Brooke Williamson

Brooke Williamson was an American chef who was best known as the runner-up on Season 10 of the popular cooking show "Top Chef" (Bravo, 2006-). Born and raised in Los Angeles, Williamson began her professional cooking career while still in her teens. She began working as a pastry chef for a celebrated hotel in Los Angeles, and was soon winning competitions for her baked goods. With her star on rise, Williamson caught the attention of the lauded Southern California chef Michael McCarty. Despite her young age, McCarty took a chance on Williamson and hired her to work at his restaurant Michael's in Santa Monica. At the time Williamson was only 20 years old, making her the youngest sous chef to have ever worked at Michael's. Over the course of the next few years Williamson gradually worked her way up the restaurant hierarchy, and eventually went on to become the executive chef of the noteworthy Los Angeles restaurant Zax. Williamson worked at Zax for a number of years, where she watched her star status rise amongst the Southern California restaurant community. Articles about her life and career were being published in numerous esteemed publications throughout Los Angeles, making her one of the most popular chefs in the region. Then in 2012 Williamson rose to national prominence when she began appearing on the Seattle edition of Bravo's "Top Chef." Williamson dazzled the judges with her culinary creations and took second place in the show. After "Top Chef" Williamson, along with her husband Nick Roberts, began opening up restaurants all across Southern California's South Bay. The couples' restaurants drew wide praise from both restaurant-goers and critics. In October of 2016 Williamson and her husband opened a Hawaiian-themed restaurant called Da Kikokiko, making it the fifth restaurant Williamson owned and operated. Williamson returned to "Top Chef" during the show's 14th season in 2017, eventually beating fellow returnee Shirley Chung in the finale to win the competition.