The second season of
Top Chef began airing on
Bravo on
October 18, 2006.
Padma Lakshmi took over as host, with
Tom Colicchio and
Gail Simmons returning as judges. Filming began in Westwood, near
UCLA in
Los Angeles, on
August 10, 2006. The number of contestants expanded from 12 to 15. The winning recipe from each week's episode is featured on Bravo's
Top Chef website and prepared by Season 1 contestant
Lee Anne Wong in a web video called
The Wong Way to Cook. Bravo cited negative viewer reaction to the
reunion episode of
season one as the reason why no reunion episode was filmed for season two.
[1]Contestants are listed in order of elimination.
Ages listed are at the time of Top Chef 2 taping in August, 2006. Locations are according to contestants' official Bravo biographies.
Credit order Josie, Otto, Sam, Elia, Frank, Emily, Cliff, Betty, Marcel, Michael, Mia, Marisa, Carlos, Ilan, Suyai.