By Charlie Pike
From our May 2025 issue
For two years, Mimi Weissenborn had a rejection letter from the producers of Bravo’s Top Chef taped to her refrigerator. “I kept it as motivation,” says Weissenborn, who has distinguished herself on the Maine food scene with inventive, hyperlocal dishes as executive chef at Portland’s Sur Lie, Yarmouth’s Gather, and Biddeford’s Catface Cafe, which are owned by restaurateur Krista Cole. In 2023, Weissenborn applied to the show again, and earned a spot on the latest season, which began airing in March. The time she spent filming in Canada was “a crazy-cool experience,” she says. “Anytime I have an opportunity to showcase what our restaurants are doing, and what people in Maine are doing, I absolutely love doing that.”
Weissenborn previously headed up the kitchen at New York’s Michelin-recommended Vinatería, but she thinks she truly found her culinary voice here. “Maine has completely calmed my nervous system,” Weissenborn says. “I think that has allowed my creativity to really be sparked.” When she’s not in the kitchen, she escapes to spots like Harpswell’s Giant’s Stairs, a dramatic cascade of ledges located along a cliff-walk trail. “It’s a reminder that there is something bigger than you,” Weissenborn says. Helpful perspective whether you win or lose on reality television.
Stream Season 22 of Top Chef online here.
