The growing obsession these days with culinary gossip – restaurant openings and closings, chef outbursts, firings, new hirings, and various scandals - it’s no surprise that the chefs themselves, not just their cooking, are in the spotlight. We aren’t just talking celebrity chefs à la Mario, Emeril, and Jean Georges anymore.

These days any talented chef is under the microscope for how they behave and, of course, how they look. Maybe one day it was models and movie stars, but now sexy chefs are the hottest catches in the city. What follows is a list of our favorite, toe-curlingly handsome men who perform magic with their hands in the kitchen.

Sam Mason, Owner and Executive Chef at soon-to-open Tailor
We begin with sexy badass Sam Mason. Check out the tats. Look at the perfectly coiffed faux-hawk. And then there’s the whole skinny-hipster-up-to-no-good vibe that we find irresistible. Turns out Mason’s up to a lot of good. In the coming months, he plans on opening a highly-anticipated new restaurant in SoHo, Tailor. Mason got $1 million for the restaurant from investors and is currently filming a pilot with Discovery Channel about the process. Mason also hosts an online food/music show called “Dinner with the Band,” where he cooks for a different set of musicians each episode. 

Before opening his own place, Mason worked as pastry chef at WD-50 and honed his skills at Padallin, Union Pacific, and Atlas among numerous others

Brad Farmerie, Executive Chef, Public
The strong jawline, moist dark eyes, and his shy and sweet smile propel Public’s executive chef Brad Farmerie near the top of our list. It’s just so rare to see athletic and wholesome-looking men working behind the kitchen in this city. Lecherous, fat and drunk is usually more the case.

Farmerie was raised in Pittsburgh, by a mother who insisted on only eating homemade bread and vegetables from the garden. Farmerie cooked all through school and dropped out of Penn State when he realized he wanted to turn his part-time cooking job into a career.

Farmerie and his beautiful buttery face moved to the UK and cooked there for years, then traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. What he learned in New Zealand and Australia had a great effect on his cooking style, and diners sense that influence in his menu today.

Cal Elliot, Co-Executive Chef, DuMont, DuMont Burger, Dressler
Cal Elliot, the baby-faced, blue-eyed, blonde cherub of a man, runs the kitchens of Brooklyn favorites DuMont, DuMont Burger, and Dressler with partner Polo Dobkin. Each of their three restaurants is a major success in the borough thanks to both their cuisine and the price point. DuMont’s burgers are constantly ranking as the top in the city from food mags and blogs alike, and Dressler got two stars by the New York Times soon after its opening last summer.  Both chefs did stints at Gramercy Tavern before getting hired by DuMont owner Colin Devlin.

Harold Dieterle and Sam Talbot, former contestants on Top Chef
Seasons 1 and 2 breakaway hotties Harold Dieterle and Sam Talbot are grouped together only because they are reality TV stars and already received an unfair amount of exposure. Dieterle won the first season of Top Chef and came across as the boy-next-door who was decent and hardworking. Talbot is just straight-up scorching. We didn’t always enjoy his whining about the diabetes and his treatment of Marcel, but when it comes down to it, with that stubble, those muscles, the new haircut, he can act however he wants.

As for culinary ability, Dieterle came from the Culinary School of New York and was the sous chef at the Harrison before winning the show. He now plans to open up his own restaurant called Perilla with the money he won from the show.

Talbot was the executive chef at Punch before the show and worked at Williamsburg Café prior to that. Most recently Talbot consulted the owners of Fat Baby on their two new LES restaurants.

Marc Murphy, Owner and Executive Chef at Landmarc and Ditch Plains
Another athletic sexpot, it would be fun to just watch Marc Murphy play rugby in the mud all day. He’s just so damn manly with his wide shoulders and strong jaw line. Murphy runs two successful restaurants in New York and has a résumé that would impress any culinary guru. With a formal education at the Institute of Culinary Education and stints at Le Cirque, La Miraville, Windows of the World, and La Fourchette among countless other institutions, Murphy has really made the rounds. 

Murphy opened his first restaurant Landmarc with his, ahem, wife in 2004. The focus is on rustic French and Italian cuisine and has been warmly accepted by the New York dining community. Just last summer, Murphy opened Ditch Plains, an oyster bar in New York’s West Village. It’s named after a surfing beach on Long Island, and features classic seafood shack choices like fried clams, oyster shooters, and lobster rolls.

~Amanda Kludt

Sam Mason Photo By Melissa Hom Courtesy of Nymag.com
Brad Farmerie Photo By Daniel Miller
Cal Elliot Photo By Jonathan L. Smith Courtesy of Nymag.com