Top Chef Alumni Newsletter

Top Chef’s Fabio Viviani Spins Off His Own Show

Fabio Viviani
Fabio Viviani

Top Chef: Season Five charmer Fabio Viviani will soon have his own show on Bravo, with no Padma, no Tom, and no competitors. The show, which Variety tells us will be called Fabio: A Catered Affair, will follow Viviani and boyhood chum-cum-business collaborator Jacopo Falleni as they work to expand their catering company and restaurant business. The pilot is already finished, and the show, produced by the same company that does Top Chef, could air as early as this year. And given Viviani’s recent history, we expect it to be molto dramatic.

This week we learned Fabio was fired by his own father-in-law at Café Firenze in Moorpark, while Viviani and Falleni have fired back with a lawsuit, claiming they were not compensated for their efforts in creating the successful restaurant. A day later, Viviani and Falleni were being promoted as the new owners and culinary force behind Firenze Osteria, taking over Barsac Brasserie in North Hollywood with Barsac owner Lisa Long, opening on October 24th.

Viviani is eager to turn his Top Chef fame into other opportunities, like as a a spokesman for San Pellegrino water and releasing his first collection of recipes, Café Firenze Cookbook, with Jacopo as co-author. The next few months will see Fabio playing grand marshal in this weekend’s Moorpark Country Days parade, peparing a tasting menu for Lake of the Torches Resort Casino in Wisconsin, and working on his next book, tentatively titled, My Son is On Google, Recipes and Memories from an Italian Mom, to be released next year.

Earlier: Fabio Viviani’s New York Diet

Top Chef’s Fabio Viviani Spins Off His Own Show