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

Chef David Chang will be making a big splash in the new PBS series “The Mind of a Chef.” From ramen to rotting bananas, from Copenhagen to Kansas City, from pork buns to golf clubs, THE MIND OF A CHEF combines travel, cooking, history, science, and humor into an unforgettable journey. Join executive producer and narrator Anthony Bourdain as he takes viewers inside the mind of noted Asian American chef and restaurateur David Chang, a New York Times best-selling author and chef/owner of the Momofuku restaurant group. Chang brings a voracious appetite for food knowledge and a youthful exuberance to cooking and travel, whether cooking in his kitchens in New York and Australia or traveling for inspiration to Japan, Denmark, Spain or Montreal.

Over the course of 16 half-hour episodes, the season examines the food-centric world of Chef Chang, a man who’s enjoying an incredible run in the culinary world. Named by TIME Magazine one of the world’s “100 most influential people,” Chang is the creative force behind New York City’s wildly popular Momofuku restaurants. Along the way, he’s racked up just about every major cooking award. Whether cooking in his kitchens in New York and Australia or traveling for inspiration to Japan, Denmark, Spain or Montreal, Chang brings a voracious appetite for food knowledge and a youthful exuberance to cooking and travel.

In the series premiere, Chang dissects the roots of his passion for ramen dishes and tsukemen on a trip to Japan. Learn the history of this famous noodle as David visits a ramen factory, has a bowl of the original tsukemen and examines how alkalinity makes noodles chewier and less prone to dissolving in broth. Other season highlights include traveling to Montreal with comedian Aziz Ansari of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” visiting one of the world’s top chefs, Rene Redzepi, and traveling on a BBQ tour of Texas, North Carolina and Kansas City.

The Mind of a Chef is slated to air beginning November 9, 2012 on PBS. Check your local listing for details.

The Mind of a Chef trailer

About David Chang
David Chang is a noted Korean American and New York Times best-selling author. He is chef/owner of the Momofuku restaurant group, which includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Má Pêche, Milk Bar and Momofuku Ko in New York City, and Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney, Australia. In 2009, Ko was awarded two Michelin stars, which it maintains. Chang was featured on the 2010 list of the Time 100 Most Influential People and has served as a guest judge on “Top Chef: All Stars.” Chang is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute (FCI).