Michael Voltaggio: Why the Langham Dining Room?

"Top Chef" contestant Michael Voltaggio is quickly cementing a reputation as an arrogant, bad loser, despite his artistic food creations. But whatever his TV persona, his opinions about taking the job at the Langham hotel Dining Room are refreshingly direct in the latest issue of Pasadena Magazine.
“My first impression was no. I don’t want to go back and work in an old hotel, in an old dining room,” he tells writer/editor Linda Immediato, who is even more candid in her description: "The Dining Room feels like Grandma’s house. It has an air of mothballs. And it certainly doesn’t match Voltaggio’s sultry, intellectual and playful modern cuisine."
But after "Top Chef," Voltaggio decided to ride out the renovation planned for next year and see what happens. What will he do while the restaurant's being renovated? He has said he'd consider another TV job at some point, if it had the right focus.
If you want to read Jonathan Gold's article on Pasadena dining, you'll have to buy the print edition.