The fiery cooking competition Iron Chef is reborn with Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend.

The new iteration, which premieres June 15, brings back the high-stakes, high-tension drama that fans love but with a new format. In this series, seven challengers will enter the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they’ll face off against a new lineup of seasoned Iron Chefs whose names you’ll definitely recognize. The brave challengers will be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful challenger will return to battle in a grand finale against all five Iron Chefs for the chance to be named the first-ever Iron Legend.

Meet the challengers

Mason Hereford

Hereford is a New Orleans restaurateur who specializes in casual retro fare. He opened Turkey and the Wolf in 2016 (specializing in the fried bologna sandwich), and the sandwich shop earned Bon Appétit’s America’s Best New Restaurant award the following year. Hereford also owns Molly’s Rise and Shine, which offers a unique menu of breakfast sandwiches, pizzas and even pop-tarts!

Curtis Duffy

Duffy, the chef at the Michelin-star rated Grace in Chicago, sought refuge from his turbulent family life in the kitchen (his family tragedy is chronicled in the documentary For Grace). Duffy and GM Michael Muser left Grace in December 2017 after failing to buy ownership from its majority stakeholder, and the restaurant closed soon after. In 2020, Duffy and Muser opened Ever, where delicate dishes highlight his beautiful plating.

Follow Curtis on Instagram.

Claudette Zepeda

San Diego–based Zepeda is known for her bold approach to Mexican regional cuisine. She is the consulting chef at Vaga in north San Diego County and, formerly, the partner and executive chef at El Jardin, for which she’s received numerous accolades. She was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: West in 2019 and also competed on Season 15 of Top Chef and Season 2 of Top Chef Mexico.

Follow Claudette on Instagram.

Esther Choi

Choi is the chef and entrepreneur behind Mökbar, a ramen restaurant with locations in both Chelsea Market and Park Slope in New York City, and Ms. Yoo, a Korean gastropub named after her grandmother. A third Mökbar location is planned to open in New Jersey. She also operates the YouTube channel Choibites.

Follow Esther on Instagram.

Gregory Gourdet

Gourdet rose to popularity on Top Chef, where he was a runner-up in Seasons 12 and 17 (All Stars: LA). He’s the owner of the pop-up Haitian restaurant Kann, which is going to open its brick-and-mortar Portland, Oregon, location this July. Gourdet is also the author of the cookbook Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, which recently won the James Beard Award for Best General Cookbook.

Follow Gregory on Instagram.

Mei Lin

Lin won Season 12 of Top Chef and will be competing with runner-up Gourdet in Kitchen Stadium. After her win, Lin worked as a personal chef to Oprah Winfrey. In 2019, she opened her first restaurant, Nightshade, in Los Angeles. It earned critical acclaim, becoming a James Beard Award finalist for Best New Restaurant in 2020. Unfortunately, she was forced to shutter Nightshade during the pandemic. In March 2021, she opened Daybird, a fast-casual Szechuan hot chicken restaurant.

Follow Mei on Instagram.

Yia Vang

Vang was born in a Thai refugee camp and later moved with his family to the Upper Midwest. He shares his Hmong recipes and culture at Union Hmong Kitchen in Minneapolis. His new restaurant concept, Vinai, also highlighting Hmong cuisine, is set to open this year.

Follow Yia on Instagram.

Meet the Iron Chefs

The challengers will be competing against Iron Chefs Curtis Stone, Gabriela Cámara, Dominique Crenn, Marcus Samuelsson and Ming Tsai.

Meet the judges

Permanent judges are Andrew Zimmern, best known as the host of the long-running culinary travel series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and Nilou Motamed, former editor-in-chief of Food and Wine and Epicurious magazines.

The guest judges this season include Francis Lam, Nancy Silverton, Justin Willman, Loni Love, Keyshawn Johnson and Vernon Davis, Wolfgang Puck, Lorena Garcia and Masaharu Morimoto.

Iron Chef fans will recognize Morimoto as one of the chefs from the original series, where he specialized in Japanese cuisine.

Meet the hosts

Culinary expert Alton Brown of Good Eats fame returns to Kitchen Stadium as a host on Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Kristen Kish, winner of Top Chef Season 10, also serves as a host, adding her expert commentary. Mark Dacascos returns as The Chairman, the enigmatic figure who pits the challengers against the Iron Chefs by shouting his signature line, “Allez cuisine!”

Check out the trailer for Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend below:

‘Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend’ Trailer