Can This Asheville Chef Avenge Her Past Encounter With Two 'Triple Threat' Judges?

Chef, sommelier, cookbook author, Top Chef competitor and restaurateur Ashleigh Shanti didn’t grow up in Appalachia, but she answered when the mountains called her to Asheville, North Carolina, when she was seeking direction after earning a college degree, going to culinary school and working alongside chefs Vivian Howard and John Fleer.

Eventually, she opened her own restaurant, Good Hot Fish, in Asheville's South Slope Brewing District. Good Hot Fish is inspired by old-fashioned fish camps, with the menu carefully curated from Ashleigh’s Appalachian roots. She is known for her inventive cooking style and dedication to preserving African-American voices in the kitchen.

And when Bobby Flay invited her to compete on Bobby’s Triple Threat, Ashleigh was ready.

“I’m not worried about beating them. That should be pretty easy,” Ashleigh said.

Her competitors? Chefs Michael Voltaggio, Brooke Williamson and Tiffany Derry. It wasn’t the first time Ashleigh had encountered Brooke and Tiffany; they were judges during her appearance on Season 19 of Top Chef, in which Ashleigh placed seventh.

“I think she’s got the energy to give these guys a hard time,” Bobby said.

Round 1: Slab Bacon and Frisée

In the first two rounds of Triple Threat, Bobby chooses two ingredients, and the competing chef chooses which of the cooking titans they will go up against. Ashleigh’s first choice? Michael.

“Michael Voltaggio knows me the least. My strategy is that I don't want to allow him to learn the tips and tricks that I use," she explained.

With 45 minutes on the clock, Ashleigh dove into making fresh corn polenta with frisée and bacon agrodolce, as well as a frisée-and-slab bacon pancake with scallions and crispy bacon, which she modeled after the cabbage pancake she sells at Good Hot Fish.

“I do lean into southern Appalachian cooking, and corn is largely popular in southern Appalachia,” she said.

Michael’s first dish was bacon pretending to be braised pork belly with ricotta dumplings and charred frisée, while the second dish was Michael’s take on a frisée salad with a soft-boiled egg, red pepper-bacon vinaigrette and ground bacon bits.

While an underdone pancake almost derailed Ashleigh in the first round, judge Wylie Dufresne loved the unique way she incorporated frisée into the savory pancake.

Ashleigh won the first round, putting up 8 points to Michael’s 7.

Round 2: Skirt Steak and Piquillo Peppers

Tiffany was excited to see Ashleigh in the competition, but she was not going to go down without a fight.

“Ashleigh is a fighter, and I couldn’t be more proud to see another Black chef, especially a woman, out here doing it. So part of me is like, ’Great, welcome to my house, but I can’t let you beat me here.’”

Ashleigh struggled a bit in this round, as she waited until the last minute to cook her flank steak and struggled to differentiate the flavor profile of the dishes. Judge Wylie took notice, calling it one steak served two times.

The round ended with Ashleigh earning 6 points to Tiffany’s 9, giving the Titans a two-point lead.

Round 3: Chicken Livers and Chanterelles

In Round 3, the competing chef picks the final two ingredients and makes one dish. For Ashleigh, the choice was easy and strategic: as a previous judge of Ashleigh’s cooking, chef Brooke had less than stellar opinions of Ashleigh’s cooking.

“Brooke has judged me a few times, and she did not have positive feedback for most of the dishes that I've prepared for her, so hopefully I can redeem myself by winning this,” Ashleigh said.

And it just so turns out that Brooke does not like chicken liver at all.

“Can I cook chicken livers? Sure. Do I have an instant dish in my head that I’m excited about? No,” Brooke said.

Chanterelle, a kind of mushroom, became the base for Ashleigh’s dirty fonio with chanterelle cream and fried chicken livers. Dirty fonio is similar to dirty rice, but fonio is more like a fine-grain quinoa that cooks quickly.

Brooke chose to make a chicken liver and bacon crispy rice dish with pork tenderloin and pickled chanterelles.

The addition of the pork tenderloin turned out to be the wrong move, according to judge Wylie, who noted it felt like Brooke decided to cook a pork dish that put the chicken livers in the back seat.

The Moment of Truth

In the final round, Ashleigh racked up 17 points, while Brooke pulled in 16. The final score?

Ashleigh: 31

Titans: 32

“Unfortunately, it was just not my day. I got really close, though,” Ashleigh said. “The silver lining is I beat chef Brooke Williamson and chef Michael Voltaggio. That’s a pretty big deal to me.”

“I got you next time, chef Tiffany,” she promised.