Flame on!

No, it’s not about the Ms. America Reality Check show (though, it could be! Ha!). Nope, what those two words mean now, is it’s time for Top Chef Season Four! The contestants – no, the CHEFtestants were announced today at BravoTV. For season four, we have:

–Andrew, 30 – Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL; A Sous Chef who Resides in N.Y.
–Antonia, 31 – Executive Chef, Foxtail, SBE Restaurant Group, Los Angeles, CA
–Dale, 29 – Hometown: Chicago, IL; Resides in N.Y where he’s a Sous Chef at Buddakan.
–Erik, 38 – Hometown: Chappaqua, NY; Resides in San Francisco, CA where he’s Executive Chef at Circa Restaurant
–Jennifer, 35 – Hometown: Brooklyn, NY; Resides in San Francisco, CA where she’s the Executive Chef at COCO500 Restaurant
–Lisa, 27 – Hometown: Toronto, Canada; Resides in N.Y. where she hopes to open an Asian themed restaurant.
–Manuel, 33 – Hometown: Laredo, TX; Resides in N.Y. where he’s Executive Chef at Dos Caminos
–Mark, 29 – Hometown: Invercargill, New Zealand; Resides in N.Y. where he’s Sous Chef at Public Restaurant
–Nikki, 35 – Hometown/Resides in: N.Y. where she’s the Chef / co-owner at 24 Prince
–Nimma, 26 – Hometown: Peachtree City, GA; Resides in Atlanta, GA where she’s Chef at Repast
–Richard, 35 – Hometown: Uniondale, NY; Resides in Atlanta, GA where he’s Chef and culinary designer at Trail-Blais
–Ryan, 28 – Hometown: Los Banos, CA; Resides in San Francisco, CA where he’s Chef at Myth Cafe
–Spike, 27 – Hometown: Clearwater Beach, FL; Resides in Williamsburg, N.Y. where he’s Chef de Cuisine, Mai House, Drew Nieporent
–Stephanie, 31 – Hometown: Stamford, CT; Resides in Chicago, IL where she was the chef/owner of Scylla in Chicago until recently
–Valerie, 32 – Hometown/Resides in: Chicago, IL where she’s a Personal Chef
–Zoi, 30, – Hometown: Seattle, WA; Resides in San Francisco, CA where she’s a self-taught Chef/Restaurant Consultant.

So there you have it! The season premiere will be in March, and Padma returns to head up the judging table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Ted Allen. And of course, a variety of respected chefs will guest star this year as well. The cheftestants will compete to out-flavor, out-cook and out-do their compeition in order to win a cool $1,000,000 to help open their own restaurants from Glad Family of Products, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a shocase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and a gourmet dream vacation in the French Alps.

But most importantly? They will be able to call themselves Top Chef.

Flame on!