Alex Stratta Sighting

Who is Alex Stratta you ask?

A cheftestant on last season's Top Chef.

Masters.

Holy sh!#.

So I'm standing in the checkout line at Whole Foods with my friend Chris-anna, and I'm staring at the guy behind us. I'm thinking, "I know this guy. He looks so familiar. Who is he? Where do I know him from. If I don't just ask him, it's going to bug me for days."

So I say it, "Do I know you?"

"I was on television."

"What show?"

"Top Chef." (He leaves out the "Masters" part, guess he's really shy or something.)

My eyes widen. Oh. That's how I know him. "Do you live in . . . Cleveland?????"

"No, I'm here to see some doctors."

Now there's a big furrow in my brow. I'm squinting as I stare at him. Is it terminal? Coming to Cleveland to see some doctors might mean it's pretty bad.

"Recipe development," he quietly ads.

"Oh!" I exclaim, "you have to come meet my friends!"

Seems Mr. Stratta lost 100 pounds recently. Here's the before:

Read about his transformation, as well as what happened to Alton Brown, here and here. I have been wondering about Alton for a long time, and now I know. So glad these guys are realizing the damage they are doing to themselves and to society.

Mr. Stratta is also a colon cancer survivor. He didn't mention that at lunch.

He did share that he left his jobs at the fancy restaurants he was working at in the Wynn as Vegas. Restaurants that were named after him. Who does that?

A guy who wants to be healthy, I'm guessing.

"Top Chef Masters' Alex Stratta has severed his ties with the Wynn Las Vegas. According to reports he quietly departed from his remaining Wynn restaurant Stratta a few weeks back, leaving executive chef David Snyder and Stratta�s assistant executive chef Joseph Leibowitz at the helm. (Earlier this year his other Wynn project Alex shuttered as well.) Apparently the split with the Wynn was amicable and Stratta will now be focusing on 'his culinary career on nutritional and disease preventative research and menu development, and an exciting new opportunity in the works in Asia.'"

Maybe he'll become one of us now?

I'm staying tuned!