Chester Chef is 'Chopped' Champion

Chester native Anup Joshi turned his basket of mystery ingredients into a recipe for success as he was the last chef standing in the July 23 episode of the Food Network culinary competition series “Chopped.” 

The show pits four chefs against each other, the clock and a strange basket of ingredients as they compete for $10,000 in an appetizer round, entrée round and dessert round.

The 28-year-old Joshi currently works at the Spanish restaurant Tertulia in New York, but got his start at the Pizza Pub in Randolph during high school. 

“That’s how I got into working in restaurant. I was probably 17 and starting my last year of high school when I decided I wasn't going to college and was going to pursue cooking,” Joshi said.

Joshi did a six-month stint in a culinary program in New York before getting his first serious job at March restaurant on the east side of Manhattan. 

“It was New American cooking with a Japanese influence, but I spent the next nine years working around New York, cooking Spanish, French, American, Italian, and also doing some traveling.” Joshi said. “I learned as much as I could and then in the spring of 2011 I got approached by chef Seamus Mullen to help him open Tertulia.” 

“I met a few of the producers at the restaurant and they asked me to audition and I did,” Joshi said. 

Joshi’s competition in the episode, titled “Wurst Case Scenario,” pitted the Chester man against Geter Atienza, a sous chef at The Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica CA, Michelle Harriott, a catering chef at Culin ARIANE in Montclair and Des Lim, a Trump SoHo executive chef.

The judges for the episode were Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, Maneet Chauhan and Scott Conant. In the appetizer round the contestants had 20 minutes to prepare a dish using shrimp, yucca, sweet relish and currywurst. 

Joshi said that the timed elements of the competition were challenging.

“The clock goes very fast, by the time you realize what you are doing and get started it seems like you're halfway through,” Joshi said. “It was incredible pressure.” 

At the end of the opening round, Joshi’s dish Indian-spiced currywurst and shrimp stew with chickpeas, coriander and turmeric advanced him to the next round while fellow Jerseyian Harriott was chopped. Joshi said the judges were nice.

“They were all very nice, while being critical,” Joshi said. “It was all very positive criticism.” 

The entrée round saw a mystery basket of chilean sea bass, avocado, dried wakame seaweed and popcorn balls. Joshi’s wakame broth and olive oil-poached sea bass with tarragon, mint and chiles advanced him to the final round, while Atienza was sent back to Santa Monica. Joshi said that while the timed portions went quickly, the secretive process of filming the show was a long one.

“I was surprised at how long the entire process was, and also how secretive they were about everything,” Joshi said. “I wasn't allowed to have my phone on me, and I had to be escorted to the rest room.”

In the dessert round the last two standing were given steel-cut oats, feta, watermelon syrup and huckleberries and it was in this round that Joshi’s prep work before the show paid off. 

“I practiced a few times at the restaurant with the other cooks, we would get a basket of random ingredients and try to make something,” Joshi said. “I did some quick baking and ice cream making.”

The ice cream making turned out to be a key, as the winning dish turned out to be Joshi’s oatmeal kheer with feta cheese ice cream, cardamom, sugar and milk. 

Joshi said that he is exploring several options of what to do with the prize money once he receives it.

“We are looking to put together a community of cooks, chefs, and restaurants that can use their awesome resources to feed people, especially children, that can't afford to feed themselves,” Joshi said. “I would want that a portion of my winnings plus the positive attention that it receives to help in this effort.” 

And although he is a successful chef in the big city and a bonafide reality TV star, Joshi doesn’t forget his Chester roots.

“My parents still live in Chester so I do go back often. I don't think I appreciated how nice it was back then," Joshi said. “But going back now there is great local produce. It was a nice place to grow up.”