‘Top Chef: New Orleans’: Lea Michele, drama featured in first promo

On Wednesday, October 2, the ultimate cooking competition (at least in our mind) on television is going to be back on in “Top Chef.” This time around, the competition is going to be heading to the Big Easy in New Orleans, and we couldn’t be happier about it for a number of reasons.

1. It’s a food town – We love Cajun food. We could eat it every day for the rest of our lives and be satisfied. So to see the chefs working with all of these flavors, and to see the show boost the local economy, is something definitely worth smiling about.

2. There are local connections – Emeril Lagasse owns a restaurant in New Orleans, and there will be some other local chefs coming by.

3. It’s a vivid, exciting place to be – Just take a look at the photo above if you don’t believe us.

4. Famous faces – While this one is not really related to New Orleans, Lea Michele’s going to be a judge on this season! We’re presuming that it is for just one challenge, and given that she is a vegan, that is probably going to be what the chefs are challenged into making. (For some of the butchers on the show, we can visualize the sound of their heads exploding from here.)

There is also going to be a great deal of drama this season, judging from some of the fights that we are witnessing in the video below. Not all of these people are going to mesh well, and we have a chef that looks almost like a woman straight out of “Mad Men,” whereas there is a guy that we are probably going to call “short Alexander Skarsgard” the rest of the season.

For now, “Top Chef Masters” is still our favorite cooking show on TV, and if you feel the same you can check out some more news including its most recent edition of the “Battle of the Sous Chefs” web series.

Photo: Bravo