Top Chef

- Season 1

(2006)

In the premiere episode of Bravo's "Top Chef," the cast will be thrown straight into the demanding kitchen of famed San Francisco restaurant Fleur de Lys for the quickfire challenge where Guest judge Hubert Keller (famed chef and partner of Fleur de Lys) joins host Katie Lee Joel and judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons to help to make the decision on who must "pack up their knives" first.

In the second episode of Bravo's "Top Chef," the kitchen heats up as the contestants are challenged to cook up sweet dishes that are both sexy and erotic, under the watchful eye of guest judges Elizabeth Falkner, owner of Citizen Cake, a celebrated patisserie and dessert hotspot in San Francisco, and Mistress S, who runs a fetish ball and knows a thing or two about eroticism.

Something smells fishy in this episode of Bravo's "Top Chef," as the cook's must dive into piles of slimy octopus and turn it into a tempting platter of seafood cuisine. Laurent Manrique of the famed San Francisco seafood restaurant Aqua will guest judge the challenge.

Gas stations and five-star cuisine are not typically paired together in the same sentence, but in this fourth episode of Bravo's "Top Chef" the contestants are challenged to create tempting dishes solely from ingredients available in a convenience store.

In the fifth episode of Bravo's "Top Chef," the chefs are blindfolded, fed rare ethnic cuisine, and then must identify the ingredients. They then hit the streets of San Francisco for the elimination challenge where each team must serve a variety of fusion dishes from handcarts and will be judged upon taste, creativity and customer satisfaction.

A "Queer Eye" will be watching over the sixth episode of Bravo's "Top Chef" and it will come in the form of the culinary expert of The Fab Five, Ted Allen. Known for his food and entertaining expertise on Bravo's hit series Queer Eye, Allen will challenge the contestants to create a low cost appetizer using only the ingredients that he has pre-selected.

In the seventh episode of Bravo's "Top Chef," contestants are asked to create a gourmet sandwich. The chefs will then move on to the elimination challenge, where they are put into teams and must come up with a new restaurant concept and put it into practice for one night only in an actual restaurant location.

It's wedding bells for the competing chefs in the eighth episode of Bravo's "Top Chef." The chefs are put into two teams who must pitch their catering concept to a gay couple that intends to marry in a commitment ceremony, and the couple will choose the most convincing pitch.

Only three potential Top Chefs remain, and this episode's quickfire challenge will test their ability to get creative with junk food to make a tasty dish that could still be served to conscientious diners.

It's a "dish" unlike any other on Bravo's "Top Chef: Watch What Happens Special." Bravo's pop culture pundit and programming executive Andy Cohen hosts a candid gathering of season three's chef ?testants and judges; host Padma Lakshmi, head-judge Tom Colicchio, judge Gail Simmons and culinary expert Ted Allen. Cohen will get viewers burning questions answered and dish over season three?s good, bad and overcooked. Viewers will also see exclusive clips that didn?t make the final cut. The winner of Bravo's "Fan Favorite" will also be announced during the reunion special.

The remaining two chefs will face-off for one final competition. In the end, only one chef will make it through the spectacular final competition to take the top culinary title.

The remaining two chefs will face-off for one final competition. In the end, only one chef will make it through the spectacular final competition to take the top culinary title. The winning chef will receive $100,000 in seed money to help encourage their culinary career, be featured in Food & Wine magazine, appear at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June 2006, and most importantly, earn the prestigious title of "Top Chef." Their home will also be outfitted with a complete gourmet kitchen courtesy of Sears Kenmore. Lorraine Bracco of "The Sopranos" guest stars, ...