"Top Chef" fans who have drooled over the dishes and obsessed over the quirky contestants can now get their fix in person, smelling the food and getting a taste of the culinary personalities.

A 20-city tour — complete with a converted 18-wheeler semi-truck outfitted with a full kitchen — is traveling across the country this summer. Guests can pick up cooking tips, try the chefs' creations, and finally get answers to nagging questions like, "Did Spike know those scallops would be frozen?"      

Fans line up
During a recent stop in Philadelphia, the gigantic orange and white truck plastered with pictures of season winners and hosts Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshimi, drew a crowd at an outdoor food festival. Lauren Miller, 37, who hosts a weekly "Top Chef" viewing party in West Chester, Pa., waited outside with three friends to see season four contestants Spike Mendelsohn and Nikki Cascone.

"We are huge fans. We try and watch it together every week," said Miller's friend Stefanie Claypoole, 33. "We make a meal from the Bravo site to eat while we watch it."

Chuck Hodes Evangelos "Spike" Mendelsohn was the last season four contestant eliminated before the show moved to Puerto Rico.

Inside the truck, Spike, wearing a trademark fedora, prepared a simple eggplant dish cooked with tomatoes, garlic and parsley, which he served with crostini and feta. He told the audience of about 40 people that he decided to make the dish to redeem himself from a Quickfire Challenge in Episode 2.  The challenge called for contestants to make a dish from five ingredients from the farmer's market, and the judges said Spike's steak tips looked like "dog food." When Spike got home, his family teased him, saying that he should have made the simple eggplant dish he often ate growing up.

While cooking, Spike gave tips on how to prepare eggplant, such as soaking it in a saltwater mixture beforehand so it looses any bitterness and doesn't absorb oil when sautéed. He tried to get the crowd talking by asking how many people there rooted for finalists Stephanie Izard or Richard Blais.

"I don't have to ask about Lisa," he said, drawing laughs about perpetually gloomy Lisa Fernandes, Season Four's "villain."

The 'Top Chef' dish

Chuck Hodes Nikki Cascone is the chef and co-owner of 24 Prince Restaurant in New York City.

Nikki helped make the dish (they took turn as head chef during the day's demos) and chatted about the show. She told the crowd how worried she was when guest judge Rick Bayless hated the smoked gouda macaroni and cheese she made for the block party challenge, because it was a main seller at 24 Prince in Manhattan where she's a chef and co-owner.

Spike told the crowd about his latest venture — a burger and fries place called Good Stuff Eatery that he is opening with his family this week in Washington, D.C. If all goes well, he said, it will be the prototype for a chain.

Highlights in the first days of the tour, the chefs said, was the feedback they were getting from fans, from hearing they inspired people to go to culinary school or made it easier for parents to get their children to try new types of food. The best aspect of the show, Nikki said, has been the chance to interact with fans.

"There are so many hours of filming to get the drama," Nikki said. "This is a great opportunity for us to get out and you can see our personalities and taste our food."

While the line-ups for the tour are still being set, upcoming shows will feature former season four winner Stephanie Izard, season three winner Hung Hyunh, season four contestants Richard Blais, Dale Talde and Ryan Scott, as well as season two chef Josie Smith-Malave.

The truth behind the scallop scandal
So, did Spike know that those scallops were frozen?

"No, I didn't know and didn't know what quality they were in," he told the Philadelphia crowd.

But once he had picked them, he was stuck.

"So then I tried to talk myself into it — the last thing you want to is not show confidence," he said.

But the water-logged frozen scallops kept Spike from going to the finales in Puerto Rico.

"I still wake up in the middle of the night, and say, 'frozen scallops!"

Check bravotv.com/thetour for tour dates and a chance to sign up for free tickets.

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