Top Chef Hometown Heroes: The Introduction

All the season six Top Chef contestants are officially introduced in the video below—each gets approximately four seconds (and there’s a goddamn commercial first), but it’s still exciting. Our own Ashley Merriman of Branzino (a schmancy Belltown Italian place that is very well-reputed) is near the beginning, looking lovably rumpled. (She’s originally from Center Sandwich, New Hampshire: best town name ever.) And Robin Leventhal (formerly of Capitol Hill’s dear departed Crave) is second from the end, making a canny early bid for sympathy due to Crave having lost its lease. (She’s also a cancer survivor, which caused someone to remark yesterday, “She survived THAT, why the hell is she going on a reality show?”)

Elsewhere of note in the video, we have Hector, who runs a tapas place in Atlanta and is clearly awesome; Eve, chef/owner of a restaurant she named after herself in Ann Arbor, who is already tremendously annoying; Jesse‘s chest tattoo; Mattin, who owns Iluna Basque in San Francisco and has been victimized by the wardrobe department (he is French; can’t the accent do the stripes-and-scarf work?); and Ron, who’s at the very end right after Robin and may eat her.

All season six bios and more collateral crap than you can shake a stick at here. The season begins August 26 (I hear Faire is a great place to watch). Apologies in advance for the obsessing of our entire city.