Top Chef

Bravo's Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series "Top Chef" returns for its seventh season bringing a dose of heated competition to the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The 17 new chef'testants team up for their first elimination challenge in which they must create a dish that represents their own constituency, where they are from and what they represent. The chefs serve their dishes at the famous National Cherry Blossom festival in Washington D.C. Returning as host is Padma Lakshmi, and judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons. World-renowned chef Eric Ripert joins the series as a regular guest judge

In the second episode of "Top Chef D.C," the chef'testants support First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to fight childhood obesity. The chefs must take over the cafeteria at the local middle school and create healthy, kid-friendly meals spending ownly $2.68 per child, which is the reimbursement rate schools receive for each child who is eligible for free lunch through the National School Lunch Program. White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass serves as guest judge.

For the quickfire, the chefs must make a pie from scratch. For the elimination, the chefs prepare a classic picnic feast for Capitol Hill interns at Mount Vernon, the home of the first U.S. president, George Washington. While the chefs grill up some tasty dishes, the interns spread out their blankets and play croquet on the lawn. Jonathan Waxman, author and owner of New York City's Barbuto restaurant, guest judges.

For the quickfire challenge, the chefs must create baby food for Padma's newborn. For the elimination, the chefs are tested on their level of hospitality service. Hilton Hotels and Resorts enlists the chefs to create a dish that fits their guests' needs, global travelers who demand round the clock accessibility to good food that is healthy, affordable and sophisticated. The chefs must create a breakfast, lunch and dinner dish for a select focus group. In order to execute three services, chefs are paired into 7 teams of 2. The team with the dish that best meets Hilton requirements will be awarded with a Hilton vacation and a featured dish on Hilton menus across the country. Guest judging will be Beth Scott, Vice President of Restaurant Concepts at Hilton and Nora Pouillon, the nation's first certified organic chef. Past chef'testants Bryan Voltaggio, Michael Isabella and Spike Mendelsohn make an appearance in the episode.

The chef'testants get crabby this week when the quickfire requires them to cook with mounds of D.C.'s most famous ingredient, the blue crab. For the elimination challenge, they go to a Virginian farm to cook with fresh ingredients. Patrick O'Connell, owner of The Inn at Little Washington, is guest judge.

The chefs battle it out in a culinary version of the Cold War. The chef'testants are divided into two groups and each team must create one cold entrée. Michelle Bernstein, James Beard award-winning chef, is guest judge.

The chef'testants attempt to create culinary delights that can be speared with a toothpick and served at a Congressional party for the quickfire challenge. For elimination, they must prepare a power lunch at the city's elite Palm restaurant. Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois serves as the guest quickfire judge, and Oprah Winfrey's former personal chef Art Smith is the guest judge for the elimination. D.C. power players Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski and NBC White House Correspondent Savannah Guthrie lend their taste buds in this episode.

The chefs must cook exotic Ethiopian cuisine for the quickfire, and for the elimination are tasked with creating a dish based on one of the foreign embassies in D.C. Chefs, ambassadors and dignitaries representing each country join in the judging. Guest judging will be Marcus Samuelsson, owner of NYC's Aquavit restaurant, and Jose Andres, Spanish chef and host of public television's "Made In Spain."

The chefs are blindfolded in a classic cooking relay race for the elimination. hen it's Restaurant Wars time! The chefs are divided into two teams: donkeys versus elephants. The diners will taste each menu and "vote" for the team they want to win. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi serves as the guest judge for the quickfire, and New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni serves as guest judge for the famed Restaurant Wars challenge.

For the quickfire, the chefs must guess the ingredients inside a mystery box. For the elimination, the chefs must transform a well-known dish into something entirely new, cooking for none other than CIA Director Leon Panetta, who knows a thing or two about taking on a new identity. The chefs serve CIA Director Panetta and his closest allies in his private dining room inside the agency's closely guarded headquarters. Wylie Dufrense, owner of WD-50 in New York City, is the guest judge.

The six remaining chefs take over two concession stands at Nationals Park in D.C., creating game snacks for the die-hard fans of the Washington Nationals major league baseball team. But ballparks aren't just serving hotdogs and peanuts any more, adding a variety of tasty and higher-end creations to the menu. Master seafood chef Rick Moonen serves as guest judge and Washington Nationals players Adam Dunn, Matt Capps and John Lannon make guest appearances.

The competition blasts off this week as an astronaut orbiting Earth blinks onto a large screen, instructing the chefs on this week's elimination challenge -- to come up with space food creations that do not taste like moon rocks. The winner will have their dish served in space! Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine, and the well-traveled Anthony Bourdain serve as guest judges, with Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin making a very special guest appearance

The final chef'testants head to Singapore in the first-ever Internationally-based Top Chef finale to compete in the penultimate challenge that will determine who makes it to the final round and who will take home the title of "Top Chef."

The final three chefs battle it out to cook the best meal of their lives and earn the prestigious title of Bravo's "Top Chef" in the final episode of "Top Chef: D.C."

The drama is served piping hot on Bravo's "Top Chef: D.C. Reunion" as "Watch What Happens" host Andy Cohen chats up season seven's chef'testants along with host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio and judges Gail Simmons and Eric Ripert. The chef'testants will answer viewers' questions and dish on season seven's good, bad and overcooked.