Bon Appétit Partners with Bravo on Best New Restaurant

Bravo is partnering with food magazine Bon Appétit on the network's upcoming show Best New Restaurant. The show is produced by shouty chef Gordon Ramsay and hosted by chef/restaurateur and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. Colicchio and his "trusted team of experts pit 16 of the nation's hottest new restaurants against each other in a series of challenges aimed at determining who provides" the best experience over all.

A press release (below) notes that the magazine will serve as an exclusive media partner. Also, Bon Appétit's editor in chief Adam Rapoport and the restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton will appear as "recurring experts and VIP diners" on the show. The winner of the show will receive an editorial feature in Bon Appétit as well as a spot at their food festival, Vegas Uncork'd by Bon Appétit. Best New Restaurant is slated to debut in early 2015. The move raised some eyebrows in the food media world as Bravo's successful Top Chef franchise has long had a partnership with Bon Appétit's competitor Food & Wine. See the press release:

Bon Appétit Partners With Bravo Media

Bon Appétit makes its first foray into the world of broadcast as the exclusive media partner for Bravo's upcoming culinary competition series Best New Restaurant, set to debut in early 2015. Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport and restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton will appear as reoccurring experts and VIP diners on the show. The winner of Best New Restaurant will receive an editorial feature in the magazine and a featured spot at America's No. 1 global food festival, Vegas Uncork'd by Bon Appétit 2015.

Hosted by acclaimed chef and restaurateur Tom Colicchio, Best New Restaurant
is a new out-of-studio culinary competition series that looks at the food world from a fresh direction: the restaurant. Colicchio, along with his trusted team of experts, pits 16 of the nation's hottest new restaurants against each other in a series of challenges aimed at determining which provides the best top-to-bottom experience. Colicchio will travel across the nation in search of one restaurant that deserves to be crowned Best New Restaurant. The series is modeled after the UK hit Ramsay's Best Restaurant.

"Bon Appétit, which compiles its own list of America's best new restaurants each year in its September Hot 10 issue, will lend its expertise to this series. It will apply the same critical eye that it uses in the magazine to the restaurant contestants on the show," says Rapoport.

"We have been extremely selective in getting into TV, but this model enhances our overall brand strategy and allows us to share our restaurant expertise with a new audience," says Bon Appétit publisher and vice president Pamela Drucker Mann. "Best New Restaurants is an elite franchise for us, and as Bon Appétit continues to expand its content development into digital and experiential marketing, this broadcast opportunity seemed like a natural extension for us to amplify our Best New Restaurants platform."

"Bon Appétit's readership and editorial voice are a perfect complement for Best New Restaurant, which really approaches the genre of culinary competition series from a fresh angle," says Maria DeLuca, senior vice president, consumer and trade marketing, Bravo Media. "Tom and his advisers will take into account not only the dishes that are served, but also everything from decor to customer service to restaurant concept. Bravo viewers are passionate about food as a lifestyle, which
is Bon Appétit's bread and butter."

Best New Restaurant is produced by One Potato Two Potato with Gordon Ramsay, Tom Colicchio, Elizabeth Cook, Nicola Moody, Pat Llewellyn, and Ben Adler serving as executive producers.

· Bravo Announces New Shows [-E-]
· All Tom Colicchio Coverage on Eater [-E-]