WTVC Exclusive: Food Network Star Winner Jeff Mauro
Some ten weeks ago the nation watched footage of 15 wannabe TV chefs meeting on the steps of world famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and each of us thought the same thing, which one is it? Well, two and a half months later the mystery is solved, Jeff Mauro is the latest winner of Food Network Star.
Throughout the competition Jeff’s warm personality and quick wit were his calling card. It was a gift that he rallied into a winning performance. His POV, the Sandwich King is one that is long over due. There are few things in life better than a well made sandwich. This may be the perfect vehicle for Jeff’s particular skill set but will a show about sandwiches go over?
That’s exactly what Steve Cavendish of the Chicago Tribune asked Jeff just a few weeks ago. His response? “A lot of people’s sandwiches these days come from fast food chains,” Mauro said. “It’s bad meat. It’s bad bread. It’s questionable vegetables. Why not bring this stuff home and teach you the fundamentals? How to braise. How to roast. Fry. Grill. All while having a between-two-hands delicious meal.”
So just what do we know about Jeff Mauro? This is what the Food Network site has to say, “After pursuing a career as a comedian in Los Angeles, Jeff switched gears to spend time doing what he loves most: cooking. His down-to-earth personality coupled with his comic relief make a great combo in the kitchen.”
Mauro’s stardom is no overnight success story. He’s been working towards this goal for seven years. That’s when he pulled up stakes and headed to LA to try and forge a new cooking show in his own image. He attended the Hollywood Kitchen Academy (which is now Le Cordon Bleu) and even came dangerously close to achieving his TV show after meetings with Spike, MTV and Comedy Central. But every time it looked like the door was opening it would close in his face.
“It was like, ‘it’s happening!’ And then L.A. was like, ‘Nope. It’s not happening. I’m Los Angeles, I win every time, you lose,'” he told Cavendish. Frustrated Mauro headed back to the Windy City where he became the private chef at a Chicago corporate headquarters of a large mortgage company. Three years later he sent an audition tape to Food Network Star.
“Jeff has the perfect mixture of strong culinary chops, a breakout personality, and boundless food passion – a true triple threat we value in our stars,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Programming and Production, Food Network. “Jeff’s humor, warmth and smart ideas to make sandwiches into satisfying meals make him a perfect addition to join the Food Network family.”
After struggling in the beginning of the competition Jeff put it all together on episode five, the Fourth of July episode. He says, ” I pretty much maxed out my abilities and personality and it went over well. I felt like I can be big and huge but I don’t think I ever want to go bigger than this.”
Jeff credits Guy Fieri with pulling him aside and giving him great advice, “He was the only judge who was like I want to talk to you privately.” Fieri just told him matter-of-factly how to handle different situations and gave, “very sincere advice. Not only on camera. Off camera he was kind of like a buddy. That was helpful because there’s a separation between the the finalists and judges. They are proven and we are proving.”
Since Star wrapped in early June Jeff says he’s been living dual lives. One working his old job in Chicago and the other doing covert assignments as a celebrity chef. “Going to the Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival out there. Going to shoot my show which was obviously top secret. Shooting the finale which was top secret. Going and doing all of these things, in my mind, very large things then coming home and making a hundred point sandwiches.”
Jeff plans to stay in Chicago where he can spend time with his family, “My goal is to stay here always. That’s the beauty of it; I can go shoot a show every three or four weeks and not have to uproot my entire existence to New York or LA.” He then added, “And eventually shoot here when I’ve got a little clout, a little bargaining power.”
How closely does Sandwich King resemble the show you conceived seven years ago during your time in LA?
Chef Jeff and Ali? Very different; that was more of a party-based barbecue show where we would go to barbecues and record the hijinks, the people. I wanted to provide a younger, I don’t know a more irreverent, party-based ride to cooking on TV
As fun as that was it doesn’t have any legs. So it’s really different. I’m still myself. I might not be ripping from a bottle of Jack any more but it’s still me minus my other half, Ali and minus the party and all that.
Can you describe the elements of the perfect sandwich?
Well handled fresh bread. Not just a loaf of French bread that you get at the bakery that’s pretty. That’s taking that and taking it to the next level with buttering and griddling to temperature. You want to start with that. You want to make sure when you take your bites out from top to bottom there’s not a lot of resistance. If there is resistance it’s good resistance like crunch or a great chew or crispness. You know it’s all about paying attention to not only flavors but textures; I think that’s often overlooked in a sandwich.
My predictions – Susie gets a show on the Cooking Channel, Vic on Food Network. Whitney becomes a judge on Iron Chef/Chopped. The Sandwich King premieres this Sunday at 11:30AM on the Food Network and the King’s reign will like be a long one.
Drop back by the site tomorrow and check it out as another new Food Network star, Roger Mooking (Everyday Exotic on the Cooking Channel, Heat Seekers on the Food Network) answers 7 Questions.
[ad] Empty ad slot (#1)!
Food Network Star Exit Interview: Mary Beth Albright
Mary Beth Albright had quite a ride on Food Network Star. Multiple times she stared into the gaping mouth of elimination but persevered to make the final four. That’s impressive for the woman who says, “I’m not a reality show star, but I play one on TV.”
Throughout the show she had to cope with a knowledge of food that sometimes exceeded her ability to execute it. In other words she had terrific creativity but at times lacked the cooking chops to pull them of. It would be easy to say that was her final undoing and certainly arguments could be made to that point.
However predictable Mary Beth’s ouster this week was it was stunning to see just what lengths the producers went to to insure it. First she drew Vic as her challenger, the strongest cook of the remaining contestants and one with a lot of experience in cooking contests. Then she drew Penny as her sous chef and true to form Penny did her best to make sure Mary Beth went home.
Penny was deliberately lethargic while doing prep for Mary Beth. It was obvious enough that Bob Tuschman called Alton Brown over to have him quiz Penny about her apathetic movements. When Alton called her on the clear vandalism she shrugged, smiled and shot the camera a knowing look. I’m confident (the kind of confidence that comes from inside information) that was hardly the extent of Penny’s misdeeds but that’s all they chose to show.
I hope in the future that Food Network spares us this kind of barbarism. This is not Rock of Love or any of those other seedy shows who’s sole purpose is to entertain the lowest element of American society. Those people may watch a lot of TV but having no jobs they really can’t afford to buy anything the advertisers sell. Hopefully retailers will realize that one day and the whole “people behaving badly” genre will disappear from our screens.
For her part Mary Beth handled everything with grace and professionalism and earned a great deal of respect in the process. Take her post-elimination blog post for instance. There is no mention of the Penny/Food Network sabotage. I even gave Mary Beth a chance to vent and she passed it up. It’s clear that she only wants to focus on the positive aspects of her Food Network Star appearance. So if you came here looking for more of the fireworks we saw from Alicia, both Justins and Penny, too bad.
In commenting about the remaining contestants she said, “Everybody has really strong strengths. Jeff is an extraordinary performer.” On his food “He made this Asian tofu wrap in episode four,” she reminisced, “His tofu wrap was so good that I ate two of them and I can’t stand tofu.” Of Susie she said she, “has just the soul of a Mexican chef,” adding, “She has such deep history with the food that it makes me want to make it.” She ended with her thoughts on Vic, “I love Vic. He’s so endearing in person,” summing up his cooking with, “He takes risks with food.”
So what happened with your lamb being overcooked?
I roasted the chops individually and I usually roast the entire rack of lamb as one big roast when I do rack of lamb. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to do the entire rack of lamb together. Because honestly, you hear that you have an hour on Iron Chef and then you’re running around and you look up at the clock and fifteen minutes has gone by and you have no idea where it went.
So I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to do the whole roast so I put in the oven individually. I think that I probably took them out at the right time. Then while you’re judging you have to keep your food warm and I think that it was probably in the oven for too long or I miscalculated in my own mind how long it would take them to warm.
I cook lamb. I cook lamb a lot and I don’t overcook lamb but you see that one shot of Giada De Laurentiis trying to saw through her lamb chop and it’s like “Ah, God!” But live and learn.
In your blog post you mentioned how having appeared on the show had earned you the respect of DC chefs – can you elaborate?
A restaurant in Washington just opened; it’s called Rouge 24 and RJ Cooper is the chef there. I just went there for a media tasting last week and he’s been on Iron Chef (click HERE for more on Forgione vs. Cooper). He and I ended up having this whole conversation about Iron Chef and it had nothing to do with food that I was sitting at the table eating.
I think that there really is a new appreciation. I wouldn’t call it new respect I call it a new appreciation that I have for what chefs do and I think that they probably know that. Not just the act of cooking food for a bunch of people but cooking for a bunch of people under time and pressure with limited resources which is what restaurant cooks do every single day.
I’ve already gotten phone calls from other chefs who’ve been on Iron Chef around town and I think it’s a really great experience for a food writer to have, to really understand what you have to go through.
What’s harder – facing the judges’ table on Star or facing a judge in a court room?
They don’t allow cameras in courtrooms anymore. It’s tough not only being in front of the Food Network judges because of all of the cameras and everything tat is going on while you are being evaluated but you’re being evaluated on your dream. That’s a tough thing to handle. When you’ve left a really good profession and really good money to follow a passion it hurts a lot for somebody to be critical. And of course they have to be critical; it’s a very important job to give someone their own cooking show and to trust them with the Food Network brand. I get that
But it’s really hard to be judged on your dream. Which a lot of people don’t do, a lot of people don’t follow a dream because it’s easier to keep it in a box somewhere. I’d say Food Network judges I really would. I know that sounds like a crazy answer. It won’t be the craziest thing that’s happened in my life in the past year.
[ad] Empty ad slot (#1)!
Food Network Star Exit Interview: Whitney Chen
For the second week in a row the person who had the best overall performance got eliminated. Whitney Chen, who’s resume is so good they should have canceled the show this year, rocked the judges’ table with both flavor and personality. The moral of this story? Don’t you dare have a better day than the preordained winner.
This is all anyone should need to know as to whether Whitney was the best candidate this year, she worked at Per Se. Don’t know what that means? It’s knowledge dropping time.
Depending on your school of thought there are two men that at any given time are considered the best chef on the planet today, Ferran Adria of Spain and Thomas Keller of America. Some will throw around a handful of other names but if you ask chefs, critics and restauranteurs from around the world those are the two names that come up most of the time.
If you have ever heard of Yountville, CA it is because Thomas Keller opened a restaurant there, The French Laundry, which makes it to virtually every “Top 10 Restaurants in the World” list worth reading. Per Se is Keller’s, “urban interpretation of The French Laundry.”
Ferran Adria closed his restaurant El Bulli just this past weekend. Prior to that he received over 3,000 applications a year from chefs willing to work for free at El Bulli. Thomas Keller has nine world class restaurants so one can only imagine how many applications he gets for folks so willing to work for him that they’d do it for free. Whitney worked for Keller and got paid.
Contest over.
Or at least it should have been anyway. But let’s not forget that Food Network is not looking for someone to draw great ratings on a weekly show; they are looking for someone to draw ratings to this one show. If the winner turns out to be another Guy or Aarti then great but they are perfectly happy if the winner is another Aaron or Amy.
One thing that is clear when speaking with Whitney is how damned smart she is. Her intellect is stunning. Listening to her handle the cleverly worded questions from a gaggle of food writers was like watching Bo Jackson running the football or Yo Yo Ma manipulating the strings of his cello. If she decides to run for politics Washington had better watch out because she’s a lot brighter than anyone in DC.
Observe how deftly she handled a question about the notoriously deceptive editing on the show, “Interesting things happen,” she understated. “. . . and I think it’s just too bad that everyone can’t see the whole thing and how everything works behind the scenes because it’s pretty cool.”
“In terms of the editing, they’ve got to tell story lines and we totally get how it works. But there were times where I felt like I was really happy and my personality was totally shining and then it didn’t get on. But it is what it is.” One of the things she regrets from the editing room was in the Cupcake challenge with guest judge Ina Garten. Whitney actually made three different cupcakes that represented her evolution as a cook. Read about them in her column for the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Patch HERE.
What one moment best defines your experience on the show?
The show to me really did ebb and flow. I think the Fourth of July episode and being on stage there was really a great moment for me. I think I was really comfortable perhaps because I had a couple of beers before I went out. I was really comfortable; I was spontaneous. I was having a good time. I got to talk to people and be around people which is what I love doing. So I think that one moment for me was a highpoint.
Since the purpose of the show is to find someone who can inspire the home cook do you think more emphasis should be put on a contestant’s ability to actually cook something?
I think the Food Network knows what they’re doing. It’s a really successful network. I learned a lot in this experience about what you have to do and what you need to make a successful TV show.
Of course I think there are people who probably watch the Network to see people who focus on the food more. I think there are also people who watch the Network that probably want to see people are more there to entertain people. I am certainly in the previous category.
For me the food is of the utmost importance. That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I left my job before. It’s what I love. It’s my passion. Although that (cooking ability) wasn’t the focus of this season maybe, and it’s not what the Network is looking for right now there’s certainly a place for it in the future.
What is your current project?
My current project is just to enjoy the rest of the summer and spend time in the heat and sunshine with my family and friends. I feel like I’ve kind of been off the grid with them. We couldn’t tell them anything about the show. I’ve been very secretive so I’m going to take a few weeks off and enjoy that.
I’m really excited; I’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the fall. I’m going to be writing new recipes, a contributing editor at Gilt Taste (Ruth Reichl’s new venture) which is great because I love to write. I’m excited to do that. I’m just going to continue to pursue the passion and to learn about food.
I’m still not counting the possibility of me having a cooking show out. I’m still going to continue to go after that.
I for one look forward to that show more than any other that might emerge from this season.
[ad] Empty ad slot (#1)!
Food Network Star Exit Interview: Jyll Everman
The roller coaster that is the integrity of Food Network Star appears to have bottomed out again. This season has been filled with unsavory characters, questionable judgements and startling revelations. The resemblance this season is having to season four is shocking. Watching this season makes me feel dirty.
At least one contestant has alleged that the show was scripted. Coincidentally we’ve discovered that another was actually an actress. And last night we saw a classic example of editing betraying reality. To watch last night’s episode as it aired one might believe that Jyll actually was the one who should have been sent home.
However, if you watch the actual performances of each contestant from the Rachael Ray Show web site you’ll see something completely different. First off, Jyll had an extraordinary performance. Not only did she win the cupcake challenge (curious how that didn’t make the final edit) but her performance on Rachael Ray was fantastic. She had one half second stammer when answering a question that Network editing turned into a 3 to 4 second brain freeze by splicing together several camera angels of the same micro-expression. Jyll’s over all performance was the best of the episode yet she was sent home.
The other thing you’ll see watching the full performances is that Vic wasn’t quite as bad as the judges let on and Susie’s demo went much worse than the editing would lead you to believe. Susie’s performance was obviously the weakest and, sweet though she may be, she should have been the one sent home. Remember that should Susie prove to be this season’s winner.
As for Jyll, she showed what an amazing person she is handling the situations with Penny and Wolfgang Puck with grace and professionalism. For all of Susie Fogelson’s complaints about Jyll seeming fake, I just never saw it. Perhaps it is borne from the natural cynicism of a New Yorker – no one is really that happy so she must be faking it.
If you trip over to Jyll’s Facebook page you can read her account of things. It will give you an idea of how it looked from the other side of the lens. “Like,” you ask?
You might be surprised to learn that Jyll was in the top group for six out of eight camera challenges, three of which she won. You wouldn’t know that because most of it was edited out. Here’s another nugget – the dish that got Jyll picked to be on the show was arancini or fried balls of risotto. The POV Jyll mentioned on Rachael Ray that Susie and Bob said “came out of nowhere” was in truth their suggestion.
Oh, remember Alicia saying that the dessert challenge was nothing like it appeared on the final edit? Jyll also reveals that the footage was thoroughly misrepresented as well. Jyll’s other bombshell is about those contestant journals – the contestants were never told their journals would be published for the world to read.
You were involved in three of the most memorable scenes this season in exchanges with Howie, Penny and Wolfgang Puck. How were you able to handle each with such dignity and grace?
It’s all about perspective. I’m one of those people that really believes that if something is challenging you and pushing you to be someone who you aren’t you step back and you need to learn from it. You can grow from it and move on especially with “WolfGate” – which is what we call it in our house. You just have to try and find the positive if you can.
If someone you cared about was considering going on Food Network Star what would you tell them?
I would tell them that they have no idea what they’re in for. When you go into it all you’re thinking of is the competition aspect of it. You’re not thinking about what’s it going to be like if I can’t call home or I don’t get to sleep. Get up early, go to bed late. It’s a grueling schedule and then on top of it have to compete in front of cameras, judges and millions of people, there’s no way to prepare for that. I would tell them you need to go in strong and believing in what you do and knowing that it’s going to be the most challenging thing you’ll ever do.
How much has interest in your company, Jyllicious Bites, changed since Food Network Star premiered?
Just recently my business has started to boom. I had a little lady at church the other day tell that everyone assumed I was still filming so now that it’s getting toward the end, even today I’ve already gotten three phone calls for catering.
I didn’t go on this show to be famous and I didn’t go on this show to be rich. I went on this show because my husband and I work so hard everyday in an attempt to make our mortgage payment. The economy has really hit us so I went on this show to try and make a better life for us. And now if I’m getting catering coming in then I’ve won. It’s exactly what I came to do and if I got a show out of it that would have been amazing. But the fact that my business is about to pick up I feel like I’ve already won.
[ad] Empty ad slot (#1)!
Be sure to stop by each Monday for my exclusive mourning after exit interviews with each exiled foodie (HERE). This year I have also added the WTVC (WannabeTVchef) Food Network Star Polls – six categories for contestants who best embody the spirit of former Food Network Star competitors. Be sure to check them out HERE. Click HERE to get all the news, gossip and snark on Food Network Star season 7.
