Where Are the Top Chefs Now?

Published on Friday, August 26, 2011, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

Unlike the winners of Project Runway and America's Next Top Model (who seem to disappear into the stratosphere), some Top Chef winners have actual careers. As Top Chef: Just Desserts returned on Bravo this week, we caught up with some of the notable past winners of the original series.

Season 1
Harold Dieterle
Before Top Chef: Sous-chef at the Harrison restaurant in New York.
After Top Chef: Dieterle opened Perilla ("earnest, endearing and just a bit of a snooze"—New York Times) in Manhattan in 2007, then Kin Shop (two stars from Adam Platt in New York magazine) in 2010.

Season 2
Ilan Hall
Before Top Chef: Cook at Casa Mono, Mario Batali's NYC Spanish restaurant.
After Top Chef: Hall opened the Gorbals (two stars from the LA Times) in Los Angeles in 2009.

Season 3
Hung Huynh
Before Top Chef: Executive sous-chef at Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas.
After Top Chef: After bouncing around a couple of NYC restaurants, Huynh is even now running Craigslist ads for "bad ass line cooks" for his new venture, "new American seafood" restaurant Catch.

Season 4
Stephanie Izard
Before Top Chef: Chef-owner of now-shuttered Scylla in Chicago.
After Top Chef: Izard opened Girl & the Goat ("fresh and expansive"—Saveur) in 2010; a diner offshoot, Little Goat, is planned for 2012.

Season 5
Hosea Rosenberg
Before Top Chef: Head chef at Jax Fish House in Boulder.
After Top Chef: According to Rosenberg's website, he mostly seems to be working with Jax, just not full time.

Season 6
Michael Voltaggio
Before Top Chef: Chef de cuisine at the Dining Room, Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena (now The Royce at the Langham).
After Top Chef: Voltaggio has just opened up a sandwich shop in Los Angeles, ink.sack.

Season 7
Kevin Sbraga
Before Top Chef: Executive chef, Rat's Restaurant at the Grounds for Sculpture in New Jersey.
After Top Chef: Sbraga is soon to open his own "upscale casual" restaurant in Philadelphia.

Season 8
Richard Blais
Before Top Chef: Blais designed restaurants under his Trail Blais label in Atlanta.
After Top Chef: Between his two stints on the show (Blais originally competed in Season 4, then went on to win the All-Stars series in Season 8), Blais launched upscale burger chain Flip Burger Boutique, with multiple locations in the Southeast.

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POST A COMMENT |5 Comments

COMMENT

  • Is it just a sign of the times that Michael Voltaggio opened a sandwich shop and Richard Blais opened a burger joint? Seems like and incredible waste of their talents.

    While many Top Chef contestants have sunk into obscurity, others have made the most of the opportunity. As with all of these career-oriented competition shows, even if there's only one winner, if you stay on the show long enough...+READ

    Is it just a sign of the times that Michael Voltaggio opened a sandwich shop and Richard Blais opened a burger joint? Seems like and incredible waste of their talents.

    While many Top Chef contestants have sunk into obscurity, others have made the most of the opportunity. As with all of these career-oriented competition shows, even if there's only one winner, if you stay on the show long enough for the audience to get to know you and you come across as likable and good to work with, you can make the kind of professional contacts and name for yourself that can really give your career a boost. At the very least, Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert, Hubert Keller, etc. will take your phone calls.-COLLAPSE

  • I liked the losers more then the guys who won more often then not. I love Ash who came in second I think in season Six? But I picture many of Ex Top chef Cheftestants as hobos on sidewalks with cardboard signs saying: "Will prepare Ceviche for food."

  • Monopod - I wouldn't exactly use Spike as a discussion point, he has his own issues!

    And yes, there's tons of editing. True that. But Hosea did make a mistake that was caught on tape. So that does go into peoples judging mix, proving that exposure is not always what you hope it will be.

  • As someone who regularly ate Hosea's food, I think he's been unfairly maligned because of how he came across on the show. You have to realize that the editing is done to maximize conflict and create "villains", and the editors were clearly positioning Hosea as a "villain" at times. Not to say that he's perfect or that his behavior was always defensible - is anyone's? - but if we start judging our...+READ

    As someone who regularly ate Hosea's food, I think he's been unfairly maligned because of how he came across on the show. You have to realize that the editing is done to maximize conflict and create "villains", and the editors were clearly positioning Hosea as a "villain" at times. Not to say that he's perfect or that his behavior was always defensible - is anyone's? - but if we start judging our food based on whether we like the chef, we're all going to have a lot fewer restaurants to eat at. Bottom line is, Hosea makes some pretty awesome and tasty food, at Jax and at his (now sadly defunct) Streat Chefs truck. Whereas some other, more popular Top Chef contestants make pretty lousy food (Spike's restaurants, for example, are pretty awful - odd since he seems like he should know better).-COLLAPSE

  • Winning does not automatically make folks view you as a winner. Hosea's behavior was counted just as important as his cooking by the public. So we feel no huge need to give him our cash.

    Many of the other chefs? Yes! You bet! And I wish Hung extra well on his new venture, years later and I still cannot forget his chicken cutting skill in the relay race.