Top Cheffage: Possible LA Contestant Spotted

This may very well be the first big local spoil for Top Chef 5, and it's completely unconfirmed, but someone thinks they recognize the dude in the green shirt from today's paparazzi photos as Los Angeles chef Stefan Richter. Richter's last restaurant stint was at Enoteca Drago when it opened in 2004, but he wasn't there long and opened Stefan's European Catering soon after. Before working with Drago, the Finland-born, German-raised chef was at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, he was a sous chef for the Bellagio opening team in 1998, and worked at the Villagio Inn in Napa. Because the company's website is filled with pictures of the chef, we took the liberty of grabbing one and, yeah, looks pretty close. Reasons for believing: He's bald (see: season 3's Howie, season 4's Erik, and of course Colicchio himself) and likes the hats. If he has a good accent, total clincher.
· Top Chef NY: First Pictures Surface, Cheftestants Revealed [~ELA~]