Season 5 competitor Alex Eusebio situated his chile-inspired Mexican restaurant between a dentist's office and the 134 freeway. The Toluca Lake space features a rattlesnake mural and fenced-in back patio with strings of lights. Cascabel makes three types of guacamole, including O.G., Smoked Bacon, and Charred Pineapple. More ambitious dishes include hard-shell lobster tacos with crème fraiche and caviar; yellowtail tiradito spiked with tequila; and short rib mole with lime-accented black beans.

Eusebio's sandwich shop, Sweetsalt, resides right down Riverside Drive. The chef’s first space features wood floors, picnic tables out front, and grey walls with framed drawings of vintage utensils. Sandwiches are especially popular, particularly lavender duck confit, braised short rib, or an untraditional - but still righteous - shrimp po’ boy with shrimp, chimichurri, crumbled potato chips and spicy aioli on ciabatta. Eusebio was smart to have customers order at the counter, since that plants them before a tempting pastry case.

New York native Alex Reznik, controversial Season 7 competitor, runs Bedford Kitchen in New York and pays homage to his Brooklyn neighborhood in Beverlywood. This Kosher corridor restaurant and bar features a stone and wood façade, a two-toned bar, and a dining room with wood tables, plush booths, and drop-down bulbs with exposed filaments. Ditmas Kitchen’s diverse menu includes Brussels sprouts tossed with tangy shallot lime soy vinaigrette and lamb lardons. Lamb sliders arrive on seeded house-baked buns with tomato marmalade, pickled Fresno chiles and pomelo aioli. A New York pretzel is studded with sesame seeds and served piping hot with mustard and Kosher salt.

Antonia Lofaso, Season 4 and Season 8 All-Stars competitor, has become a breakout star. The Cutthroat Kitchen judge now contributes mightily to L.A.’s culinary landscape along with Mario Guddemi and Sal Aurora. In 2011, they debuted Black Market Liquor Bar in the former Studio City home of the Victory Motorcycle Co., complete with an L-shaped bar, arched brick ceiling and reclaimed wood accents. Share-friendly plates might consist of creamy burrata with persimmons and pickled chile, carnitas bao, cavatelli with black pepper and Fiore Sardo, and deep-fried Fluffernutter with fresh bananas.

In 2013, Lofaso teamed with Guddemi, Aurora and talented bartenders Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix on Scopa Italian Roots, a perpetually mobbed Italian restaurant in Venice with brick walls, marble tables, communal wood tables and a backlit bar. Favorite bites from Scopa’s sprawling menu include a meatball hero with orbs crafted from chuck and tenderloin, house-made pastas like bucatini with mussels fra diavolo, and a stupendous T-bone steak loaded with Katarina’s oil, garlic and parsley. House cocktails like Bullock’s Wilshire and Robber Baron are food-friendly and impeccable.

Chef Betty Fraser, Season 2 competitor, runs a consciously kitschy restaurant with Denise DeCarlo on a Hollywood side street near studios and post-production houses. Signs sport sayings like, “If you're smoking in my kitchen...you'd better be on FIRE!" The menu is pure comfort. Think cayenne-spiked mac & cheese, beer-braised corned beef hash, and potato chip fried chicken. Potato chips also factor into the Fosse cookie, named for legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, which also incorporates chocolate chips.

Season 3 star Chef Brian Malarkey is based in San Diego, but runs two branches of Herringbone in Los Angeles, at the Mondrian hotel on the Sunset Strip and by the beach in Santa Monica. The Westside outpost sources from the Santa Monica Farmers Market and features chef de cuisine Aaron Mitrano in the kitchen on a daily basis. Designer Thomas Schoos molded the sprawling 7,400-square-foot space to include twin patios, a living wall, and a Salt & Brine bar with oysters, seafood, and charcuterie. Creative dishes include whole fish ceviche, and skate wing schnitzel with spaetzle, sea beans, and hen of the woods mushrooms. Yes, Herringbone’s menu occasionally steps onto dry land.

Season 10 runner up, Brooke Williamson has built a successful triumvirate in the South Bay with chef/husband Nick Roberts. Hudson House is their inaugural effort, which they named for their son. The space features grey walls, L-shaped bar, and wood-topped tables of varying sizes. Beer-friendly dishes include a chicken and bacon meatball sandwich with mozzarella and chile basil pesto; mac and goat cheese with mushrooms and peas; and moule frites with shoestring fries.

Playa Provisions houses four different concepts under one roof in Playa del Rey. Up front, King Beach Café and Small Batch Ice cream parlor sport sleek wood design, sea blue and bright green furniture. Dockside restaurant faces the water, and Grain whisky bar resides in back, complete with bourbon barrel shelving. King Beach primarily features breakfast and lunch, including biscuits with dulce de leche and sea salt; and a breakfast sandwich with turkey-bacon sausage, Gruyere, fried egg, vinegar cooked collards and avocado with house pickled habanero hot sauce on ciabatta. Lunch brings sandwiches like the patty melt and one with fried sand dabs. At dinner, the couple serves seasonal California fare like broiled sardines with melted lardo, sorrel chimichurri, and pomegranate seeds; or perhaps grilled pork porterhouse doused in sharp blue cheese garlic citrus butter. Kristin Feuer contributes fun desserts like choco tacos.

The Tripel is a Playa del Rey gastropub with exposed wood rafters, communal tables, and a wood wall inlaid with the recipe for the first beer from Sumeria’s “Hymn to Ninkasi.” Yes, the couple encourages social “Lubrication,” as proven by the sign above the bar and the healthy craft beer selection. The menu is quite eclectic - spicy Thai coconut milk curry biscuits come with clotted cream, and the Chicken Waterzooi is a classic Belgian stew starring chicken, fenugreek, gremolata and vegetables. You’ll also find comforting sandwiches, salads topped with popcorn, and squid ink spaghetti with ground shrimp, chiles and bottarga. In back, Williamson and Roberts now run a culinary shop called Tripli-Kit, with a pastel green and white color scheme and views out back of adjacent Ballona Wetlands.

Season 9 cheftestant, Chris Crary still takes part in Top Chef’s ocean cruises, which the show dubs Top Chef at Sea. When he’s not bobbing in the Caribbean, Crary can be found at Hyde, an SBE supper club at the entrance to the Sunset Strip. The space features lounge seating, a full bar, live music, and intimidating bouncers. The food is much more approachable, including riffs on many Italian and Mediterranean classics. Veal tartare is a play on vitello tonnato with tuna Dijonnaise, capers, herbs and brioche. Lobster bucatini comes slathered with spicy tomato sauce. Fingerling potato chips are also popular.

Chris “CJ” Jacobson, who competed in Seasons 3 and 10, now lives in Chicago, but still returns to Toluca Lake twice a month to make sure his L.A. outpost is still humming. The space features a sweeping floral design, grey walls, and a covered patio. Jacobson, chef de cuisine Justin Abram and intrepid staffers comb Angeles National Forest for herbs to brighten their menu. The menu changes seasonally, though winter isn’t a reality in Southern California. Starters might include kohlrabi carpaccio with Concord grapes, pomegranate seeds, and wild bay vinaigrette. Handpicked Kona crab is sautéed with brown butter and plated with Bartlett pear, uni egg emulsion, and Surinam cherry sauce. Entrees include a fantastic Peads & Barnetts pork chop that’s grilled and served with mostarda and arugula. Jacobson also crafts beautiful desserts, possibly including pear pie with pomegranate caramel, pomegranate seeds, crushed hazelnut and Chantilly cream.

Dakota Weiss, Season 9 stalwart, helms the kitchen at Estrella, an ambitious Sunset Strip restaurant. The space features a bamboo-framed patio with brick floor. The dining room feels like a living room, with wood surfaces and low-slung lounge seating. Estrella also has a speakeasy-style bar in back, and a 50-seat screening room. The eclectic menu includes pickled eggs with Hobbs applewood-smoked bacon lardons, ahi tuna poke “Nicoise” salad, and a deluxe PB&J with house made peanut butter, strawberry golden balsamic jam, bananas, and crushed chocolate covered peanuts on whole wheat bread.

Weiss is also a partner in Sweetfin, a fast casual Santa Monica poke concept. The space features spiral tabletops, geometric designs carved into counter, a marble planter with succulents, lights and piping that resembles circuit board. Build your own poke bowl or consider thoughtful prescriptions. For example, Spicy Yuzu Salmon factors in yuzu kosho sauce, edamame, and lime. Spicy Tuna uses creamy togarashi, hijiki, and avocado.

Fabio Viviani, a Season 5 and Season 8 All-Stars cheftestant, now has a quartet of Chicago restaurants, but he’s still based in Moorpark, which is where you’ll find Café Firenze. The space features sweeping Florentine design, including elaborate chandeliers and sconces, decorative wood ceilings, and wood tables with plush brown leather seats. The menu projects bold flavors, including pancetta-wrapped jumbo shrimp stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and osso buco with pancetta saffron risotto. Pastas and Neapolitan style pizzas are also popular, as is the almond olive oil cake for dessert.

Giselle Wellman, Season 13 competitor and longtime executive chef of Petrossian, recently shifted to this West Hollywood branch of a boutique, family-run French hotel chain. Start on the corner, where a sign features a grid of neon emblems, including cake, guitar and dumbbells. The space flows from a bar to a foosball table and dining room white brick, blackboard ceilings, wood and marble tables, and open kitchen. Wellman arrived in November and started installing a family style dinner menu, a shift to more comforting breakfast and lunch fare. She is also creating Mediterranean flavors for the rooftop.

Season 2 champion, Ilan Hall shifted The Gorbals to Brooklyn, and resurfaced in L.A. in 2015 with his vegan Ramen Hood at Downtown’s prestigious Grand Central Market. Instead of using eggs, Hall and his on-site chef, Rahul Khopkar, craft whites with GMO-free soymilk set with agar, and yolks starring spherified nutritional yeast and black salt. They’ve created a bold broth with sunflower seeds instead of pork tonkotsu, and char siu is reimagined as King oyster mushrooms. Sides including banh mi poutine with hoisin gravy, fried broccoli with soy chile glaze, and tofu al pastor.

Chef Katsuji Tanabe grew up in Mexico City and was best known as a Chopped champion before competing on Top Chef Season 12. He continues to run a unique Mexican Kosher restaurant in Beverlywood, where he treats constraints as sources of inspiration. Tanabe crafts carnitas from slow-cooked beef and duck instead of traditional pork. Birria involves lamb and beef braised with a medley of dried chilies for 16 hours. Carne asada and Mayan-inspired chicken breast are two more options when constructing burritos, tacos, rice bowls, salad bowls or nachos. Creative house-made salsas include mango habanero, spicy peanut and Serrano aioli. The colorful space sports blackboard menus and tiny piñatas that may depict luchadores, burros, and possibly even Elmo.

Michael Voltaggio, Season 6 winner, now has a burgeoning restaurant empire based in West Hollywood. The interior includes tiles painted to resemble old brick, Douglas fir beans, butcher-block tables, mismatched Midcentury chairs, and art from business partner Michael Ovitz. The menu Voltaggio has constructed with longtime culinary lieutenant Cole Dickinson and their team is geared toward sharing. Depending on the time of year, you might find baby carrots with brown butter-shallot and Boursin cheese powder; salt and charcoal potatoes with house-made sour cream and black vinegar; and egg yolk gnocchi with mushroom brown butter and hen of the woods mushrooms.

Michael Voltaggio opened this progressive sandwich shop while finalizing ink. a couple of doors down. The blackboard menu at ink.sack promotes contemporary twists on well-known sandwiches, including the banh mi, spicy tuna roll, and Reuben. They also sell a variety of breakfast sandwiches, Maryland crab chips sprinkled with Old Bay, and Mexican chocolate chip cookies. Ink. sack proved popular enough to warrant an LAX spinoff.

Nyesha Arrington, a Season 9 competitor, partnered with Kristian and Breegan Vallas to deliver "California progressive Cuisine" to Venice, not far from the pier. This space touts a light wood facade, tan awning, inviting patio, dining room with high ceiling, and black-and-white photos of bygone Venice beach scenes. Leona refers to the former name of Washington Boulevard. Arrington’s menu draws on the "Mosaic of the Golden State" with categories that consist of To Begin, And Then, A Little More, and Dessert. Arrington shifts Leona’s listings seasonally, but has already become known for lamb belly wontons, bulgogi braised short ribs with bone marrow, and adult “Frosted Flakes.”

Chef Phillip Frankland Lee revived his no-holds-barred Beverly Hills concept, Scratch|Bar & Kitchen on the second floor of Encino Place on Ventura Boulevard. With the motto "drop flavor not bombs," the nightly tasting menus cost $40, $80, or $120 per person, depending on how deep you want to dive into Lee’s mind. He’s also constructed an a la carte menu of Snacks/Vegetables, Seafood, and Meat. Combinations include carrots with yogurt and pistachio; escolar with sunchokes and sweetbreads; and foie gras with sea urchin and red caviar. As always, the menu doesn’t reveal everything; far from it.