Specialty Desserts & Breads Alum Competes On “Top Chef”

Seattle chef competes on ‘Top Chef’Posted by 

 Top Chef has left Seattle, but a Seattle chef is finally getting another spot on the show. Carrie Mashaney, chef de cuisine at Jason Stratton’s upcoming Aragona restaurant, will compete on the show’s 11th season in New Orleans. (You’ll remember that last season was filmed in Seattle, but didn’t have any local competitors — or enough local flavor for some of us.)

Here’s what the Bravo site said about Mashaney, who has been chef de cuisine at Spinasse since 2009. She attended Seattle Central Community College’s Baking and Pastry program:

“Having attended baking and pastry school in Seattle, her early culinary focus was on the sweet side but she quickly realized she loved cooking savory as well. Her style of cooking focuses on simple flavors and more traditional cooking techniques. While she has trained in Italian and most recently Spanish restaurants, she most enjoys cooking Mexican, Vietnamese, and Caribbean cuisines at home. In her free time, she participates in Crossfit and currently has a personal record of 49 double under jump ropes.”

After graduating from SCCC, she apprenticed at Patisserie Grandin in France, then “worked front of the house at the Hunt Club in the Sorrento Hotel, Cafe Juanita as pastry chef, and pastaiola, followed by sous chef positions at Beatό restaurant in 2007 and Dinette in 2008,” according to a Spinasse press release from when she joined the crew in 2009.

Earlier this year she was named a Rising Star Chef by Seattle Metropolitan’s writers, who said that “when her boss opened Artusi in 2011 and had to split his focus between the two restaurants, Mashaney stepped up and found her own creative voice—a voice that’s often meaty, thanks to her butchery talents.”

Bravo is spreading out announcing the season’s competitors. The final six will be announced tomorrow, so we could have another Seattle chef in the mix. Regardless, I’d say we’re well represented.

The season premiere will be Oct. 2.