Heather Chittum (right) with an assistant chef at Taste of the Nation.
Photo by Josh Novikoff.

The local talent in our hometown Top Chef season may have flamed out all too soon. But local fans of the Bravo network’s popular franchise won’t have to wait too long to cheer on another Washington favorite: today, Bravo announced the names of the cheftestants for its premier season of Top Chef: Just Desserts and among the 12 is Heather Chittum of Georgetown’s Hook and Tackle Box.

Chittum, 37, boasts a very “D.C.” bio. She worked on the Hill and then for a national non-profit before enrolling in culinary school. She’s served as pastry chef at several restaurants around town, including the famed Citronelle. In 2008, Chittum won the RAMMY for Pastry Chef of the Year and was named by Gayot as one of the top 5 pastry chefs in the nation.

If you think the toques in the current season of top chef are conniving and whiny, a preview video of Top Chef: Just Desserts suggests that you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Amidst backdrops of screaming cheerleaders and a circus, the catty men and women can be seen saying that it’s “sabotage time,” melodramatically stating that they are competing to save their lives, and arguing about a shaking table. The guy that tells everyone else that they can “go suck it” is so passé. Mark my words: “hey shakey” will become the top new insult this fall.

Chittum may not be able to stay far above the fray, her mouth agape when a judge declares “you can almost taste the resentment in her cooking,” and a rival tells her she wasn’t “forced into anything.” Dunh, dunh, dunh! Drama never tasted so sweet, indeed. At least it should make for better programming than the dull reality show starring Chittum’s pastry chef neighbors, the horrid D.C. Cupcake. At least the actual desserts, which seem to serve solely as a backdrop to said drama, look awesome.