Two of Bravo's "Top Chefs," CIA alumni Ilan Hall '02 and Hung Huynh '02, offer insight into how they earned their titles through new podcast

All three winners of the number one food show on cable are graduates of the CIA. Listen to the podcast now.

Staff Contributor: Stephan Hengst

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) has introduced the newest in its "Insight from the Inside" podcast series: an interview with the winner of Top Chef Season 2, Ilan Hall '02, and Top Chef's Season 3 winner, Hung Huynh '02. To date, all three winners of Bravo's Top Chef have been CIA graduates, including Harold Dieterle '97 from the first season of the popular show.

The 15-minute podcast features a conversation with both Hung and Ilan, and details what it was like to compete on Bravo's reality show Top Chef. Both Ilan and Hung graduated from the CIA with an associate degree in culinary arts in 2002.

A native of Long Island, Chef Hall has worked in Florence, Italy, and for Chefs Tom Colicchio at Craft and Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich at Casa Mono in New York City. After receiving his CIA associate degree, Chef Hall went on to earn a 30-week baking and pastry arts certificate from the CIA at Greystone in St. Helena, California in 2003.

Chef Huynh's résumé reads like a tour of outstanding restaurants—Guy Savoy, Aureole, Lespinasse, Per Se, Manhattan Ocean Club—and it's indicative of his talent. Born in Vietnam and trained in classic French and Asian cuisines, Hung has two older brothers who attended the CIA as well.

"The CIA prepared me by providing me with the fundamentals of cooking; the basic skills I needed to win. The strong foundation, the perfect knife cuts, the perfect braising or sautéing techniques," explains Huynh when asked how his CIA education helped him during Top Chef. "What you need to serve great food is definitely great techniques. You can have all the soul you want, but soul does not make great-tasting food."

The next season of Top Chef premieres Wednesday, March 12 at 10 p.m. on Bravo. Five CIA graduates are among the 16 competing for the title of "Top Chef": Jennifer Biesty '92, now working in San Francisco; Richard Blais '98 and Nimma Osman '01 from Atlanta; and Evangelos "Spike" Mendelson '05 and Dale Talde '98 of New York City.

"Insight from the Inside" is part of an ongoing series from The Culinary Institute of America, and includes interviews with alumni such as Cat Cora '96, Duff Goldman '98, and Michael Symon '90. To download or to subscribe to receive these podcasts, visit: www.ciachef.edu/podcasts.