Bay Area’s ‘Top Chef’ contestants: Where are these TV favorites now?

Bravo’s wildly popular, enduring “Top Chef” competition series launched in 2006 in the foodie capital of San Francisco without a single local “cheftestant.” But in the years since, a sizeable number of NorCal contestants have participated in the fast-paced competition. Although all but one were asked to “pack your knives and go,” the show propelled them to do great things in the culinary world, including owning their own restaurants, writing cookbooks and inspiring the next generation of chefs.

As we await the Season 21 premiere, here’s a look at where some of our favorites are now:

MICHAEL MIDGLEY (Season 2, Los Angeles, 2006): This Stockton chef was one of the first Northern California cheftestants to compete on “Top Chef” back in the day. Midgley started cooking at age 14, attended the California Culinary Academy, then dove into the profession as a bar owner and bartender. In 2014, he opened Midgley’s Public House in Stockton with a creative gastropub-meets-steakhouse menu.  A noted business leader in town, he’s been named Best Chef in San Joaquin County a number of times. Over the years, he’s returned to TV, winning an episode on “Cutthroat Kitchen” and judging an episode of “Top Chef Masters.” These days, he frequently brings his chowder and chili recipes to Santa Cruz to compete in the Boardwalk’s professional competitions. Both the Filet Mignon & Bacon Chili and the Clam Chowder are on his restaurant menu, along with the Asparagus Cigars so popular in the asparagus-crazy San Joaquin Valley.

MARISA CHURCHILL (Season 2, Los Angeles, 2006): Churchill was the chef and competitive swimmer who packed a swimsuit and goggles along with her knives. A girl who learned to cook from her Greek grandmother, she then attended the California Culinary Academy and became a pastry specialist for San Francisco’s Rubicon, Ame and Slanted Door. After “Top Chef,” she published a cookbook, “Sweet and Skinny,” that featured slimmed-down versions of 100 dessert recipes. A few years later, while living in Greece, Churchill had a cooking show and put out her second book, “My Sweet & Skinny Life.” She’s now living in Silicon Valley and has wrapped up two more, one a children’s cookbook and the other a middle-grade novel with a culinary twist. She’s also doing some consulting and baking. “Cookies are my weakness!” she says. If you’re interested in buying a cookie box of her latest, follow her on Instagram @chef_marisachurchill.

CASEY THOMPSON (Season 3, Miami, 2007): After the competition, Texas native Thompson, the “fan favorite” and a finalist, expanded her skill set in Argentina’s Malbec country and other destinations before moving to California. She worked in the Napa Valley pairing up wineries with local farms, then launched her first solo venture in San Francisco (while also operating Brownstone in Fort Worth). That was the well-regarded Aveline, in the Warwick hotel on Geary Street, a sophisticated blend of French and California influences. Who can forget her Crab Macarons presented to the diner in a gift box? These days, Thompson is back up in Wine Country, only it’s Sonoma this time around. She’s executive chef at Folktable, a restaurant with Michelin Bib Gourmand honors that is devoted to seasonal, farm-to-table cuisine. And she was just back on TV, competing in Guy Fieri’s “Tournament of Champions” on the Food Network.

JENNIFER BIESTY (Season 4, Chicago, 2008): Brooklyn-born Biesty had trained and cooked around the world — New Orleans, Manhattan (with Marcus Samuelsson), Paris, London (with Jamie Oliver and Ruth Rodgers) — before she was tapped to compete on “Top Chef.” By that time, San Francisco considered her one of their own, as she had worked with chef Loretta Keller at Coco500 and as chef de cuisine for Traci des Jardins at Jardiniere. After competing in Chicago, she headed back to S.F., where she became executive chef for Scala’s Bistro and the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. A decade ago, she planted roots in Oakland, where she was the chef and co-owner of Shakewell, the standout Spanish-Mediterranean restaurant that won raves for creative tapas, small plates and paella. Biesty is now executive chef at Pixar Animation Studios, in next-door Emeryville.

RYAN SCOTT (Season 4, Chicago, 2008): Ryan Scott, who hails from the San Joaquin Valley (Los Banos and Modesto) was cooking at San Francisco’s Michelin-starred Gary Danko and at the popular Mission Beach Cafe and Myth Cafe before his “Top Chef” appearance. In the years following, he was opening new restaurants left and right — you may recall Finn Town and Market & Rye — while creating sandwiches for McDonald’s; traveling the country for Paramount Network’s “Bar Rescue”; making frequent appearances on NBC’s “Today Show”; hosting his own Emmy award-winning show, “Food Rush,” on ABC’s Live Well Network; and writing cookbooks, “One to Five” and “The No-Fuss Family Cookbook.” Now Scott, his family and his successful Ryan Scott 2go Catering operation are based in Marin County. There’s another cookbook in the offing and his next big project should launch soon: It’s a boutique restaurant trailer in San Anselmo that will serve some of Scott’s greatest-hit recipes from the past 20 years.

SHIRLEY CHUNG (Season 11, New Orleans, 2013, then Season 14, Charleston, 2016): A Beijing native, Chung immigrated at the age of 17 with her family to Fremont, where she attended Washington High School and then Cal State East Bay in Hayward. Among her favorite Bay Area foodie memories is eating at Osteria Toscana in Palo Alto, where she tried carpaccio for the first time and recalled frequently sharing the saltimbocca with her father. (Both dishes are still on the menu today.) In 2014, after her TV stint, Chung launched the restaurant Twenty Eight in Orange County. These days, she’s busy with her trendy Culver City place, Ms. Chi Cafe, which features modern riffs on northern Chinese cuisine — plus the cheeseburger potstickers she made famous on “Top Chef.” Can’t make it to L.A. to try them? You can buy those, her scallion pancakes and more on Gold Belly and have them shipped to you.

MELISSA KING (Season 12, Boston, 2014-15, then Season 17, All-Stars L.A, 2020): Although King is from SoCal, she entered the competition as a San Francisco chef (Campton Place, Luce, Ritz-Carlton) so we count her — and her win — for Northern California. Make that wins plural. She has chalked up more individual victories (three Quickfires and six Elimination challenges) than anyone else in “Top Chef” history. She’s been incredibly busy since then. First, she put her sheltering-in-place time during the pandemic to good use: She made and sold the sauces the Season 17 judges swooned over, and she taught virtual cooking classes. Since then she has supported LGBTQ and AAPI causes through appearances, projects and fundraisers; served as a Whole Foods chef ambassador; cooked for the 2022 Met Gala; and hosted National Geographic’s “Tasting Wild” docuseries on Hulu. Check out her King Sauces lineup at www.chefmelissaking.com.

TANYA HOLLAND (Season 15, Denver, 2017): You never know where this pioneering Oakland chef will pop up. Famed for her creative takes on soul food, Holland has been pursuing culinary and equity projects as a restaurateur, entrepreneur, author, TV guest and podcast host since her appearance on “Top Chef.” She has added “Tanya Holland’s California Soul” (2022) to her acclaimed cookbooks, “New Soul Cooking” and “Brown Sugar Kitchen.” In 2023, she prepared a three-course feast at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia in Napa to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the documentary, “A Fine Line.” Most recently, she became a senior adviser to the Stanford Food Institute where, Holland says, “we address sustainability and DEI issues in the food system, amongst other industry issues.” She also was a keynote speaker at the university’s Women’s Summit that launched Women’s History Month. Holland remains active as a board member for the James Beard Foundation. Find out more about her initiatives and projects at www.tanyaholland.com.

ROGELIO GARCIA (Season 15, Denver, 2017): Garcia, a chef with Michelin cred (Cyrus, Spruce, Luce) who started his career as a dishwasher in Napa, is back in the Napa Valley. He’s the top toque at Auro, a restaurant at the Four Seasons Resort in Calistoga that was honored with a Michelin star last summer — just eight months after opening. And in January, he was named a James Beard semifinalist in the category of Best Chef: California. At Auro, Garcia and his team offer a $205 tasting menu along with such events as wine dinners and a New Year’s Eve Champagne Countdown. This September, the Cameron and Co. publishing house is scheduled to release his first cookbook, “Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country,” with 100 recipes that meld Mexican flavors and California ingredients.

NELSON GERMAN (Season 18, Portland, 2021): German is so closely associated with creative fine dining in Oakland that we often forget he came to the Bay Area from the East Coast. The chef cut his teeth at high-end restaurants in New York and broadened his global culinary knowledge before arriving at San Francisco’s SupperClub. In 2014, he headed to Oakland and opened alaMar Kitchen & Bar, with a seafood focus. His Afro-Latino lounge, Sobre Mesa, came along in 2020. Along the way, he’s won a slew of great reviews and honors, and cooked at events like the prestigious Pebble Beach Food & Wine. Since his “Top Chef” appearance, he has embraced his Dominican heritage and refocused his restaurant as alaMar Dominican Kitchen. “I really feel the SF Bay Area community is ready to embrace regional Dominican cuisine influenced by the streets of New York,” he told us in an interview last summer.

 

 

MONIQUE FEYBESSE (Season 19, Houston, 2022): Vallejo resident Feybesse began training at the California Culinary Academy at 17, earned Michelin cred cooking in Europe soon after and then opened her pastry shop, Tarts de Feybesse, during the pandemic while on maternity leave  — all before the “Top Chef’  prospect came up. It’s no wonder she found it inspiring to be surrounded by other chefs who “love the grind” as much as she does. Today, her bakery is a four-day online operation, with deliveries throughout the Bay Area. She also cooks for private dinners and events. And the big news: Their first brick-and-mortar is being built out on the ground floor of the VESPR, a luxury apartment complex on 24th Street in Oakland. A late summer opening is forecast.