Alpana Singh Leaves Check, Please

After ten seasons of sitting down with Chicago diners and exploring the spectrum of local restaurants, Alpana Singh is stepping away from hosting the widespread yet cultish WTTW show Check, Please. With her own grand four-story restaurant and wine haven The Boarding House opening just over a month ago, Singh, a master sommelier, is choosing to focus on running the enormous concept. Singh and the show have been talking about this for a while.

"Nothing can possibly prepare you for all the work it takes to run a restaurant," Singh says. "We have a very long way to go...I need to focus on this."

The new season of Check, Please is currently airing, but all of the episodes are in the can. Six more premieres will run before summer reruns, the next season begins in October.

David Manilow, the creator and executive producer of Check, Please is starting the search for a new host now. "What we're looking for is someone with knowledge and expertise of the restaurant and wine world," Manilow says. "And someone who's appealing, inclusive, can keep the conversation going, and does well on TV." They'll announce the beginning of the search in the next couple weeks on social media and the show's website.

The search is "wide open" according to Manilow, which means anybody, inside the media and restaurant industries or out, will be considered. Except for one specific criteria: "We're not looking for someone that's a jerk," Manilow jokes.

Watch the last new episodes of Singh's tenure until May, then take the summer to get ready for a new host. Who knows, it could be you.

·All Coverage of Alpana Singh [~ECHI~]
·All Coverage of Check, Please [~ECHI~]
·Check, Please [Official Site]