Top Chef
Top Chef: Seattle returns for its tenth season! Famed chef and restaurant mogul Wolfgang Puck joins as a judge this season, alongside Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Hugh Acheson, and Emeril Lagasse, with Padma Lakshmi returning as host, as 21 cheftestants compete for the “Top Chef” crown.
"Top Chef" offers a fascinating window into the competitive, pressure-filled environment of world-class cookery and the restaurant business at the highest level. The series features aspiring chefs who compete for their shot at culinary stardom and the chance to earn the title of “Top Chef."
Lakshmi is known internationally as an actress, food expert, model and award-winning writer. She established herself as a food expert early on in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing a best-selling cookbook.
Lakshmi established herself as a food expert early on in her career, having hosted two successful cooking shows and writing a best-selling cookbook Easy Exotic, for which she won the International Versailles Event for best cookbook by a first time writer. Lakshmi followed this success with the publication of her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet, released by Weinstein Books which is a larger endeavor filled with over 150 recipes from around the world and intriguing personal memoirs. She has also been a contributing editor to American Vogue, Gourmet, and British and American Harper's Bazaar.
Tom Colicchio returns as lead judge for Food Network's Top Chef and also serves as mentor to the competing chefs on the series, guiding them through their various challenges.
In July of 1994, Colicchio, along with partner Danny Meyer, opened Gramercy Tavern in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood. His cooking at Gramercy earned consistent recognition: After three nominations for James Beard’s Best Chef NY Award, he won it in 2000. One year later in March 2001, and one block south of Gramercy Tavern, Colicchio opened Craft. His first cookbook, Think Like a Chef, published by Clarkson-Potter, won a James Beard KitchenAid Cookbook Award in May 2001. This same year, Gramercy Tavern was awarded for Outstanding Service. In 2002, Craft was awarded the James Beard Best New Restaurant Award and Gramercy Tavern's sommelier won for Outstanding Wine Service. In October 2002, Colicchio received Bon Appétit and the Food Network's Award for Chef of the Year in their American Food and Entertaining Awards. After opening Craft and Craftbar in New York City, Colicchio opened Craftsteak at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in July 2002. In spring 2003, Wichcraft opened – a sandwich shop rooted in the same food and hospitality philosophies as Craft. Wichcraft now has six New York City locations, one in Las Vegas and one in San Francisco.
In January 2010, he opened Colicchio & Sons in New York. At Colicchio & Sons, he improvises with small-batch ingredients from the micro-producers and family farmers with whom he has forged decades-long relationships. The restaurant earned three stars from The New York Times. Later that year, Colicchio opened Riverpark in New York with chef and partner Sisha Ortuzar. Riverpark features views of the East River and an urban farm supplying produce to the restaurant.
Most recently, he has opened the restaurant at Topping Rose House, a new inn he will operate in Bridgehampton, New York. The full property will debut in early 2013.