OMAHA CHEFS I WANT TO SEE COMPETE ON "CHOPPED"
Few cooking competitions are as grueling or as well-known as Food Network’s Chopped. The show has been testing chefs’ adaptability and creativity with mystery baskets since 2009—and I would love to see how some of Omaha’s best would fare in the crucible.
To be clear, these tests are no joke. For those unfamiliar with Chopped, here’s how the competition works:
- There are 3 rounds: appetizer, entree, and dessert. The chefs have 20 minutes to create a dish in the first round and 30 apiece in the final two.
- A panel of three judges tastes each dish and eliminates one chef in each round.
- Each round comes with a mystery basket containing 4 items that the chefs must use in their dish. Usually at least one (if not two or three) are very unusual or challenging. The chefs also have a full refrigerator and pantry at their disposal.
- The chefs are judged on their performance in all three rounds to crown a winner. Plating, taste, and use of the basket ingredients factor into judging.
Succeeding on the show requires quick thinking, ingenuity, various techniques, and terrific cooking skills, which is why I’d love to see these 12 Omaha chefs (in no particular order) have their turn in the Chopped kitchen.
Tim Nicholson; The Boiler Room
Few chefs in the Midwest, much less Omaha, possess the open-minded creativity, culinary skill and experience, and balance of flavors and textures like Tim Nicholson does. The menu at The Boiler Room changes weekly based off what local ingredients are freshest and what the chefs are inspired by, so you’ll see steak, pork, short rib, venison, pasta, and all kinds of seafood on its menu.
That’s why this two-time semifinalist for a James Beard Award would thrive on Chopped—not only is he talented, but he and his team have created beautiful plates with all manner of components, textures, sauces, and flavor profiles over the years. There aren’t many ingredients Nicholson hasn’t encountered, and his ability to arrange them in a way that thrills both visually and flavor-wise would make him an excellent Chopped contestant.
Ben Maides; Au Courant
Like The Boiler Room, Au Courant‘s menu completely changes each week, giving executive chef Ben Maides experience with a bevy of ingredients, techniques, and plating styles. Maides, chef de cuisine Anthony Caniglia, and the team must completely rewrite the six-course tasting menu each week, and they must do so in a cohesive way, with each plate setting the scene and leading into the next. It’s food poetry.
Maides has taken on more of a managerial role at Au Courant while serving as the Culinary Director for the Flagship Restaurant Group, which has a lineup of casual seafood, Mexican, sushi, and pub food restaurants. This gives Maides familiarity with not only fine dining, but a refined approach to everyday plates that would make him a strong Chopped contender.
Drew Statz; Semo Pasta + Wine
Versatility is critical in Chopped, and that’s where Drew Statz excels. The chef/owner of Semo Pasta + Wine is passionate about pasta and can work with just about any noodle or preparation. His previous stops allowed him to create dishes featureing a variety of proteins, from beef to bison, chicken, pork, and rabbit. And while Semo focuses on pasta, it also offers steaks, fish, pork, and even blood sausage. There are few basket ingredients that would throw Statz off.
The variety of techniques Statz has acquired also play in his favor. He’s cooked with traditional grills, a wood-fired oven, and a smoker, and he knows how to use each. He’s even proficient in breakfast cookery thanks to his time at Monarch Prime and Dante’s pre-COVID brunch service.
Jenny Coco
One of the true pioneers of Omaha’s culinary scene, Jenny Coco led the beloved j coco for over a decade before it closed during the pandemic. The restaurant specialized in elegant yet approachable plates that gave something in every dining party something to order. The menu included both a plate of seared yellowfin tuna atop a vibrant chimichurri and roasted vegetables was and an incredible wagyu burger, no frills attached. Among grilled octopus was a shaved prime rib sandwich with a jus delicious enough to drink from a cup.
Coco’s refined playfulness would make her perfect for Chopped. She’s just as comfortable serving deep-fried cheese croquettes as she is Moroccan lamb meatballs or perfectly cooked lamb chops, and the ability to swim in both pools is a major asset on the show.
Kristina Lee; Nice Rollz/Kamp
Kristina Lee could make an awesome plate of food out of a pair of old boots, an onion, a roll of duct tape, and a bottle of Sriracha. Just look at the photo above: that’s a chicken tender glazed in spiced honey and shoved into a hot dog bun with sweet and spicy pickles and a creamy garlic sauce.
It may sound insane, but it tastes delicious, and it speaks to Lee’s ability to not only balance flavors, but also put unexpected ingredients together into a cohesive dish.
This is something Lee does again and again at her concepts Nice Rollz and Kamp. The former successfully integrates Korean flavors into breakfast dishes, burgers, and traditional Asian plates, while the latter takes ordinary items like burgers, hot dogs, and tater tots and puts a chef-inspired twist on them. Kristina’s ability to not only surprise but thrill the chefs with wild dishes and flavors would make her a serious Chopped threat.
Dario Schicke; Avoli Osteria
Dario Schicke’s familiarity with and embrace of global flavors, ingredients, and techniques is rare. This James Beard semifinalist grew up in Bosnia, met his wife in Germany, graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York, developed a love for Belgian beers, and worked in five different kitchens in Northern Italy before opening his Dundee eatery, Avoli Osteria. Oh, and Dario’s Cheeseburger (at the now closed Dario’s Brasserie) was regarded as one of Omaha’s finest.
Simply put, there aren’t too many dishes this guy hasn’t cooked, regardless of global origin.
Dario’s menus have highlighted everything from mussels to spaetzle, stuffed crepes, beef tartare, croque madames, and some of the most decadent short rib I’ve ever encountered. He’s also become proficient in pasta and cooking proteins like chicken, branzino, salmon, and more at Avoli. Good luck spooking Schicke with a Chopped basket.
Glenn Wheeler; Spencer's for Steaks & Chops
Omaha’s culinary scene wouldn’t be where it is now without Glenn Wheeler, and it’s uncommon to find a chef or cook without some connection to the James Beard semifinalist. There’s little that the executive chef at Spencer’s for Steaks and Chops hasn’t seen or experienced in the kitchen, and his experience gives him an upper hand on Chopped.
The man simply excels in protein cookery, which is essential on Chopped. It’s nearly impossible to imagine him serving an over-cooked steak or under-rested bird to the judges; nearly every steak, pork chop, lamp chop, and seafood preparation at Spencer’s arrives expertly prepared, and the accompanying sauces and components create a composed dish. Chopped loves throwing curveballs at contestants by making them cook with all kinds of odd proteins, including intestines, kidneys, and stomaches. I’m confident Wheeler can handle any protein pitch.
Ashish Sathyan; Kinaara
The flavors that Ashish Sathyan produces in the plates at Kinaara are, simply put, unlike any in Omaha (or anywhere I’ve eaten, for that matter). Each dish has its own unique spice blend and flavor profile, so much so that I struggle to describe them because I have no other point of reference.
Ashish is proficient at working with chicken, shrimp, salmon, bison, beef chuck, pork shank, and just about any cut of protein (not to mention his mastery of tofu and jackfruit); good luck to the Chopped producers trying to throw him off.
Piero Cotrina; WD Cravings
Piero Cotrina’s expertise is in Italian food; few in Omaha make better handmade pasta (as showcased by his work at WD Cravings), and he’s mastered pizza making at Via Farina and now at Pop’s. But Cotrina isn’t a one-trick pony with Italian food; he’s cooked in fine dining establishments around the country, and his creativity is on display with WD Cravings’ crazy but delicious breakfast sandwiches (meatballs with scrambled eggs?! And yet, it just works).
But Cotrina owes one of his greatest advantages to his better half and co-owner of WD Cravings. Dessert is the round that trips up many contestants, but Wendy Delgado is one of Omaha’s best pastry chefs. Working alongside her for years, Cotrina’s likely picked up a trick or two to help him in the crucible of the Chopped kitchen.
Oscar Hernandez; Corner Kitchen
Oscar Hernandez learned a variety of techniques and different styles of cooking while working in others’ restaurants, but it’s what he’s shown since opening his own place that makes me think he could handle Chopped. Corner Kitchen features a fusion of Mexican and Asian flavors, a combination that could crash and burn in the wrong hands. But Hernandez’s deft mixture of flavors make dishes like his bulgogi torta, Korean pork taco, and chipotle miso ramen really sing. His versatility and head-down attitude would go a long ways on Chopped.
Brooke Nicole Williams; Sunnyside on Center
Working at Block 16 grants you creativity and adaptability by osmosis; with a menu full of inventive dishes and a new lunch special every day, Block 16 is synonymous with imagination. Brooke Nicole Williams worked under owners Jessica Joyce Urban and Paul Urban for years, essentially becoming the restaurant’s sous chef. She was responsible for coming up with many of the specials, including the famous Brooke’s Chickenwich, which was so popular it made the permanent menu. And now she’s running her own kitchens as the chef of Site-1 Brewing and the Elkhorn location of Sunnyside.
And I think Brooke’s composure would be a major asset in the craziness of the Chopped kitchen. Between brunch rush at Sunnyside and the lines spilling out the door at Block 16, Brooke is used to cooking on a line under pressure. The Chopped clock is different, but she’s learned to cook through stress and tension.
Matt Moser; Stirnella
Matt Moser’s menu at Stirnella is almost completely rewritten several times each year, so Moser is always keeping up on food trends, new techniques, and diverse ingredients to make the dishes pop. His menus have pastas, sandwiches, salads, breakfast dishes, and protein preparations from all over the world, all of which come with one or two creative twists. He also previously owned Butterfish, which showcased sushi and creative small plates with Asian flair, before it closed during the pandemic.
Moser’s ability to infuse international flavors into comfort food is a real asset, and the chef keeps a notebook on him at all times to write down new ideas that come to him. That’s the type of attitude that makes you a Chopped champion.