Stephanie Izard is an American chef and television personality best known as the first female chef to win Bravo's Top Chef, taking the title during its fourth season. She is the co-owner and executive chef of three award-winning Chicago restaurants, Girl and the Goat, Little Goat, and Duck Duck Goat, and opened her first restaurant, Scylla as chef-owner at the age of 27. Izard received a James Beard Foundation Award for "Best Chef: Great Lakes" in 2013 for her work at Girl and the Goat. She has made a number of appearances on Top Chef since her win, both as a guest judge on subsequent seasons and as a participant in Top Chef Duels. In 2017, Izard competed in the Food Network series Iron Chef Gauntlet, where she overall defeated chefs Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, and Masaharu Morimoto to obtain the title of Iron Chef.
Tyson Cole is a chef and restaurateur based in Austin, Texas, USA.
Kevin Gillespie is an American chef, author and former Top Chef contestant. He is a former co-owner and executive chef at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. He opened Gunshow, a restaurant in Atlanta, in 2013 and Revival, a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, in 2015. Gillespie also started Red Beard Restaurants, allowing Gillespie to expand and provide consulting services to other start-ups. Kevin Gillespie's Gamechanger opened in August 2017 on the 200 concourse western end zone of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Uchi is a contemporary Japanese sushi restaurant located in Austin, Texas, which opened in 2003. The Japanese word "Uchi" translates to "house" in English, and the 2,700-square-foot (250 m2) space is a refurbished home. Owner and chef Tyson Cole's menu consists of hot and cool tastings, sushi and sashimi, makimono, yakimono and tempura, and a changing omakase based on seasonal items. In 2011, Cole won the “Best Chef, Southwest” award from the James Beard Foundation.
Momofuku is a culinary brand established by chef David Chang in 2004 with the opening of Momofuku Noodle Bar. It includes restaurants in New York City, Toronto, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, a bakery established by pastry chef Christina Tosi, a bar (Nikai), and a quarterly magazine. The restaurants are notable for their innovative take on cuisine while supporting local, sustainable and responsible farmers and food purveyors.
Michael Solomonov is an Israeli chef known for his restaurants in Center City, Philadelphia. His first restaurant Zahav, founded in 2008, has received national recognition including the James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2019. Solomonov was also awarded Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017 from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."
Ford Fry is an American chef and restaurateur based in Atlanta, Georgia. His team consists of 13 restaurants in Georgia, three restaurants in Houston, two in Charlotte and two in Nashville. Collectively, he owns 23 restaurants across America. Fry's portfolio of restaurants includes JCT. Kitchen & Bar, no. 246, The Optimist, St. Cecilia, Little Rey, Superica, Marcel State of Grace, BeetleCat, and La Lucha. Several of Fry's restaurants have received various accolades. In October 2015, CBS This Morning described Fry as "one of the most prolific chefs and restaurateurs" in the United States. In March 2021, Atlanta Eats dubbed Fry "a peerless restaurateur with many beloved brands."
Paul Qui is a Texas-based Top Chef winner and James Beard award recipient. He operates restaurants East Side King (Austin), Thai Kun (Austin) and Pao (Miami).
Ox is an Argentine steakhouse in Portland, Oregon's Eliot neighborhood, in the United States.
Beast was a restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The business earned chef and owner Naomi Pomeroy a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Northwest in 2014.
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, and are generally scheduled around James Beard's May birthday.
Canard is a French restaurant with two locations in the U.S. state of Oregon. The original restaurant opened in Portland. A second location opened in Oregon City in 2022.
Kann is a Haitian restaurant by Gregory Gourdet in Portland, Oregon.
Evelyn Garcia is an American chef most known for competing on the television series Top Chef: Houston.
Aviary was a restaurant on Alberta Street in northeast Portland, Oregon's Vernon neighborhood, in the United States. Sarah Pliner was a co-owner and head chef.
Nixta Taqueria is a restaurant in Austin, Texas. The business earned co-owner and chef Edgar Rico a James Beard Foundation Award in the Emerging Chef category.
Shizuku by Chef Naoko was a Japanese restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Chef and owner Naoko Tamura opened Chef Naoko in 2007 and rebranded the business to Shizuku by Chef Naoko in 2017. The rebrand accompanied a redesign by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The restaurant earned Tamura a James Beard Foundation Award nomination in the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific category in 2020. Tamura announced the restaurant's permanent closure in 2023.
Hugo Ildefonso Ortega is a Mexican-born American chef, cookbook author and 2017 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southwest.
Gatlin's Fins & Feathers is a Southern restaurant in Houston, Texas. Established in July 2022, the business was included in The New York Times's 2023 list of the 50 best restaurants in the United States.
Benchawan Jabthong Painter is a chef and restaurateur in Houston, Texas. In 2023 she was named Best Chef/Texas by the James Beard Foundation.
