Top Chef Masters Debuts June 10; Contestants Announced

Top Chef Masters, the new show from the people who brought you (can you guess?) Top Chef, is finally a reality with the season set to kick off on June 10.

The show, which includes 3 Chicagoans among the 24 Cheftestants, will differ in some key ways from the original. First, since these people pretty clearly know what they're doing, will not have to do things like show off their knife skills or ability to identify ingredients in the quickfires. There will be quickfires, but they will be more food-quality oriented. A twist: they will be judged blindly.

The season will be a 10 episode arc. The first six will each feature a group of four chefs. The six winners will return for a four-week run that will be modeled like the Top Chef we are all used to. The winner will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice.

The Cheftestants are:

* Rick Bayless: Frontera Grill, Chicago
* Wilo Benet: Pikayo, San Juan, Puerto Rico
* John Besh: Restaurant August, New Orleans
* Graham Elliot Bowles: Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago
* Michael Chiarello: Bottega Restaurant, Yountville, California
* Michael Cimarusti: Providence, Los Angeles
* Wylie Dufresne: WD-50, New York City
* Elizabeth Falkner: Orson, San Francisco
* Hubert Keller: Fleur de Lys, San Francisco
* Christopher Lee: Aureole, New York City
* Ludo Lefebvre: Ludo Bites, Los Angeles
* Anita Lo: Annisa, New York City
* Tim Love: Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Fort Worth, Texas
* Rick Moonen: Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
* Nils Noren: French Culinary Institute, New York City
* Lachlan McKinnon Patterson: Frasca Food & Wine, Boulder, Colorado
* Cindy Pawlcyn: Mustards Grill, Napa Valley, California
* Mark Peel: Campanile, Los Angeles
* Douglas Rodriguez: Alma de Cuba, Philadelphia
* Michael Schlow: Radius Restaurant, Boston
* Art Smith: Table Fifty-Two, Chicago
* Suzanne Tracht: Jar, Los Angeles
* Jonathan Waxman: Barbuto, New York City
* Roy Yamaguchi: Roy's Restaurants, San Diego

The judges are:

* Gael Greene of New York Magazine
* James Oseland: Saveur editor-in-chief
* Jay Rayner: A British food critic I hope knows more and is less annoying than Toby Young.

I don't know how to incorporate links into the text on this site, but the official Top Chef Masters website is here: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters

could be fun summer fare. i'm in for at least a DVR watching.

WOW, I'm excited for this. Seeing all those big-name Chefs in such a vulnerable position and being judged by their peers will be priceless! Not to mention the serious cooking that will be goin' down.

Man, GEB, all that guy does is cook tuna!

This was an entertaining episode. And while I liked seeing no punches pulled on the chefs last week, I prefer seeing them at least have a kitchen so they can be more creative.

Did anyone else prematurely wince when Gael Greene started in on Bowles: "For a boy from Chicago..." Got my second city hackles up unnecessarily.

Also, when Suzanne Tracht comes back, I hope someone trails her and checks her pulse every 5 minutes or so. That's one even-keeled lady.

So far, my favorite thing about the show is that all the places in the Final have Hubert Keller's silhouette.

gastro gnome wrote:So far, my favorite thing about the show is that all the places in the Final have Hubert Keller's silhouette.

Yeah, I noticed that too and thought it amusing.