Chef Jake Gandolfo, a Santa Cruz native, is one of the top 14 finalists on Gordon Ramsay’s hit TV series MasterChef.
Some background on the show: Gordon Ramsay, renowned for Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares among other popular series, has already produced several MasterChef competitions in countries including England and Australia. The show’s premise is to find the most talented amateur or home chef (not a professional). But he has never brought MasterChef to the US – until now. And with the recent popularity of the new US TV show, MasterChef is expanding to Belgium, India, Iceland, Israel, Ukraine and the Netherlands. The winner of America’s MasterChef competition will receive $250,000 and publication of a MasterChef cookbook.
After thousands auditioned for MasterChef, the top 100 made it to the actual show, which had its TV debut in late July. During the first two episodes, in Week 1 and Week 2, the top 100 cooked their signature dishes for three judges: show creator Gordon Ramsay plus restaurateurs Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich. The judges narrowed the field from 100 to 30 eager chefs. During Week 3, two challenges winnowed the finalists to only 14. The first challenge tested onion-chopping skills, when 6 of the 30 were eliminated. The second challenge tested cooking skills through an egg contest – the remaining 24 had to create an egg dish in which one, single egg was the “star” or “hero” while other ingredients complemented the egg. Ten contestants were eliminated, but Santa Cruz chef Jake Gandolfo and 13 others survived and will go on to Week 4.
Gandolfo is an endearing individual, and a creative cook. When you first see him you don’t necessarily think “fine gourmet.” He appears onscreen as a fairly large man with tattoos and a cowboy hat, and you might think “construction worker,” which is what he does for a living. He calls himself a “closet cook” because he admits that when people look at him they probably envision a guy who rides Harleys (which he does) and not a guy who is a dedicated chef. But as he tells the camera, he’s “super passionate” about his cooking and wants to grow his craft as much as possible.
Gandolfo’s physical frame is similar to celebrity chef/judge Graham Elliot (who at 27 was the youngest chef to ever be awarded four Michelin stars). In fact, when Jake walked in to the room for his first competition, Elliot joked “I thought it was me coming through that door.”
The signature dish that Gandolfo created was “Eclectic Surf And Turf” which included a successful grilled asparagus bundle tied with a grilled scallion that judge Elliot praised. Unfortunately, it also featured Italian spiedini (to showcase his own Italian heritage, Gandolfo stated) and scallops with gremolata that judge Ramsay was not impressed with. So it was up to the third judge, Bastianich – also of Italian heritage himself – to decide whether Gandolfo would make it to the next stage. Although he originally said that Gandolfo’s dish was “almost insulting” to Italian food, Elliot promised Bastianich that he would make Gandolfo better. He actually personally vouched for him, which was quite impressive. And on Week 3, Gandolfo passed the onion challenge, and followed that by creating Rustic Bacon and Eggs for the egg challenge and earning his place in the next round. The dish included smashed, infused red potatoes with a poached egg stacked on top, and looked delicious; I definitely wanted to reach through my TV screen with a fork. Elliot commented that the egg was “…poached perfectly, something very hard to do.”
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching home cooks like Gandolfo get a chance to make it big on MasterChef, and I look forward to cheering on our local favorite in the weeks to come. I hope that now that we’re moving to Week 4, the producers let the remaining 14 contestants really practice and grow, and only eliminate one chef per week. I understand the need to eliminate a bunch in the first couple weeks and weed out the not-as-talented (or perhaps talented ones that just had a bad day), but let’s now see some great contests with lots of chances for these amateurs!
Email me at tara@santacruzfoodie.com and please follow me on Twitter @santacruzfoodie.