Savoring Sin City: An Advance Review of the "Top Chef: Las Vegas" Season Opener

Sharpen your knives and prepare for the main course.

While there's still one last showdown on Top Chef Masters, tomorrow night brings the season premiere of Top Chef: Las Vegas ("Sin City Vice") as seventeen new contestants square off in the ultimate culinary competition.

I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch the sensational season opener and found myself just as addicted as ever to the tension, imagination, and sheer deliciousness of original flavor Top Chef.

So what did I think of the first episode of Top Chef: Las Vegas? Sharpen your knives and let's discuss. (Though, I promise no spoilers about who wins, who goes home, or who wilts in the heat.)

This being the first Las Vegas-set edition of Top Chef, expect lots of twists and turns along the way, most notably some--shall we say--even greater incentives to winning the Quickfire Challenges. Yes, there's a sizable amount of cash on the table with each round and there's also an element of chance at play with some unexpected consequences.

Just how far the producers will take the luck element remains to be seen but in the first episode alone, there's a gold chip up for play in the Quickfire Challenge, which brings immunity from elimination AND allows one player to sit out of the very first challenge at hand.

As for the contestants, they are your typically motley group of talented, arrogant cheffing types, some of whom have some real vision and skill and some of whom, well, won't be destined for long in this cutthroat competition. As usual, there's a mix of executive chefs, chefs de cuisine, and caterers; classically trained chefs and those self-taught; arrogant bastards and coolly composed visionaries.

This season, there's only one chef from New York (a major shocker) and several from Atlanta, one chef who wears a jaunty red scarf, and one who might just have the most single irritating speaking voice on television. But what they have in common is that they all seem to be hungry for the top prize.

Among my favorites, there are already two major contenders emerging: Jennifer Carroll of Philadelphia who worked under Eric Ripert and is now Chef de Cuisine of Ripert's 10 Arts and Kevin Gillespie, executive chef and partner at Woodfire Grill in Atlanta. But let's not count out warring brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, who might be brothers in blood but who are polar opposites in terms of temperament. So far, I've been mightily impressed with these four chefs and hope they each stick around for quite some time in the competition.

There are some interesting challenges at foot in this premiere installment, most notably the return of the mise-en-place relay race, a timed cook-off, and a vice-laden Elimination Challenge that has the chefs competing not against the larger group but among four- to five-person teams, with each team landing someone in the top scores and someone among the bottom scores.

And it's a real pleasure to see Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Padma Lakshmi return to the judging table. While I love Top Chef Masters, there's something heartening and exciting about seeing their faces (and hearing their cutting critiques) once again; it's the television equivalent of haute comfort food.

All in all, I've been starving for the return of Top Chef and this season opener managed to sate my appetite while making me crave even more. Yes, there might be festooned Vegas showgirls this time around but don't mistake the playfulness for softness: the high-stakes pressure of Top Chef is back in full force. One of these contestants will have the skill, the drive, and--yes--the luck to pull off a win in the classiest culinary competition series on television.

Expect Twists and Turns:



It's Time for the First Quickfire:



Top Chef: Las Vegas launches Wednesday evening at 9 pm ET/PT on Bravo.