Top Chef Taking Washington D.C. By Storm

I've chronicled my experience with Top Chef in the past, from being introduced to the show by my girlfriend, to visiting the restaurants of the contestants to interviewing last season's runner-up Bryan Voltaggio. As a Washington D.C. area resident, I'm one of many who is particularly geared up for the upcoming season of the reality television show, which was filmed in the nation's capital over the preceding few months.

Washington D.C. was a natural choice of host city for the Bravo television show. There have been a slew of contestants from the area over the past few seasons, from the Voltaggio brothers to Mike Isabella of Zayintya, Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and Carla Hall. Meanwhile, the D.C. area food scene has been thriving, with more great places to grab a bite than ever before.

And so we have the Washington D.C. season of Top Chef, the seventh season of the show. The show debuts on Wednesday, June 16, and will be shown at 9 pm this time around as opposed to the former 10 pm time slot.

D.C. area foodies have certainly taken notice of the event and the show's presence around town. During the filming of the show, Washingtonian.com provided updates about where local residents have spotted the cast and crew. If you're interested to see where they might have filmed, what kinds of challenges you might expect during the season or simply where the hosts preferred to dine to get some ideas for your own meals, then that's the best place to start.

I'm happy to note that with trips to Ben's Chili Bowl, 2 Amy's Pizza, Zaytinya, Oyamel and Good Stuff, I'm clearly at least as qualified as Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons and Padma Lakshmi to judge the contestants. On a side note, there may be no better reason to turn on the television than to watch Padma. Hi, Padma.

Washingtonian is also celebrating the premiere of the D.C. Top Chef season with some of those aforementioned area alums with a viewing party at Good Stuff for the first episode. Bryan Voltaggio, Mike Isabella, Carla Hall and Spike will all be in attendance. Surely there will be plenty more restaurants getting involved in the action, and more events to take advantage of as well as the D.C. season of Top Chef continues.

Whether you live anywhere else in the country or you're uniquely interested in the Washington D.C. Top Chef season as an area resident, bring your appetite and get ready to chew the (pork) fat and watch all of the (beef) back-stabbing that you can handle with the upcoming season of the popular reality show.