Chefs

They're the food world's equivalent of "made" men and women — instantly recognizable chefs who have their own cooking shows, cookbooks, brands and fan following. Names like Napa Valley's Michael Chiarello. New York City's Marcus Samuelsson and Alex Guarnaschelli. So why they are willing to put it all on the line to compete in Season 4 of "The Next Iron Chef," which debuts Sunday on Food Network? It's a question that confounds even the host, Alton Brown. "These chefs have more to lose than they actually have to gain," Brown said Friday during a telephone interview.

What do some of Southern California's top bowls of ramen - the tsukemen at Tsujita, tonkotsu ramen at Daikokuya and kotteri shoyu ramen at Asa in Gardena - have in common? Their noodles come from the same place: a small factory near the Compton-Gardena line called Sun Noodle. The L.A. branch of a Honolulu-based company launched nine years ago, making just 10 kinds of fresh ramen noodles. Now, in the midst of a global ramen boom, the factory makes 160 kinds, to customers' exacting specifications - 31/2 tons a day, or enough for 30,000 servings, says Vice President Keisuke Sawakawa.

Flavour Gallery , the maker of T-shirts aimed at chefs and foodies, has a new fall line featuring designs by Andrew Zimmern, Chris Cosentino and other notable chefs. “The Other White Meat” T-shirt with the head of a hoary goat, pictured above, was designed by Zimmern (host of the Travel Channe l 's “Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern"). The new line is due to release in early November. Flavour Gallery owners Alfredo and Erin Malatesta launched the brand in 2011, aiming to “unite and identify fellow culinary enthusiasts” - you know, the way Joseph Gordon Levitt's Joy Division T-shirt in “500 Days of Summer” banded together nostalgic 80s-era fans of late-70s post-punk, or something like that.

Sunday night's edition of "The Next Iron Chef" was a little sad and a lot frustrating. What started as a playful trip to the original Farmer's Market in the Fairfax district turned into an all-out, knife-slinging war. The Chairman's Challenge: Using photos that famed photographer Todd Selby took of the chefs in the Farmer's Market, create a dish that captures the personality of one of the other contestants in one bite. The chefs were split up into four "teams" and competed head to head.

Chefs often work grueling hours in the kitchen under extremely stressful conditions, tasting much of the food they cook. It's not easy to stay slim under such circumstances -- but not necessarily for the reasons you might suspect. True, some chefs are tempted to overindulge at work, but others are so busy feeding other people and so sick of what they serve that they rarely take time to eat full meals during the day.

In the first 10 minutes of Wednesday night's "Top Chef," contestant John Tesar solidified his status as the "most hated chef" on the show. Not only does he captiously insult Kuniko Yagi, who went home on the previous episode, he spars unrelentingly with C.J. and 'The Stache' Joshua Valentine. He goes so far as to call Valentine "Oklahoma" and disrespect him with "Oklahoma has no tact. " Arrogant much?  Tensions are high when Padma introduces guest judge and "Top Chef Masters" alumni Naomi Pomeroy and gives the chefs their Quickfire Challenge: Butcher a cut of beef and create a dish.

All you need in your pocket or purse to find a hot restaurant. Name: Chef's Feed Available for: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; Android coming soon. What it does: Profiles award-winning chefs and their favorite dishes at specific restaurants in certain cities. From there, you can map the restaurant, add it to your profile and itinerary, rate the dish and tell your friends about it using Twitter or Facebook. Cost: Free. What's hot: This app is becoming a better tool for business travelers.

Michael Voltaggio has no idea how many tattoos he has. The question makes him laugh. The wise-cracking 33-year-old chef is pretty well covered. The name of his restaurant, after all, is Ink. Before dinner service on a recent Friday, Voltaggio plays around with an insulated bucket of liquid nitrogen, dipping his hand in it and tossing the residue on the floor where it morphs, CGI-like, into little rolling marbles of chemistry before dissolving into wisps...

Anthony Bourdain didn't invent the chef memoir, but he revolutionized it. And judging by the latest crop of books, I'd say he has a lot to answer for. In the old days, chef stories followed a pretty staid outline: childhood in sunny France, first job, first great chef, own restaurant, and after many struggles, stardom. Like Horatio Alger stories they were at once almost ritualistic in their progress and thoroughly sanitized, yet oddly comforting in their predictability.