Cabler Bravo's upcoming fourth season
of its reality cooking show Top Chef Masters includes three
openly gay chefs.
Premiering on July 25, Top Chef
Masters season four takes place in Las Vegas with 12
award-winning chefs competing for the title and a chance to win
$100,000 for the charity of their choice.
Celebrity chef Curtis Stone is back as
series host alongside returning judges James Oseland and Ruth Reichl.
They'll be joined by two new judges this season: Krista Simmons, a
food and travel journalist whose work has appeared in the Los
Angeles Times and New York Magazine, and Francis Lam,
features editor of Gilt Taste.
Openly gay contestants include Art
Smith, Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier.
Smith, a two time James Beard Award
recipient, is the executive chef and co-owner of five restaurants,
including Table Fifty-Two, Art and Soul, LYFE Kitchen, Southern Art
and Joanne Tratorria. Smith appeared in the first season of Top
Chef Masters.
Gaier and Frasier are the owners of
Arrows, which was named as “One of America's 10 Most Romantic
Restaurants” by food glossy Bon Appetit.
“Everything here at Arrows is done in
house,” Frasier said in a video interview. “We make our own
cheeses, we grow our own vegetables, we cure our own prosciuttos, we
make our own salamis, we make our own pepperoni, we maker our own
bread, we make our own ice cream.”
The chefs met in 1985 while cooking at
Jeremiah Tower's Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. They also own MC
Perkins Cove and Summer Winter. All three restaurants are located in
Maine.
Gaier is competing for the Equality
Maine Foundation, which champions gay rights.