Hootie hoo! Carla Hall opened up to Us Weekly exclusively about 25 things you might not know about her — including the celebrity who left her starstruck, her favorite season of Top Chef and her favorite fast food meal to indulge on. Read on learn more about the chef and The Chew alum.
1. I’m an expert at solving jigsaw puzzles.
2. I love comfort foods that remind me of family, specifically the recipes passed down to me by my grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
3. Any meal shared around the table with good friends and family is a memorable meal.
4. If I weren’t a chef, I’d be an actor.
5. The book that’s currently on my nightstand is Knock Knock’s I Can’t Sleep: An Inner Truth Journal.
6. My favorite TV shows at the moment are The Voice and Netflix’s Criminal: Spain.
7. I was starstruck when I met Carol Burnett.
8. My celebrity crush is Seal.
9. I didn’t have posters on my wall growing up; I had artwork.
10. Aside from puzzles, I like to do coloring books to relax.
11. My husband [Matthew Lyons] and I still do the “hootie hoo” call [made famous when Hall was a contestant on Top Chef].
12. The best advice I’ve ever received was from my grandmother: “It’s your job to be happy, not rich.”
13. The first thing I do in the morning is make up my bed.
14. My wardrobe staples are glasses, earrings and scarves. Another one is a great white blouse and colorful socks and tights. It’s always about the splash of color for me.
15. My favorite season of Top Chef, besides my own, was season 4 [in Chicago].
16. If I could have dinner with someone, dead or alive, it would be my great-grandmother, who lived to be 102. I’d ask her about her life and her secret to longevity.
17. I really want to go to Senegal, and I’d like to visit Australia.
18. My first job was scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.
19. My first car was an orange AMC Gremlin. It was loud. We’d play Mo’ Jamaica Funk [by Tom Browne] at the loudest volume riding around Hadley Park [in Nashville] with the trunk up and the windows down.
20. When I was in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this woman came up to me and said, “Are you Carla from The Chew?” When I said yes, her 6-foot-5 husband started jumping up and down, exclaiming, “I knew it, I knew it!”
21. I’m afraid of heights.
22. If I’m indulging in fast food, my order is a hot dog with relish, yellow mustard and ketchup, with french fries and a lemonade.
23. My go-to workout is 20 minutes of stair steps in whatever building I’m in.
24. The apps I use most are Maps, Amtrak, LastPass, Instagram and Google Calendar.
25. The song I play on repeat is “Green Onions” by Booker T. & the M.G.’s.
Hall is part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s culinary awareness campaign, Around the Table.
