Tiffani Faison (born August 20, 1977 in Germany) is an American chef and was one of two finalists on the first season of Bravo's reality show, Top Chef, finishing second place to Harold Dieterle. Faison was born in Germany to American parents and raised as a self-described "army brat" in various parts of the United States, including Boston, Massachusetts, and Northern California. She worked briefly as a bartender at Lucky's Lounge in 2001 and had a brief and incredibly unsuccessful stint at the Ritz Carlton Boston Common as the Backlot's Food and Beverage Director later the same year. She attended Cambridge Culinary Institute (2002, 2003. She worked as a busser at Todd English's Bonfire in Boston in 2001. She worked at Perdix on Tremont Street in the South End of Boston in 2003. Perdix was