She may call the DC area home, but make no mistake – popular “Top Chef” and “Top Chef All Stars” vet Carla Hall, debuting this fall as a co-host on ABC’s “The Chew,” is a proud native of Nashville, Tenn.
“Home of the Grand Ole Opry and the Titans,” she tells DC TV Examiner, with a “woo-hoo!”
Asked if she’s developed any love for the Redskins – being a longtime Washingtonian and all – she admits that her passion for pro football goes only as deep as the uniforms, explaining, “Sometimes I just pick the team who has on green because it’s my favorite color. I hate to be a girl about it, but Eagles, Packers – I’m going for the nicer color.”
With “The Chew” filming in New York and a local NFL team in forest green, it’s a safe bet she’ll be barking out “J-E-T-S” in no time. But for now, Hall, 47, continues to wean herself off of the day-to-day business surrounding her Silver Spring-based company Alchemy by Carla Hall, a one-time catering venture that now serves as a brand specializing in petite cookies.
“I’m a recovering caterer. It’s been 250 days since my last event,” she said Sunday (Aug. 7) following her panel for “The Chew” at the Television Critics Association Press tour in Beverly Hills. “I have an amazing team that’s behind me. When I went back to ‘Top Chef All-Stars,’ I wanted to have a business that could function without me, so I wanted to have a product.”
Now, she has a product, a 1 p.m. daily chat show premiering Sept. 26 and new real estate in the Big Apple where she’ll live four days of the week while filming. “I’m a two-city girl now,” she says, adding that her home base will still be in the Takoma Park house she shares with her husband.
Before she heads north to "Chew” with her four co-hosts - fellow celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Michael Symon, lifestyle expert Clinton Kelly of TLC's "What Not to Wear" and healthy living advisor Daphne Oz (daughter of Dr. Oz) - Hall took a moment to share with DC TV Examiner her top five restaurants and places to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in the DC area.
Carla’s Five Favorite DC-Area Restaurants
“I like 8407 Kitchen Bar in Silver Spring (8407 Ramsey Ave); Amsterdam Falafelshop in Adams Morgan (2425 18th St NW), which I have to say is kind of like a great little Sunday spot to go when I just want something light. I actually go to [fellow “Top Chef” vet] Spike’s burger joint, Good Stuff Eatery (303 Pennsylvania Ave., SE), Hanks Oyster Bar (1624 Q Street NW) and we go to The Big Greek Café in downtown Sliver Spring (8223 Georgia Ave.).”
Carla’s Favorite Spots to Shop for Fresh Food
“My go-to places are the farmers markets. Luckily we’re near the farmer’s market in Takoma Park on Sundays, and they have a Silver Spring market. On Saturdays, there’s a DuPont Circle market, and on Thursday night there’s a market in Bethesda. You can pretty much guarantee you can go to a fresh market every day. I go to Safeway to maybe get my staples – like Trader Joe’s has great nuts and great dried fruit – and then I’ll supplement with fresh vegetables from the farmer’s market. It can be expensive, but how I look at it is that I’m paying for the farmers to be there. It’s like, I don’t smoke, but if you smoke you have that tax, so this is like a tax for better food and to support somebody who’s growing it.”
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