‘High Chef’ Season 22 Premieres With Fierce Competitors and Canadian Aptitude

High Chef is again with a contemporary batch of proficient cheftestants, the most important grand prize bundle within the present’s historical past, and Canadian tuxedos.

The hit Bravo present returned tonight for its twenty second season, this time set in Canada. And to have fun, Gail Simmons, Kristen Kish, and Tom Colicchio donned denim-on-denim to welcome the brand new contestants.

In a child blue-hued denim trousers and prime quantity, Kish, now in her sophomore season, continues to shine. “Whatever the job, I believe the second 12 months is barely extra comfy, and I discovered extra of my confidence,” Kish instructed Meals & Wine. “Going into season 22, I began absolutely assured that I knew precisely what I used to be alleged to be doing.” 

Colicchio agreed. “It’s simply been nice,” he added. “It looks like she’s been there endlessly.”

The season’s 15 new contestants come from a choice of award-winning kitchens in Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Maine, and past. For instance, Vincenzo “Vinny” Loseto is the chef de delicacies at Press restaurant in Napa, whereas Katianna Hong, primarily based in Los Angeles, owns Yangban, which was a semi-finalist for Finest New Restaurant within the 2023 James Beard Awards. Representing Canada, Montreal-born Massimo Piedimonte is the chef and proprietor of Cabaret l’Enfer in Montreal, Quebec.  

Visitor judges embody homegrown celebrities like Michael Cera and Sarah Levy from Schitt’s Creek. Meals & Wine editor-in-chief Hunter Lewis and James Beard Basis CEO Clare Reichenbach had been additionally judges.

The contestants are competing for the most important grand prize bundle within the present’s historical past. For the primary time, the High Chef winner will headline their very own dinner at New York’s James Beard Home and have the chance to current on the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago. That is along with receiving Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion Standing, a $125,000 flight credit score for journey with Delta Airways, a characteristic in Meals & Wine journal, an look on the annual Meals & Wine Traditional in Aspen, and a $250,000 money prize supplied by sponsor Saratoga Springs water.

As with season 21, there’s no immunity for Quickfire Problem wins, however cooks have the prospect to win money prizes throughout every one, in addition to throughout choose Elimination Challenges, for a complete of $150,000. Within the premiere episode, one group of three shared the primary $15,000 prize for an entry that significantly impressed Simmons, who remarked, “That dish felt prefer it had been in your menu for years.” 

Past the profitable trio, the kickoff Quickfire Problem had a number of lauded bites, hinting at this season’s collective expertise degree. Even Colicchio had reward. “I get grumpy when the meals isn’t good,” he instructed the contestants. “I’m not grumpy proper now. I’m actually joyful.”

The season will probably be filmed in opposition to a few of Canada’s most stunning backdrops, with episodes set in Toronto, Montreal, and Prince Edward Island — in addition to Calgary and Canmore in Alberta. Past pertaining to Canadian classics like poutine, challenges spotlight the nation’s numerous regional delicacies.

In a method, every of the nation’s 5 geographical areas was represented within the first Elimination Problem, when the cheftestants had been requested to take the judges “throughout Canada by way of meals.” The 5 visitor judges included outstanding Canadian cooks, resembling meals scientist David Zilber, writer of the Noma Information to Fermentation and a Toronto native, and Inuit cultural educator and chef Sheila Flaherty.

“If there was a culinary Canadian model of Mount Rushmore, these are the faces proper right here,” mentioned Houston-based cheftestant Tristen Epps. 

Every visitor choose showcased six of their area’s most notable components, together with cod and dulce from the Atlantic Provinces, pink lentils and bitter cherries from the Prairies, and beets, crowberries, and Arctic char from the North. Cheftestants had been invited to make use of three of those components to focus on that area, whereas additionally incorporating a private contact into their dish.

Because the judges gathered across the desk to await the dishes from the primary Elimination Problem, they poured wine and Kish raised her glass with a toast, “Cheers to Vacation spot Canada, and Gail, welcome dwelling.

Simmons hails from Toronto, and is worked up to indicate off her dwelling nation. “It’s a exceptional second for Canada to be represented on High Chef this season, and in such a giant method,” she instructed Meals & Wine. “To have the ability to lastly present our southern neighbors the nuances of Canadian tradition, the breadth of gorgeous components, and the huge and rising Canadian meals scene that makes this nation so distinctive, is one thing I’ve been eager to do for a very long time. I’m simply so thrilled and proud for my dwelling nation to lastly get its second within the culinary highlight!” 

As for the results of the premiere problem? Regardless of just a few hiccups (one contestant discovered herself a single fish brief whereas plating her entree, whereas one other unintentionally left off a key sauce), the judges had loads of constructive suggestions. “There’s clearly a variety of promise right here,” Colicchio famous after the tasting. 

Lots of promise, certainly. Kish tells Meals & Wine that some Season 22 bites had been mind-blowing. 

“There have been two plates of meals that, I believe all of us may agree — that not solely was it simply distinctive meals for the problem itself, however [they were] a few of the biggest bites of meals,” she mentioned. “It was simply excellent.”