Top Chef All Stars kicked off its season this week and the adorable out chef Jamie Lauren is among the many chefs culled from Top Chef’s seven seasons to sauté, bake, braise and dice her way to the top.

And Jamie, who was obnoxiously pursued by Stefan in Season 5 despite her unadulterated admission that she is gay fared well and landed in the top three in the elimination challenge in the season premiere.

Formerly chef at Absinthe in San Francisco Jamie is now the Chef de Cuisine at Beechwood in Venice, Calif.

If Jamie landing on her feet among all those male chef egos including Top Chef regulars -- whom the producers have recycled for various appearances on reunion shows throughout the series – Marcel, Fabio, Mike I., and Spike to name a few, weren’t enough, there is a handful of real heavy-hitting female chefs joining Jaime on the show.

Two seasons ago, Jennifer Carroll, who trained with acclaimed Chef Eric Ripert, was the no-nonsense wildly professional chef to be reckoned with out of the gate, but she stumbled toward the end and failed to take home the prize. Now, she’s back for All-Stars, along with the lovely Casey Thompson, who landed in the top three for the third season finale. And despite Casey’s exemplar cooking chops, I still remember her most fondly for the scene in which a pajama-clad Padma Lakshmi woke Casey up by pulling the covers off of her. I was hoping a full-fledged tickle fight would ensue, but alas, no… Perhaps they were saving it for this season?

Among the other top-notch female chefs on hand for all-stars is Carla from season five, the big-hearted, if not a tad wacky, chef who cooks with a lot of love. Having started her season with a sputter, she made it all the way to the finale.

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Antonia, the reliably good chef who’s not afraid to speak her mind from season four also made the all-star cut, along with the first season’s strong competitor Tiffani and the amiable but deft contender Tiffany from last season.

Jamie, of season five’s original Team Rainbow -- comprised of her and two gay male competitors – had a good All-Stars season premiere, garnering praise for her soup in the quick fire and landing in the top three for her redux of a reproduction of Chef Eric Ripert’s fish and celery dish -- the dish that sent Jamie packing her knives for her season. While Jamie copped that she still didn’t care for the dish, she enhanced it well enough to please judges Padma, Tom Collichio, Gail Simmons and the irascible Anthony Bourdain. In the end, Angelo, a standout from last season, won the day.

However, one other female contestant did not fare as well. Elia --who memorably shaved her head in season 2 -- was challenged to recreate the dish that sent her home the first time. And she just couldn’t cut the mustard among the heavy-hitting culinary artists. She fumbled on her steamed red snapper and Padma sent her packing again.

While it would have been nice to have a woman stick around for a few more episodes I’m rooting for the remaining women of Top Chef All-Stars and I’m definitely Team Jamie.

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