Last Season’s Top Chef, Stephanie Izard, on Whether Padma Lakshmi Follows the Acapulco Golden Rule

Possums, as much as we like and appreciate last season’s Top Chef winner, Stephanie Izard, we cannot help but concede that she, being a cautious and intelligent sort (drats!), hasn’t always given the most thrilling of interviews (although perhaps in these Caseygate times, that’s not such a bad thing). So it is with great pleasure that we perused one of the liveliest Izard interviews to date, where she discusses her soon-to-open restaurant in Chicago and how she is confident she will beat Hosea Rosenberg during their upcoming cook-off in Aspen. But our favorite exchange was this:

Q. Settle a rumor: Does Padma like to share her weed or no?
A. Does she seem like the type who shares? That would not be very diva would it?

Variety Shows Are the Spice of Padma Lakshmi’s Life

Here for your delectation, possums, please find two clips of Domenica In, the Italian variety show for which, once upon a time, Padma Lakshmi served as co-host. We especially love the first one, in which she appears at the head of a white piano and manages to answer the phone, sing, and dance--all at the same time! After that, Top Chef must seem like a breeze. One question, though: why isn't she ever this animated on American soil? What could possibly keep her so mellow and calm?