Elgin Community College graduate Zach Laidlaw was the top draft choice on Thursday’s episode of “Next Level Chef,” and later in the competition received an immunity pin keeping him safe from elimination in a future round.
Celebrity chef Richard Blais picked Laidlaw for his five-chef team made up of pros, internet and home chefs. He went with Laidlaw, Blais said, because he was able to make basement-level ingredients shine like the top level ones during the audition round of the show, which airs Thursday nights on ABC and streams after that on Hulu.
Laidlaw, a 34-year-old Burlington native, has been a chef at several restaurants around the world and is currently the executive chef at Hua Momona Farms on Maui, where he runs a greenhouse and oversees a microgreen program.
Laidlaw said on the show that he had his fingers crossed that Blais would pick him for his team, which is now competing against teams being mentored by renowned chefs Gordon Ramsay and Nyesha Arrington.
Blais’ team fared the worst in the prior season of “Next Level Chef,” which is why he was given first pick in the draft.
But it also meant his team started in the basement, the lowest of the three kitchens used in the competition, and from which the chefs had to pick from the ingredients not chosen by the competitors on the higher levels.
Laidlaw said he was surprised to find short ribs among proteins still available, perfect for making smashburgers in the night’s challenge.
“That saved my ass,” he said.
He topped his burger with cheese and sriracha aioli and served it with a side of deep-fried jalapenos.
Blais said the dish was of restaurant quality, and the other two celebrity chefs agreed it was top-notch. Later in the show, Blais awarded Laidllaw an immunity pin for his work.
If Laidlaw is chosen for a head-to-head challenge later in the season for having prepared the worst dish, he can turn it in, making Blais pick another competing chef in his place.
Laidlaw and the rest of Blais’ team will find themselves in the basement again next Thursday for the next challenge.
That’s because teammate Matt Auckland, an internet chef, made one of the night’s worst dishes, a salmon smashburger with a raspberry sauce. Auckland then went head-to- head in a fish taco challenge against professional chef Chris Tzorin from Ramsay’s team, who also prepared a burger the judges deemed inferior.
Auckland lost and was sent home, sending his team back to the basement.
“Next Level Chef” was recorded last fall in Ireland. The winning chef will receive $250,000 and a yearlong mentorship with the three celebrity chefs.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
