The new season of “Top Chef” returns to Bravo on Aug. 26, and it can’t come soon enough to wash away the bitter taste left by Hosea’s victory last season. Season 6 takes place in Las Vegas, and the 17 contestants have been announced. And of course there are a few with Bay Area ties. The chefs are:
Ron Duprat, 40, a South Florida chef with Haitian influences.
Robin Levanthal, 40, a self-taught Seattle chef who used to run Crave.
Preeti Mistry, 33, of San Francisco and who’s an executive chef at Google and formerly at the De Young Museum.
Michael Voltagglio, 30, an up-and-coming chef from L.A. who used to work at the Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg.
Michael Isabella, 34, a Washington D.C. chef specializing in Greek cuisine who’s tooled around Philly and Atlanta.
Mattin Noblia, 29, a French native who runs Iluna Basque in San Francisco.
Laurine Wickett, 38, a Silicon Valley catering veteran who now runs Left Coast Catering in San Francisco.
Kevin Gillespie, 26, an Atlanta chef who loves hot wings and lard (early pick as fan favorite?).
Jesse Sandlin, 30, a heavily-tattooed Baltimore chef.
Jennifer Zavala, 31, executive chef at a Mexican/Texan restaurant in Philly.
Jennifer Carroll, 33, runs Eric Ripert’s restaurant in Philly and an SF restaurant veteran.
Hector Santiago, 41, an award-winning Atlanta chef specializing in Puerto Rican cuisine.
Eve Aronoff, 40, a French-influenced chef from Ann Arbor, Mich.
Eli Kirshtein, 25, another Atlanta chef, trained in classic French.
Bryan Voltaggio, 33, a Charlie Palmer protege based in Maryland. And yes, his brother is a fellow contestant.
Ashley Merriman, 32, a Seattle chef (Branzino) who used to work at Butter in N.Y.
Ash Fulk, 29, an East Bay native now cooking in N.Y.
Interesting group. Good range of ages and experience levels. Everyone seems to have a pretty solid background and I like the range of cuisines they’ll bring to the table. The show really seems to have clustered the contestants — a good number from SF, Seattle, Atlanta and the Philadelphia/Baltimore/D.C. area, and even a pair of brothers. Sounds like the makings for a good season, and it’s got me excited for it to begin..
Oh, just to throw some water on the excitement, Toby Young is back as a judge. Can’t have everything.
