Is it just us or do we see more Asian American chefs on Bravo than we do on the Food Network? Well, Bravo’s got another show “Top Chef Masters,” a spin-off of Top Chef. Top Chef Masters will pit 24 world-renowned chefs against each other and see how well they fare in the tried and true format of Top Chef. In each episode, money will be at stake for the chefs, with the winners of eliminations being awarded cash donations for their charities. The first six episodes will consist of four chefs competing against each other to name one winner. The six winners of each episode will then meet up for the final four weeks when one person will get eliminated each episode until the finale where one winner is crowned Top Chef Master. The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice.

With “Top Chef Masters,” there are new judges including Kelly Choi.

Kelly Choi is an acclaimed food journalist and creator, producer and host of NYC TV’s weekly restaurant show Eat Out NY. A former model, Choi recently finished her first book The 20 Most Delicious Dishes in New York, which is set to hit stores in spring of 2009.

As producer and host of Eat Out NY, Choi chooses every restaurant featured on the program, then ventures to the back of the house – the kitchen – to prepare a dish with the chef. She is also host of the nationally syndicated and Emmy award-winning Secrets of New York, a weekly show that reveals little-known facts and mysteries about Manhattan. Topics include secrets of the city’s subway system, skyscrapers, sewers, and even jails.

Choi has been a judge on Iron Chef America, and has received multiple Emmy nominations from the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her work on NYC TV. Born in Seoul, Korea, Choi won the Elite Modeling Agency’s “Look of the Year” contest, and has been voted as “One of the Sexiest New Yorkers” by the New York Post. She has a Masters degree in magazine writing from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Meet Kelly Choi. Learn more about this acclaimed food journalist, writer, producer and host.

Anita Lo

Competing for: SHARE

Anita Lo is the chef and owner of the successful New York restaurant Annisa and serves as consulting chef for Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. Lo comes from a second generation Chinese-American family that fostered her passion for eating and cooking. While earning a degree in French at Columbia University, she studied at Reid Hall – Columbia’s French language institute in Paris and decided to return to Paris to study cooking. She received her degree at the prestigious Ecole Ritz-Escoffier. Back in New York, Lo worked her way through all the stations at David Waltuck’s Chanterelle and became known as a contemporary American chef during her time at Mirezi in New York, where she won rave reviews including a glowing 2-star write up from The New York Times.

Meet Anita Lo. Learn more about this successful chef and owner of Annisa.

Roy Yamaguchi

Competing for: Imua Family Services

Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Roy Yamaguchi moved to the U.S. to attend the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. After graduating, his devotion to French cooking was nurtured further in southern California, where he signed on for an apprenticeship at L’Escoffier, followed by one at L’Ermitage under the late master chef Jean Bertanou. He worked his way up to chef status with stints at Le Serene and Le Gourmet. In 1984, Chef Yamaguchi finally opened his first restaurant as an owner, 385 North on Hollywood’s La Cienega. This is where the Yamaguchi cooking style, described by Bon Appetit as “California-French-Japanese-eclectic,” first came into bloom. After dissolving his L.A. partnership in early 1988, he uprooted his young family in order to renew his acquaintance with Hawaii, settling into the eastern side of Honolulu known as Hawaii Kai. The opening of Yamaguchi’s restaurant, Roy’s, did not go unnoticed. Within months Food & Wine dubbed it “the crown jewel of Honolulu’s East-West eateries.” It was virtually the only one of its type in the early years. Today there are 37 Roy’s worldwide. He boasts the honor of being the first Hawaiian restaurateur to win the prestigious James Beard Award. Yamaguchi has appeared on Iron Chef, is the author of four cookbooks, and hosted the cooking show Hawaii Cooks.

Meet Roy Yamaguchi. Learn more about the first Hawaiian restaurateur to win the prestigious James Beard Award.

Christopher Lee

Competing for: Autism Speaks

Chef Christopher Lee broke into the culinary world at the early age of fifteen. After working at various restaurants throughout college, Lee moved to San Francisco and attended the California Culinary Academy. After graduating, Lee relocated to the east coast where he worked at New York’s Jean-Georges and Daniel, and also served as chef de cuisine at Oceana under Neil Gallagher. At Philadelphia’s The Striped Bass, he acted as chef de cuisine under Alfred Portale and later became executive chef. Upon his return to New York City, Lee spent two years at Gilt where he earned the restaurant two Michelin stars. Chef Lee currently runs the kitchen at Aureole in New York, where his cuisine fuses high-concept thought and flavor pairing with a respect for purity and seasonality, always with the diner in mind. His grandfather was Chinese.

Meet Christopher Lee. Learn more about the chef who currently runs the kitchen at Aureole in New York.