ICA: Zakarian vs. Schenker
Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian faces off against chef Jesse Schenker, chef and owner of Recette in New York. Judges are Julie White, Art Smith and Anya Fernald.
Chef Jesse Schenker manipulates ingredients and temperature to create maximum flavor. He went for his Culinary Degree at the Atlantic Technical Center in Coconut Creek, Fla. During that time, he gained his first professional kitchen experience at Cafe Maxx, guided by Chef Oliver Saucy. From there, he became the Chef de Partie at Chef Mark Militello’s James Beard award-winning restaurant, Mark’s on Las Olas and then onto Sous Chef at Fort Lauderdale’s celebrated Italian restaurant Rino’s Restaurante.
With experience under his belt, Jesse moved to Miami to become Sous Chef at the upscale wine bar, City Cellar Wine Bar and Grille. After wowing the best culinary cities of Florida, it was time to take on the challenge of wowing foodies in the Big Apple. Jesse was offered a position as Chef de Partie at the two-Michelin-star rated Gordon Ramsay at the London. He launched his own venture, Recette Private Dining and teamed up with Savoy Bakery owner Brian Ghaw and Per Se pastry alum Christina Lee, and created up to ten-course tasting menus for exclusive private parties.
Chef Schenker is a talented chef but so is the newest Iron Chef. The Technician is sure to be ready for the challenge in Battle: Plantains.
Check below for the outcome.
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| Zakarian | Schenker | |
| Taste | 25 | 25 |
| Plating | 13 | 14 |
| Originality | 14 | 14 |
| Total | 52 | 53 |
ICA: Zakarian vs. Ferraro
Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian faces off against challenger Michael Ferraro, executive chef at Delicatessen and Macbar in New York City. Judges are David Rosengarten, Ching-He Huang and Phil Rosenthal.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ferraro has worked in the kitchens of Beacon Restaurant, Mercer Kitchen and the Biltmore Room. At Delicatessen he presents international comfort classics that incorporate elements from his Italian roots and classical French training.
His menu at delicatessen brings international comfort food to the crossroads of SoHo and NoLita serving familiar favorites with a twist for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night creating a friendly neighborhood vibe.
Chef Ferraro has a tall order as Geoffrey Zakarian has never tasted defeat as an Iron Chef. Will Battle Peaches be Zakarian’s first lost?
Check below for the outcome.
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Zakarian Ferraro
Taste: 24 Taste: 17
Plating: 18 Plating: 14
Originality: 13 Originality: 11
Total: 55 Total: 42
Chopped All-Stars Season 2 Judges & Host Bios
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Chopped: All Stars Season 2 Contestants Announced
A few months ago a friend within the Food Network family hipped me to who the four Food Network Star participants in Chopped: All Stars would be. So I’ve known since last fall that we’d get to see the charms of Penny Davidi and Chris Nirschel on display once again and have managed to keep it to myself. Even better we also get to see Vic Moea and Justin Balmes cook again.
The talent in this group runs the gamut. Chris is the chef at what many consider a wannabe Olive Garden, Penny is a one trick pony but she does that one trick extremely well and then Vic and Justin are top notch chefs. But these guys make up just one night of Chopped: All Stars. Dig the rest.
Part 1, “Iron Chefs Do Battle” Premieres Sunday, April 8th at 9pm ET/PT Competitors: Iron Chefs Cat Cora, Marc Forgione, Jose Garces and Michael Symon. Judges: Scott Conant, Aaron Sanchez, Geoffrey Zakarian
Part 2, “Prime Time vs. Day Time” Premieres Sunday, April 15th at 9pm ET/PT Competitors: Show hosts Keegan Gerhard (Food Network Challenge), Jeffrey Saad (United Tastes of America, Cooking Channel), Aarti Sequeira (Aarti Party) and Marcela Valladolid (Mexican Made Easy). Judges: Amanda Freitag, Aaron Sanchez, Geoffrey Zakarian
Part 3, “Food Network Star Contestants” Premieres Sunday, April 22nd at 9pm ET/PT Competitors: Food Network Star Season Seven Finalists Justin Balmes, Penny Davidi, Vic “Vegas” Moea and Chris Nirschel. Judges: Scott Conant, Amanda Freitag, Aaron Sanchez
Part 4, “Judge Remix” Premieres Sunday, April 29th at 9pm ET/PT Competitors: Chopped judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Marc Murphy, Marcus Samuelsson and Chris Santos. Judges: Amanda Freitag, Aaron Sanchez, Geoffrey Zakarian
Part 5, “Grand Finale” Premieres Sunday, May 6th at 9pm ET/PT Competitors: Prior episode winners. Judges: Anne Burrell, Amanda Freitag and Aaron Sanchez.
Read full chef bios HERE. Read bios for judges and host Ted Allen HERE.
Read my exclusive interviews with Alex Guarnaschelli (HERE), Scott Conant (HERE), Justin Balmes, (HERE) Penny Davidi (HERE), Chris Nirschel (HERE), Marc Forgione (HERE), Michael Symon (HERE) and Ted Allen (HERE and HERE).
