Utzman, from his previous win

Last night’s Chopped continued the Chopped Champions madness with Taim’s Einat Admony defending her title after beating previous winner James Briscione. Joining Admony were former champions Jackie Lee, a private chef; Andre Marrero, tournant at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon; and Cody Utzman of The Brooklyn Standard and Papacitos. Judges for the episode were Geoffrey Zakarian, Chris Santos and Marc Murphy. Read more »

Industria Argentina owner Stefano Villa, winner Natalia Machado and a big hunk o' beef.

Last night’s Chopped!—”A Prickly Situation”—featured the culinary talents of chefs Natalia Machado, executive chef at Industria Argentina in Tribeca; Yvan Lemoine, founder of iFoodStudios, a food-oriented media firm; and Ross Gill and Peter Klein of Home and Chow Bar, respectively. Judges for the episode were Aaron Sanchez, Chris Santos and Alex Guarnaschelli.

The appetizer round included the ingredient responsible for the episode’s title, sea urchin, along with brioche and fennel. Gill delivered a sea urchin chowder with fennel-frond salad and brioche croutons, but failed to get his roasted fennel bulbs onto the plate in time. Machado scored presentation points for serving her urchin in a spoon (and flavor points for keeping the roe raw), while Lemoine put forth what has to be one of the most hackneyed dish names we’ve ever heard: “Salvador Dali’s…Um, Spring Afternoon…Sea Urchin Feast.” Keep in mind, this guy runs a company that sells marketing concepts to food brands. Read more »

Anderson sprinkles as Viggiano is a blur…of failed ideas.

Last night’s Chopped! was the cheekily titled episode “Pretty Please with a Pepper on Top,” in which chefs including Tyler Anderson of the Copper Beech Inn in Essex, Connecticut; Paul Viggiano, the executive chef at the Grand Victorian Hotel in Spring Lake, New Jersey, who wanted on Chopped! because he felt the lighting was flattering; Chris Nguyen of Keo in York, Pennsylvania; and Barbara Sibley, co-owner of the La Palapa restaurants. Judges were Alex Guarnaschelli (with less bloodlust in her eyes), Geoffrey Zakarian and Chris Santos.

Appetizers had to be made with ground turkey, piquillo peppers and gooseberries. No one was able to produce a moist protein save Nguyen, who mixed butter and cream into his fowl (and even then, the judges weren’t crazy about his dish, with Zakarian calling it “salty” and “a punch in the face”). Sibley was first to go for putting an inedible garnish—unadulterated chilies—on her plate and for a lifeless turkey torta. Read more »

Jason Zukas, executive chef of Bocca Fina in Forest Hills, god of bald men.

Last night, the Food Network rang in the new season of Chopped! with a bevy of sea beans, Thai chilies and according to their tease, “Mexican-inspired desserts” (which translated to ones that included pepitas and jicama). The chefs ran the gamut in terms of name recognition and included chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt, David Rotter, executive chef of Campo on the Upper West Side, Jason Zukas, executive chef of La Bocca Fina in Forest Hills (the self-described “Rocky Balboa of the competition”), and Cheryl Perry, an instructor at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. Judges for the episode were Alex Guarnaschelli, Chris Santos and Marc Murphy. Read on for the blow-by-blow. Read more »