Zach Laidlaw cooked his way out of the elimination round and into a finalist spot on “Next Level Chef,” making him one of three competitors who will do battle for the title in next week’s finale episode.
Laidlaw, a professional chef who trained at Elgin Community College, wound up in do-or-die cook-off on the Fox-TV reality show Thursday after his failed effort during the “taste of success” flavor challenge.
Working from the mid-level kitchen, he prepared a spicy pork chop with fennel puree and pan-roasted brussel sprouts but ran out of time to “smoke” the presentation despite covering it with a dome.
Celebrity chef mentor/judges Gordon Ramsay, Nyesha Arrington and Richard Blais found Laidlaw’s creation to be unfinished and served on a messy plate. They also critiqued him for once again waiting to do too much at the end of the 30 minutes allotted.
In the elimination round, Laidlaw faced Jordan Torrey, a social media chef from Tampa, who wound up in the face-off because his sweet cod with miso glaze was found lacking. He was cited for not using some of the ingredients he chose, including a white truffle mushroom.
In the cook-off, the two chefs had to incorporate champagne into their creations.
Torrey prepared a pan-seared turbot served with champagne-glazed vegetables, truffles with potatoes and a champagne beurre blanc, which is a butter sauce.
Laidlaw countered with a veal chop in a vanilla bean beurre blanc that he served with a radish-and-fennel salad.
The judges praised Laidlaw’s job with the veal. However, Ramsay found the sauce too sweet and Blais said it was an odd pairing with veal.
While the judges enjoyed Torrey’s fish dish, they had issues with his sauce. Arrington said it was “broken” because it hadn’t emulsified.
Ultimately, they picked Laidlaw for the final spot moving on to the final round.
He will compete against Gabi Chappel, a Brooklyn-based social media chef, and Christina Miros, a home chef from New Jersey. The judges found their creations to be the best of the night, which put them in the finals.
Chappel prepared pan-seared scallops and vegetables that included beets. Miros went with a charred beef filet served with flame-roasted asparagus and mushrooms.
Next week, the three remaining chefs will compete for the $250,000 first prize and a year-long internship with the show’s three celebrity chefs.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
