Everyone in the D.C. mainstream media/blog community seems to be playing a game of Where’s Padma? The Washingtonian even has a working map of reported Top Chef D.C. sightings.

Just when I thought I was above it all, I got dragged into the fray this afternoon with a tip that the Top Chef crews would be filming tomorrow at Alice Deal Middle School, with students serving as “testers.”

So I called the school and talked to an assistant to an administrator who said she couldn’t talk about anything. Everything was “strictly confidential.” So I took another angle: Does Deal have a community garden or student garden or something that could possibly attract Michelle Obama out of the White House for the episode?

No, said the official, but Deal is just winding up massive renovations to the nearly 80-year-old school. Do you have a nice kitchen?, I wondered.

Yes, she said. “It’s state of the art.”

Draw your own conclusions.

Photo courtesy of Bravo