Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas chef to be featured on ‘Top Chef Masters’

Wednesday premier to feature Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys and Burger Bar

Hubert Keller

Hubert Keller.

Click to enlarge photo

Rick Moonen

One of Las Vegas’ top master chefs will be featured in this week’s series premiere of “Top Chef Masters.”

Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys and Burger Bar will be among the culinary wizards battling it out on Wednesday night’s inaugural episode of the “Top Chef” spin-off series.

Keller will join Boston–based chef Michael Schlow, Christopher Lee of Aureole New York, and Lone Star State restaurateur Tim Love on the episode.

Though Bravo and the network’s parent company, NBC, have been keeping details under close wraps, the first installment of the show is said to include a quickfire challenge of cooking dessert for a group of Girl Scouts followed by a main challenge of preparing a three-course meal for college students.

NBC announced the full “Top Chef Masters” line-up in April. The program is part of Bravo’s Wednesday night line up and will premiere this week at 10 p.m.

In addition to Keller, Rick Moonen of Mandalay Bay’s RM Seafood will also compete on the series, though it has not been announced when Moonen’s episode will air.

The two additional, however loose, Las Vegas connections on “Top Chef Masters” involve Roy’s restaurant owner, Roy Yamaguchi, and Ludo Lefebvre, who at the time of filming was the head chef at Lavo but has since left the Palazzo eatery and is in the process of opening a restaurant of his own in Los Angeles.

In all, 24 of the nation’s culinary heavyweights were invited to compete in episodes of the new series.

Bravo’s Web site has the program listed at “Top Chef Masters Season One,” possibly alluding to future seasons that could very well include additional Las Vegas chefs.

The first season of “Top Chef Masters” consists of 10 episodes, with the first six featuring four different chefs who compete against each other in hopes of advancing to the next round.

The winning chefs from the first six episodes will be featured in the final four weeks of programming, with one chef being eliminated each week.

Similar to regular “Top Chef,” each installment will feature a so-called “quickfire challenge” – but on “Top Chef Masters,” the challenge will be decided by a blind taste test and a five-star rating system.

Each episode will also include a main challenge that involves unusual and exotic foods, extreme restrictions, or some sort of other extenuating circumstances designed to test each chef’s culinary might.

The series will likely culminate on Aug. 19 with the crowning of the “Top Chef Master.”

The winning chef will be awarded $100,000 for the charity of his or her choice.

In other “Top Chef”-related news, the network recently wrapped shooting season six right here in Las Vegas.

Few details have been released, however, and Bravo is doing its best to keep the details surrounding “Top Chef: Las Vegas” top secret.

Fans of the highest-rated food-related show on cable TV can expect to get a taste of Vegas this fall.

Before that, however, fans will have to get their “Top Chef” fix with “Top Chef Masters.”

”Top Chef Masters” premieres on Bravo this Wednesday at 10 p.m.

Correction: This story has been changed to reflect that the show premieres Wednesday, not Thursday.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy