The most annoying aspect of Top Chef is the underlying implication that the show is creating the great chefs of the future. In my experience, the reality is quite different. Most meals I've eaten at restaurants helmed by former contestants have been lackluster, as evidenced most recently by the cooking of last season's runner-up, Ed Cotton, at Plein Sud, where he bumbled such obvious standards as pissaladière and beef bourguignon. Anyway, many of the most successful cheftestants end up not running restaurants, but being recycled in subsequent editions of the show. The shining contradiction is Harold Dieterle, the first season's winner. Lacking a crazy haircut or an annoying personality affectation, he radiated calmness and competence as a chef—which, it turns out, doesn't make for very good TV. When he debuted Perilla in 2007, it wasn't a marquee assignment, but a small West Village bistro that gradually attracted a fervent following. Now, after a measured period of time, he's opened a second place a few blocks distant, and it's every bit as good. Located right on bustling Sixth Avenue, just north of 11th Street, Kin Shop seats fewer than 50 and has a calming décor that runs to bone white, light green, and pale wood tones. On each of my three visits, Dieterle himself stood doggedly at the pass-through, inspecting every dish that went from kitchen to customer.
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