After eight long months, the high-stakes culinary competition shows Top Chef returned to the small screens in March 2022 for its 19th season. The host Padma Lakshmi judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, and 15 of the country’s best chefs all headed to Houston, Texas to cover the food scene of one of the most diverse cities of the country. Among the 15 talented chefs is incredibly talented Luke Kolpin.
Already proving himself to be a front-runner in the show, it’s only natural that viewers are interested to know more about Luke.
Learn about Luke’s journey from being a regular chef to being a contestant on Top Chef, his personal life, age, and more.
Luke Kolpin On Top Chef: Houston
All thanks to Top Chef Season 18 finalist Shota Nakajima, Luke Kolpin is in the show now. When Luke wanted to move back to Seattle after working more than 8 years in Noma’s Kitchen in Denmark, Shota, a good friend of his, suggested he put up an apron for Bravo’s cooking show Top Chef.
Seattlemet.com reports that Shota personally called up Bravo and recommended Luke. Since, as a last season’s finalist Shota’s word carries a lot of weight, Bravo even offered Luke a spot without any audition. Although Luke first hesitated to accept the offer, he ultimately decided to go into the show. “I never thought I would do anything like this,” Kolpin said.
King5 talked to Luke about his experience in Top Chef: Houston after the filming of the culinary competition show had wrapped up where the talented chef replied: ‘It was an amazing experience and very, very positive.’
As of this writing, two chefs were already eliminated from the show. Leia Gaccione, a New Jersey-based chef, was the first one to be sent home. During the first quickfire, all the chefs formed teams of three, where Leia, Jae Jung, and Stephanie Miller worked under a single team and became one of the two bottom teams in the pre-elimination test.
For the Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to work together again in a butchery task of utilizing primal cuts of beef. The red team chose last and all of the chefs belonging to the red team had to work with the round cut. On Elimination Day too, Leia created a top round steak summer roll with peaches and a Tahini lime sauce and Basil oil, which again failed to impress the judges. Ultimately, Leia was sent home.
The second one to get eliminated was Stephanie Miller. In the second episode, the chefs were divided into two teams for a football-themed Elimination Challenge. Distractify reports, “Chef and author Sam Talbot led Stephanie and the other six members of the Cougars for a cooking face-off against the Wildcats. Stephanie went head-to-head against Jo Chan in the fourth round, and her feijoada with rice fell short.” Stephanie lost the round and became the sole Cougar Bottom Three Group making her the second chef to be eliminated.
Luke Kolpin Girlfriend
Che Luke Kolpin’s girlfriend is Lana Isabelle Pham.
According to her LinkedIn handle, Lana worked as a waiter at Restaurant Noma and a food server in Restaurant 108 from 2019 to 2020. In her career, she also held the job of a team lead at Mamnoon Street LLC., a product specialist at CHANEL and LVMH.
While Luke has never shared the story of how he met his girlfriend, we assume that they met at their common workplace i.e. Noma Restaurant.
If Lana’s Instagram is anything to go by, the lovely duo know each other since December 2017. In January 2022, Luke and Lana even celebrated their fourth anniversary.
On January 3, 2021, Lana took to Instagram to share some pictures from their third anniversary. She wrote, “3 amazing years together and never a dull moment with you. Always learning and understanding more and more about each other every day…One thing for certain it will be filled with more fun, laughter, love, and power to strengthen us even more than we already have,” in the caption.
How Much Is Luke Kolpin Net Worth?
Luke told in one interview that he never considered being a chef, until at the age of 18 his best friend said, “all you ever do is cook and eat,” to him. Wasting no time, Luke got himself enrolled at Seattle Central College’s culinary school. Upon his graduation from there, Luke started working at McCormick and Schmick’s and slowly moved his way up to Canlis’s high-end kitchen.
His career took a huge turn when a friend of his gifted him a book about Noma, Copenhagen’s vanguard of Nordic cuisine. The images of three Michelin star plates resonated with Luke and soon made him realize that everything in the book was Northwest ingredients. It also made him realize that the way it was done was what created a lasting impact on him.
There and then, Luke decided to cook at Noma one day. Less than a year later, Luke started working at Noma as an intern. Little did he know that an eight-week stint would turn into a nearly nine-year run. Shortly before the pandemic, Luke moved back home to Seattle after reaching the level of sous chef in Noma’s Kitchen.
Since returning, Luke has only spent time with family, cooked with his loved ones, and had fun doing it. Luke’s plan for 2022 is not much different.
In the future, however, he plans to open his restaurant, a vegetable- and seafood-heavy spot.
As of this writing, Luke Koplin’s net worth was reported to be under $300 thousand.
Luke Kolpin Height
Although Luke Koplin’s height is available nowhere on the Internet, based on some of his pictures he might stand close to 6 feet.
Luke Kolpin Family
Luke Kolpi has a 74 years old dad, David Koplin, and 67 years old mom, Mary Koplin in his family.
Moreover, Luke’s dad, David, was a staff nurse at Harborview Medical Center.
Some of Luke’s relatives are Margo Ann Brown, Molly Peterson, Margaret Kolpin.
Luke lost his maternal grandmother Mary Alice Spain Brick on December 12, 2007.
How Old Is Luke Kolpin?
Chef Luke Kolpin was 36 years old in 2022.
Related FAQs
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Where Is Luke Kolpin From?
Top Chef contestant Luke Koplin is originally from Seattle, Washington.
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When Is Luke Kolpin’s Birthday?
What’s more, Luke Koplin celebrates hir birthday on the 31st of May every year.
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Is Luke Kolpin On Instagram?
Luke is on Instagram @lukekolpin. He had 12.3 thousand followers as of March 14, 2022.
