'Top Chef Masters' premieres tonight on Bravo

A new Top Chef season premieres tonight at 9:00 Central on Bravo, Channel 70 on Time Warner Cable here in southeastern Wisconsin. However, it’s not the regular Top Chef, but instead a spin-off series called Top Chef Masters.

On the positive side, instead of aspiring cooks, this series features actual star chefs competing for charity — chefs like Hubert Keller, Michael Chiarello, Roy Yamaguchi, Rick Bayless, John Besh, and many more.

The judges look tough. You’ve got Gael Greene, Jay Rayner, James Oseland — okay.

The fact is, though, Padma Lakshmi is the number one reason I watch Top Chef, and this version appears to be Padma-less. Kelly Choi is the host here. I’m sure she’s swell and all, but there’s only one Padma.

Top Chef Masters doesn’t even have Tom Colicchio.

Still, I will watch tonight. It’s not like there’s much else on.

This show tops EW.com’s Must List. David Hinckley of the Daily News says it’s “well done and good fun.” Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times calls it a “thing of pure delight” because of its focus on culinary art instead of reality-show treachery.

Yeah, alright, I’m in.

But maybe I’ll sneak out to Hardee’s before it starts.