The Astoundingly Comprehensive Guide to 'Top Chef' Contestants

With Top Chef Masters returning on Wed, July 24th, we decided to compile a list of all the restaurants opened (and shuttered) by the original show's cheftestants from seasons 1-10, and provide updates on what they're up to now. Pack your knives and go... look at how brutal the restaurant business can be!

SEASON ONE

Ken Lee
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Wikipedia says he lives in LA. He has no social media presence. See what happens when you're the first chef to get kicked off?!?

Cynthia Sestito
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now?Her bio says she's Jay-Z and Beyoncé's personal chef. It does not sound like it's a hard knock life for her, and it seems like she's dangerously in love with her job! Those are songs.

Brian Hill
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Regretting coming back to coach the Orlando Magic. JK! The 411 on Brian is that he's Mary J. Blige's personal chef. That is another song.

Candice Kumai
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now?She keeps busy judging Iron Chef America, and writes for Shape Magazine and Men’s Fitness.

Lisa Parks
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? She appears to be making a living holding cooking classes, and wrote a book called If You Wanna Get a Man, Learn How to Cook Book. It's available for the Kindle. No word on if there will be a sequel called How to Get Your Man to Lose Weight Book.

Andrea Beaman
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Beaman is way into cooking healthy, and has her own show called Fed UP!.

Miguel Morales
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? He updates his Facebook page every few months, but it does not reveal his current employment. It does, however, reveal that on Dec 8th, 2012, he wanted everyone to have a "Happy Hanukkah!!!!!".

Stephen Asprinio
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Back in 2011, it sure looked like he was going to open a restaurant called Pizza Vinoteca, but it never happened. He currently owns a hospitality consulting business.

Lee Anne Wong
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now?Currently self-employed, but previously worked for the French Culinary Institute.

Dave Martin
Restaurants Opened:Meatball Factory (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? For a short time in Oct 2011, Martin owned an NYC "balleteria" before it changed hands and eventually closed a short time late. Currently, dude is a very busy cookbook author, caterer, and brand ambassador for badass knife company Messermeister.

Tiffani Faison
Restaurants Opened:Sweet Cheeks
What's She Up to Now? Tiff's been running her BBQ resto near Fenway Park since November 2011. She's lucky she didn't open it in Philly, where people would dismiss it as a come-on to former 76ers guard Maurice Cheeks.

Harold Dieterle
Restaurants Opened: The NY-based trio of Perilla, Kin Shop, and The Marrow.
What's He Up to Now? After winning season one, he's opened and is currently operating those three NYC-area restaurants, including the blazingly hot "West Village Italo-German trattoria-lodge" The Marrow.

SEASON TWO

Suyai Steinhauer
Restaurants Opened:None
What's She Up to Now? Her LinkedIn claims she owns the food delivery service New York Fork, but their Yelp page says that the business is no longer.

Otto Borsich
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Otto is currently an exec chef at the chain of tasty Texas supermarkets called Central Market.

Emily Sprissler
Restaurants Opened:Mayfair & Pine
What's She Up to Now? She opened the M&P gastropub in DC with her husband in July 2012, but it closed in March 2013. She's currently a sous chef at Stephen Starr's Le Diplomate.

Marisa Churchill
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Marisa's pimping a healthy-ish dessert cookbook she wrote called Sweet & Skinny.

Josie Smith-Malave
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Josie was famously partlymostly 1000% responsible for season 10 winner Kristen Kish getting booted from the show. Now she's hosting/cooking for a weekly Sunday brunch with local DJs at SF's Thee Parkside. She's also into Twitter.

Carlos Fernandez
Restaurants Opened:Hi-Life Cafe (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? The fine-dining resto he co-owned in Fort Lauderdale closed in early 2013, and his blog hasn't been updated since 2007. It's possible he hasn't updated it because nothing interesting has happened to him since.

Frank Terzoli
Restaurants Opened: Frankie the Bull's BBQ (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? Nicknamed Frankie the Bull, he opened a BBQ joint in San Diego in 2009 that shuttered. According to his bio, he currently works as a "Ship's Navigator" for tuna supply company Tri Marine. So baller.

Mia Gaines-Alt
Restaurants Opened: Feed The People (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? Gaines-Alt's BBQ joint in Oakdale, CA closed down, but a peek at her Facebook and LinkedIn shows she packed her knives and went to Hawaii.

Betty Fraser
Restaurants Opened:Grub
What's She Up to Now? Betty's kept busy by co-owning a well-liked Hollywood resto that plates her "California comfort food".

Michael Midgley
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Midgley's cheffing at a "luxury boutique restaurant and catering company" called Ernie's Food & Spirits in Manteca, CA, though as the father of three, his most important job is being a dad. It's true, ask anyone!!

Cliff Crooks
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? He famously was sent home after he woke up Marcel and put him in a half-nelson. Now he's a big shot at ESquared Hospitality, the restaurant group that owns BLT Steak, etc.

Elia Aboumrad
Restaurants Opened:Gorge
What's She Up to Now? In September 2012, she opened a West Hollywood charcuterie/wine bar, one that Glee's Matthew Morrison recently said he loved! Don't let that stop you from going, it actually looks pretty good.

Sam Talbot
Restaurants Opened: Williamsburgh Cafe (now closed), Imperial No. Nine (now closed), Rockaway Plate Lunch Truck (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? Back in Feb 2011, he opened a sustainable seafood resto in the Mondrian Soho called Imperial No. Nine, though it didn't take and eventually shut its doors. He's currently planning a new resto in Montauk, but, in 2012, opened a food truck along with Mike D of the Beastie Boys (and other friends that you didn't have a poster of in college) that gave out free food to anyone who needed it in a town hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

Marcel Vigneron
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The season two runner-up and molecular gastronomy whiz recently had a show on Syfy called Marcel's Quantum Kitchen that got canceled, but he seems to keep busy with his own catering company.

Ilan Hall
Restaurants Opened:The Gorbals
What's He Up to Now? About two years after winning season two, in 2009, Hall opened the "non-regional small plate" bistro in downtown LA. Named after a neighborhood in Scotland's largest city, they've also provided catering to "The Oscars, Kim Jong-Un's graduation, and Snooki's baby shower". Good range.

SEASON 3

Clay Bowen
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now?LinkedIn sez he moved back to his home state of Mississippi and is now an exec chef at Sodexo, a "food services company".

Sandee Birdsong
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After exiting the show in the first two weeks, she eventually found a home behind the camera of another popular cooking show, serving as a producer of Fox's MasterChef.

Micah Edelstein
Restaurants Opened:neMesis Bistro
What's She Up to Now? Her world cuisine flare is obvious when taking a look at the menu of her Miami-based resto. If you're ever in the mood for ostrich carpaccio, that is the place for you to get ostrich carpaccio.

Camille Becerra
Restaurants Opened: Paloma (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? After her Brooklyn spot burned down in 2008, Becerra hasn't owned another place, but keeps busy hosting pop-up dinners and posting recipes on her tumblr.

Lia Bardeen
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? There're scant details on what she's been getting into other than a LinkedIn profile that says she works for a "ready-to-eat custom food product" company as a "Culinary Trainer". Heady stuff!

Joey Paulino
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Outside of an Eater update that found him in an NYC steakhouse in 2010, and that's it, there's not much data available on the native New Yorker.

Sara Nguyen
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? In March 2013, Sara prepared an Amélie-themed dinner (where the main ingredient is whimsy!) for a party thrown by Underground Eats.

Tre Wilcox
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Voted one of the top chefs in DFW by The Dallas Morning News, he recently left an exec chef position and is teaching cooking classes and working as a personal chef.

Howie Kleinberg
Restaurants Opened:Bulldog Barbecue & Burger
What's He Up to Now? Kleinberg opened his Miami BBQ spot in 2009 to rave reviews (it was named one of the top new barbecue restos in the country by Bon Appétit), and it remains open to this day.

Chris "CJ" Jacobsen
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Kicked off in season three, but reincarnated in the Seattle season (#10), CJ keeps busy by actively tweeting, and chef'ing at the new Studio City, CA resto Girasol.

Sara Mair
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Sara escaped the rat race in kitchens that totally don't have rats and settled in Grand Cayman, where she's now the exec chef at Ortanique, a restaurant overlooking Camana Bay that serves "tasty tropical flavors". If it's as good as a pack of Starburst, your mouth is in for a treat.

Brian Malarkey
Restaurants Opened: Get ready. Searsucker, Searsucker Austin, Searsucker San Diego, Searsucker Del Mar, Searsucker Scottsdale, Burlap, Herringbone, Gabardine, Gingham
What's He Up to Now? He must not require sleep, as he's created five successful restos in San Diego in two years, plus Austin, Del Mar, and Scottsdale outposts of Searsucker. And this is the beginning of his American domination, as he's planning to open 15 more in the next half-decade. In his loads of spare time, he was the winning judge/ mentor on ABC's The Taste in its first season, though he won't be back for season 2.

Casey Thompson
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? The fan favorite currently lives in Napa, though she still stays close to the Top Chef universe, as she recently was on the TC Cruise and tweeted a bunch at season 10 winner Kristen Kish.

Dale Levitski
Restaurants Opened:Frog & Snail
What's He Up to Now? Chicago's own Levitski came this close (trust us, it's close) to winning season three, but had to settle for runner-up and co-owning a successful bistro with a "swank-meets-swamp" vibe. Frog legs incapable of running away from your mouth share space with burgers and steak on the menu.

Hung Huynh
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? While the season three winner certainly has the chops to open his own joint, Huynh currently oversees the kitchen at swank NYC destination The General.

SEASON 4

Nimma Osman
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? The first to go in season four, Osman hasn't yet opened her own place. She previously chef'd at the now defunct fine diner Repast, and currently cooks up a mean brunch at ATL's Sun in my Belly, aka a fantastical way to describe a stomachache.

Valerie Bolon
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? For a time in 2010, Bolon ran a monthly-ish pop-up series of dinners in Chicago called Culinary Speakeasy, but now seems content to be a personal chef and demonstrate vegan recipes online.

Erik Hopfinger
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? His LinkedIn bio reveals that he ran the kitchens at Circa, Spoon, and Butterfly (or he was in the band Spoon, which did a mean cover of the 2000-era song "Butterfly" -- it's unclear), until spending most of 2012 at SF-based Jake's on Market. Currently, he runs Finger Food Consulting, which has quite an active Facebook page!

Manuel Trevino
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Dude has had some high profile exec chef positions, like those at Marble Lane (which he exited in May 2013) and the clubby NYC outpost of Lavo. Get at him on Twitter and maybe he'll tell you what he's up to next.

Zoi Antonitsas
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Undoubtedly one of the coolest names any chef on the show has had in 10 seasons, Zoi headed things up at Seattle's Madison Park Conservatory from 2010-2012, before leaving to work on a concept called Westward, which'll be opening this summer.

Ryan Scott
Restaurants Opened:3 Sum Eats, Market & Rye
What's He Up to Now? You know those people you graduated high school with who went on to be ultra-successful at everything they touch? Scott's on that trajectory, but he also seems just so gosh-darn likable. He once owned popular SF food truck 3 Sum Eats (now closed). Then, he opened Market & Rye in March 2012 (they have a Cool Ranch Doritos-topped chicken salad sandwich). He also has a TV cooking show Food Rush, a cooking radio show/ podcast, a catering company, and, despite all those activities, he can't help but find time to tweet.

Jennifer Biesty
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Biesty's currently working on opening her own place in the Bay Area sometime in 2013, and prior to that, she was making ridiculously awesome breakfast sammies at Scala's. Follow her on Twitter for blurry, albeit delicious-looking food photos.

Mark Simmons
Restaurants Opened:Kiwiana
What's He Up to Now? A guy from the land of hobbits (he was born and raised on a sheep farm!), he's settled down nicely in Brooklyn, where he was cheffing at the casual eatery Melt, and now he's stepped up to his own place -- Park Slope's Kiwiana features the cuisine of his (and Bilbo's) homeland.

Nikki Cascone
Restaurants Opened:24 Prince (now closed), Octavia's Porch (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? NYC-based 24 Prince was her home base from 2005 until 2010, when it shuttered despite her fleeting TV fame. Then, she tried her hand cooking Jewish cuisine at Octavia's Porch, which closed six months after it opened in 2011. She currently tweets @mothercheffer.

Andrew D'Ambrosi
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? He's been the exec chef at Norwood, a private club in NYC's Chelsea neighborhood, since the show aired in 2008. Though, strangely, his LinkedIn profile has him as the chef at N/A. Sounds exclusive!!

Dale Talde
Restaurants Opened:Thistle Hill Tavern, Talde, Pork Slope
What's He Up to Now? In 2010, he was a sous-chef at Buddakan in NYC (and previously worked in Morimoto's kitchen), but he has since opened two successful spots in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Talde debuted in January 2012 with dishes like a shaved-ice sundae topped with Cap'n Crunch, and the awesomely named Pork Slope has BBQ and plenty of whiskey. He also became a partner at the Brooklyn eatery Thistle Hill Tavern (co-owned by Fat Mike of NOFX) in 2012, after it had been open for two years.

Evangelos "Spike" Mendelsohn
Restaurants Opened:Good Stuff Eatery, We, The Pizza, Béarnaise
What's He Up to Now? A CIA grad who opened the elevated burger joint Good Stuff Eatery with his family in 2008 (and now has multiple locations in the DC area), Mendelsohn also opened We, The Pizza next door in July 2010. They don't just hawk pizza; they've also got Sriracha hot/honey sweet wings. Spike is clearly doing the work of angels. And just a few days ago, he and his sister introduced Béarnaise, a steak frites spot, to DC.

Antonia Lofaso
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After coming close to winning season four (she came in fourth) and closer yet in season eight (she came in third), Lofaso's been keeping busy by running the kitchen at Black Market Liquor Bar, a Studio City gastrobistro that serves up all manner of cuisines. She released a cookbook in 2012 called The Busy Mom's Cookbook, and she infrequently tweets @ChefAntonia.

Richard Blais
Restaurants Opened:FLIP Burger Boutique, HD1, The Spence
What's He Up to Now? Though he came up short in season four, he won it all in season eight of Top Chef: All-Stars and has been quite the busy man in the past few years, opening three locations of his FLIP burger joint, the fancier The Spence (peep some tasty food p*rn), and the frankfurter-focused HD1, which has a menu so mouthwatering, you're gonna wanna hop on a plane to the ATL. Or, if you're reading this while you're there, just hop in a car. Lastly, you can try to make food just like him with his newly released cookbook Try This at Home.

Lisa Fernandes
Restaurants Opened:Sweet Chili Food Truck
What's She Up to Now? Falling just short of winning season four, Fernandes has worked at a slew of Asian restaurants (Asia de Cuba, Rain) in NYC, moves that have all built up to launching her own "Thaietnamese" truck in the city in May 2013. The truck's Twitter has plenty of food shots that're worth scoping.

Stephanie Izard
Restaurants Opened:Girl & The Goat, Little Goat
What's She Up to Now? Her bio will inevitably always read that she was first woman to win Top Chef, but she's also made a name for in the highly competitive Chicago food scene by opening the much-loved Girl & The Goat and the diner-inspired Little Goat, which has a dish called Breakfast Spaghetti & Clams. Clearly, she is a genius. Her obligatory cookbook came out in 2011.

SEASON 5

SEASON 5

Lauren Hope
Restaurants Opened:Frosted Hope
What's She Up to Now? While Hope has a super active Pinterest account, it's less clear whether her cake decorating business in TX, Frosted Hope, is still active. Her Etsy shop under the same name has temporarily shut down.

Patrick Dunlea
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? According to his Facebook, he mans the bar at Mary's in the ATL and works with the non-profit org The Learning Tea.

Jill Synder
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After chef'ing at Baltimore spots Woodberry Kitchen and Clementine, Snyder's packed up her knives and gone out to Santa Monica, where her LinkedIn says she's offering her services as a personal chef.

Richard Sweeney
Restaurants Opened:R-Gang Eatery
What's He Up to Now? You might remember him as the tall dude with a beard from season five, and he's since gone on to open the San Diego resto R-Gang, which plates comfort food with a twist. And a tasty-sounding brunch. Hit him up on Twitter.

Alex Eusebio
Restaurants Opened:Sweet Salt Food Shop
What's He Up to Now? Eusebio and his wife opened the LA-based cafe Sweet Salt Food Shop, where they serve sandwiches almost exclusively. He abandoned his Twitter in August 2010.

Danny Gagnon
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The CIA grad has chef'd at Babylon Carriage House and an Italian/Asian spot called DoraNonnie, both on Long Island. As of June 2013, he is no longer the exec chef at DoraNonnie and has no active social media accounts. He's a ghost!

Melissa Harrison
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? She put in time at some of Colorado's finest restaurants before her appearance on the show, then, afterwards, she spent time working as a seasonal chef in Patagonia, Chile, and now has shacked up in Bozeman, Montana, where she operates a catering company that also does pop-up dinners.

Eugene "Gene" Villiatora
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The Hawaiian-born, Vegas-based chef had a mild stroke after the show wrapped and has found the perfect job to complement the new healthy lifestyle he's adopted: making meals for the grab-'n-go operation My Healthy Meal. If there's one place a healthy food business can thrive, it's, umm, Las Vegas.

Ariane Duarte
Restaurants Opened:CulinAriane
What's She Up to Now? Duarte and her husband opened up the fine diner CulinAriane before the show aired, and they continue to run the well-reviewed spot in Montclair, New Jersey. Has Stephen Colbert been there? Maybe! He lives in Montclair, unless Wikipedia is lying.

Radhika Desai
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After the show, she worked in the kitchen at English in Chicago, and then according to Eater, moved to Portland in March of 2012. A year later, she moved to India, where she teaches cooking to kids at a school called Sapling.

Jamie Lauren
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? She stays plenty busy despite not having a restaurant of her own, traveling like a madwoman (as evidenced by her active Twitter/Instagram). She can often be found on a studio backlot in LA working for a catering company.

Leah Cohen
Restaurants Opened:Pig & Khao
What's She Up to Now? In Sept 2012, Cohen opened Pig & Khao in NYC, serving up plates with a definite Southeast-Asian edge. And her Twitter says they just got a full liquor license as of June 2013. Drink up.

Jeff McInnis
Restaurants Opened:Yardbird
What's He Up to Now? Post-show, he returned to Miami and whipped up food at Gigi, before opening his own comfort foodery Yardbird in September 2011. It won one of the 50 Best New Restaurants in the US from Bon App in 2012, so you should probably get over there.

Fabio Viviani
Restaurants Opened:Siena Tavern, Firenze Osteria, Cafe Firenze
What's He Up to Now? Though America knows him as "that Italian guy who did those Dominos commercials once", the season four fan fave has thus far been successful at running restos, including Chicago-based Italian eatery Siena Tavern, and Los Angeles spots Firenze Osteria and Cafe Firenze. He also released a cookbook in April 2013 and has quite a following on Twitter.

Carla Hall
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? While she's run an "artisan cookie" shop online and released a cookbook, the season five runner-up has really hit her stride with a co-hosting gig on the food-obsessed ABC TV show The Chew, which will return this Fall for a second season.

Stefan Richter
Restaurants Opened:Stefan's at L.A. Farm, Stefan's Steak House (three of them, all in Finland), Stefan's on Montana (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? Despite coming dangerously close to winning season five, and less dangerously in season 10, none of that has stopped him from opening up steakhouses in his native Finland and successful stateside restos like Stefan's at L.A. Farm after the show aired in 2009. Among his missteps were opening Stefan's on Montana, which closed in January 2011, and inexplicably featuring a photo of himself with the characters from Entourage on the front page of his website. And not even the cool ones, like Turtle or Vinny Chase!! For real.

Hosea Rosenberg
Restaurants Opened: StrEAT Chefs (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? The winner of season five launched the gourmet food truck StrEAT Chefs (based out of Boulder, CO) in June 2010... and then promptly shut it down a year later. Since then, Rosenberg has been focused on his Blackbelly Catering company, and has had eyes on opening his own spot in the Denver area for some time now. In the meantime, he tweets regularly from here.

SEASON 6

Jennifer (Jen) Zavala
Restaurants Opened:Cherry Bomb Bus
What's She Up to Now? A self-described "foxy lady chef" (she even made it her Twitter handle), she worked in the kitchen of Mexican Philly joint Xochitl and Interstate Draft House before starting food truck Cherry Bomb Bus with her business partner, where they serve up sammies, burgers, and desserts from a pink Ford "short bus."

Eve Aronoff
Restaurants Opened: Eve (now closed), Frita Batidos
What's She Up to Now? Aronoff was chef/ owner of her own resto, Eve, in Ann Arbor before appearing on the show, before it ultimately closed down in Jan 2011 due to "lease issues". It was popular enough that she even released a now out-of-print cookbook. Now she's focused on cooking up "Cuban inspired street food" at Ann Arbor's Frita Batidos. She's also plenty busy on Facebook.

Preeti Mistry
Restaurants Opened:Juhu Beach Club
What's She Up to Now? Once a chef inside Google's HQ, after the show aired, she chef'd at the now shuttered ACME Chophouse. Since then, she's opened a permanent version of a SoMa pop-up called Juhu Beach Club, which plates Indian street food. Take that, Google!

Jesse Sandlin
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Born, raised, and currently living in Baltimore, Sandlin currently is Exec Chef at Vina Rosina, a Modern American eatery. She worked there for much of 2010 after the show aired, peaced out, and then was rehired in November 2012. She only has 97 followers on Twitter at the time this article was written. Let's see if this mention can push her to 100!

Hector Santiago
Restaurants Opened: Pura Vida (now closed), Super Pan (now closed), El Burro Pollo (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? 2012 was not kind to Santiago, as he shut down both his sandwich shop Super Pan and award-winning tapas at Pura Vida in the ATL. He's said to be working on new concepts, including a burrito one. His Twitter's inactive and his LinkedIn hasn't been updated in a while either, so if you wanna holler at him, your best bet is to literally holler in the streets of Atlanta and see if he answers you.

Mattin Noblia
Restaurants Opened: Iluna Basque (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? The Frenchman successfully ran SF tapas spot Iluna Basque until Dec 2010, when he sold it to open a health/ wellness center next door. It doesn't appear that it ever launched, but he also was Exec Chef at the Rendezvous Tapas Lounge in May 2011 before leaving there and eventually moving back to France. He keeps busy on Twitter, and by hawking nutritional supplements.

Ron Duprat
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? After working in South Florida-based restos like Latitudes Beach Cafe and consulting on others in the Hollywood, FL area, Duprat has set up shop in the US Virgin Islands. According to his LinkedIn, he's a Consulting Exec Chef at the Sugar Bay Resort and Spa. Feel free to stalk him on Twitter.

Ashley Merriman
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Merriman first made a name for herself working as a sous chef in NYC nightclubs Butter and The Darby, before working in Seattle at renowned seafood spot Branzino. She then moved back to NYC in May 2012 to run the kitchen at celeb hangout The Waverly Inn, and she's been there ever since.

Ash Fulk
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Once a sous chef in 2009 at American eatery Trestle on Tenth in New York, he's since moved on to become Chef de Cuisine at Texas BBQ factory Hill Country. He hasn't been active on social media in about a year, so if you've got something you've been dying to tell him, go stuff your face at Hill Country, swallow, and then talk to the guy.

Laurine Wickett Hope
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Hope's catering company Left Coast Catering has been going strong ever since season six aired in 2009, and she continues to feed SF's hungry, monied masses. LCC delivers, and you can check their latest menu, as it's the only evidence online that she cares to provide about herself. She is likely the only person living in San Francisco not currently on Twitter.

Mike Isabella
Restaurants Opened:Graffiato, Bandolero, Kapnos, G Grab & and Go, G Sandwich (opening July 26, 2013)
What's He Up to Now? This dude has stayed crazy busy since season six wrapped, taking over DC with an Italian concept Graffiato in June 2011, a modern Mexican joint Bandolero in May 2012, which must've helped him in winning The People's Best New Chef from Food & Wine that year. He doesn't seem to be slowing down, opening the Greek resto Kapnos this month, and readying a sandwich shop called G Sandwich that'll open July 26. Not enough Mike? That's what his Twitter's for.

Robin Leventhal
Restaurants Opened: Crave (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? Prior to appearing on season six, she owned/ operated tiny Seattle resto Crave before shutting it down in Oct 2008 after five years. Post-show, she briefly worked at Stopsky's Delicatessen in June 2011, and in Sept 2012, made a name for herself at the American-cuisine-plating Local 360, before departing this month to become a culinary arts instructor at Walla Walla Community College. Her tweets emanate from this page.

Eli Kirshtein
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? After leaving his Exec Chef position at Atlanta's ENO wine bar right around the time the show ended in Dec 2009, Kirshtein's been keeping busy lately by throwing pop-up dinners around town with cuisines as varied as Israeli street food and Japanese Izakaya. But who cares about all that when once he was put into a Spider-Man comic. He loves the tweeting, too.

Jennifer Carroll
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? With plenty of resto experience in NYC and Philly, Carroll made her name working for Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin and for a time at his spot in the Ritz-Carlton. She had a stint on Life After Top Chef in Oct 2012, and was thisclose to opening her own place, Concrete Blonde, in Greenwich Village, before it fell apart in March of this year. She appears to be back in Philly, tweeting up a storm, and running her "full service event artistry" company Couture Cuisine.

Kevin Gillespie
Restaurants Opened: Woodfire Grill (still open, but he no longer is involved), Gunshow
What's He Up to Now? After almost winning season six, Gillespie returned to his Atlanta "Modern Southern" resto Woodfire Grill in 2009 to bustling crowds. He released a cookbook Fire in my Belly in Oct 2012, and then left Woodfire in January 2013 to work full-time on opening the "meat-a-torium" Gunshow that serves its locally-sourced meats dim sum style. It opened in May 2013, and reviewers and people alike seem to dig it. He also has one of the larger Twitter followings of any Top Chef competitor.

Bryan Voltaggio
Restaurants Opened:VOLT, Lunchbox, Family Meal, RANGE
What's He Up to Now? The only chef who competed on Top Chef, and was invited to appear in the upcoming season of Top Chef Masters, Voltaggio apprenticed under steakhouse legend Charlie Palmer before opening his first resto in Frederick, MD in 2008, VOLT, a year before he starred in season six. After the success of the modern dining spot, he went on to open sandwich shop Lunchbox in 2011, comfort food eatery Family Meal in mid-2012, and the newest addition to the family, RANGE, which opened in DC in Dec 2012. He and his wife just had a baby girl, and you can read all about it via his popular Twitter.

Michael Voltaggio
Restaurants Opened:ink., ink.sack
What's He Up to Now? The winner of season six might've outshone his brother in the finale, but he's got some work to do in terms of operating successful restaurants. Despite that, his LA-based ink. opened in Sept 2011 and was named Best New Restaurant in the US by GQ the next year. For a less expensive way to enjoy Voltaggio's food, there's also ink.sack, a hole-in-the-wall where all the sammies are no more than $8. Be one of the 200,000 people who follow his Twitter exploits.

SEASON 7

John Somerville
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Somerville's been working with Michigan fine-diner The Lark since 1998, eventually getting promoted to become their Chef de Cuisine. His Facebook stays fairly active, as does his Twitter. If you're ever in West Bloomfield, Michigan, which is about 40 minutes outside of Detroit, The Lark sounds like the place to be.

Jacqueline Lombard
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? While she doesn't own a restaurant of her own, she does run a catering/ event company she named after herself. Not because she's vain or anything, but because that's just a valid thing to call your own business. She was once Exec Chef at the now-closed nightclub Gansevoort 69, and previously worked for the NYC takeout spot Lena Latin Grill. She's currently shilling for a gourmet foods purveyor and a tea company. She's big into tweeting where she is a lot, so if you wanna be creepy, have a look!

Tracey Bloom
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After running kitchens all over GA, the "psychic" contestant has settled down in the ATL and runs an allergen-free cooking recipe blog/ business with an "allergy coach". She tweets to people who presumably have sensitive digestive tracts, and will be making an appearance on former George Clooney girlfriend Stacey Keibler's new Lifetime show to pitch a product on a show that looks like Shark Tank with food products.

Lynne Gigliotti
Restaurants Opened: Grappa (now closed), Grapevine Cafe (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? Since appearing on the show, she's continued to teach at CIA in Hyde Park, NY, where she was employed previously, though recently she's risen to Associate Professor, according to LinkedIn. Previously, she owned Grappa and Grapevine Cafe, both in Atlanta, and her own catering business. While her Twitter isn't updated very often, her Facebook's active with her daily exploits, including a new book she authored under the CIA banner called Mediterranean Cooking.

Arnold Myint
Restaurants Opened: Cha Chah (now closed), PM, Suzy Wong's House of Yum, blvd Nashville
What's He Up to Now? Myint already owned the sushi-focused PM, the also-Asian cuisine-heavy Suzy Wong's House of Yum, and in April 2013, he shut down the tapas joint Cha Chah and reopened it as a bistro concept blvd Nashville. He believes "everything is better with a hint of Myint", probably because nothing rhymes with Arnold.

Timothy Dean
Restaurants Opened: Prime Steakhouse (now closed), TD Burger
What's He Up to Now? When he appeared on season seven, he owned Prime Steakhouse in Baltimore, which subsequently closed, and was supposed to open a second location of the steakhouse in DC, which never happened. But you can't keep a good man down, and he's working on opening a second location of his all-natural burger joint TD Burger in the heart of DC sometime in 2013. He tweets in equal measures about food and his faith.

Tamesha Warren
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Appearing on the show when she was only 24, the Barbados native continues to be Sous Chef at DC-based The Oval Room, where she worked prior to appearing on season seven. She posts pretty pictures of her food on Facebook.

Andrea Curto-Randazzo
Restaurants Opened: Talula (now closed)
What's She Up to Now? Curto-Randazzo and her husband ran Talula in Miami for a number of years, before it closed in 2010, but not before it got national recognition as one of Miami's foremost dining options. They then left to be Exec Chef's at the uber-fancy The Water Club in 2011, before leaving shortly after. Her social media accounts haven't been updated in some time, but their catering company Creative Tastes appears to still be operating.

Stephen Hopcraft
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The Vegas-based cheftestant worked under Michael Mina for years in Vegas and around the country, but jumped ship in 2011 to be the Exec Chef at STK Las Vegas in the Cosmopolitan, an upscale steakhouse owned by The One Group, which operates fancy lounges and restos all over. His social media accounts were abandoned years ago, so just say 'hi' to him next time you're in Vegas.

Kenny Gilbert
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? After cooking in restaurants all across FL, in October 2012, he parted ways with the restaurant group the was going to have him run Coral Gables Southern restaurant Swine. Thereafter, he made his way to Barbados, where he works for the resort Sandy Lane. He's in the process of opening an "online spice market" according to his Facebook, and even had time in 2011 to write an ebook.

Alex Reznik
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? While he once cooked in Vegas, Reznik has settled down in LA, chefing at spots like FigOly, and cooking for This Is Not A Pop-Up, so named despite seeming very much like a pop-up. He's super active on Facebook, where he takes plenty of food shots.

Amanda Baumgarten
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Baumgarten has cooked everywhere from Michelin-starred spots in London to, umm, places in Culver City, but she found a home in May 2012 in another Top Chef contestant's kitchen: Brian Malarkey's Herringbone. In June 2013, she was ushered out of the La Jolla spot, which is also around the same time she stopped tweeting. COINCIDENCE?

Tiffany Derry
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? With strong showings in both seasons 7 and 8, Derry has never opened a restaurant of her own, but after proving she could open a restaurant like Private | Social in Dallas, her company Tiffany Derry Concepts, in March 2013, was handed over the management and cooking duties of Italian spot Bowens Cafe Espresso. Though it appears she's no longer at Bowens, she's staying busy by appearing on the Top Chef Cruise and cooking at various Dallas events. Hit up her Facebook or Twitter for more info.

Kelly Liken
Restaurants Opened:Restaurant Kelly Liken
What's She Up to Now? Even before she appeared on the show, she had been nominated for James Beard awards. Since it's aired, Liken and her husband currently run one of Vail's beloved fine dining restaurants, Restaurant Kelly Liken. Follow her on Twitter, where she often spills the beans on when to come in for specially-priced tasting menus. Fun fact: Kelly was once a physics major at the University of Colorado before attending the CIA.

Angelo Sosa
Restaurants Opened:Xie Xie (now closed), Social Eatz (now closed), Poppy Den, Anejo Tequileria y Restaurante
What's He Up to Now? After the short-lived Xie Xie sandwich shop in NYC shuttered shortly after his stint on season 7, Sosa was not to be deterred, as he opened Asian-influenced Social Eatz in March 2011, which only recently shut down in March 2013. He scored a hit in Jan 2012 when he opened Anejo Tequileria y Restaurante with an incredible tequila selection (as you'd imagine) and plenty of Mexican fare. He also the Asian gastropub Poppy Den, which he co-owns with a former exec of Planet Hollywood. His requisite cookbook came out in June 2012, and he chronicles his exploits on Twitter.

Ed Cotton
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Ed's a chef who's spent years with kitchen luminaries Daniel Boulud and Todd English even before he was a cheftestant, and since the show ended, he's worked at the NYC-area French spot Plein Sud before exiting in 2011. Since then, he's been taken into the family of David Burke's restaurants, and now cooks from David Burke Townhouse, a fine diner on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He has a seriously under-followed Twitter, which is strange because it actually looks interesting!

Kevin Sbraga
Restaurants Opened:Sbraga
What's He Up to Now? A man who once claimed he was "the Barack Obama of the cooking game", he certainly backed up his talk by winning season 7, and after cooking in both a Stephen Starr restaurant and winning accolades for his work at a Ritz-Carlton resto in Philly, Sbraga's gone on to open his own spot: Sbraga. He opened it only a year after the show aired, and since then, the modern American eatery's won Best New Restaurant from Esquire, among other awards. He finds plenty of time to tweet, and has 8x the amount of followers poor Ed Cotton does.

SEASON 8

This season was a competition between those who came up short in seasons 1-7. We've included the blurbs on all the chefs who participated below.

Elia Aboumrad
Restaurants Opened:Gorge
What's She Up to Now? Originally from season 2, she opened a West Hollywood charcuterie and wine bar in Sept 2012, one that Glee's Matthew Morrison recently said he loved! Don't let that stop you from going, though -- it actually looks pretty good.

Jennifer Carroll
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? With plenty of resto experience in NYC and Philly, Carroll originally appeared on season 6. She made an impact working for Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin, and for a time at his spot in the Ritz-Carlton. She had a stint on Life After Top Chef in Oct 2012, and was this close to opening her own place, Concrete Blonde, in Greenwich Village, before it fell apart in March of this year. She appears to be back in Philly, tweeting up a storm, and running her "full service event artistry" company Couture Cuisine.

Stephen Asprinio
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Appearing on the show in its infancy on season 1, he once looked like he was going to open a restaurant called Pizza Vinoteca in 2011, but it never opened. He currently owns a hospitality consulting business.

Dale Levitski
Restaurants Opened:Frog & Snail
What's He Up to Now? Chicago's own Levitski came this close to winning season 3, but had to settle for runner-up and co-owning a successful bistro with a "swank-meets-swamp" vibe. Frog legs incapable of running away from your mouth share space with burgers and steak on the menu.

Evangelos "Spike" Mendelsohn
Restaurants Opened:Good Stuff Eatery, We, The Pizza
What's He Up to Now? He was originally on season 4. A CIA grad who opened the elevated burger joint Good Stuff Eatery with his family in 2008 (and now has multiple locations in the DC area), also opened We, The Pizza next door in July 2010. They don't just hawk pizza, they've also got Sriracha hot/honey sweet wings. Spike is clearly doing the work of angels.

Casey Thompson
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? A competitor in season 3 who almost won it all, the fan-favorite currently lives in Napa, though she still stays close to the Top Chef universe, as she recently was on the TC Cruise and tweeted a bunch at season 10 winner Kristen Kish.

Tiffani Faison
Restaurants Opened:Sweet Cheeks
What's She Up to Now? Since her season 1 defeat, she's been running her BBQ resto near Boston's Fenway. She's lucky she didn't open it in Philly, where people would dismiss it as a strange ode to former 76ers guard Maurice Cheeks.

Jamie Lauren
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? One of the season 5 cast members as well, she stays plenty busy despite not having a restaurant of her own, traveling like a madwoman (as evidenced by her active Twitter/Instagram). She can often be found on a studio backlot in LA working for a catering company.

Marcel Vigneron
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The season 2 runner-up and molecular gastronomy whiz recently had a show on Syfy called Marcel's Quantum Kitchen that was canceled, but he seems to keep busy with his own catering company.

Tre Wilcox
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Voted one of the top chefs in DFW by The Dallas Morning News, the season 3 participant recently left an exec chef position and is teaching cooking classes and working as a personal chef.

Fabio Viviani
Restaurants Opened:Siena Tavern, Firenze Osteria, Cafe Firenze
What's He Up to Now? Though America knows him as "that Italian guy who did those Dominos commercials once", the season 5 fan fave has been successful thus far with running restos, including the Chicago-based Italian eatery in Feb 2013 Siena Tavern, and the Los Angeles spots Firenze Osteria and Cafe Firenze. He's also released a cookbook in April 2013, and has quite a following on Twitter.

Angelo Sosa
Restaurants Opened:Xie Xie (now closed), Social Eatz (now closed), Poppy Den, Anejo Tequileria y Restaurante
What's He Up to Now? After the short-lived Xie Xie sandwich shop in NYC shuttered shortly after his stint on season 7, Sosa was not to be deterred, as he opened Asian-influenced Social Eatz in March 2011, which only recently shut down in March 2013. He scored a hit in Jan 2012 when he opened Anejo Tequileria y Restaurante with an incredible tequila selection (as you'd imagine) and plenty of Mexican fare. He also the Asian gastropub Poppy Den, which he co-owns with a former exec of Planet Hollywood. His requisite cookbook came out in June 2012, and he chronicles his exploits on Twitter.

Dale Talde
Restaurants Opened:Thistle Hill Tavern, Talde, Pork Slope
What's He Up to Now? America met him in season 4, a few years prior to him being a sous-chef at Buddakan in NYC (and previously worked in Morimoto's kitchen). Since then he's opened two successful spots in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Talde debuted in Jan 2012 with dishes like a shaved ice sundae topped with Cap'n Crunch, and the awesomely named Pork Slope has BBQ and plenty of whiskey. He also became a partner in the Brooklyn eatery Thistle Hill Tavern (co-owned by Fat Mike of NOFX) in 2012, after it had been open for 2yrs.

Carla Hall
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? While she's run an "artisan cookie" shop online and released a cookbook, the season 5 runner-up has really hit her stride with a co-hosting gig on the ABC food-obsessed TV show The Chew, which will return this Fall for a second season.

Tiffany Derry
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? With strong showings in both seasons 7 and 8, Derry has never opened a restaurant of her own, but after proving she could open a restaurant like Private | Social in Dallas, her company Tiffany Derry Concepts in March 2013, was handed over the management and cooking duties of Italian spot Bowens Cafe Espresso. Though it appears she's no longer at Bowens, she's staying busy by appearing on the Top Chef Cruise and cooking at various Dallas events. Hit up her Facebook or Twitter for more info.

Antonia Lofaso
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? After coming close to winning season 4 (she came in 4th), and closer yet in season 8 when (she came in 3rd), Lofaso's been keeping busy by running the kitchen at Black Market Liquor Bar, a Studio City gastrobistro that serves up all manner of cuisines. She released a cookbook in 2012 called The Busy Mom's Cookbook, and infrequently tweets @ChefAntonia.

Mike Isabella
Restaurants Opened:Graffiato, Bandolero, Kapnos, G Sandwich (opening summer 2013)
What's He Up to Now? This dude has stayed crazy busy since season 6 wrapped (and even busier since almost winning season 8), taking over DC with an Italian concept Graffiato in June 2011, and a modern Mexican joint Bandolero in May 2012, all of which must've helped in winning The People's Best New Chef from Food & Wine that year. He doesn't seem to be slowing down, opening the Greek resto Kapnos this month, and readying a sandwich shop called G Sandwich. Not enough Mike? That's what his Twitter's for.

Richard Blais
Restaurants Opened:FLIP Burger Boutique, HD1, The Spence
What's He Up to Now? Though he came up short in season 4, he won it all in season 8 for Top Chef: All-Stars, and has been quite the busy man in the past few years, opening three locations of his FLIP Burger Boutique, the fancier The Spence (peep some tasty food p*rn), and the frankfurter-focused HD1 with a menu so mouthwatering, you're gonna wanna hop on a plane to the ATL. Or, if you're reading this while you're there, just hop in a car. Lastly, you can try to make food just like him with his newly released cookbook Try This at Home.

SEASON 9

Keith Rhodes
Restaurants Opened:Catch, Catch The Food Truck, phun seafood bar
What's He Up to Now? This James Beard semifinalist was the first one to go in season 9, but that hasn't slowed him down, as he opened the "Southeast Asian street food" spot in NC, phun seafood bar, right before season 9 finished airing. That joined his uber-popular seafood spot Catch, a Wilmington, NC staple since 2006. It was so popular, he made a mobile version of the resto that's more street food-focused. He and his epic beard are fairly active on Twitter.

Richie Farina
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Pre-show, he had the great distinction of being a participant in the National College Ice Carving Championship, where he helped Johnson & Wales win the title for three straight years. Shortly after the show aired in March 2012, Farina was promoted to chef de cuisine at the Chicago's molecular gastronomy house Moto, where he replaced Chris Jones, who finished better than him on the same season. It looks like he recently tweeted at someone during their meal to tell them what was coming next, which is an awesome use of Twitter.

Chuy Valencia
Restaurants Opened:Chilam Balam
What's He Up to Now? He was part-owner in a Mexican small plates restaurant Chilam Balam, but sold his shares after the show aired in March 2012 to work on a cookbook and open a diner concept. There's no word on what he's been up to since Dec 2012, when all of his social media accounts went silent.

Whitney Otawka
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? A chef currently based in Athens, GA, Otawka once worked under Top Chef judge Hugh Acheson in that city's 5&10 before eventually becoming the exec chef at another local spot, Farm 255. That all changed in mid-July of this year, when Acheson named her exec chef at a new Mexican farm-to-table spot he's planning on opening called Cinco y Diez. Congratulate her on Twitter.

Dakota Weiss
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Prior to the show, she was exec chef at the W in LA, and after the show, she decided to stay on and continue doing that job, unlike many of the cheftestants. Perhaps her most important achievement in her culinary career was being named LA's Hottest Chef in Feb 2013. For photos of her dogs and her food, her Twitter's a fine resource.

Nyesha Arrington
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Arrington put time in at two of Joël Robuchon's properties in Vegas before becoming Exec Chef of Santa Monica's Wilshire Restaurant towards the end of 2011. And then on June 1st, she bolted in order to work on a bunch of different things, none of which she's talking about in public as of yet.

Heather Terhune
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Heather's still kicking it as Executive Chef at Chicago's upscale comfort spot Sable Kitchen & Bar, but the woman who Padma called the Queen of Mean (daaaaaamn, Padma!) seems to be working on cleaning up her reputation for being saltier than the Stroganoff that ended up being her downfall. She's active on Twitter, gives out advice to amateur cooks with a side of happy-face emoticons, and even gushes about other restaurants (probably not Beverly Kim's, though).

Chris Crary
Restaurants Opened: 41 Ocean
What's He Up to Now? After Crary left his role as Chef de Cuisine at the Viceroy Santa Monica Hotel's restaurant Whist (now Cast Restaurant), he took on a role as Executive Chef and Partner in LA's members-only club 41 Ocean. Sadly it's not a Members Only club, because that'd be a great excuse to wear those jackets. He also recently cooked for fans of the show on the Top Chef Cruise.

Ty-Lör Boring
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He's Up to Now? Over the past year, Boring's been serving as Executive Sous Chef at New York's Hill Country Barbecue Market, along with doing some luxury catering for private clients and events. He's also help run multiple pop-up restaurants throughout North America and Europe.

Chris Jones
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He's Up to Now? Jones was the Chef de Cuisine at Moto both before and after the show aired, but left the position in June of 2012 to work with a company that's created a plant-based egg substitute. He recently had a notable Twitter exchange with his season 9 cohort Chris Crary.

Grayson Schmitz
Restaurants Opened:Willow Road
What's She Up to Now? Following Top Chef season 9, Schmitz opened up Willow Road, an intimate American eatery in Chelsea, where she's currently the chef de cuisine. She also most recently beat out 19 other good-looking NYC chefs to take the title of Eater New York's Hottest Chef 2013.

Edward Lee
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Lee's been continuing to cook and manage at the small and intimate 610 Magnolia. Away from the kitchen, he spends time on a blend of bourbon he developed on his own, and doing product development for his favorite condiment, Red Boat Fish Sauce. He's also whipping up soul food with a contemporary, Asian twist at Louisville's modern speakeasy MilkWood. For those who can't make it out to Kentucky, there's always his cookbook.

Beverly Kim
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? The 4th-place finisher on season 9, Kim was the chef de cuisine at Aria Restaurant in Chicago. She's noted for having won the inaugural Last Chance Kitchen competition, an online-only battle between eliminated chefs hoping to win a chance to rejoin the main show. She recently finished a stint teaching a fine dining course at Chicago's Kendall College for the Culinary Arts.

Lindsay Autry
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Although her gigs previous to finishing third on Top Chef were situated in paradise -- Executive Chef at the Omphoy Ocean Resort & Michelle Bernstein Restaurant in Palm Beach, Chef de Cuisine at Las Brisas in Playa del Carmen -- Autry's goal is to open her own restaurant someday. She's got a mad professional-looking website to keep track of what she's up to.

Sarah Grueneberg
Restaurants Opened:None
What's She Up to Now? Before her stint on Top Chef, Grueneberg was promoted to Executive Chef at Spiaggia, Chicago's "only four-star Italian restaurant". Since returning from the land of Bravo, she's continued honing her mastery of Italian cuisine, consistently traveling to Italy to cook in the kitchens there. She tweets up a storm from here.

Paul Qui
Restaurants Opened:Qui Restaurant
What's He Up to Now?After making a name for himself as Exec Chef at sushi house Uchiko, Qui has become the darling of ATX's burgeoning food scene, pleasing customers with his restaurant's modern takes on a number of dishes -- Rabbit Seven Ways, Salmon Like Butter, Cheddar Cheese Ice Cream Sandwich -- to the point that they've been willing to wait 3+ hours for a chance to sit at one of his 50 seats. Despite the popularity, Qui's also found the time to have some fun and share some details about himself in interviews, even admitting his love for a certain sneaker brand to GQ. Tweet at your boy.

SEASON 10

Jeffrey Jew
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? The first one to go on season 10 has worked kitchens from Italy to London to DC (including Blackbyrd and The Brixton), but now he spends his time personal chef-ing and jetsetting all over the world, which you can track from his Facebook page.

Kuniko Yagi
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? A cheftestant everyone can agree got booted criminally early, Kuniko's skills in the kitchen have been recognized by LA's kitchens, as she first put in time at LA's fancy French brasserie (owned by restaurateur David Myers) Comme Ca, before being crowned exec chef at his new hotspot Hinoki & the Bird. Her Twitter feed will make you hungry.

Chrissy Camba
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Likely the only cheftestant who has a biology degree, she's staged at some of Chicago's finest restaurants before landing as Chef at Bar Pastoral, a fantastic wine & cheese cavern
. Her Instagram recently had a photo of some birthday cake her co-workers whipped up.

Carla Pellegrino
Restaurants Opened:Bacio
What's She Up to Now? A Vegas staple, Pellegrino opened Italian fine diner Bacio at the Tropicana before leaving in October of 2012. Previous to that, she made a name for herself at famed Italian joint Rao's, also in Vegas. She continues her Vegas domination by cooking in and owning Meatball Spot. Her Twitter is crazy-popular.

Tyler Wiard
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Prior to appearing on the show, Tyler was Exec Chef at a few of Colorado's best restaurants, including seafood house Jax. Since then, he's moved on to running the culinary operations for John Elway's steakhouses all over the state, which he kept on doing after getting booted from the show. His Facebook features very few public posts from him, but plenty of stuff from people wanting to get in touch with him or wish him well.

Danyele McPherson
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? She made a name for herself in Dallas's molecular gastronomy house Fuego before jumping ship to become Sous Chef at another Dallas stalwart in February 2011, The Grape. In October 2012, right before the show was set to air, she was promoted to Chef de Cuisine. She continues to cook there, and occasionally post things to Facebook.

Bart Vandaele
Restaurants Opened:Belga Cafe, B Too
What's He Up to Now? Definitely the only cheftestant to HAVE BEEN FRIGGIN' KNIGHTED, the Belgian chef opened a *drum roll* Belgian-themed restaurant in 2004 that features cuisine from his homeland and plenty of their delicious beers. A few months after season 10 ended, in May 2013, he opened a sister resto, B Too, as another ode to Flemish cuisine.

John Tesar
Restaurants Opened:The Commissary (now closed), Spoon Bar & Kitchen
What's He Up to Now? Not many chefs have a resume like Tesar's, but then again, not many chefs have been cooking at a high level for 20yrs. He's worked in kitchens in Vegas, NYC (on one job alongside Anthony Bourdain), and Dallas, where he's made a name for himself, but also caused controversy, much of which is outlined in this incredible profile called "The Most Hated Chef in Dallas". He opened a burger/beer joint in that same city called The Commissary in April 2011, but it shut down a little over a year later. He's since bounced back by debuting a resto right around the time season 10 debuted (in November 2012), with the seafood spot Spoon Bar & Kitchen. He posts plenty of tasty food p**n on his Facebook.

Micah Fields
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? Fields has been Exec Chef at The Standard, a mod LA hotel, for quite some time, and he continued to work there after the show wrapped. In December 2012, he helped create small plates for Susan Sarandon's ping pong spot, SPiN, which is located inside the same hotel. He updates his Facebook fairly regularly, so check what he's up to there.

Josie Smith-Malave
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? Josie was famously partlymostly 1000% responsible for the Seattle season winner Kristen Kish getting booted from the show. Now she's hosting/cooking for a weekly Sunday brunch with local DJs at SF's Thee Parkside. She's also into Twitter.

Stefan Richter
Restaurants Opened:Stefan's at L.A. Farm, Stefan's Steakhouse (three of them, all in Finland), Stefan's on Montana (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? Coming dangerously close to winning season 5, and less dangerously in this season, none of which stopped him from opening up steakhouses in his native Finland, and successful stateside restos like Stefan's at L.A. Farm after the show aired in 2009. Among the missteps were opening Stefan's on Montana, which closed in January 2011, and inexplicably featuring a photo of himself with characters from Entourage on the front page of his website. And not even the cool ones like Turtle or Vinny Chase!! For real.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Binder
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? The chef with the accent you had a hard time placing (hint: she's South African), had been an Exec Chef since 2006 at Bar Bambino, a popular San Francisco resto, but left to take a hiatus to do season 10. She bolted that position shortly after returning, and then the restaurant itself closed at the end of 2012. She's since moved to the Napa Valley and is cooking in that area, though she hasn't found any full-time gigs. Keep up with her on Facebook.

Joshua Valentine
Restaurants Opened: Divine Swine (now closed)
What's He Up to Now? A chef who's made his mark in both Dallas and Oklahoma City, including opening the pork-filled Divine Swine there, Valentine moved back to Dallas after the show aired to cook at fine-diner FT33, but then moved back to OKC in April of 2013 to help cook at a steakhouse that'll open this Fall. He's active on Twitter and Facebook, where you can find a notable exchange between his wife and Sheldon Simeon's.

Sheldon Simeon
Restaurants Opened: None
What's He Up to Now? A chef with a smile that lit up America's TV sets for a good chunk of season 10, the Hawaiian has been nominated for James Beard awards, and previously was Exec Chef at Star Noodle, a position he left in 2013. He currently lives in Maui, doesn't appear to have a full-time gig, and produces tweets aplenty.

Brooke Williamson
Restaurants Opened: Amuse Cafe (now closed), Beechwood (now closed), Hudson House, Tripel
What's She Up to Now? Williamson and her husband Nick Roberts have been opening restaurants at an absolutely blazingly fast pace for some years now in the LA area. After opening and shuttering Amuse Cafe and Beechwood in Venice prior to her season 10 appearance, they've since moved on to opening the successful Hudson House in 2009, and the Playa del Rey gastropub Tripel in April 2011. And don't worry, they're still not done opening restos: word on the street is that they've got another place coming. Learn when it'll open by keeping up to date on her Twitter.

Kristen Kish
Restaurants Opened: None
What's She Up to Now? The Boston-based winner of season 10 had been "hosting demonstration dinners" at a famed area restaurant group's instructional spot named Stir, but in June 2013 accepted a promotion to Chef de Cuisine at the fancy-pants French-Italian hybrid resto Menton. Her Facebook is rarely updated, so if you wanna keep up with her, it's best to experience her tweets.