Top Chef Serves Boston on Silver Platter

Boston landmarks will be featured on the upcoming season of Top Chef, Bravo Media’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series.

The chefs are battling it out against the backdrop of Boston’s flourishing culinary scene. Fenway Park and Plimoth Plantation are among the iconic locales being featured. There will also be a challenge highlighting Boston’s finest from the police and fire departments.

There will be a meal served on the field underneath the Green Monster, a challenge using only ingredients that would have been on hand at the first Thanksgiving meal and an event highlighting Boston’s finest from the police and fire departments. Fans of the show were invited to dine inside the Top Chef kitchen for a first ever fan appreciation challenge.

Returning judges are head judge Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Hugh Acheson and host Padma Lakshmi. For the first time ever, a Top Chef winner is joining the judging panel. Richard Blais, Season 8 winner, will make his debut as a recurring judge offering guidance from a former competitor’s point of view. Celebrity guest judges will include Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski of the New England Patriots and George Wendt of Cheers fame.

The cheftestants will compete for $125,000 furnished by Healthy Choice, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, CO, a feature in Food & Wine magazine and the title of Top Chef.

Season 12 of Top Chef will premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 10 p.m.

Head over to the program’s website for a first look.

Below is the full list of Top Chef contestants:

Doug Adams, 29, Portland, Ore.

Stacy Cogswell, 33, Boston

Joy Crump, 46, Fredericksburg, Va.

Ron Eyester, 40, Atlanta

Gregory Gourdet, 39, Portland, Ore.

Aaron Grissom, 27, Los Angeles

Adam Harvey, 29, New York

Melissa King, 30, San Francisco

Rebecca LaMalfa, 32, Chicago

Mei Lin, 28, Los Angeles

George Pagonis, 31, Washington, D.C.

Michael Patlazhan, 31, Brooklyn, N.Y.

James Rigato, 29, White Lake, Mich.

Katsuji Tanabe, 33, Los Angeles

Keriann Von Raesfeld, 28, San Jose, Calif.

Katie Weinner, 35, Salt Lake City

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