Season 3 kicks off with 12 accomplished culinarians battling it out in a time-honored and all-encompassing "Top Chef" challenge---Restaurant Wars. Curtis Stone is the new series host and Ruth Reichl serves as a new judge.

Neo-R&B artist Kelis appraises a meat-themed test. Later, actress Christina Hendricks and her husband, actor Geoffrey Arend, put the master chefs through a groovy 1960s challenge.

In a creepy-crawly creature-feature, the fab food fighters must create a tasty feast using vile ingredients---including crickets, beetles and night crawlers. They also serve up dishes for charity. Appearing: Mykel Hawke and Ruth England, married stars of TV's "Man, Woman, Wild."

The ace chefs prepare a healthy, low-calorie breakfast, lunch and dinner for the cast of TV's "The Biggest Loser." Personalities from the show---including Alison Sweeney, Brett Hoebel, Cara Castronuova and contestants---appear as special guests.

The remaining meal mavens have a need for speed when they work at a traditional Southern California fast-food joint, where they must operate a drive-through and serve up quality fare in less than two minutes.

The crack cooks serve as judges and appraise their fellow chefs' work. Later, they try to hit all the right culinary notes by fashioning a feast for the rock band Maroon 5. But there's a twist: they must prepare the meals at a surprise location.

The chefs tap into their five senses to determine mystery ingredients. Later, they help a man propose to his unwitting girlfriend by serving up a six-course feast that represents various stages of their relationship.

The ace culinarians delve into science and technology by utilizing modern-day kitchen gadgetry to whip up breakfast. Later, they tap into old-school chemistry at a science fair to render culinary creations.

The master meal mavens guide culinary apprentices through a step-by-step creation of identical dishes. Later, the chefs salute returning U.S. troops by serving up their favorite meals.

In the Season 3 finale, the chefs must prove their meal mastery and mettle by preparing a four-course feast based on inspiration and self-reflection. Drama boils over when they must also re-create a past dish that resulted in their worst culinary review, then serve it to the food critics who originally panned them.