TV show Top Chef on Bravo has announced the contestants from the next season of Top Chef filmed in DC.  Of the contestants two are from the Baltimore/DC area.  The first is Timothy Dean the chef owner of Prime Steakhouse in Baltimore.  The other contestant is Tamesha Warren the sous chef of the Oval Room in Washington DC.

Timothy Dean recieved his education from Howard University and trained under chef Jean-Louis Palladin at the Watergate hotel.  He owns Prime Steak House in Baltimore and will be opening another Prime Steak House in DC later this year.

Tamesha Warren is a native from Barbados, who studied at the Art Institute of New York City, and worked at Jean Georges in New York City.  She is said to study molecular gastronomy and cooks a modern American style with French and Asian influences. 

Good luck to both of the local chefs in this years Top Chef.

Two other contestants Lynne Gigliotti and Kelly Liken are also Pennsylvania natives, but have decided to cook in other areas of the country, good luck to both of you ladies too.

The nominations for this years James Beard awards has been released. I want to take a minute to congratulate all local nominees in the Maryland, DC, northern Virginia area. So congrats to:
Jose Andres, Minibar DC- for outstanding chef
Amanda Cook, CityZen at Mandarin Oriental, DC- Outstanding Pastry Chef
Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve, Alexandria, VA- Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
Peter Pastan- Obelisk, DC- Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
Bryan Voltaggio, Volt, Frederick, MD- Best chef: Mid Atlantic
Johnny Monis, Komi, DC- Rising Star Chef of the Year
Tim Carman, Washington City Paper, "How Not to Hire a Chef/ The Canning Process"- Newspaper feature writing aboutr restaurants and/or chefs
Joe Yonan, The Washington Post- Newspaper Food Section

Congratulations to all and good luck. Hopefully in the near future we will see more chefs from the Baltimore area make the list.