[2] Top Chef: San Francisco contestant Lee Anne Wong was brought in as a food consultant and assisted in planning the challenges.

[2] Dale Levitski, Casey Thompson, and Tre Wilcox returned to compete in Top Chef: All-Stars.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs are surprised at their introductory party at Miami's Casa Casuarina, also known as the Versace Mansion.

Elimination Challenge: The chefs were asked to create a "surf and turf" dish in two hours using exotic proteins, such as ostrich, buffalo, abalone, alligator, snake, black chicken, geoduck, and eel.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs created dishes featuring Florida citrus, including oranges, lemons, key limes, grapefruit, tangeloes, and blood oranges, with Florida fine dining pioneer and cookbook author chef Norman Van Aken as the guest judge.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs had to "catch and cook" a shellfish dish in 30 minutes after using nets to retrieve scallops, crawfish, and conch out of a fish tank.

Elimination Challenge: The chefs were asked to update traditional "family favorites", such as tuna casserole, stuffed cabbage, and chicken and dumplings, by creating a healthier, more modern version with reduced cholesterol for members of an Elks club.

Elimination Challenge: In teams of three, the contestants prepared a tasting menu of four courses, each consisting of trios around a central ingredient.

Quickfire Challenge: The contestants were asked to create any dish starting with a pre-made pie crust, using additional ingredients from the Top Chef pantry.

Elimination Challenge: The contestants prepared a classical Latin lunch course to be served to the cast and crew of the Telemundo telenovela Dame Chocolate.

The winner received a bottle of Argentine wine from guest judge DUO restaurant co-owner Maria Frumkin.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs were given 45 minutes to prepare ingredients to be mixed into Cold Stone Creamery ice cream just prior to serving.

Each team was given a catering truck to use as a mobile kitchen, 30 minutes and $300 to shop, and two hours to prepare a number of "late-night" bar food dishes.

The winner received a first-edition copy of Armstrong's book and a platinum card good for entry into all Club Nikki locations.

Elimination Challenge: The chefs divided into two teams, and each one was responsible for taking an empty space and opening an operating restaurant out of it in 24 hours.

Elimination Challenge: Working as a team, the chefs catered a party for fashion designer Esteban Cortázar and 60 guests aboard the yacht Venetian Lady chartered by the Pure Nightclub.

The entire team had a total of $350 to spend for supplies, and had two hours of preparation time on board the yacht prior to service.

The winner received an early copy of Lakshmi's new cookbook Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet and was first to choose a protein for the Elimination Challenge.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs dined at Le Cirque on a classic dish of sea bass wrapped in thinly sliced Russet potatoes over leeks.

The dishes were served to a panel of FCI deans consisting of André Soltner, Nils Norén, Jacques Torres, Alain Sailhac, Cesare Casella, and Dorothy Hamilton.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs were each given a fresh trout from the Fryingpan River Valley area of Aspen, Colorado, along with a frying pan, camping stove, and several basic pantry ingredients.

They then had 20 minutes to create an original dish to impress guest judge Eric Ripert, executive chef of Le Bernardin restaurant in New York City.

Eliminated contestants CJ, Howie, and Sara M. were randomly paired through knife drawing with Dale, Casey, and Hung, respectively, as sous-chefs to assist in the fourth course preparation.