Three Seattle Chefs will be competing on the upcoming 2nd season of Top Chef Masters (premiers 4/7 at 11 pm): Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy, Thierry Rautureau of Rover’s and Maria Hines of Tilth.  You may remember that we had reports of Thierry being spotted in an L.A. Whole Foods back in November 2009 – and it turns out the speculation was spot on.

Most of you have heard of Top Chef, Bravo’s hit cooking Survivor-styled competition.  Last season, we even had our own hyperlocal chef, Robin Leventhal of Crave, who nearly made it to the end against the toughest field in Top Chef history. Top Chef Masters is the less famous older brother of Top Chef, pitting experienced, renowned chefs against each other for charity.  In the last inaugural season, Rick Bayless won $100,000 for his Frontera Farmer Foundation.  We will update with the charities that the Seattle chefs are playing for.

According to Nancy Leson, Traunfeld’s charity of choice is the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Rautureau opted for Food Lifeline, and Hines chose the PCC Farmland Trust.  

Here is the complete list of participants:

* — returning from season 1

Jody Adams – Rialto Restaurant, Cambridge, Mass.
Govind Armstrong – 8 oz Burger Bar, Los Angeles, Calif.
Graham Elliot Bowles – Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill. *
Jimmy Bradley – The Red Cat, New York, N.Y.
David Burke – David Burke Townhouse, New York, N.Y.
Wylie Dufresne – wd~50, New York, N.Y. *
Susan Feniger – Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
Debbie Gold – The American Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo.
Carmen Gonzalez – Chef Consultant, New York, N.Y.
Maria Hines – Tilth, Seattle, Wash.
Susur Lee – Madeline’s, Toronto, Canada
Ludo Lefebvre – Ludo Bites, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Tony Mantuano – Spiaggia, Chicago, Ill.
Rick Moonen – Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nev. *
Mark Peel – Campanile, Los Angeles, Calif. *
Monica Pope – t’afla, Houston, Texas
Thierry Rautureau – Rover’s, Seattle, Wash.
Marcus Samuelsson – The Red Rooster, New York, N.Y.
Ana Sortun – Oleana, Cambridge, Mass.
Rick Tramonto – TRU, Chicago, Ill.
Jerry Traunfeld – Poppy, Seattle, Wash.
Jonathan Waxman – Barbuto, New York, N.Y. *