Food Network Star

by Ian Jackman

  Leaving Las Vegas

  In evaluation, Adam and Aaron lost credit for performance—Adam was ungracious with Dayna; Aaron wasn’t able to talk and cook. Lisa’s Cassoulet was so good, but she didn’t bring out her big guns with the Mac and Cheese. Kelsey’s attempt at the Vegas twist had failed. Sure, she mentioned her culinary school background, but did she have the life experience yet? Of Adam and Kelsey, it was Kelsey who had to leave.

  “I was talking to Kelsey recently, and she said, ‘You know, Bob, you were right. I really wasn’t ready for TV. I didn’t know it at the time, but I really did have more living to do and needed more experience.’ Every now and again it’s nice to be told you’re right by somebody whose dreams you crushed. But now she has her show and her life has caught up to her dreams.”

  —Bob Tuschman

  “Getting an opportunity to share my approach in the kitchen on a national level was always the dream. I stayed very focused on my goal, and it became part of who I was. Each job I took was taken with the mind-set that it would prepare me to share with people what I love about cooking. This dedication made a difference.”

  —Kelsey Nixon

  “Kelsey’s show [Kelsey’s Essentials on Cooking Channel] is terrific and it does really well. She’s resonating with the viewer. Kelsey is a professional, completely prepared. She knows where she’s going, she’s not flighty. If you ask her to do something she does it 120 percent and that’s what I love about her.”

  —Bobby Flay

  Showtime

  The final three—Aaron, Adam, and Lisa—were met by Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri, who arrived at the Venetian by gondola. For their next challenge, Guy asked finalists to deliver a thirty-second promo, on location. At Charlie Palmer’s Aureole at Mandalay Bay, Lisa had to rappel as a “Wine Angel” up and down the restaurant’s vertiginous wine tower. Lisa couldn’t do it to her satisfaction and it was extremely frustrating.

  “Anytime you put the camera in front of somebody and say, ‘Do this, do that, say this, say that,’ it can rattle anybody’s cage. Lisa hung in there—she had great energy and she didn’t quit on it. There is a lot of pressure on these folks.”

  —Guy Fieri

  On the casino floor at Planet Hollywood, Aaron eventually nailed his walk-and-talk. At Bally’s, with the Jubilee showgirls, Adam didn’t get a perfect take. For the Main Challenge, “the Ultimate Vegas Buffet” at the Wynn, the three were asked to create an over-the-top monster buffet for the Wynn’s chefs and a collection of Vegas entertainers. They had six hours and one thousand dollars. At the Tryst nightclub, they met their sous-chefs, their past competition. Lisa chose Kelsey, Adam picked Shane, and Aaron teamed up with Jen.

  To smoke his meat for his pork chops, wings, and portobello mushrooms, Adam bought some hickory and built a smoker out of woks. “If I gotta go down, I gotta go down smoking.” Aaron included three pasta dishes to go with his Sirloin Bruschetta and Crab Cakes. Lisa had mislaid half her fish at the market, so her Monkfish Piccata was short, and she also burned her pork chops.

  “We’ve smoked some interesting things—bologna, salt. Maybe apples are the most interesting. The craziest smoked dish I’ve eaten is smoked sea urchin. Actually not that bad. Creamy, briny, and delightfully smoky. I just love smoked foods. Since The Next Food Network Star I’ve had the chance to eat great food all over the country. I still get more excited about great smoked barbecue than almost anything.”

  —Adam Gertler

  The guests were chefs from the Wynn, pirates, gondoliers, showgirls, the cast of Spamalot, Tony and Tina, Joan Rivers, Cher, and a six-foot-four Diana Ross. Lisa revealed a new layer: She sang her presentation—and she could really sing.

  “I knew I had to do something to set myself apart. I’m an old pageant girl, so I made up the song in the shower that morning and just went for it.”

  —Lisa Garza

  Aaron would rather have paid someone to do his presentation, and he was a little goofy. Adam introduced his “Vegas Smoketacular.”

  The evaluation was to decide which two chefs would go back to New York. Aaron’s table was a little thin, but the crab cakes worked. Lisa’s food was incredibly elegant, but some of her pork was overcooked. Adam’s presentation was boring, but he took a risk with the smoker and it paid off: His food was good. “You settled all questions this week about whether you can cook or not,” said Bob.

  ROOT BEER AND BACON BAKED BEANS

  Recipe courtesy Adam Gertler

  Yield: 6 to 8 servings • Prep Time: 10 minutes • Cook Time: 2 hours • Ease of Preparation: easy

  ½ pound applewood-smoked bacon, diced

  1 cup diced white onion

  1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick

  ½ cup tomato paste

  1 (12-ounce) bottle microbrew root beer (recommended: Virgil’s)

  ½ teaspoon minced canned chipotle peppers in adobo

  2 tablespoons molasses

  2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

  1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

  1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

  ½ teaspoon kosher salt

  ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  1 tablespoon Creole mustard (recommended: Zatarain’s)

  4 cups cooked, drained pinto beans (canned is perfectly acceptable)

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

  2. In a heavy 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, sauté the bacon over medium heat until it just starts to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the diced onion and cinnamon stick and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and slowly whisk in the root beer to combine—you are essentially creating root beer ketchup. Add the chipotles, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, mustard, and beans and bring to a simmer. Cover the saucepan and transfer to the oven. Bake until the beans are a uniform color, about 1 hour. Remove the cinnamon stick and serve.

  “These baked beans came out of a happy accident. I was trying to come up with a recipe for beans in my mother’s kitchen and was getting frustrated that I couldn’t come up with a unique way for them to pop. In my frustration and half jokingly, I grabbed a can of root beer out of the fridge and dumped it into the pan. To my shock, it worked. I had never heard of root beer being used like that before, and I was very proud of the discovery.”

  —Adam Gertler

  Surprise Twist

  The committee debated the talents of the three. Who could be a star? As Guy said, perhaps a composite—have Adam open the show, have Aaron prepare the menu, and have Lisa cook it. “I don’t know who to kick off,” said Bob. It was the committee’s hardest decision so far.

  Bob: Now we are going to do something that we have never, ever done before.

  Susie: Aaron, Adam, Lisa. We’re going to bring all three of you back to New York.

  “We’d only planned on bringing two back. I never like to have an episode where nobody gets eliminated. Each of the three of them were so different in their culinary skills, their Point of View, and their performance and what they could offer. We literally could not make a decision, and rather than spend the rest of our lives in Vegas locked in a room, we decided to bring all three back and let them battle it out for real.”

  —Bob Tuschman

  FINALE

  The final three finalists took viewers back to their homes. Lisa wore so many different hats—mother, wife, designer of aprons, restaurant owner, and apprentice to executive-chef husband Gilbert for the previous sixteen years. She wanted to prove she could stand on her own two feet.

  On the site of his former restaurant, the Smoke Joint, Adam said he had a lot to prove. He didn’t mind serving food as long as it was his food. It had been a struggle for Aaron too. He wanted to say to young people, “You know what, guys, if I can make it, you can make it. It’s about self-esteem. . . . You got to believe in yourself.”

  “Aaron was genuine to me. I loved the fact that he stepped onto the stage to do this.”

  —Bobby Flay

/>   The Final Challenge: Create a pilot presentation of their show on Rachael Ray’s set under the direction of executive producer Gordon Elliott. His question: What do you bring that is unique?

  Lisa pitched three multi-themed shows, of which Gordon liked Beautiful Basics. Gordon suggested Big Daddy’s Kitchen for Aaron, and Adam pitched I’m Always Hungry in Philadelphia, including a live web chat to give a twist to classic American dishes. As Lisa demo’ed her Black Cod, Gordon told her to connect more with the viewer. Adam chatted online as he prepared his Smoked Dancing Beer Can Chicken and felt amazing, while Aaron wasn’t happy with any of his takes. But Gordon said he did a great job.

  The pilots were shown to a live audience. Gordon said he believed that each of the finalists could execute a very successful show. Bob was impressed by Lisa’s confidence and culinary knowledge; Bobby said she was unpredictable in a good way. Bob said Adam was a joy to watch, and Susie said he nailed it. “This was the Aaron we love,” said Bob. “You were funny, generous, big, and bold.”

  Deliberating, Bob said that they had the right three people: They were all incredibly likable and very intriguing, but who had that extra drive and dedication to start work tomorrow? The winner’s show would air in just one week’s time. Bobby announced the winner, and the next Food Network star was Aaron McCargo, Jr.

  “Aaron embodies everything you want a Food Network star to be: somebody who would never have had a chance to get on TV otherwise but who actually has the warmth, the humor, the skill, the passion, the interpersonal connections he makes with viewers. He had it all and he was really just waiting for a chance for it to come together. And he is an amazing cook.”

  —Bob Tuschman

  SEASON FOUR ELIMINATIONS

  EPISODE ONE

  “Star Quality”

  First Elimination ∗ CORY KAHANEY: “The committee said I can’t mix the comedic personality with the cooking personality. I don’t feel that I have to be funny all the time.”

  EPISODE TWO

  “Food Network on the Go”

  Second Elimination ∗ KEVIN ROBERTS: “I’m still in shock walking up the stairs. I didn’t think it was my time yet. . . . Obviously I’m super-bummed. But I guarantee you haven’t seen the last of Kevin Roberts.”

  EPISODE THREE

  “You . . . in a Jar”

  Third Elimination ∗ JEFFREY VADEN: “This experience has been awesome. . . . You’re going to get knocked down . . . but that’s why we get up. Sometimes we get up bigger and stronger.”

  EPISODE FOUR

  “Being an Expert”

  Fourth Elimination ∗ NIPA BHATT: “I’m not so sure whether or not I wanted to win this. I think that whatever happens always happens for the best in life—I really believe that.”

  EPISODE FIVE

  “Enticing and Easy with Bon Appétit”

  Fifth Elimination ∗ JENNIFER COCHRANE: “I gave up a lot to be here, but life is like a big book and I’m going to start a new chapter. I’m still going to continue to be a wonderful mother and a great chef.”

  EPISODE SIX

  “Into the Studio”

  Sixth Elimination ∗ SHANE LYONS: “Age has never been a deterrent for my success. I just turned twenty-three years old and am the Executive Chef at a very busy small plates restaurant in Colorado. I was very proud that I did as well as I did. Did I make mistakes during the competition? You know it. Did I have some successes? Absolutely. My mind-set is to acknowledge and own my failures and successes and not focus too much energy on one side or the other, understanding and accepting that success and failure are both important for a balanced life.”

  EPISODE SEVEN

  “Vegas Throwdown”

  Seventh Elimination ∗ KELSEY NIXON: “I have a lot of work ahead of me, and I can’t wait to get back. This is so just the beginning for me. How lucky am I to have had such a big experience like this at the beginning of my career? I know more than ever that I have to be cooking on television.” Kelsey’s show Kelsey’s Essentials premiered on Cooking Channel on November 6, 2010.

  EPISODE EIGHT

  “Ultimate Vegas”

  No Elimination ∗ LISA GARZA: “This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. . . . You stay with all these people and you bond with them and they become your family. It’s been awesome.”

  EPISODE NINE

  “Finale”

  Runners-up ∗ ADAM GERTLER: “I learned so much about my weaknesses as well as my strengths. To have come this far really just confirmed that this is the life I want.” Adam’s show Will Work for Food premiered on Food Network on January 19, 2009.

  Aaron McCargo, Jr.: A Q&A

  Were you always the Big Daddy?

  I’ve always been someone’s Big Daddy, Big Willy, or Big Poppa, but I’ve never been known to so many people as the real Big Daddy! It rocks!

  What made you apply to the show?

  My wife was watching TV and she saw the commercial for Food Network Star and she thought it was a great fit for me. She got the application and filled it out, my brother-in-law was excited about me entering and he taped a demo video and sent it in. A few months later we got the call to come to New York.

  Had you ever watched the show?

  Everyone else had watched it but I was lost about what was going on. I didn’t know about the evaluation process. The first night we had evaluation and they said, “Someone’s going home,” and I was like, “What do you mean?” Shane and Lisa and the other guys told me what was going on. I was just this guy from Camden going in there asking, “Hey, what do I have to do next?”

  Maybe that took the pressure off you?

  Many of the other guys were nervous and really wanted their TV show and I was just doing the best I could.

  Did you watch your own season?

  It was hard to watch myself on TV when they aired the episodes. Never in a million years would I have imagined myself in a cooking show competing with people I never met before. I was more weight-conscious than anything else. I looked about five hundred pounds. I still laugh about that final moment when I jumped in the air when they called my name. I didn’t know what to do. Kissing Bobby Flay was not going to be my number one move.

  You said at one point “I am not a camera person” but by the Finale you certainly were. How did you come to master that aspect of the job?

  I’d never been in front of a camera and never understood the madness of looking directly into the lens and knowing that millions of people are seeing you from inside out. I will always thank Shane for taking the time once, at three o’clock in the morning, in the bathroom at the house, to tell me not to be scared of the camera. I said, “Shane, it’s looking at me, man!” He said focus on something that makes you happy. He said, “Dude, you’re going to win.”

  He was eliminated and I was in Vegas shooting the promo and Bobby said, “Walk like you have confidence and look at the camera like you own it,” and I took that approach, and sure enough now looking in a camera is like looking in a mirror to me. I love looking into the lens.

  You took a while to open up and share your stories. How difficult was that for you?

  It was very difficult to open up because where I come from and how I was raised, you were always told to keep your guard up and stay out of other people’s business. So to be with ten people I’d never seen in my life and to be told to open up and share something about me wasn’t the easiest thing for me to do.

  I was focused on the food and in evaluations I was hearing people talk about their personal life and I was like, “Are we on the Food Network or are we on All My Children? I don’t want to be standing next to Erica Kane.” That’s not how I roll. You don’t put your business out on the street. That’s how my father and mother raised us. It was tough.

  What was the hardest part for you?

  The challenges were so far from what I imagined. You don’t have a cookbook. You don’t have a phone. You don’t have a laptop. You just have your skill and you don
’t know what’s coming every day. Bobby or Bob or Susie says, “Your challenge is . . .” and you have two minutes to think about what you’re going to create and I’m working with someone I never cooked with before. That was the most stressful part.

  At what point did you think “I have a shot at this!”

  I always believed I had a shot from the first day I received a call saying that I was one of the ten finalists to come to New York to compete for the Next Food Network Star. I believed in God, in myself, and in my food.

  Bobby Flay loved your Bacon-Wrapped Potatoes—how gratifying was that?

  It’s always good knowing that a chef such as Bobby Flay appreciates your creativity and can appreciate the flavors that work together to make something pop. The fact that he also happens to be one of the judges doesn’t hurt one bit.

  In the show, you had to create a branded product, and now you have a line of signature products out yourself. How cool is that?

  It’s a great feeling knowing that I have my spice line out. I never thought that I would brand anything on this level. It’s a great accomplishment and blessing. I was rocked out of my socks when we had to brand a product as part of the competition and to have Martha Stewart dig what I thought was a hot product . . . Cool Beans!

  What about that Apple Cider Vinaigrette?

  I am looking forward to putting out a line of vinaigrettes and funky dressings in the near future and hope that they will be as exciting and as creative as my Apple Cider Vinaigrette in the competition.

  How much has your life changed since you won?

  Not as much as you might think. People notice me a lot more, which is exciting because I just want to be an encouragement and tell people to just go after their dreams. I travel a little bit more but it’s still the same at home. I still have my chores to do.