she has done it really, really well. So when it was time to shoot the promos for “Top Chef Texas” Amy Troiano, VP of On Air Promotion, Trez Thomas VP Brand strategy, Creative Director Justin Reichman and Producer Elizabeth Massip all agreed that we would shoot Padma eating an iconic Texas food for the Tease Spot. The people in Texas take their Barbeque very seriously so we had to make sure we did it right. Barbequed Ribs were of course our first choice but we had other options as well.-the big three of Texas Barbecue: Pulled pork, Brisket and Ribs were all considered. But one thing clinched the deal: while looking for reference images for the creative brief, Elizabeth did a Google Image Search for “eating ribs.” The very first hit was Padma Lakshmi eating ribs.

 

On the shoot day Padma did what she always does best. She made Texas Ribs look better than they ever looked.