Food lovers can sample fare from 75 top restaurants in the D.C. area and watch four local chefs vie to make the tastiest dish when the D.C. Central Kitchen stages its 10th annual Capital Food Fight on Monday, November 11. Culinary celebrities, including Tom Colicchio from Bravo’s Top Chef, will be on hand to judge the snackdown. A special 10th anniversary treat will be added.

The Food Fight, which Nathan Associates supports, raised a record $600,000 last year for the Central Kitchen and has brought in a cumulative total of more than $2 million. The kitchen provides the poor and homeless with about 5,000 nutritional, well-prepared meals a day while also training men and women for jobs in food service. Business partnerships as well as donations of food, time and money support day-to-day operations.

This year Nathan is stepping up its commitment by becoming an official sponsor. D.C. Central Kitchen exemplifies a real-world approach to fighting poverty, hunger, and poor health, so often the aim of Nathan projects in international development.

Individuals can buy tickets for $250 each. Opportunities exist for a higher level of support. Last year’s Food Fight was sold out with almost 1,200 attendees. Chef Jeffrey Buben, owner of Vidalia, Bistro Bis and Woodward Table, won last year with a dish using Ibérico ham.

This year’s competitors are Erik Bruner-Yang (Toki Underground), Bertrand Chemel (2941 Restaurant), Spike Gjerde (Woodberry Kitchen/Artifact Coffee), and Anthony Lombardo (1789 Restaurant). The judges in addition to Colicchio will be Rick Bayless of the PBS program Mexico: One Plate at a Time, Todd English of PBS’s Food Trip With Todd English, and cookbook author Art Smith, owner of Art and Soul Restaurant in Washington, D.C. José Andrés, the restaurateur and humanitarian, and D.C. resident Carla Hall, of ABC Television’s The Chew, will serve as co-hosts.

The Food Fight will also include a first-ever High Stakes Cakes Competition to recognize the 10th anniversary. Duff Goldman of the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes will judge the winner from among four local cake decorators.

Among the participating restaurants are: Barmini, Blue Duck Tavern, Del Campo, Jaleo, Oyamel, Ris, Toki Underground, and Vermilion. The event starts at 6 p.m. in the Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington.