Fire Up The Wok Returns To Times Square

Five American chefs are turning up the heat at NTD Television's Fire Up the Wok, an outdoor, competitive cooking challenge in Times Square Sept. 27. The event is part of NTD Television's fifth annual International Chinese Culinary Competition, which has worked with more than 500 chefs to promote Chinese culture.

Chef Julieta Ballesteros of Crema; Antoine Camin of Orsay; Maneet Chauhan, judge on Food Network's Chopped; Clark Frasier of Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, and a season four Top Chef Masters contestant; and Malcolm Mitchell, a finalist on season eight of Food Network Star, are firing up woks for the competition.

Each chef will work with a wok at a cooking station designed to replicate the architecture of the Chinese Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an. Judges include Susie Fogelson of Food Network and Cooking Channel, celebrity chef David Burke, and Yun-Qiang Qu, head judge of the NTD International Culinary Competition.

Fire Up the Wok is part of the NTD Television Annual Benefit Gala, The Emperor's Banquet, with some proceeds going to the James Beard Foundation NTD Chinese Culinary Scholarship.

The main competition is open to the public and tasting sessions are available. VIP tickets are $60 for the preliminary competition on Friday and $100 for the final competition on Saturday.

Lauren Mack is the Travel Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @lmack.