Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak was packed on Sunday, but there wasn’t a meal in sight. Instead, the banquettes were filled with toques looking to slice, dice and trash-talk their way to reality semistardom on Top Chef. The casting call was for season seven of the show, as well as for the recently announced Top Chef spin-off, Just Desserts.

Casting director Donna Lee was as tight-lipped about the process as judge Padma Lakshmi has been about her baby daddy, but the Feed managed to get some insight into what makes a good cheftestant. “We’re just looking for the most talented chefs we can find, and if they are…who they are, then that’s great,” she said cryptically. “We are open to any and all experience—you can tell in an interview room the people who shine.… I compare it to being an egg, and watching it hatch and seeing them grow into a star.” Ooookay.

Hopeful chefs must submit a five-minute video in which they cook and prepare a meal (or dessert in the case of Just Desserts). An excerpt from the guidelines include gems like: “We want to be impressed with you as a chef, but we also need to get to know you as a person and your personality. Make us laugh, cry, have fun…most of all be YOU.” They must also complete a 23-page application that includes questions like “Create a dessert interpretation of the lyric ‘Eleven Pipers Piping’ from the song ‘Twelve Days of Christmas.’” The interview process seemed to skew more Blackwater than Bravo—throughout the day, chefs were taken into a back room in groups of three, emerging 15 minutes later with strict instructions not to disclose any details of the interview.

But at least one hopeful wasn’t afraid to stir the pot on his way to the top. “I’m here to cook, but that’s only half the job,” said Joe Raiola, a Brooklyn chef. “I’m definitely prepared to mess with people’s psyche.”—M. Elizabeth Sheldon