Justin Stephens/BRAVOThat Top Chef Masters was like a teasing little appetizer. It hardly sated our summer cook-show cravings. Thank goodness Bravo is getting ready to serve its main course.
Top Chef: Las Vegas is set to kick off on Aug. 26.
More importantly, each plate episode will have some pretty impressive garnish. Natalie Portman, Penn & Teller, Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Daniel Boulud, Tyler Florence, Laurent Tourondel and Nigella Lawson are among the guests making an appearance on the sixth season of the foodie hit.
Cookbook author Padma Lakshmi returns to host, as does head judge and Craft restaurant king Tom Colicchio, Food & Wine magazine's Gail Simmons and food critic Toby Young.
Now, as for the betting pool…
This season starts with 17 chef-testants competing for the title of Top Chef, $100,000 from Glad, $100,000 of merchandise from Macy's, a feature in Food & Wine magazine and a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo.
They are…
- Ash Fulk, 29; hometown: Pleasant Hill, Calif.
- Ashley Merriman, 32; hometown: Center Sandwich, N.H.
- Bryan Voltaggio, 33; hometown: Frederick, Md.
- Eli Kirshtein, 25; hometown: Atlanta
- Eve Aronoff, 40; hometown: Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Hector Santiago, 41; hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Jennifer Carroll, 33; hometown: Philadelphia
- Jennifer Zavala, 31; hometown: Cromwell, Conn.
- Jesse Sandlin, 30; hometown: Baltimore
- Kevin Gillespie, 26; hometown: Atlanta
- Laurine Wickett, 38; hometown: Rochester, N.Y.
- Mattin Noblia, 29; hometown: Biarritz, France
- Michael Isabella, 34; hometown: Little Ferry, N.J.
- Michael Voltaggio, 30; hometown: Frederick, Md.
- Preeti Mistry, 33; hometown: San Francisco
- Robin Leventhal, 43; hometown: Sun Valley, Idaho
- Ron Duprat, 40; hometown: Mare Rouge, Haiti
Bon appétit!