kaytieeldr
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Not sure what the difference is, but while most contestants' bio pages say "Contestant, Foodies, Top Chef Masters", some say only "Contestant, Top Chef Masters". It looks like there are twelve Foodies and ten 'just plain' Top Chefs 
Most bios provide the link to whatever charity the Chef is supporting. I didn't include the actual links, but the bios can all be found here http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/bios
4/10:
and 
added to indicate weekly winners and nonwinners; number of each indicates only the week that person won or was sent to pack their knives
From the BravoTV.com website:
Debbie Gold
A James Beard Award winner and four-time nominee, Debbie Gold has led Kansas Citys The American Restaurant to national recognition as its executive chef. Initially studying restaurant management at the University of Illinois, Gold received her professional culinary training at LEcole Hoteliere de Tain LHermitage in France. After apprenticing for two years at Michelin-starred restaurants across that country, she returned to Chicago to hold positions at such reputable venues as Charlie Trotters, Everest, and Mirador. Although Gold took a hiatus to begin her successful restaurant venture 40 Sardines, she returned to The American Restaurant as the executive chef to once more lead the locale to a host of honors, including consistent AAA Four Diamond and Mobil Travel Guide Four Star ratings.
Jody Adams (hometown favorite
)
Jody Adams is a James Beard award-winning chef with a national reputation for her imaginative use of New England ingredients in regional Italian cuisine. Her four-star Rialto restaurant in Cambridge has been named One of the top 20 new restaurants in the country by Esquire magazine and One of the worlds best hotel restaurants by Gourmet. Beginning her culinary career as a line cook at Seasons restaurant, she went on to open Hamersleys Bistro as sous-chef and then served as executive chef at Michelas in Cambridge, where Food & Wine listed her as one of Americas ten best new chefs. Soon thereafter, Adams opened Rialto in Harvard Square, collecting many honors as a result, including being inducted into the Nations Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame. Adams has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Bon Appetit, among many others. She also has a strong commitment to hunger relief and is known for her loyal support of The Greater Boston Food Bank, Share Our Strength, and Partners in Health.
Competing for: Partners in Health
Maria Hines
The 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Northwest, Maria Hines sharpened her culinary skills at reputable restaurants from coast-to-coast before becoming a sensation as executive chef of Earth & Ocean in Seattle in 2003. Named one of Food & Wine magazines best chefs in 2005, the Ohio native truly established herself as a national dining force when she opened her certified organic restaurant Tilth, which features New American cuisine. Only the second restaurant in the country to receive the Oregon Tilth organic certification, The New York Times named Tilth one of the top 10 best new restaurants in the country in 2008.
Competing for: PCC Farmland Trust
Rick Tramonto
Rick Tramonto is executive chef/partner at the world-renowned four-star and Relais & Chateaux restaurant Tru, in Chicago. Tramonto is also culinary director of Tramontos Steak & Seafood, RT Sushi Bar, and Osteria. He has received a bevy of awards and honors including the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Midwest Award, the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence, Food & Wine magazine's Top 10 Best New Chefs 1994, Outstanding Service Award from The James Beard Foundation, Four-star Mobil, and the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Tramonto started his culinary career in Rochester N.Y., at Wendys Old Fashioned Hamburgers in 1977, and has gone on to work with some of the masters: Pierre Gagnaire, Michel Guerard, and Alfred Portale. An accomplished cookbook author with six titles to his credit, his seventh book is due to be released in Spring of 2010 called Rick Tramonto Steak with Friends. Tramonto has a number of television appearances that include Oprah, Today, Iron Chef America, and most recently as a judge on Top Chef.
Competing for: Feed The Children, through Gregory Dickow Ministries
Susur Lee
Hailed by Zagat as a culinary genius, Susur Lee has emerged from his humble beginnings as a 15-year-old apprentice in Hong Kong to become a worldwide leader in Asian fusion cuisine, blending traditional Chinese dishes with classical French techniques. In 1987, Lee opened the doors to his 12-table Lotus restaurant in Toronto, earning rave reviews from The New York Times, Art Culinaire, Gourmet, and Food & Wine magazine. Lotus ran successfully for a decade before Lee decamped for a "re-energizing" period to Singapore, where he served as head chef and consultant. Returning home to open Susur in 2000, Lee has since launched restaurants in Manhattan (Shang), Washington D.C. (Zentan), and a second restaurant, Lee, in Toronto. Lee is a sought-after guest chef across the globe, and has been featured on numerous media outlets. A noted philanthropist, he contributes regularly to the James Beard Foundation, cancer research at Spinizolla in Boston and the Null Foundation, which provides scholarships for underprivileged students to attend culinary school.
Competing for: Andre Agassi Foundation for Education
Monica Pope
Named 2009s Best Chef at the Houston Culinary Awards, Monica Pope is a 2007 James Beard Award Nominee for Best Chef: Southwest and the owner of tafia and Beavers in Houston. The only Texas woman to ever be named a Top 10 Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine, Pope first learned to cook from her Czech grandmother and went on to earn her Chefs title from Prue Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. After working in Europe and San Francisco, Pope returned home to Houston to open her first restaurant, the critically acclaimed The Quilted Toque. Soon after opening her second Houston restaurant, Boulevard Bistrot, she garnered national praise from top critical publications including Travel & Leisure, which hailed her one of the most ingenious restaurateurs around. Her latest venture, tafia, has been featured in Gourmet, O: The Oprah Magazine, Bon Appetit, and Fortune. She recently published a digital cookbook, Eat Where Your Food Lives (available at www.ChefMonicaPope.com) and is currently working on a cooking memoir entitled Eating Hope (and Other Things Ive Had to Stomach).
Competing for: Recipe for Success
Thierry Rautereau
Known affectionately as The Chef in the Hat, French born Thierry Rautureau is the owner of Rovers Restaurant in Seattle. Raised on a farm in the Muscadet region of France, this James Beard Award-winner for Best Chef in The Pacific Northwest began a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France at age 14 before training at top culinary locales across that country. He eventually found himself working for Jean Claude Poilevey at La Fontaine in Chicago before heading to Los Angeles The Regency Club and The Seven Street Bistro Opening Rovers in 1987 after a chance visit to Seattle, Rautureau has been a staple on the national culinary landscape ever since, and has been featured in Gourmet, Zagats, USA Today, and every major metro-Seattle publication that covers dining.
Competing for: Food Lifeline
Carmen Gonzalez
Puerto Rican native Carmen Gonzalez has been a prominent figure in American dining for over 20 years. Upon opening the nationally recognized, Miami-based Carmen the Restaurant in 2003, it was hailed One of the Best New Restaurants in America by Esquire magazine. Gonzalez has been recognized with many honors including the Wine Spectators Award of Excellence from 2004-2006; AAAs coveted 4 Diamond Award in 2004 and 2005; a 2006 mention in Zagats Americas Top Restaurants; among others. Gonzalez has been featured in The New York Times, Miami Herald, Food & Wine magazine, and Bon Appetit, as well as appearances on The Martha Stewart Show, Today, MGM Latino, among others. Gonzalezs greatest passion comes from community outreach efforts, involving herself for many years with Share Our Strength, the James Beard Foundation, Chef Carmen Cooks for a Cure, and Feeding the Mind Foundation, the latter two of which she founded.
Competing for: ASPCA
Marcus Samuelsson
Award-winning chef and cookbook author Marcus Samuelsson is the youngest chef to ever receive two three-star ratings from The New York Times, the first of which was awarded to him after just three months as Executive Chef of Aquavit. His impressive list of accolades includes a 2003 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: New York City, having already won the foundations 1999 best Rising Star Chef honor. He has received consecutive four-star ratings in Forbes annual All-Star Eateries feature, named one of the 40 under 40 by Crains, and was hailed one of The Great Chefs of America by the Culinary Institute of America. Also named by the World Economic Forum as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow, this Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised talent studied at the Culinary Institute in Goteborg, Sweden, before apprenticing in Switzerland and Austria. Having made Aquavit a landmark in Scandinavian dining in New York City, Samuelsson has found additional success as the author of The Soul of a New Cuisine and New American Table. Most recently, Samuelsson was guest chef for the Obama Administrations first State Dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India.
Competing for: The UNICEF Tap Project
Tony Mantuano
Regarded internationally as an influential culinary force, Chef Tony Mantuano is the chef/partner at Spiaggia, the only four-star Italian restaurant in Chicago. Awarded the 2005 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Midwest, Mantuano worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy before opening Spiaggia in 1984 to critical acclaim, and has since gone on to win The Chicago Tribunes highest culinary prize, The Good Eating Award, and named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 1986. His other ventures include Mangia Trattoria in his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin and as the chef/partner of Terzo Piano at new The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mantuanos first cookbook, The Spiaggia Cookbook, was lauded by Food & Wine magazine as one of the top 25 cookbooks of 2004. In 2008, Mantuano co-authored Wine Bar Food with wife Cathy, which was the inspiration for WINE BAR FOOD outposts at the 2008 and 2009 U.S. Open Tennis Champions. He has also made numerous television appearances and has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and Food & Wine and is a frequent contributor to local Chicago television and radio stations. In addition to his 2005 honor, Mantuanos Spiaggia also received James Beard Foundation nominations for Outstanding Restaurant in America in 2006 and 2007 and for Outstanding Service in 2008 and 2009. The Mantuanos were honored with the keys to San Martino in the Italian region of Molise (the ancestral home of Cathy Mantuano) for serving authentic Italian cuisine to President Barack Obama, a long-time guest who celebrated his presidential election victory at Spiaggia in 2008.
Competing for: Feeding America
Govind Armstrong
Raised in Costa Rica and Los Angeles, Govind Armstrong is one of the nations brightest cooking stars, noted for his commitment to market-driven California-style cuisine. Creator of the Table 8 brand of restaurants, Armstrong is currently the executive chef and owner of 8 Oz Burger Bars in Los Angeles and South Beach. He plans on expanding to California, Arizona, and Nevada. Armstrong began his culinary training at age 13 at Wolfgang Pucks Spago restaurant in West Hollywood. He is the author of Small Bites, Big Nights and has been featured in People magazines 50 Most Beautiful People issue, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, O: The Oprah Magazine, along with appearances on Oprah, Top Chef, Iron Chef America, and Today.
Competing for: National Kidney Foundation
Susan Feniger (charity favorite: my brother had scleroderma)
Susan Feniger is well known to Angelenos as one half of the popular "Too Hot Tamales" along with her longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken. Almost 30 years ago, the two chefs opened CITY restaurant, becoming an instant success story. Next came Border Grill in Santa Monica, California and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and then the Latin themed Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles and the Border Grill Truck. With the opening of Susan Fenigers STREET in Hollywood in 2009, the celebrated chef launched her first solo venture. Fenigers dream of creating a unique restaurant inspired by the authentic flavors of street food was fulfilled, creating a spontaneous love story enjoyed by foodies and the media alike. A veteran of 396 episodes of "Too Hot Tamales" and "Tamales World Tour" series, Feniger also co-authored five cookbooks with Milliken--City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cantina, Cooking with Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking for Dummies. She has been on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation for 17 years, spearheading a mission to find a cure for scleroderma, a life-threatening and degenerative illness, by funding and facilitating the most promising, highest quality research, as well as placing the disease and the need for a cure in the public eye. Feniger also serves on the board of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.
Competing for: Scleroderma Research Foundation
David Burke
One of the leading pioneers in American cooking today and owner of David Burke Townhouse, David Burke at Bloomingdales, Fishtail by David Burke, Burke in the Box, David Burke Prime, David Burkes Primehouse, David Burke Las Vegas, and Fromagerie, Burke is one busy chef. Having trained at the Culinary Institute of America and in France under esteemed chefs Pierre Troisgros, Georges Blanc, and Gaston Lenôtre, Burke went on to become Americas first recipient of Frances coveted Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Diplome dHonneur for excellence in American cuisine by age 26. Burkes other accolades include Japans Nippon Award of Excellence, the Robert Mondavi Award of Excellence, and the CIAs August Escoffier Award. In addition, Burke was inducted into the 2009 James Beard Foundations Whos Who of Food & Beverage in America. Also credited with being a standout culinary product inventor (GourmetPops, Flavor Sprays & Flavor-Transfer Spice Sheets), Burke is a noted author of two cookbooks, Cooking with David Burke and David Burkes New American Classics.
Competing for: Table to Table
Jerry Traunfeld
After graduating from the California Culinary Academy, Jerry Traunfeld served as executive chef at Alexis Hotel in Seattle and as a pastry chef at Jeremiah Towers Stars in San Francisco. After spending over 17 years honing his skills as executive chef of The Herbfarm, Traunfeld went on to open Seattle-based restaurant Poppy, named after his mother. The 2000 James Beard Award winner for Best American Chef: Northwest and Hawaii, he is the author of The Herbfarm Cookbook, The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor, and has appeared on Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, The Splendid Table, and a host of other television and radio programs.
Competing for: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Ana Sortun
Cited as one of the countrys best creative fusion practitioners, Seattle-born Ana Sortun graduated from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine de Paris before opening Moncef Medebs Aigo Bistro in Concord, Massachusetts, in the early 1990s. Following stints at 8 Holyoke and Casablanca in Harvard Square, she opened Oleana in 2001, immediately drawing raves for dishes that The New York Times described as rustic-traditional and deeply inventive. Awarded the Best Chef: Northeast honor by the James Beard Foundation in 2005, her cookbook SPICE: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean was published in 2006 and has become a best-seller. Her husbands farm, Siena Farms, provides Sortuns restaurant with all of its fresh produce and is named after their daughter. Her most recent undertaking has been Sofra Bakery & Café in Cambridge, which offers a unique style of foods and baked goods influenced mostly by Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece.
Competing for: The Farm School
Jimmy Bradley
The chef-owner of two popular New York City restaurants The Red Cat and The Harrison Jimmy Bradley presides over neighborhood joints that have become destinations for guests from around the city and the country. A purveyor of straightforward, occasionally irreverent, food, and contagious conviviality, all of it wrapped up in an attitude-free package, Bradley has helped contemporary diners rediscover the intrinsic value of classic Mediterranean cuisine, reinterpreted for a modern American clientele. His accomplishments have earned him features in New York magazine, Food & Wine magazine, Bon Appetit, and The New York Times, as well as appearances on Today and The Martha Stewart Show among others. His cookbook, was published in 2006.
Competing for: charity: water
Rick Moonen
From 1994 to 2005, Moonen earned 3 stars from The New York Times for his work at Oceana, Molyvos, and rm in New York City. Moonen was the executive chef at the Water Club and his passion and vocalization of sustainable seafood practices led him to publish Fish Without a Doubt in 2008. Sensitive to consumers home cooking needs, the cookbook is intended to serve as inspiration to chefs for their cooking choices. In February 2005, Chef Moonen opened his multi-level restaurant Rick Moonens RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Competing for: Three Square
Wylie Dufresne ("I love molecular gastronomy" favorite)
Wylie Dufresne is the chef/owner of New Yorks highly celebrated wd~50 restaurant. The Lower East Side eatery was awarded a Michelin star in 2006, which it has retained through 2010. Dufresne himself is no stranger to acclaim. The James Beard Foundation nominated Wylie and wd~50 in the following categories: 2000, Rising Star Chef (while Wylie was the chef at 71 Clinton Fresh Food); 2004, wd~50 for Best New Restaurant; 2008 and 2009 for Best Chef, New York City. wd~50, whose ownership is shared with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and restaurateur Phil Suarez, acquired its unique name from the combination of Dufresnes initials and the restaurants street address.
Competing for: Autism Speaks
Mark Peel
Mark Peel has been the Executive Chef and owner of the award-winning Campanile restaurant in Los Angeles for 20 years. The 20th anniversary milestone was reached in 2009, the same year his book New Classic Family Dinners was published. The book was selected as one of the top 10 cookbooks of 2009 by Amazon and one of the top 25 cookbooks of 2009 by Food & Wine magazine. Mark also recently opened two new establishments The Point, a casual cafe in Culver City and The Tar Pit. The Tar Pit combines Chef Peels passion for market fresh food with the excitement of artisan cocktails. For The Tar Pit he has partnered with Audrey Sanders, of the Pegu club in NYC. Mark also is co-founder of La Brea Bakery. Peel began his career working under Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison. He did stints in France at La Tour dArgent and Le Moulin de Mougins. He then worked at Michaels and at Chez Pannisse. He moved back to Los Angeles when Wolfgang Puck asked him to be his chef de cuisine at his new restaurant, Spago. Peel also helped open Chinois and Spago Tokyo. He also co-authored two other cook books with his former wife, Nancy Silverton, Mark Peel & Nancy Silverton At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family and Friends and The Food of Campanile. Peel has five children and is married to TV host, comedienne, and blogger Daphne Brogdon.
Competing for: Doctors Without Borders
Graham Elliot Bowles
Having started his culinary education at Johnson and Wales University, Graham Elliot Bowles began his career by working at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five diamond/five-star property in Dallas, Texas. This was followed by a move to Chicago where Bowles had the opportunity to work at the famed restaurant Charlie Trotters for the next three years, as well as work alongside Chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand as the Chef de Cuisine of Tru. A stint at The Jackson House Inn & Restaurant in Woodstock, Vermont earned him a spot as one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs of 2004. This opened the door for Bowles to return to Chicago to become Chef de Cuisine of Avenues at The Peninsula Hotel. During his four years leading the kitchen, he became the nations youngest four-star chef with perfect reviews from Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as three James Beard award nominations. In May 2008, Bowles opened Graham Elliot in Chicago, a "bistronomic" restaurant combining four-star cuisine with humor and accessibility, to another round of wide critical acclaim. In Sumer 2009, his passion for music led himto be the Culinary Ambassador at Lollapalooza, a three-day music festival, where he cooked for both the public as well as backstage for the performers. In the Spring of 2010 Bowles plans to open Grahamwich, a branded sandwich shop in the River North area of Chicago.
Competing for: American Heart Association
Jonathan Waxman
Working as a successful chef, restaurateur and author, Jonathan Waxman has graced such prestigious kitchens as Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Michaels in Los Angeles. Waxman went on to open his own restaurant in New York City Jams, as well as the famed Washington Park. Today, Waxman is the chef and owner of Barbuto in Manhattan's West Village. His first cookbook, A Great American Cook, was published in 2007. Giving back is important to Waxman and he works closely with many charities including City Meals on Wheels. He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.
Competing for: Meals On Wheels
Ludo Lefebvre
After training in France for 13 years at Restaurant LEsperance with Marc Meneau, Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, Arpege with Alain Passard. and Le Grande Vefour with Guy Martin, Lefebvre moved to Los Angeles to work at LOrangerie. He was promoted to head chef at the age of 25 and made LOrangerie one of the top-rated restaurants in California, receiving the Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre then moved on to Bastide where he also received the prestigious Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre was a nominee for the James Beard Foundation Rising Chef Award in 2001 and released his first cookbook, CRAVE, a Feast of the Five Senses in 2005. Always the rebel, Lefebvre has created a guerilla style "pop-up" restaurant event called LudoBites that currently takes place at different locations around Los Angeles. LudoBites has been named to the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, Jonathan Gold's 99 Most Essential Restaurants List for Los Angeles; earning a place in the Top Ten Dishes of 2009 and identified as a dining experience that "may fundamentally change the way we look at restaurants."
Competing for: C.H.A.S.E. for Life
So - who do YOU think should win?
Most bios provide the link to whatever charity the Chef is supporting. I didn't include the actual links, but the bios can all be found here http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters/bios
4/10:
and added to indicate weekly winners and nonwinners; number of each indicates only the week that person won or was sent to pack their knives From the BravoTV.com website:
Debbie Gold
A James Beard Award winner and four-time nominee, Debbie Gold has led Kansas Citys The American Restaurant to national recognition as its executive chef. Initially studying restaurant management at the University of Illinois, Gold received her professional culinary training at LEcole Hoteliere de Tain LHermitage in France. After apprenticing for two years at Michelin-starred restaurants across that country, she returned to Chicago to hold positions at such reputable venues as Charlie Trotters, Everest, and Mirador. Although Gold took a hiatus to begin her successful restaurant venture 40 Sardines, she returned to The American Restaurant as the executive chef to once more lead the locale to a host of honors, including consistent AAA Four Diamond and Mobil Travel Guide Four Star ratings.
Jody Adams (hometown favorite
)Jody Adams is a James Beard award-winning chef with a national reputation for her imaginative use of New England ingredients in regional Italian cuisine. Her four-star Rialto restaurant in Cambridge has been named One of the top 20 new restaurants in the country by Esquire magazine and One of the worlds best hotel restaurants by Gourmet. Beginning her culinary career as a line cook at Seasons restaurant, she went on to open Hamersleys Bistro as sous-chef and then served as executive chef at Michelas in Cambridge, where Food & Wine listed her as one of Americas ten best new chefs. Soon thereafter, Adams opened Rialto in Harvard Square, collecting many honors as a result, including being inducted into the Nations Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame. Adams has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Bon Appetit, among many others. She also has a strong commitment to hunger relief and is known for her loyal support of The Greater Boston Food Bank, Share Our Strength, and Partners in Health.
Competing for: Partners in Health
Maria Hines
The 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Northwest, Maria Hines sharpened her culinary skills at reputable restaurants from coast-to-coast before becoming a sensation as executive chef of Earth & Ocean in Seattle in 2003. Named one of Food & Wine magazines best chefs in 2005, the Ohio native truly established herself as a national dining force when she opened her certified organic restaurant Tilth, which features New American cuisine. Only the second restaurant in the country to receive the Oregon Tilth organic certification, The New York Times named Tilth one of the top 10 best new restaurants in the country in 2008.
Competing for: PCC Farmland Trust
Rick Tramonto
Rick Tramonto is executive chef/partner at the world-renowned four-star and Relais & Chateaux restaurant Tru, in Chicago. Tramonto is also culinary director of Tramontos Steak & Seafood, RT Sushi Bar, and Osteria. He has received a bevy of awards and honors including the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Midwest Award, the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence, Food & Wine magazine's Top 10 Best New Chefs 1994, Outstanding Service Award from The James Beard Foundation, Four-star Mobil, and the Wine Spectator Grand Award. Tramonto started his culinary career in Rochester N.Y., at Wendys Old Fashioned Hamburgers in 1977, and has gone on to work with some of the masters: Pierre Gagnaire, Michel Guerard, and Alfred Portale. An accomplished cookbook author with six titles to his credit, his seventh book is due to be released in Spring of 2010 called Rick Tramonto Steak with Friends. Tramonto has a number of television appearances that include Oprah, Today, Iron Chef America, and most recently as a judge on Top Chef.
Competing for: Feed The Children, through Gregory Dickow Ministries
Susur Lee
Hailed by Zagat as a culinary genius, Susur Lee has emerged from his humble beginnings as a 15-year-old apprentice in Hong Kong to become a worldwide leader in Asian fusion cuisine, blending traditional Chinese dishes with classical French techniques. In 1987, Lee opened the doors to his 12-table Lotus restaurant in Toronto, earning rave reviews from The New York Times, Art Culinaire, Gourmet, and Food & Wine magazine. Lotus ran successfully for a decade before Lee decamped for a "re-energizing" period to Singapore, where he served as head chef and consultant. Returning home to open Susur in 2000, Lee has since launched restaurants in Manhattan (Shang), Washington D.C. (Zentan), and a second restaurant, Lee, in Toronto. Lee is a sought-after guest chef across the globe, and has been featured on numerous media outlets. A noted philanthropist, he contributes regularly to the James Beard Foundation, cancer research at Spinizolla in Boston and the Null Foundation, which provides scholarships for underprivileged students to attend culinary school.
Competing for: Andre Agassi Foundation for Education
Monica Pope
Named 2009s Best Chef at the Houston Culinary Awards, Monica Pope is a 2007 James Beard Award Nominee for Best Chef: Southwest and the owner of tafia and Beavers in Houston. The only Texas woman to ever be named a Top 10 Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine, Pope first learned to cook from her Czech grandmother and went on to earn her Chefs title from Prue Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. After working in Europe and San Francisco, Pope returned home to Houston to open her first restaurant, the critically acclaimed The Quilted Toque. Soon after opening her second Houston restaurant, Boulevard Bistrot, she garnered national praise from top critical publications including Travel & Leisure, which hailed her one of the most ingenious restaurateurs around. Her latest venture, tafia, has been featured in Gourmet, O: The Oprah Magazine, Bon Appetit, and Fortune. She recently published a digital cookbook, Eat Where Your Food Lives (available at www.ChefMonicaPope.com) and is currently working on a cooking memoir entitled Eating Hope (and Other Things Ive Had to Stomach).
Competing for: Recipe for Success
Thierry Rautereau
Known affectionately as The Chef in the Hat, French born Thierry Rautureau is the owner of Rovers Restaurant in Seattle. Raised on a farm in the Muscadet region of France, this James Beard Award-winner for Best Chef in The Pacific Northwest began a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France at age 14 before training at top culinary locales across that country. He eventually found himself working for Jean Claude Poilevey at La Fontaine in Chicago before heading to Los Angeles The Regency Club and The Seven Street Bistro Opening Rovers in 1987 after a chance visit to Seattle, Rautureau has been a staple on the national culinary landscape ever since, and has been featured in Gourmet, Zagats, USA Today, and every major metro-Seattle publication that covers dining.
Competing for: Food Lifeline
Carmen Gonzalez
Puerto Rican native Carmen Gonzalez has been a prominent figure in American dining for over 20 years. Upon opening the nationally recognized, Miami-based Carmen the Restaurant in 2003, it was hailed One of the Best New Restaurants in America by Esquire magazine. Gonzalez has been recognized with many honors including the Wine Spectators Award of Excellence from 2004-2006; AAAs coveted 4 Diamond Award in 2004 and 2005; a 2006 mention in Zagats Americas Top Restaurants; among others. Gonzalez has been featured in The New York Times, Miami Herald, Food & Wine magazine, and Bon Appetit, as well as appearances on The Martha Stewart Show, Today, MGM Latino, among others. Gonzalezs greatest passion comes from community outreach efforts, involving herself for many years with Share Our Strength, the James Beard Foundation, Chef Carmen Cooks for a Cure, and Feeding the Mind Foundation, the latter two of which she founded.
Competing for: ASPCA
Marcus Samuelsson
Award-winning chef and cookbook author Marcus Samuelsson is the youngest chef to ever receive two three-star ratings from The New York Times, the first of which was awarded to him after just three months as Executive Chef of Aquavit. His impressive list of accolades includes a 2003 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: New York City, having already won the foundations 1999 best Rising Star Chef honor. He has received consecutive four-star ratings in Forbes annual All-Star Eateries feature, named one of the 40 under 40 by Crains, and was hailed one of The Great Chefs of America by the Culinary Institute of America. Also named by the World Economic Forum as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow, this Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised talent studied at the Culinary Institute in Goteborg, Sweden, before apprenticing in Switzerland and Austria. Having made Aquavit a landmark in Scandinavian dining in New York City, Samuelsson has found additional success as the author of The Soul of a New Cuisine and New American Table. Most recently, Samuelsson was guest chef for the Obama Administrations first State Dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India.
Competing for: The UNICEF Tap Project
Tony Mantuano Regarded internationally as an influential culinary force, Chef Tony Mantuano is the chef/partner at Spiaggia, the only four-star Italian restaurant in Chicago. Awarded the 2005 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Midwest, Mantuano worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy before opening Spiaggia in 1984 to critical acclaim, and has since gone on to win The Chicago Tribunes highest culinary prize, The Good Eating Award, and named a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 1986. His other ventures include Mangia Trattoria in his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin and as the chef/partner of Terzo Piano at new The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mantuanos first cookbook, The Spiaggia Cookbook, was lauded by Food & Wine magazine as one of the top 25 cookbooks of 2004. In 2008, Mantuano co-authored Wine Bar Food with wife Cathy, which was the inspiration for WINE BAR FOOD outposts at the 2008 and 2009 U.S. Open Tennis Champions. He has also made numerous television appearances and has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and Food & Wine and is a frequent contributor to local Chicago television and radio stations. In addition to his 2005 honor, Mantuanos Spiaggia also received James Beard Foundation nominations for Outstanding Restaurant in America in 2006 and 2007 and for Outstanding Service in 2008 and 2009. The Mantuanos were honored with the keys to San Martino in the Italian region of Molise (the ancestral home of Cathy Mantuano) for serving authentic Italian cuisine to President Barack Obama, a long-time guest who celebrated his presidential election victory at Spiaggia in 2008.
Competing for: Feeding America
Govind Armstrong Raised in Costa Rica and Los Angeles, Govind Armstrong is one of the nations brightest cooking stars, noted for his commitment to market-driven California-style cuisine. Creator of the Table 8 brand of restaurants, Armstrong is currently the executive chef and owner of 8 Oz Burger Bars in Los Angeles and South Beach. He plans on expanding to California, Arizona, and Nevada. Armstrong began his culinary training at age 13 at Wolfgang Pucks Spago restaurant in West Hollywood. He is the author of Small Bites, Big Nights and has been featured in People magazines 50 Most Beautiful People issue, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, O: The Oprah Magazine, along with appearances on Oprah, Top Chef, Iron Chef America, and Today.
Competing for: National Kidney Foundation
Susan Feniger (charity favorite: my brother had scleroderma)Susan Feniger is well known to Angelenos as one half of the popular "Too Hot Tamales" along with her longtime business partner Mary Sue Milliken. Almost 30 years ago, the two chefs opened CITY restaurant, becoming an instant success story. Next came Border Grill in Santa Monica, California and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and then the Latin themed Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles and the Border Grill Truck. With the opening of Susan Fenigers STREET in Hollywood in 2009, the celebrated chef launched her first solo venture. Fenigers dream of creating a unique restaurant inspired by the authentic flavors of street food was fulfilled, creating a spontaneous love story enjoyed by foodies and the media alike. A veteran of 396 episodes of "Too Hot Tamales" and "Tamales World Tour" series, Feniger also co-authored five cookbooks with Milliken--City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cantina, Cooking with Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking for Dummies. She has been on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation for 17 years, spearheading a mission to find a cure for scleroderma, a life-threatening and degenerative illness, by funding and facilitating the most promising, highest quality research, as well as placing the disease and the need for a cure in the public eye. Feniger also serves on the board of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.
Competing for: Scleroderma Research Foundation
David Burke
One of the leading pioneers in American cooking today and owner of David Burke Townhouse, David Burke at Bloomingdales, Fishtail by David Burke, Burke in the Box, David Burke Prime, David Burkes Primehouse, David Burke Las Vegas, and Fromagerie, Burke is one busy chef. Having trained at the Culinary Institute of America and in France under esteemed chefs Pierre Troisgros, Georges Blanc, and Gaston Lenôtre, Burke went on to become Americas first recipient of Frances coveted Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Diplome dHonneur for excellence in American cuisine by age 26. Burkes other accolades include Japans Nippon Award of Excellence, the Robert Mondavi Award of Excellence, and the CIAs August Escoffier Award. In addition, Burke was inducted into the 2009 James Beard Foundations Whos Who of Food & Beverage in America. Also credited with being a standout culinary product inventor (GourmetPops, Flavor Sprays & Flavor-Transfer Spice Sheets), Burke is a noted author of two cookbooks, Cooking with David Burke and David Burkes New American Classics.
Competing for: Table to Table
Jerry Traunfeld After graduating from the California Culinary Academy, Jerry Traunfeld served as executive chef at Alexis Hotel in Seattle and as a pastry chef at Jeremiah Towers Stars in San Francisco. After spending over 17 years honing his skills as executive chef of The Herbfarm, Traunfeld went on to open Seattle-based restaurant Poppy, named after his mother. The 2000 James Beard Award winner for Best American Chef: Northwest and Hawaii, he is the author of The Herbfarm Cookbook, The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor, and has appeared on Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, The Splendid Table, and a host of other television and radio programs.
Competing for: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Ana Sortun Cited as one of the countrys best creative fusion practitioners, Seattle-born Ana Sortun graduated from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine de Paris before opening Moncef Medebs Aigo Bistro in Concord, Massachusetts, in the early 1990s. Following stints at 8 Holyoke and Casablanca in Harvard Square, she opened Oleana in 2001, immediately drawing raves for dishes that The New York Times described as rustic-traditional and deeply inventive. Awarded the Best Chef: Northeast honor by the James Beard Foundation in 2005, her cookbook SPICE: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean was published in 2006 and has become a best-seller. Her husbands farm, Siena Farms, provides Sortuns restaurant with all of its fresh produce and is named after their daughter. Her most recent undertaking has been Sofra Bakery & Café in Cambridge, which offers a unique style of foods and baked goods influenced mostly by Turkey, Lebanon, and Greece.
Competing for: The Farm School
Jimmy Bradley The chef-owner of two popular New York City restaurants The Red Cat and The Harrison Jimmy Bradley presides over neighborhood joints that have become destinations for guests from around the city and the country. A purveyor of straightforward, occasionally irreverent, food, and contagious conviviality, all of it wrapped up in an attitude-free package, Bradley has helped contemporary diners rediscover the intrinsic value of classic Mediterranean cuisine, reinterpreted for a modern American clientele. His accomplishments have earned him features in New York magazine, Food & Wine magazine, Bon Appetit, and The New York Times, as well as appearances on Today and The Martha Stewart Show among others. His cookbook, was published in 2006.
Competing for: charity: water
Rick Moonen
From 1994 to 2005, Moonen earned 3 stars from The New York Times for his work at Oceana, Molyvos, and rm in New York City. Moonen was the executive chef at the Water Club and his passion and vocalization of sustainable seafood practices led him to publish Fish Without a Doubt in 2008. Sensitive to consumers home cooking needs, the cookbook is intended to serve as inspiration to chefs for their cooking choices. In February 2005, Chef Moonen opened his multi-level restaurant Rick Moonens RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Competing for: Three Square
Wylie Dufresne ("I love molecular gastronomy" favorite
)Wylie Dufresne is the chef/owner of New Yorks highly celebrated wd~50 restaurant. The Lower East Side eatery was awarded a Michelin star in 2006, which it has retained through 2010. Dufresne himself is no stranger to acclaim. The James Beard Foundation nominated Wylie and wd~50 in the following categories: 2000, Rising Star Chef (while Wylie was the chef at 71 Clinton Fresh Food); 2004, wd~50 for Best New Restaurant; 2008 and 2009 for Best Chef, New York City. wd~50, whose ownership is shared with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and restaurateur Phil Suarez, acquired its unique name from the combination of Dufresnes initials and the restaurants street address.
Competing for: Autism Speaks
Mark Peel
Mark Peel has been the Executive Chef and owner of the award-winning Campanile restaurant in Los Angeles for 20 years. The 20th anniversary milestone was reached in 2009, the same year his book New Classic Family Dinners was published. The book was selected as one of the top 10 cookbooks of 2009 by Amazon and one of the top 25 cookbooks of 2009 by Food & Wine magazine. Mark also recently opened two new establishments The Point, a casual cafe in Culver City and The Tar Pit. The Tar Pit combines Chef Peels passion for market fresh food with the excitement of artisan cocktails. For The Tar Pit he has partnered with Audrey Sanders, of the Pegu club in NYC. Mark also is co-founder of La Brea Bakery. Peel began his career working under Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison. He did stints in France at La Tour dArgent and Le Moulin de Mougins. He then worked at Michaels and at Chez Pannisse. He moved back to Los Angeles when Wolfgang Puck asked him to be his chef de cuisine at his new restaurant, Spago. Peel also helped open Chinois and Spago Tokyo. He also co-authored two other cook books with his former wife, Nancy Silverton, Mark Peel & Nancy Silverton At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family and Friends and The Food of Campanile. Peel has five children and is married to TV host, comedienne, and blogger Daphne Brogdon.
Competing for: Doctors Without Borders
Graham Elliot Bowles
Having started his culinary education at Johnson and Wales University, Graham Elliot Bowles began his career by working at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, a five diamond/five-star property in Dallas, Texas. This was followed by a move to Chicago where Bowles had the opportunity to work at the famed restaurant Charlie Trotters for the next three years, as well as work alongside Chefs Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand as the Chef de Cuisine of Tru. A stint at The Jackson House Inn & Restaurant in Woodstock, Vermont earned him a spot as one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs of 2004. This opened the door for Bowles to return to Chicago to become Chef de Cuisine of Avenues at The Peninsula Hotel. During his four years leading the kitchen, he became the nations youngest four-star chef with perfect reviews from Chicago Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as three James Beard award nominations. In May 2008, Bowles opened Graham Elliot in Chicago, a "bistronomic" restaurant combining four-star cuisine with humor and accessibility, to another round of wide critical acclaim. In Sumer 2009, his passion for music led himto be the Culinary Ambassador at Lollapalooza, a three-day music festival, where he cooked for both the public as well as backstage for the performers. In the Spring of 2010 Bowles plans to open Grahamwich, a branded sandwich shop in the River North area of Chicago.
Competing for: American Heart Association
Jonathan Waxman
Working as a successful chef, restaurateur and author, Jonathan Waxman has graced such prestigious kitchens as Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Michaels in Los Angeles. Waxman went on to open his own restaurant in New York City Jams, as well as the famed Washington Park. Today, Waxman is the chef and owner of Barbuto in Manhattan's West Village. His first cookbook, A Great American Cook, was published in 2007. Giving back is important to Waxman and he works closely with many charities including City Meals on Wheels. He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.
Competing for: Meals On Wheels
Ludo Lefebvre
After training in France for 13 years at Restaurant LEsperance with Marc Meneau, Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, Arpege with Alain Passard. and Le Grande Vefour with Guy Martin, Lefebvre moved to Los Angeles to work at LOrangerie. He was promoted to head chef at the age of 25 and made LOrangerie one of the top-rated restaurants in California, receiving the Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre then moved on to Bastide where he also received the prestigious Mobil Five Star Award. Lefebvre was a nominee for the James Beard Foundation Rising Chef Award in 2001 and released his first cookbook, CRAVE, a Feast of the Five Senses in 2005. Always the rebel, Lefebvre has created a guerilla style "pop-up" restaurant event called LudoBites that currently takes place at different locations around Los Angeles. LudoBites has been named to the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, Jonathan Gold's 99 Most Essential Restaurants List for Los Angeles; earning a place in the Top Ten Dishes of 2009 and identified as a dining experience that "may fundamentally change the way we look at restaurants."
Competing for: C.H.A.S.E. for Life
So - who do YOU think should win?
It premieres at 11 -- pm??? 
What's up with that? I hope they move it, but they better not place it across from Criminal Minds at 9pm. 
. Oh, wait - I know! It was during the 3 AM airing. I saw them having three hours to prepare, and finishing up the first day; then I saw the start of party day... I did doze off again for a bit after the party was over; when I woke up again, the first winner was just getting the 'star' count along with a comment from Kelly about the come-back. 
