NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans’ po-boy shops, gourmet restaurants and suburban bayou-side eateries are the backdrop for the country’s search for its next “Top Chef.”

Bravo’s 11th season of the hit reality TV food competition show was filmed in and around the city. On Wednesday, some of New Orleans’ own top chefs walked a red carpet for a special pre-premiere screening of the show, which debuts on the cable network channel Oct. 2.

“What we have here is really special,” said chef John Besh, who owns several New Orleans restaurants and served as guest judge on two episodes. “We have the only indigenous urban cuisine in the country, and to share it with an audience of millions is really special.”

The show pits contestants competing in food preparation scenarios and they have to survive weekly eliminations for the honor of being named the nation’s “Top Chef.” It will include glimpses inside chef Emeril Lagasse’s restaurant kitchens, Besh’s bayou-side home and kitchen and modest places such as Cafe Reconcile, which grew in popularity after Hurricane Katrina when its kitchen was spared flooding.

Cafe Reconcile was among the first restaurants to reopen after the 2005 storm.

The show’s executive producer, Matt Reichman, said, “The competition is nuts.”

“The chefs are talented and fierce, but there’s a layer this season that captures the atmosphere of being in New Orleans that was a lot of fun. It really is an embarrassment the riches we had access to.”

“Top Chef ” isn’t without previous New Orleans connections. One season concluded with an episode set in the city, and Lagasse, who owns several local restaurants, and has served and is returning as a judge this season.

Other New Orleans chefs making appearances in the series include Leah Chase, John Folse and Susan Spicer.

The show is an Emmy and James Beard award-winning series. Previous host cities include New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas. The show premieres Oct. 2 at 9 p.m. CDT.