Newark chef Robbie Jester is again on TV and this time the stress is actually on.
Jester, a personal chef and an proprietor of Pizzeria Mariana on East Cleveland Avenue, will dish up the drama as a contestant on the brand new Netflix aggressive cooking collection “Strain Cooker,” which drops on Friday, Jan. 6.
The collection follows 11 cooks who’re residing collectively as they take part in cooking contests. The twist within the collection is that there is no such thing as a panel of visitor judges: The opponents choose one another and in addition vote on who will obtain the $100,000 prize.
Jester is not any stranger to TV cooking packages.
He has twice appeared on the Meals Community’s “Man’s Grocery Video games” (he received on his second look) and battled and received a shrimp scampi cooking contest on “Beat Bobby Flay.”
Jester’s profitable scampi dish that finest one made by celeb chef Bobby Flay appeared on the menu for a number of years on the Stone Balloon Ale Home in Newark, the place he was previously govt chef. The $19 dish, made with do-it-yourself cavatelli, tomato, lemon and garlic in a white wine butter sauce, is now on the menu at Pizzeria Mariana, Jester’s restaurant that serves wood-fired pizza, salads and pasta.
Jester stated “Strain Cooker” was a way more intense expertise than when he competed towards Flay.
“That is fully completely different,” he stated of the Netflix collection. “It is day-after-day and it is relentless.”
Attributable to contract restrictions, Jester was not allowed to debate too many particulars of “Strain Cooker” earlier than the collection begins airing.
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He stated he “obtained wind” of the present about two years in the past and utilized to be a competitor in fall 2021. Jester stated he discovered in spring 2022 he was chosen to be a contestant and flew to Los Angeles the place the collection was filmed.
Jester stayed in California for about 3½ weeks and stated having ” staff in place” helped him hold his Newark restaurant operating whereas he was gone.
He stated producers had been obscure on present particulars when he arrived apart from that this system was a cooking competitors the place contestants would reside collectively and “there was going to be a social part.”
“It was fully secret. We did not know anyone. We did not know we weren’t being judged by celeb cooks. Daily is a brand new day and a brand new set of challenges. They did a very good job of holding us separated and being secretive. It’s extremely high-intensity and risky. It is the toughest factor I’ve ever completed,” Jester stated.
A red-faced, emotional Jester is proven in a collection of clips from a trailer from this seemingly cut-throat kitchen. The trailer means that forming alliances, impressing your friends and having a method is necessary to the sport,
In a single clip, Jester is proven close to tears as he embraces a chef. In others, he’s yelling that one other contestant has served “uncooked meals twice!” and he additionally seems offended as he pushes a chair away from a desk, stands up, and seems to confront a fellow contestant whereas saying, “You realize what? ….”
“It’s extremely emotional as you possibly can see within the trailer,” Jester stated chuckling throughout a Tuesday afternoon cellphone interview.
Jester stated Netflix subscribers can binge-watch the entire season of “Strain Cooker” when it begins airing at midnight on Jan. 6.
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Jester can be internet hosting an open-to-the-public “Strain Cooker” viewing social gathering at 6 pm Friday, Jan. 6 on the Bellefonte Brewing Co. at 1851 Marsh Highway in Brandywine Hundred’s Plaza III purchasing heart.
Delaware cooks have been getting loads of nationwide TV publicity in current months.
SoDel Ideas’ Company Pastry Chef Dru Tevis received the Meals Community’s “Vacation Baking Championship,” Hari Cameron, a co-founder of grandpa (MAC) in Rehoboth Seashore, is featured on Netflix’s “Snack vs. Chef” and Wilmington baker Donavon ” Monty” Alderman is on the Meals Community’s docu-series “Bake It ‘Til You Make It,” a seven-episode program that started Dec. 26.
Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and observe her on Twitter @pattytalorico