Top Chef is back for its 15th season and the show is literally “reaching new heights” in Colorado. One of the most memorable chefs competing this season is Joe Sasto. He’s known for his talent of course (you can’t make it to Top Chef without talent) but he’s also known for his signature dark handlebar mustache. In the sneak peek video, one of the guest judges can’t help but to comment on it. He tells Sasto, “I’m having trouble concentrating on the food because of your epic mustache!” Here are 5 fun facts about Sasto (beyond the mustache):
- Sasto didn’t go to culinary school; he went to University of California at Davis and cooked to make a living.
- His big break was working at Cotoga in San Francisco. (Cotoga is the rustic Italian sister restaurant of Quince, the Michelin-three-starred restaurant where Sasto cooked for three years under Chef Michael Tusk.)
- Sasto is known for his handmade pasta. Check out the purple pasta below which he named Purple Haze after rock legend Jimi Hendrix. (It’s made of cabbage!)
- Sasto filmed Top Chef in the summer. He’s now in Los Angeles working as Chef de Cuisine at Adam Sobel’s new restaurant Cal Mare, which just opened in November
- Cal Mare, btw, takes up the entire ground floor (8,000 square feet) of the Beverly Centre, a shopping mall. Eater calls it a “food hall.” Top Chef airs Thursdays at 10pm on Bravo.
