On Season 22 of Bravo's Top Chef, which was shot in multiple locations across Canada and premieres tonight (Thursday, March 13) at 9 pm, two chefs from the Bay Area are among the competitors.

Last season of Top Chef, which was set in Wisconsin, featured a strong showing by local chef Laura Ozyilmaz, the co-chef with her husband Sayat at Dalida in the Presidio. Ozyilmaz made it to the final four in the competition, going out just before the final round, traveling to Aruba to cook the second-to-last episode onboard the Holland America cruise ship the MS Eurodam.

This season, Russian-born San Francisco chef Anya El-Wattar is part of the cast. El-Wattar was most recently the chef at the now shuttered Birch & Rye, the well received but short-lived Russian-inspired restaurant in Noe Valley. It's not clear if El-Wattar's casting on Top Chef had anything to do with the decision to close after two years, or if she had been cast already at that point, but she closed Birch & Rye last March, citing the unsustainability of using premium ingredients and "labor-intensive techniques."

Eater SF named El-Watter Chef of the Year in 2022, and her restaurant was a James Beard semifinalist the following year.

Her bio on Bravo's Top Chef website still lists her occupation as "Chef at Birch & Rye."

"Across Canada, We Go!" Episode 2201 -- Pictured: (l-r) Zubair Mohajir, Bailey Sullivan, Anya El-Wattar -- (Photo by: David Moir/Bravo)

Also in the cast is the chef de cuisine at St. Helena's wine-centric, Michelin-starred Press restaurant, Vincenzo “Vinny” Loseto. Loseto was born on Long Island in New York, and previously worked in the kitchens of Daniel Humm and James Kent at the NoMad in NYC, working his way up to sous chef, and then at Eleven Madison Park. He went on to be part of the gold-medal-winning American team at the Bocuse d'Or in 2017 with Chef Philip Tessier, who is now the executive chef at Press.

There are also two Los Angeles chefs in the cast, Katianna Hong of Yangban, and Kat Turner of the critically acclaimed Highly Likely.

This 22nd season of one of Bravo's anchor reality franchises is going to Canada for the first time, and episodes were shot in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Canmore (in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains), and Prince Edward Island.

Like Season 21, this season will be hosted and judged by Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons.

San Francisco and Bay Area chefs have frequently been part of Top Chef casts, and the very first season of the show in 2006 was shot here. Last season also featured David Murphy, the chef and co-owner at Shuggie's Trash Pie + Natural Wine; and Rasika Venkatesa, a chef who grew up in Chennai, India and was a former chef de cuisine at Mourad.

Other local chefs to appear on previous seasons of the show include Tanya Holland (Brown Sugar Kitchen), Ryan Scott, Casey Thompson (of the recently closed Folktable in Sonoma), Erik Hopfinger, Melissa Perfit (formerly at Bar Crudo, now Popi's Oysterette in the Marina), Jen Biesty, Preeti Mistry, Jamie Lauren (who consulted on the Hi Tops food menu and lives in LA now), Lizzie Binder (formerly of Bar Bambino, now a caterer in Napa), Top Chef All-Stars winner Melissa King, Michelle Minori, Robert Hernandez, Rogelio Garcia, and Sweet & Skinny cookbook author Marisa Churchill. And former Jardiniere chef Traci Des Jardins was a runner-up on the third season of Top Chef Masters.

And, in case you weren't aware, there is also a Top Chef Canada, which just finished its 11th season, with Vancouver chef Chanthy Yen taking home the top prize.

Top image: "Across Canada, We Go!" Episode 2201 -- Pictured: (l-r) Vincenzo Loseto, Lana Lagomarsini, Shuai Wang, Corwin Hemming, Kat Turner, Mimi Weissenborn, Katianna Hong, César Murillo, Bailey Sullivan, Anya El-Wattar, Zubair Mohajir, Massimo Piedimonte -- (Photo by: David Moir/Bravo)