Chef Josh Valentine is Oklahoma's First "Top Chef" Contestant
Anyone with a discerning palate was heartbroken when the “for lease” sign went up in front of The Divine Swine Pork Bistro a few months ago. But then there was this cryptic handwritten note left on the door about how “life-changing opportunities” had been responsible for the shuttering.
Now it can be told, Josh Valentine came home one day to find out from his wife Courtney that “Top Chef” was holding auditions in Denver. Josh was nonplussed until Courtney said, “And we’re going” as she showed him two plane tickets to Denver. He went, he crushed it, and he was chosen for the cast of season 10 of “Top Chef,” which was filmed in Seattle.
Josh returned from shooting the show a few weeks ago sporting a Snydley Whiplash/Abel Ramos mustache, which begs the question: Will he be the new Stefan?
He could do worse.
Josh, 33, is a graduate of The Coach House Apprenticeship Program before heading to Dallas where he worked at both SPR and Samar by Stephan Pyles restaurants in Dallas. At Divine Swine, Valentine was baking his own breads, curing and smoking his own bacon and ham, grinding his own sausage and burgers, and making gravy and ketchup from scratch.
