Photo courtesy of Bravo

The wait for D.C.’s season of Top Chef, the Bravo network’s popular chef competition, is nearly over. Season 7 premiers this Wednesday at 9 p.m. Along with another chance to see how our city looks through the eyes of a reality television camera, local fans get two local chefs to cheer for during the competition. Tamesha Warren, 24, is a District resident and the sous chef at downtown power spot The Oval Room. Timothy Dean, 39, is a native Washingtonian, was raised in Prince George’s County, and currently owns and runs a restaurant in Baltimore.

We sat down to chat with the two toques before the airings get underway. Check out below what Tamesha Warren had to say in an exclusive chat with DCist. Dean’s interview will run tomorrow.

The promo says that this is the toughest season yet. Did that feel true to you when you were filming?

It did feel a little tough. Last season was definitely tough. There are a lot of talented people on the show this season. Last season there was a lot more molecular gastronomy going on. It was tough, but not that tough.

Your bio says that you like playing with molecular gastronomy. Are you the Marcel or Voltaggio brother of this season?

There were more technical and more classic [cooking aspects]. The judges this season were not looking for you turning food into powders or whatever. They’re looking for simplicity and how well you can execute.

Does being from Barbados influence your cooking at all, either on the show or otherwise when you’re at Oval Room?

I try to use some of the spices that we use in Barbados in my cooking. But 90% of the time I just cook French food with a lot of Asian influences. I worked at Jean-Georges for two years, and I came flat out of culinary school and worked at Jean-Georges. Most of my style is based around that.

What was it like doing the show in your home town?

(Laughs) I was kind of disappointed at first to be honest because I was really hoping that I was going to go somewhere and see something else other than D.C. But I really had a gut feeling that it was going to be here. It was kind of like an advantage because knowing everything about D.C. kind of helped a little bit. At the end of the day it was okay. I really wish it was somewhere else, like Hawaii.

Do you feel the show and its challenges represented D.C. well?

I do think so. Based on D.C. being the capital and politics and all that—I do think it represented D.C. well.