STEPHANIE IZARD

Season 4's winner — and the only woman to capture top honors thus far — told EW of her victory last year, ''I deserved it.'' Izard stands by her word and has been making sure she's living up to the title. She's set to open the ''casual quirky'' Drunken Goat in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood in early 2010. ''My last name is a type of goat in French, and then the rest, well, we'll just leave that open for interpretation,'' explains Izard of her Spanish/Italian-influenced restaurant's name. She's also slated to release her cookbook, How to Think, Shop, and Cook Like a Chef in the fall of 2011.