Dean McDermott, actor, television personality and Gourmet Dad, opened his home to America during the six seasons of the hit show Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, along with wife Tori Spelling. Born and raised in Toronto, Dean is the winner of Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, Season 2 and recently returned to his hometown to host the highly anticipated Food Network Canada series Chopped Canada.
A self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, the father of five is an avid adventurer and a mixed martial arts enthusiast. He also races motorcycles and is a phenomenal cook and a master DIYer. He appears regularly on a variety of daytime talk and entertainment shows, is a regular contributor to Parenting.com and is concentrating on growing his Gourmet Dad brand as he continues his culinary arts studies at the Art Institute of California's Culinary School. Dean shares his experiences and knowledge on his website, DeanMcDermott.com. From family and relationships to projects and hobbies, the site serves as a pit stop for dudes and dads of any age who want to talk shop about man-of-the-house stuff.
Dean recently finished production on Tori & Dean: Cabin Fever, a series that follows Tori and Dean and their kids while they renovate an Ontario lakeside cottage into their dream vacation home. As a modern-day renaissance father, Dean keeps family, food and fun his primary focus. Dean is currently working on his first cookbook, which will be released in 2014.
Find Dean on Twitter, @Deanracer, and Facebook, DeanMcDermott007.
The remaining five chefs have to cook three dishes from their own menu as chosen by potential investor Geoffrey Zakarian. He's looking for a menu that's cohesive, representative of the chef's style and tastes like a winner. Using all the leftovers, the chefs then must make a special dish that would be served in their dream restaurant. Creativity is key to owning a restaurant, and the least creative aspiring restaurateur is sent home.
As a bakery owner, Duff Goldman receives some VERY unusual requests from customers, and he's using them as the inspiration for a "Make It Work" desserts challenge. In this test, Duff and Valerie will ask the bakers to make a delicious dessert using an unexpected flavor combination, like strawberry and balsamic or banana and grapefruit. The kid bakers who can go with the flow move on, while the least successful dessert maker goes home.
In Plains, Mont., Chef Robert Irvine may have met one of the most clueless owners he's encountered at Heather's Country Kitchen. In the three years since the former stay-at-home mom impulsively purchased her namesake restaurant, she seemingly hasn't picked up much at all. In the course of two days, Robert has to manage the very high food and labor costs and also get Heather to embrace working with her headstrong daughters.
Valerie Bertinelli welcomes Colton Underwood, an ex-football player who now runs a nonprofit to benefit people living with cystic fibrosis. He has been traveling the country for his charity, and Valerie is treating him and his girlfriend, Cassie Randolph, to a home-cooked meal with some of her mom's best dishes. She makes Classic Antipasti Green Salad, Mom's Chicken Cacciatore, Garlicky Polenta and, for dessert, Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.
The only thing better than watching an excellent chef make a dish is when multiple chefs unite! Jeff Mauro shows off some of The Kitchen's best group recipes. Sunny Anderson and Geoffrey Zakarian each make a sauce to compliment Jeff's perfectly home cooked filet mignons. Then, the hosts show different ways to use kitchen shears to create a perfect and easy salad. The gang all pitches in to make a gooey Black Forest Pudding Cake, plus Geoffrey and Sunny team up for two different takes on an awesome party dish -- French Bread Pizzas. Then, Geoffrey and Jeff pair up to make a special Surf and Turf, and the hosts each add an element to create an outstanding Easter Egg Nest Cake, perfect for spring.
Once you meet Kevin Gillespie, it’s not hard to see why he took home the title of Top Chef fan favorite. He may have two acclaimed restaurants under his belt—Gunshow in Atlanta and Revival in Decatur—but he’s also the kind of charming, down-home guy you’d like to have a drink with. And, true to his southern roots, he always has a good story to tell.Upon graduating from high school, Gillespie was accepted to MIT, where he had hoped to study nuclear engineering. His lifelong passion for cooking, however, led him instead to the Art Institute of Atlanta, and eventually, to top restaurants in Georgia and Oregon. In 2013, he opened the doors to Gunshow, his dim-sum-inspired take on Southern cuisine, which topped topped best-of lists at Bon Appetit, Esquire, and GQ. In 2015, Gillespie followed his debut with Revival in Decatur, Georgia, a fresh take on the family-style dinner with a focus on farm-raised, artisan-prepared ingredients.The author of two acclaimed cookbooks, including James Beard Award-winning Fire in My Belly, Gillespie was also named a 2015 semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Southeast award, and semi-finalist for the Rising Star Chef of the Year award for three consecutive years. In 2011, he was nominated for Food & Wine’s People’s Best New Chef award as well as named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30. As a rising star bringing more than just good food to the table, Gillespie was named one of Mother Nature Network’s “40 Chefs Under 40” in November 2009 for promoting better health for people and the planet.He is a member of Slow Food Atlanta, Southern Foodways Alliance, Community Farmers Markets Chefs Advisory Board, Georgia Organics and the Society for the Preservation of Traditional Southern Barbecue.Kevin's Restaurants:Gunshow (Atlanta, GA) Revival (Decatur, GA) Kevin's Books:Fire in My Belly (2012)Pure Pork Awesomeness (2015)
It's a perfect day of fun in the city. Ina's cooking at two fabulous restaurants, learning the secret to Oyster Pan Roast and Uni Butter Crostini at John Dory Oyster Bar and the famous Million Dollar Chicken at the Standard Grill. Ina takes a stroll on The High Line and meets with the vendor behind People Pops, and even Jeffrey's getting a cheese making course at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. Back home, it's Side Car cocktails and a Garten taste-off!
The key to growing a small business is getting good reviews, and food festivals are the perfect place for new customers to sample food and create "buzz." Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli ask the bakers to create festival-friendly desserts in a jar, like cheesecake, banana pudding, brownies, lemon meringue pie or strawberry shortcake. Then, the bakers taste each other's treats, and the business with the most "thumbs up" earns immunity from elimination, while the least successful dessert maker goes home.