Belga Café chef Bart Vandaele is one of three D.C. chefs featured on the new season of Top Chef. (Photo by Rebecca Schley)

Perhaps after the upcoming season of Top Chef, we’ll no longer feel obligated to insert the show’s name in every reference to Mike Isabella or Spike Mendelsohn. Or maybe we’ll start dropping the title more often, as the pool of Top Chef from D.C. kitchens is about to expand.

Bravo, which airs the contest, announced the batch of celebrity-chef aspirants who competed in the newest season of Top Chef, which was taped earlier this year in Seattle. The D.C. contingent is three strong this time around.

Bart Vandaele, the chef and owner of Belga Café; Daniel O’Brien, the chef and owner of Seasonal Pantry; and Jeffrey Jew, a personal chef who has also done time in the kitchens at Blackbyrd and Marvin, are among the 21 finalists whose culinary exploits are set to be judged by the likes of Tom Coliccio, Padma Lakshmi and guest judges like Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck.

The 10th season of Top Chef premieres November 7, and maybe by season’s end, when we talk about the show, it won’t need to be in reference to Mendelsohn’s attempts to score with Playboy Playmates.