Top Chef goes to Seattle for 10th season on Bravo. The Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series will feature famed chef and restaurant mogul Wolfgang Puck alongside Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Hugh Acheson and Emeril Lagasse with Padma Lakshmi returning as host, as 21 chef’testants compete for the top crown. The franchise has already boosted the careers of nine “Top Chef” winner. This season the competition goes back to the basics, with culinary challenges that require a mastery of the primary skills of a chef. The “Top Chef: Seattle” chef’testants will be pared down week by week as they compete to out-flavor, out-cook and out-do their competition. The winning chef will receive $125,000, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and will earn the title of “Top Chef.”

Each episode holds two challenges for the chefs. The first is a Quickfire test of their basic abilities and the second is a more involved elimination challenge designed to test the versatility and inventiveness of the chefs as they take on unique culinary trials such as working with unusual and exotic foods or catering for a range of demanding clients. The challenges not only test their skills in the kitchen, but also uncover if they have the customer service, management and teamwork abilities required of a Top Chef. The competing chefs live and breathe the high-pressure lifestyle that comes with being a master chef and each week someone is asked to “pack up their knives” and go home.

Among the Asian American contestants are

Chrissy Camba, 30
Chicago, Illinois
Chrissy is a spunky Filipino woman who currently serves as Chef at Bar Pastoral, an extension of Chicago’s beloved cheese, specialty food and wine shop, Pastoral. She graduated from Loyola University, Chicago with a degree in biology, and has worked hard to shine throughout her culinary career. When she wasn’t working, Chrissy has staged at acclaimed restaurants such as Bouchon, Alinea, Blackbird, Boka, Avenues, Naha and The Bristol. In 2010, she was featured on the cover of ‘Time Out’ magazine for her charcuterie plate, and in 2012, Christina was featured on Grubstreet’s “101 of the Most Interesting Desserts.” If she were a food, she says, “I would be a Santol fruit – sometimes sweet, sometimes tart, unusual and a skin that can be thick or thin.”

Kristen Kish, 28
Boston, Massachusetts
Kristen currently works as Chef de Cuisine at Stir, a Barbara Lynch entity that serves as the company’s epicenter of education. Stir hosts demonstration dinners seven nights a week featuring a revolving menu that showcases different styles of cooking, cuisines and regions. Previously, Kristen worked as Chef de Partie for Michelin starred Chef Guy Martin at his Boston restaurant, Sensing. Kristen’s personal style is modern and contemporary French cuisine with Italian influences. Her favorite thing to cook is a French macaron.

Sheldon Simeon, 30
Lahaina, Hawaii
Sheldon talks the Hawaiian talk and loves to cook with local island ingredients, but is confident when competing against Mainland chefs. The Executive Chef of Star Noodle in Lahaina, Sheldon is a two-time James Beard semifinalist — for “Rising Star” and “Best New Restaurant,” both in 2011. Also in 2011, Maui Nokaoi Magazine named him “Chef of the Year.” Food & Wine Magazine named Sheldon “Best New Chef People’s Choice” nominee in 2012. He learned his basic culinary skills at Disneyworld, where he also met his wife, but his competitive nature has ensured his continued success that has landed him all of these accolades.

Kuniko Yagi, 35
Los Angeles, California
Kuniko is living the American Dream, and she came to food in a roundabout way. Unhappy working in finance in her native Japan, Kuniko picked up and moved to Los Angeles, getting a job as a server at a noodle house in Los Angeles. Here, she met Chef David Myers of the Michelin starred Sona, who, moved by Kuniko’s passion and zeal, suggested she test her culinary aspirations in his kitchen. Not only did she rise to the challenge — an un-trained cook in one of the city’s most famed kitchens — she blossomed. Five years later, she is Myers’ protégé and most recently served as Executive Chef of his popular Los Angeles restaurant, Comme Ça. She will be opening his upcoming Los Angeles restaurant as Executive Chef in December 2012. In 2010, Kuniko was named StarChef.com’s Rising Star.

Jeffrey Jew, 34
Washington, DC
Jeffrey was an Army brat, who was introduced to cooking by his father and grandfather early in life. He graduated first in his class at the Culinary Institute of America, and has worked as the Culinary Director of Abbey Road Overseas Program in Florence, Italy, Head Chef to the Embassy of Italy, trained under Chef Angela Hartnett at the Connaught Hotel in London, and worked as Chef de Cuisine at Marvin and Blackbyrd Restaurants in Washington, DC. He is now a personal chef, where he has the opportunity to use the influences from his travels to incorporate Asian, Moroccan, Ethiopian, Italian, French, and Spanish ingredients to his dishes.

Top Chef Season 10 in Seattle promo