Hundreds of Top Chef contestants have put their culinary skills to the test on the iconic
Bravo series. While the vast majority of the competitors are ultimately told to pack up
their knives and go, plenty of competitors who got the boot famously went on to do amazing
things.
Perhaps no one in the history of the show has had a more robust post-Top Chef career
than Carla Hall. She opened Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen in Brooklyn, wrote the cookbook Cooking
with Love: Comfort Food that Hugs You, and started a catering company. She also co-hosted
The Chew, showcased her acting talents on General Hospital and the recent Gossip Girl
reboot, and even appeared on Antiques Roadshow to have her grandmother's purses appraised.
While Hall's cooking talents and big time enthusiasm made her an instant star on the
show, she was never quite able to pull off a victory, coming in as runner-up on Top Chef:
New York and 5th place on her Top Chef All-Stars season.
But winning the fan favorite award and the unofficial title for the show's best catchphrase
is a decent consolation.
"Hootie hoo is something my husband and I say when we go out and we can't find each
other, one of us will say hootie and the other will say hoo! Hootie!”
There have been plenty of tough losses in the history of Top Chef, but taking a loss
competing against your younger brother in the finale is a particularly bitter pill to
swallow. Such was the case in the epic Bryan Voltaggio vs. Michael Voltaggio showdown of
Season 6, with Bryan ultimately falling short to Michael. More than a decade later, Bryan
gave it another go on Top Chef: All-Stars LA. But he fell just short yet again, losing
to Melissa King in the finals.
Voltaggio is an all-timer who came close but could never quite fulfill his destiny. But
he's thriving since hanging up his Top Chef apron, running multiple successful restaurants
including Voltaggio Brothers Steakhouse with his brother, Michael. And Bryan is the only
contestant to compete on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, a testament to his place in
the show's history.
Was Nina Compton robbed? Plenty of viewers thought so after the Top Chef: New Orleans
finale, when the fan favorite chef lost to Nicholas Elmi in a nail-biter. There was such
outrage over the conclusion of Season 11 that judge Tom Colicchio even posted the scores
from the final cook-off on Twitter in an effort to validate the results.
While Compton may not be a Top Chef winner, she's earned plenty of accolades since competing
on the show. Compton ended up staying in New Orleans, opening Compère Lapin in 2015. Fusing
French, Italian, and Caribbean flavors, the cross-cultural hot spot garnered plenty of
praise, including a spot on Eater's list of America's 38 Essential Restaurants. Food & Wine
anointed Compton as Best New Chef, and in 2018 she took home the James Beard award for
Best Chef: South.
It wasn't just his cooking that made Gregory Gourdet a Top Chef standout when he competed
on Season 12 of the show. The Portland-based chef inspired fans with his optimism and resilience
after coping with drug and alcohol addiction for several years.
Gourdet managed to cook his way to the finale, and despite ending on a high note with a four-course
feast that included a stunning short rib with red mole, he didn't have the firepower to
best winner Mei Lin.
Gourdet made his triumphant return to the show on Top Chef: All-Stars LA, but came in
5th place. Gourdet appeared on the show the following season, which was filmed in his
hometown of Portland, as a guest judge.
Beyond Top Chef, Gourdet recently released his debut cookbook Everyone's Table: Global
Recipes for Modern Health. And after a successful pop-up run, he's creating a permanent home
for Kann, a high-end restaurant that highlights his Haitian roots.
The red-bearded Kevin Gillespie has some incredible cooking competition prowess, and yet, he wasn't
able to pull off a Top Chef win. The Atlanta-based chef first debuted on Season 6 in Las Vegas,
but unfortunately was slotted against not one, but two Voltaggios. Gillespie ended up
with the bronze and the honor of being tapped as Fan Favorite.
Gillespie was set to find redemption when he returned to the show for Top Chef: All-Stars
LA., but it wasn't meant to be. After a devastating loss as team captain during Restaurant Wars,
Gillespie returned to the competition via wins on Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen. But
an overcooked pork coppa prevented him from moving on to the finale.
Despite his losses, his achievement will go down as one of the most impressive in Top
Chef history, as Gillespie was diagnosed with cancer two years prior. Before his return
to Top Chef: All-Stars, Gillespie told Forbes:
"I really don't care if I win. I have always been way too driven by money and success and
I just don't care anymore. It is my goal to make it to the finals and be on enough episodes
to tell my story."
Meat maestro Isaac Toups is yet another Fan Favorite competitor in the Top Chef world.
Toups began to heat up on Top Chef: California midway through the season with impressive
back-to-back victories, beginning with a win during Restaurant Wars. The following week
Toups proved he was too legit to quit, wowing guest judge MC Hammer with a dish of scallops
with bbq sauce and grits that made Hammer feel like he was in New Orleans.
"Thought I was down there on Mardi Gras."
“Thank you Isaac.”
His run extended all the way to the final four in Las Vegas, but sadly said goodbye
when his chicken fried dry-aged ribeye missed the mark.
But a gamble that did pay off for the Louisiana chef is his New Orleans restaurant, Toups
Meatery, which is still going strong after nearly a decade. Toups recently returned to
his old stomping grounds, tackling sous chef and judging duties on the inaugural season
of Top Chef Amateurs.
Now a food television fixture, Antonia Lofaso made her small screen breakout on the stacked
Season 4 of Top Chef. It was clear Lofaso was bound to be a star, showcasing a winning
combo of high caliber Italian cooking and charisma. But winning Top Chef wasn't meant
to be. She made it to the final phase of the competition in Puerto Rico, but left with
a fourth-place finish.
Lofaso's comeback tour on the first Top Chef: All-Stars went slightly better, with a third
place finish. But her trophy case isn't completely empty. She earned victories on Top Chef Duels,
squaring off against distant cousin Mike Isabella, and on the judges' battle of Food Network's
Cutthroat Kitchen. She's also the only Top Chef alum to appear on The Bachelorette, lending
some hometown support to contestant and family friend Ben Smith.
When she's not on TV, Lofaso is busy running several Los Angeles restaurants including
DAMA, Black Market Liquor Bar, and Scopa: Italian Roots.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Brian Malarkey is one of the biggest
names to ever appear on Top Chef. The outspoken chef was one of the early stars of the show,
appearing on Season 3. He made it all the way to the first phase of the finale but an
over-complicated whiskey-braised elk shank sent him packing with a fourth-place finish.
It would be another 13 years before he would make his way back to the Top Chef kitchen,
returning for Top Chef All-Stars: LA, where he settled for sixth place in the competition.
Malarkey appeared on several other shows, most notably as a mentor on ABC's The Taste
alongside Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and the late great Anthony Bourdain. But it's
Malarkey's multi-million dollar restaurant empire that is far and away his most impressive
post-Top Chef feat. On an episode of Watch What Happens Live, Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio
said:
"Brian Malarkey has probably done better than any chef ever on the show in terms of business."
While her time competing on Top Chef: Austin was brief, Nyesha Arrington has had so much
success since appearing on the show. The Los Angeles chef came in 11th place when she competed,
sharing the loss in a double-elimination challenge. Three years later, she sought redemption on
Top Chef Duels but got edged out by Jennifer Carroll.
The losses clearly didn't deter Arrington, whose star continues to rise. She's done everything
from opening the sadly short-lived Santa Monica restaurant, Native, to teaching Selena Gomez
how to cook branzino on an episode of Selena + Chef.
She's also brought her expertise to the judges' table on Guy's Grocery Games and MasterChef.
And for her next project, she'll be joining up with Gordon Ramsay on his latest FOX competition
series Next Level Chef.
While Dale Talde is now one of the most beloved alums in Top Chef history, that wasn't always
the case. His debut on Top Chef: Chicago was a mixed bag, with Talde's temper earning him
more attention than his cooking. He got the boot during Restaurant Wars for his ill-advised
butterscotch miso scallops, which judge Anthony Bourdain deemed jaw-droppingly bad. Two years
later, Talde returned to compete on Top Chef: All-Stars but ended with a sixth-place finish.
Talde's post-Top Chef career has been marked by lows and highs. His flagship Brooklyn restaurant,
Talde, opened to acclaim in 2012. Two other branches in Miami and Jersey City would follow,
but all three have since closed. But Talde's Food Crush Hospitality, a co-venture with
his wife Agnes, is behind multiple successful restaurants and bars. Talde's work has helped
Chinese-inspired eatery Goosefeather in Tarrytown, New York, receive a shout out on Esquire's
2020 list of Best New Restaurants in America.
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