MILWAUKEE — A new season of Top Chef premiered Wednesday night.
Roughly 500 people celebrated the 21st season of the Emmy Award-winning cooking competition at Discovery World.
'Top Chef' judges Kristen Kish, Gail Simmons, and Tom Colicchio were some of the many to walk down the red carpet.
“Everyone is so generous, like over-the-top kind to us. This feels like the warmest welcome home,” Simmons said alongside her other judges.
For one of the show’s 15 competitors, Milwaukee is home.
Dan Jacobs is the chef and co-owner at DanDan and EsterEv in Milwaukee. Cooking has been one of his passions, he said, since he was born.
“I’m incredibly proud to be the chef to represent Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee,” Jacobs smiled.
“We have an opportunity this year in Milwaukee to showcase ourselves on a national, and even international scene. Not just Top Chef, but things like the RNC and Bucks.”
The show will highlight some of our city's most iconic scenes, restaurants, and local chefs.
It also was filmed, in part, in Madison and Door County. The competitors went head-to-head in competitions highlighting Wisconsin traditions.
“In all of the things we’re trying to do, we’re trying to show off the area we’re in,” the show’s Executive Producer, Doneen Arquines, shared.
“Obviously there’s the stereotypes with cheese and beer but you see a different side of the city.“
Visit Milwaukee shared on their website that one challenge involved Door County cherries and Wisconsin cranberries, and another brought the contestants to American Family Field to see the Famous Racing Sausages.
“This is an opportunity to tell Milwaukee’s story and Wisconsin’s story in a different way. No politics. It’s authentic about what everybody loves, which is food,” Missy Hughes, secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, said.
The judges agreed:
“We ate really well here,” Colicchio smiled.
Milwaukee locals from all over came to see the judges participate in a Q&A panel before watching the premiere.
“I’ve lived here a long time and the more I live here, the more I can’t leave because of all of the growth and great things that happen here,” Mark Waldoch, a bartender at Boone and Crockett, explained.
The series airs every Wednesday night from 8 -9:15 p.m. CT. Episodes will be available the next day on Peacock.
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