Netflix is taking the reality cooking competition to school with their latest show, Next Gen Chef (premiering Wednesday, Sept. 17). Looking for America’s next tastemaker, the entire show is set at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York—commonly nicknamed “the Harvard of cooking schools.”
Hosted by model Olivia Culpo and judged by chef Kelsey Barnard Clark and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy—both alumni of the school—the show builds off many of the lessons students confront at the CIA, as well as trials great chefs face in their day-to-day.
“[The CIA] is very different from any other college—you don't just show up in your sweatpants to class. We had to have our chef’s whites creased. They had to be completely white. It was like the military,” McCoy told Wine Spectator. McCoy started his career training as a chef at the CIA, where he first acquired a love of wine. He currently serves as president and CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates, which includes Napa’s Heitz Cellars.
This show marks the first time the CIA has allowed a TV crew inside, according to McCoy, with breathtaking shots of the grounds, sitting along the Hudson River and splashed with murals of culinary greats like Anthony Bourdain. The faculty of the CIA stars in the show, leading the contestants, watching them with an eagle eye in the kitchen and providing the occasional generous spoonful of tough love.
“When you watch [other cooking competition shows], they're doing these silly challenges: This segment is sponsored by McDonald's, so you need to make a gourmet Big Mac,” said McCoy. “[The CIA] is the training ground for the best chefs in the world.”
With 21 contestants, Next Gen Chef offers the largest cash prize of any reality cooking show: $500,000. Each chef is under the age of 30, though some already have many years under their belt at the world’s greatest kitchens, including Grand Award winners Per Se and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Best of Award of Excellence winner Charlie Palmer Steak, Award of Excellence winner Frontera Grill, and even a private chef for the New York Jets.
“We knew where young cooks had worked, so we really challenged a number of them,” says McCoy. “If I'm looking at the plate and all I can see is the food from the restaurant you’re at, that's only gonna get you so far in this competition.”
Alongside McCoy and Barnard Clark, a dozen high-profile chefs, closely tied to the CIA, serve as guest judges, such as Paul Carmichael of the newly opened Kabawa, Emma Bengtsson of Best of Award of Excellence winner Aquavit and Kwame Onwuachi of Award of Excellence winner Tatiana. Contestants also needed to present their dishes to culinary giants, such as Grant Achatz, Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller.
“[Our young contestants are] hungry—they just communicate and live in a different world. Their perspective and their approach is different,” says McCoy. “They have way more exposure than we did when we were in those positions. They've got social media. They see what chefs around the world are doing, where for us if we wanted to see that, we had to go to the restaurant. They're exposed to way more cuisines than we were. The food's more exciting at a young age.”
All eight episodes of Next Gen Chef are available for streaming on Netflix starting Sept. 17.
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