“Top Chef” came for lunch, bringing host Padma Lakshmi, judge Gail Simmons and two teams of chefs for an informal Quickfire challenge – “make the best dish you can” in 20 minutes from raw ingredients to plating. On the “old school” side were Fabio, Antonia and Ryan from the most-recent season; for “new school,” three contestants from the new season, “Top Chef: Las Vegas.” Chef Tom Colicchio sent apologies that he couldn’t be there, but he and his wife have a new baby boy, Luka, born Saturday.

First, let me assure her fans that the lovely Padma is even more lovely in person than you imagine.  She and Simmons took questions while the two teams cooked, stopping only while a very noisy blender was running to prepare pistachio sauce.

One of Simmons’ first answers was about Toby Young, the unpopular judge who stepped in last season when “Top Chef” conflicted with Simmons’ wedding. “Actually, he didn’t replace me; he replaced Ted Allen,” she said (as best I could hear over the chaos), adding that he’d never seen the show before arriving to judge and that perhaps his “British sense of humor” didn’t translate. In truth, Young (who returns this season) is a great guy and they’ve become good friends, she said. Also, she thinks he’s funny.

Lakshmi and Simmons talked about what they like to eat on their time off (Lakshmi likes anything she can eat in bed, and both enjoy a good burger) while the teams chopped frantically and Antonia set a towel on fire. Old school made seared halibut with fresh corn and crab relish, topped with ingredients including “fennel hair.” New school made hamachi crudo (er, raw fish). Typically non-participatory TV critics counted down the last 10 seconds and joined Lakshmi for “utensils down, hands up!”

Four critics joined the judging team to pick a winner, but every table got one plate of each dish to share. The “crudo” (no, I didn’t try it) wasn’t popuar on either side of me; on the other hand, the halibut seemed a bit overdone, maybe because it was prepared in back, not on the spot, and finished a bit too early. in the end, the raw dish got the nod, giving the competition to the newbies, who celebrated loudly.

All in all: A good time was had by all. Pictures later.