MILWAUKEE — Now that “Top Chef” has officially landed in Wisconsin for its 21st season, two-time James Beard award-winning chef and Milwaukee native Paul Bartolotta joined Wisconsin’s Midday News to discuss the long process of convincing those behind the program to showcase Wisconsin.
Bartolotta, who has been featured as a guest judge for segments in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Singapore, explained that the conversations began before the pandemic. He used his connections to promote the Milwaukee food scene to Producers and Developers behind “Top Chef.” They told him they were considering a Midwest showcase including Minneapolis, Detroit and Milwaukee, but he never settled.
“We were unrelenting in our pursuit and kept pushing them and kept reaching out. You know, you have to be gentle. You can’t be [too pushy],” he explained. “I really feel like people don’t know what Milwaukee offers and I think this was the opportunity for us to showcase our incredible city.”
These initial conversations came to a halt when the COVID-19 pandemic hit stateside, closing restaurants and television production nationwide. Later on, talks were again interrupted when the Ryder Cup occupied many of the city’s hotels and accommodations, preventing an earlier showcase of Milwaukee on “Top Chef.”
Eventually, Bartolotta started looking elsewhere for support. As he explained on Wisconsin’s Midday News, Bartolotta enlisted the help of the Governor’s Office, the Mayor of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County Executive, Travel Wisconsin, Visit Milwaukee and MMAC, among others. Bartolotta also heavily credited his company’s PR specialist, Amy Rossetti with helping during this process.
“It was a community that brought it here. I like to think I had a little something to do with it — some friends and some connections,” Chef Bartolotta explained. “You want to let them know that ‘We’re here to welcome you here,’ rather than ‘We want them for the celebrity value’ or that. We really wanted to showcase Milwaukee, and then Wisconsin.”
When that initial visit was made by representatives of “Top Chef,” Bartolotta said they started with a custard crawl before widening the scope of Wisconsin’s vast culinary landscape for unsuspecting visitors. While Milwaukee itself drew much of the appeal, he also noted the importance of highlighting all the state offers.
“There’s a really exciting movement happening in Milwaukee, and I just think that’s part of it,” Chef Bartolotta said. “And then all of a sudden, Door County and Madison and everybody wanted to get involved — you know, the Cheese Board — everybody said ‘We want to showcase out our state!’ And it really started [out] pitching Milwaukee, but in the end, rightfully so, it’s about our state.”
You can watch new episodes of this Wisconsin-themed season of “Top Chef” on Wednesday nights on Bravo.
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