Chef Love is the chef and owner of several Fort Worth-area restaurants known for their urban Western cuisine. He won against Iron Chef Morimoto in Battle Chile Pepper on Iron Chef America.
Texas chef and restaurateur Tim Love brought his A-game to the Next Iron Chef competition, but it was simply not enough. After serving the judges a disappointing kale salad, Chef Love battled Chef Spike Mendelsohn in the Secret Ingredient Showdown for the chance to cook another day, but he was ultimately eliminated after just one round.
In a test of Resourcefulness, Chef Love let his redemption ingredient, kale, speak for itself, serving a largely no-cook kale salad with Manchego cheese and fresh apples. "I wanted to cook more, but there was no purpose," he reflected.
At the judges' table, Chef Love's salad was met with less-than-enthusiastic comments. Although the rival had "wanted the focus to be on the kale," his approach didn't impress the panel. Iron Chef Zakarian warned, "Simplicity is one of the most difficult things to achieve."
For Chef Love, the news that he was one of the bottom-four chefs of the challenge didn't sit well with him. "I've got some anger happening," he said. "I was very surprised to be standing there with those three other chefs."
After pardoning Chefs Vigneron and Estes, Alton revealed that it was Chef Love and Chef Mendelsohn who would battle it out in the first Secret Ingredient Showdown of the season. Their Secret Ingredient? Pineapple, "the Death Fruit," Alton told them.
While Chef Mendelsohn competed in last season's premiere Showdown, Chef Love was new to this late-game cook-off. "Chef Spike is young and he's talented, and he's also been in this position before," Chef Love said. "I felt like he had a little bit of an advantage."
To pair with the quail, Chef Love opted for pickled pineapple and a corn milk, made by juicing freshly shucked corn kernels. In a last-ditch effort to redeem kale, Chef Love also fried the leafy green and served it with sliced chiles.
The judges were pleasantly surprised by Chef Love's preparation of the pineapple. In a Kitchen Stadium first, he pickled the fruit and gave the panel something they had never before tasted.
"You just don't know where you're going to fall," Chef Love said, and after his head-to-head battle with Chef Mendelsohn, he ended up falling short. Ultimately Chef Mendelsohn outcooked Chef Love with a sweet-and-sour branzino, and Chef Love was told that he would not be The Next Iron Chef.
"I absolutely thought I had won," Chef Love reflected after the competition. Although his time on The Next Iron Chef was short-lived, his fellow chefs had only the utmost respect for him, calling him "a formidable talent" and "a master."
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