Skip to main content
tiered.tv
ShowsTop ChefSeason 11

New Orleans

The city carried the season. Creole and Cajun traditions, gulf seafood, brunch culture and the long shadow of New Orleans restaurants framed the challenges from the first cook. The cast skewed warm without losing competitive edge, the kitchen tension stayed about the food, and Emeril Lagasse joined Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons at the judge's table. Padma Lakshmi hosted a season that let its setting do real work.

Filmed
New Orleans, Louisiana
Premiered
Oct 2, 2013
Bravo · Wednesday 10/9c
Episodes
17
Format
Standard format
Cast size
17 players
Host
Padma Lakshmi
On this page4 sections
  1. 01The take
  2. 02Where it sits in the canon
  3. 03Adjacent in the canon
  4. 04Also appears in
01The take

The city does the arguing.

02Where it sits in the canon

The #05 slot.

Slot #05 of 23 in the Top Chef Editor's Canon. New Orleans earns the fifth slot because it is the show at its most generous with its setting. The city's culinary identity is loud and specific, and the season let challenges follow it — Creole, Cajun, the gulf, the brunch grammar — instead of treating location as backdrop. The cast skewed warm, with cooks who liked each other and cooked like it, and the kitchen confrontations stayed about the food. Emeril joined the judge's table where his presence actually meant something. After the road-show ambition of Texas, New Orleans is the gentler proof that a single great food city can carry an entire season.

No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
04Also appears in

Cross-references.

The setting talks firstlist · 10 entriesThe season never needed a villainlist · 17 entriesTop Chef — Editor's CanonEditor's Canon · #05