I first heard inklings of Lockeland Table chef Hal Holden-Bache’s trip to New York City to shoot a television show months ago, and then I read about it on Facebook and in the LT email newsletter earlier this summer. But I know you (us) Bites readers, we don’t always respond to advance warning. So I’ve been holding off on sharing the news until today, the very day that Holden-Bache’s episode premieres on Food Network tonight at 9 p.m.
For those of you who might be reading this in the future, which would make this the past, the episode of Beat Bobby Flay premieres on Thursday, Aug. 3, but you can see future airing times of Episode 3 of Season 13 here. You will also discover on that page that Food Network refers to Chef Hal as “Bear,” a pretty easy nickname for a bearded, burly, friendly guy.
In order to earn the right to square off against Bobby Flay himself, Holden-Bache must first win a cook-off against another chef-testant in a competition judged by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli and The Chew’s” Daphne Oz. Hal’s rival in the competition is described as “model-turned-chef Derek Orrell.” I like our local hero’s chances, and not just because the episode is titled “Bear-ware.”
The judges who will determine the winner between the Round 1 champion and Flay are Claudia Fleming, Jason DeBriere and Craig Samuel. We still don’t officially know if Hal made it to Round 2 or how he did, but this quote sure does imply that he did OK: “The anticipation of the secret ingredient is beyond intense. But once I found out what the secret ingredient was, I focused in and knew what I wanted to do and just went out and competed.”
