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Bryan Caswell, chef-owner of REEF seafood restaurant in midtown and Little Bigs hamburger stands on Montrose and in Hermann Park, revealed in a recent interview with 1560 AM the reasons behind his refusing to appear as a contestant on Bravo's popular Top Chef cooking competition. As some may be aware, he once went through the audition process and was offered a spot on the show. Caswell declined the producers' offer because he felt it was too demanding.
He told hosts John Granato and Lance Zierlein that the Top Chef contract stipulated he sign away the rights to his life story and show up to any and all Top Chef events for three years after his season aired. The producers then had the option to renew his deal for two more years after that. Caswell said that his chef’s duties at REEF keep him way too busy to take that much time off.
The real deal breaker, however, was that he would not be allowed to wear his Astros cap while on camera. Due to licensing issues that involve logos not associated with Bravo TV, Caswell was told by those in charge that they preferred he not sport his signature head gear. It sounds like they didn’t want to pay to have their post-production people blur out the distinctive Astros’ star a few dozen times an episode. This cost of all that blurring likely would’ve climbed pretty high, presuming the Houstonian made it deep into the competition. Given that REEF was recently named the #1 seafood restaurant in the United States by Bon Appétit Magazine, I’d say that would’ve been a safe bet.
Houston seafood fans are no doubt happy with this decision, to say nothing of the mini-burger aficionados in this town. Having eaten REEF’s famous sliders myself, I count myself among those pleased Caswell didn’t appear on Bravo’s cooking juggernaut. To listen to the entire interview, one that includes Caswell and the hosts judging a contest to find Houston’s best “drunk food chef,” visit 1560 AM’s home page, or just click here.
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