Top Chef - Season 9

1. Everything's Bigger in Texas

Aired: 11/2/2011

29 chefs gather at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, to compete for 16 slots in the 9th season of Top Chef. Tonight they are divided into three groups and must master their challenge to move forward. Some will know their fate immediately and receive a chef coat or be sent home. Others will be on the "bubble" and must compete and be judged again before they know their fates. Yes, it's bigger in Texas, but it's also hotter and harder, too. Group 1 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using One Cut of a Pig Group 2 Qualifying Challenge: Prepare a Dish Using the Same Ingredient

2. The Heat Is On

Aired: 11/9/2011

Night two of heats for the coveted contestant spots starts with 10 competitors, 10 ingredients, and only five chef coats left. Once again, those who excel in the challenge get a coat immediately, and those who bomb are sent home. The remaining hopefuls on the "bubble" participate in a cook-off for the last coats against last week's four still waiting for their second chance. Also, tonight the first chefs are awarded an opportunity to get back into the race when they are sent to the sister series Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen.

3. Quinceanera

Aired: 11/16/2011

The chefs are asked to create a dish using rattlesnakes. Later they cater a girl's quinceañera celebration.

4. Red Hot Chili Cook Off

Aired: 11/23/2011

The contestants provide food for the local rodeo and its audience.

5. Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party

Aired: 11/30/2011

The chefs must create a dish using what they can find in a standard survival kit, then they have to shift gears and cater dinner to high society.

6. Higher Steaks

Aired: 12/7/2011

The contestants prepare steak for some of Texas' most discerning palates, at least beef-wise, the attendees of the Cattle Baron's Ball.

7. Game On

Aired: 12/14/2011

The contestants must cook for an all-star table of chefs whose avocation is hunting.

8. Tribute Dinner

Aired: 12/21/2011

The chefs must adapt quickly when their cooking mashes up with social networking and they begin receiving dish notes via Twitter. Later, they will each be able to pay homage to an influential teacher when they are asked to create dishes in the teachers' honor.

9. BBQ Pit Wars

Aired: 1/4/2012

The chefs combine learning with cooking tonight when they use Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine to influence their Quickfire dishes. Next, they team up for a barbecue cook-off where the diners determine the winning team.

10. Restaurant Wars

Aired: 1/11/2012

The still-standing chefs sharpen their knives for the time-honored fan-favorite "Restaurant Wars" test. The all-encompassing culinary challenge tasks them to create an eatery, from its signage and logos to its menus and meals. The chefs prepare their dishes as quick as they can but the servers are having problems understanding where they need to go.

11. Fit For an Evil Queen

Aired: 1/18/2012

The Quickfire is on the move, except it's the ingredients that are moving—by train. Next, the chefs must access the darkness inside of them when they are asked to create "evil" on a plate.

12. Block Party

Aired: 1/25/2012

The chefs race against time to finish prep work for a meal. Later, they serve up cuisine at a food-drive block party. Guest judge: Cat Cora.

13. Bike, Borrow & Steal

Aired: 2/1/2012

In this week’s Quickfire, Pee-wee Herman stops by and the chefs are tasked to create his favorite breakfast dish – pancakes! But this isn’t any old pancake. The Chefs are challenged to be as creative as possible when making their batter, toppings and presentation. In "Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” Pee-wee learned a lot about searching the streets and asking for help. For the elimination challenge, the chefs are set loose in downtown San Antonio with a bike and $100, where they must find their ingredients and create a dish for Pee-wee’s dinner party. Pee-wee Herman joins Gail Simmons, head judge Tom Colicchio, and host Padma Lakshmi at judges’ table.

14. Mentors

Aired: 2/8/2012

In this week’s Quickfire, the chefs must use their sense of touch, smell and taste to navigate through the pantry to gather ingredients for a dish while blindfolded. In a twist, the winning chef from Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen will re-enter the competition and join the remaining four chefs in the elimination challenge, where the chefs must create a delicious dish that will impress their mentors. Host Padma Lakshmi, along with Hugh Acheson, Gail Simmons and head judge Tom Colicchio will determine which final four chefs will advance to the finale.

15. Culinary Games

Aired: 2/15/2012

The final 4 chefs arrive in Whistler, British Columbia, for a Top Chef twist on the Olympic games. From cooking on the world’s fastest gondola to a biathlon that requires marksman like precision to get the best ingredients, the chefs will need to have the concentration of a true culinary Olympian to advance to the next round in Vancouver.

16. Fire and Ice

Aired: 2/22/2012

Asian Masters lend a hand in a tag-team-style Quickfire. The final 3 chefs must create a dish and cocktail that fuses the concept of fire and ice into one cohesive dish, a culinary testament of their journey from blazing Texas heat to blistering Vancouver cold.

17. Finale

Aired: 2/29/2012

For the final challenge, each chef will take over a restaurant in Vancouver where they will have the chance to design a four-course meal for the judges and unbeknownst to them, friends and family.

18. Reunion

Aired: 3/7/2012