Two chefs from Alexandria are vying to be the next “Top Chef” winners as the show’s new season premieres today (Monday).
Anthony Jones, the executive chef at Marcus DC, and Jonathan Dearden, corporate chef at KNEAD Hospitality + Design, are representing Alexandria in season 23 of Top Chef. The first episode will appear on Bravo at 9 p.m. tonight.
In “Top Chef,” participating chefs compete in culinary challenges each episode for the chance to win the final $250,000 cash prize. One contestant is eliminated per episode before a final winner is decided at the end of the season.
Along with earning a cash prize, the winning chef will get a feature in Food & Wine magazine, appear at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colo., headline an exclusive dinner at the historic James Beard House in New York and present at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago.
For Season 23, contestants filmed in the culinary destination of Charlotte, N.C., as well as Greenville, S.C., where several episodes took place.
Jones, a Southern Maryland native, is familiar with the North Carolina city as a graduate of Johnson & Wales University Charlotte. He’s also no stranger to cooking competition shows as a former contestant on Food Network’s “Chopped” in 2022.
“It was great filming and competing with so many amazing and talented chefs,” Jones told ALXnow. “I made a bunch of new friends, reconnected with some, and it was a beautiful journey.”
Jones landed in the D.C. region culinary scene after working in various roles. After working in Southern Maryland and Annapolis, Md., he landed at Chef Michael Schlow’s Alta Strada and Conosci. He worked for Chef Cathal Armstrong’s Restaurant Eve in Alexandria as the chef de cuisine for several months until it closed.
Jones left D.C. for Miami for some time, helping celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson open Red Rooster Overtown as executive sous chef. That restaurant earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand, an award that honors restaurants offering high-quality food at a good value.
Upon returning to the D.C. area, Jones served as executive chef for Dirty Habit DC in Hotel Monaco. He is now the executive chef of Marcus DC, a seafood-focused restaurant in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood that draws from Samuelsson’s Ethiopian-Swedish heritage and culinary traditions from Latin America and the South.
Jones says his own culinary inspirations come from his family. For instance, the Mel’s Crab Rice dish he created at Marcus DC is a nod to his childhood growing up near the Chesapeake Bay and visiting his family’s favorite crab shack.
“Everyone in my family cooks, so food’s been a big part of my life since I was a kid,” Jones said. “But it really didn’t take front and center stage until later on in life when I decided I wanted to be a chef.”‘
In D.C., Jones says increasing prices and slimmer profit margins continue to put pressures on the restaurant industry. On the positive side, he sees the variety of cuisines offered in the city improving.
“There’s a lot more variety with the restaurants and with the chefs’ abilities to to cook different food and to express themselves differently, especially compared to when I first started working in the city,” Jones said. “Now the dynamic has shifted greatly. African cuisine is definitely taking a forefront to it. Korean, Filipino cuisine is definitely pushing very strong and very hard and also Peruvian, Mexican — all kinds of other Latin flavors are just definitely represented strongly in the city.”
He sees improvement to in his home city of Alexandria, which he says used to have its best restaurant scene in Old Town.
“Even where I live in Alexandria, I have a few good options for local, quick bites to eat, some decent bars, and I still do frequent Old Town, especially for cocktails and stuff like that,” Jones said.
Jones hopes to open his own restaurant someday and pass on his knowledge to other aspiring chefs.
Dearden, the other Alexandrian in season 23 of Top Chef, is competing with his twin brother, Brandon Dearden. Dearden and his brother, originally from Sterling, grew up working for local restaurants before pursuing their own professional careers.
Jonathan Dearden now works for KNEAD Hospitality + Design, which is behind D.C. concepts like Mi Vida, Succotash and Gatsby. His brother, Brandon Dearden, is the executive chef and co-owner of Ember and Grano in Hamilton, Mont.
According to his Top Chef biography, Jonathan Dearden combines the classic French cooking style with Latin, Central American, and Caribbean cuisines. Dearden’s portfolio includes chef de cuisine for James Beard Award winner Chef Allen’s Miami, executive chef at Ardeo + Bardeo in D.C., executive chef at Andre Balazs Properties in New York and executive chef at Jade Mountain Resort in St. Lucia.
The Zebra reported that Dearden was a contestant on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” and achieved finalist status on “Chopped.”
After Monday’s premiere, “Top Chef” episodes will air at 9:30 p.m. on Mondays on Bravo. Recordings will be available through Bravo and the Peacock streaming service.
