Reality television got a gourmet taste of Austin cuisine when Paul Qui won Top Chef Texas, and now it wants more. The Food Network show Chopped  is coming to Austin in July to cast for upcoming episodes of the popular James Beard Award winning show. We talked with Beth Schiff, a casting director for Chopped, about scouting Austin talent and why we’ll be seeing more Texas chefs on the show in upcoming episodes. For those interested in applying to be on the show, see the links below. 

Why are you casting in Austin? Is there something specific about the city or the Texas culinary scene that appeals to casting?

Chopped traditionally focused on New York City chefs and restaurants, but in more recent seasons we’ve had the opportunity to explore new culinary communities across the country. It’s very exciting. After casting chefs from San Francisco, Miami, Portland, Atlanta, and New Orleans – just to name a few – it’s only fitting that we would hit the Southwest. Austin, in particular, is very attractive to our team because it is known for being an artistic hub of the Southwest and having an experimental, creatively progressive atmosphere. In initially researching Austin, one thing we noticed is that many of the chefs seem pretty fearless in creating out-of-the-box dishes. Chopped is all about left-field thinking and a healthy lack of fear in the face of new challenges, so Austin seemed like a perfect fit. We’re excited to see what Austin has to offer. We’re also excited to meet talented chefs who work in kitchens that make more traditional Southwestern fare.

What kinds of chefs are you looking for during casting?

We are looking for creative, dynamic chefs who can elevate our basket ingredients and thrive under pressure. These chefs should be ready to put their skills to the test in a challenging environment and create inspirational dishes. Not only do you have to deal with mystery ingredients, time constraints, and critiques from our judges, but you also have to interact with our host as well as work in the studio environment with lights and cameras. It’s not a competition for the faint of heart, but that’s why so many people apply. We get chefs who love the adrenaline rush associated with kitchen, and Chopped is the ultimate culinary adrenaline rush.

What does the casting process entail? What will chefs be expected to do?

The first step is filling out an online application at ChoppedCasting.com. If you are professional chef, you fill out the standard application. If not, you can potentially apply for one of our special applications. We review all applications, and if we feel someone is a good fit for the show, we schedule them for an on-camera interview while we are in Austin in early July. We submit these applications and on-camera interviews to our producers and go from there. We ask that chefs are very thorough in answering the questions on the application. Our team really needs to get a sense of the chefs’ personalities, styles, and passion for cooking.

What can we expect in the upcoming episodes of Chopped? Anything new or exciting?

We have several special episodes that we are currently casting. We are looking for amateur cooks who aren’t in the kitchen and haven’t gone to culinary schools [but] can hold their own against anyone in the kitchen; military chefs who can throw down; chefs from the same family, blood-related or through marriage, who are willing to go up against each other and others for a Chopped family battle; chefs who have a great personal weight loss story; and moms who have a huge passion for cooking to the point where they would rather be nowhere else but in the kitchen.

Is it likely we will see more Texas chefs on the show?

You will definitely see Texas represented on the show, as soon as this summer in fact. We are excited by the research we’ve done so far in terms of culinary talent, so we have high expectations.

Tagged: austin, Chopped, Food Network, Layne Lynch, Ted Allen

How do you improve on a killer grilled pastrami with cheddar and horseradish mayo? Or a gyro sandwich with Israeli salad and Tabasco tzatziki? Austin Daily Press knows how. Wrap the sammy in The Onion newsprint and sell it at a bargain to late-night downtown revelers. Oh, and add a catchy little motto to the side of your trailer: “As toasted as you are.”

But we aren’t the only ones to notice this budding enterprise. Austin Daily Press is one of the seven groups competing on the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race for a $50,000 prize. The show, which premiers on Sunday, August 15, at 9 p.m. CST/10 p.m. EST, features the businesses as they race across the country “to convince American to step outside their culinary comfort zones and try something new—from a truck.”

I sat down with Amy Hildenbrand of the Press (the other team members are Cory Nunez and Melani Feinberg) to talk about the sandwiches, the show, and the industry’s secrets.

How did you get started with the truck? Is it something you’ve always seen yourself doing, or is it a new passion?

The truck itself is a new passion, but I’ve always been interested in cooking. I learned a lot from my grannie and just watching how she did things. I always liked it from a scientific point of view, where you take these random cold ingredients and you make something completely different from them.

The main idea we had for Austin Daily Press was something that could be easily delivered, because we do deliveries out of the cart, and grilled sandwiches came up. A lot of the recipes are based on what Cory said he used to eat when he was a kid.

Do you have a philosophy behind your food truck?

Just to have fun with it. I mean, neither of us are chefs. Cory has a background in cooking for a living, and I still cook as a hobby. But we’re not trying to pass ourselves off as high-end Top Chef–type people. We blast eighties music and serve a lot of food to drunk people, mainly.

I bet the late-night crowd can be pretty rowdy. What drives you to keep serving such high-quality food to them?

We know that ultimately they’ll appreciate it. They might not be aware that they’re appreciating it, but certainly their bodies are aware that they’re getting real food. It’s like we’re helping take care of them a little bit, which is nice. And I don’t know if they just drunkenly keep the wadded-up wax paper in their pocket or something, but they remember us when they’re sober and come back.

What would you say is your favorite street food in Austin?

Kebabalicious is great. I like Best Wurst as well. I think they’re the oldest food cart in Austin, and it’s just a solid dog.

Is there a community of food trailer vendors in Austin, or even nationally?

There’s definitely a community in Austin. I think it’s the city with the second-largest population of food trucks, right after Portland, Oregon. The restrictions down here are certainly not lax, but it’s less strict than it is in other areas, like Los Angeles. So it’s a little bit easier to get into this business.

Tell us about being on The Great Food Truck Race.

The Food Network approached us at the end of March. We later came to learn that we were not just the only ones from Texas but the only ones from outside of California, period. First of all, we’re not even a truck, we’re a trailer. We were always the odd man out on everything.

It was cool to see if this concept could actually work outside of our home base, outside of the streets and the people that we knew. And on top of that, seeing if it could work during the day, during the morning, instead of late-night.

The show became sort of a lesson on how to set up a franchise in the span of a weekend. What you’d need to do to get the word out and learn if your product could sell in a completely new town.

Do you think the trailer trend is impacting the food industry in general?

Definitely. You’ve got big corporate brick-and-mortar restaurants that are putting out trucks now. A lot of people got into the trucks because it’s a much cheaper way of getting into the food industry. It doesn’t cost a quarter of a million dollars to open a food truck like it would a restaurant. But now the big restaurants are paying attention and they’re scaling back and trying to catch the public’s eye with trucks as well.

It’s not just roach coaches anymore. There are actual full kitchens on wheels. Most kitchens in restaurants are relatively small to begin with, so if you just kinda tighten it down, put, like, a submarine aspect to the organization of it, then you can do a lot in a really small space.

Tagged: Austin Daily Press, Food Network, sandwiches, The Great Food Truck Race, Trailer Thursday