Food Network’s ‘Beachside Brawl’ competition to feature Seattle-area chefs

Familiar faces (and foods) will be on Foodstuff Network this week.

Two Seattle-spot chefs will stand for the Pacific Northwest on a West Coastline staff in the new sequence “Beachside Brawl,” premiering 10 p.m. June 19 on Meals Community and the streaming provider discovery+.

Regardless of that rock ’em, sock ’em title, the two cooks — Kaleena Bliss, the government chef at Dialogue in Seattle’s Thompson Hotel who in February won Meals Network’s “Chopped: Casino Royale,” and Brian Madayag, owner-chef of Barkada in Edmonds — say it turned out to be a helpful competitors.

“We all maintain in contact on a group textual content thread,” Bliss claimed. “We’re all dying for the clearly show to appear out because we ended up so fast paced [during filming] we didn’t generally get a likelihood to see what just about every other was doing.”

Bliss and Madayag are on a staff headed by Brooke Williamson competing from an East Coastline staff captained by Tiffani Faison. Antonia Lofaso, joined every 7 days by a rotating visitor choose, hosts the sequence, which filmed in Redondo Beach, California, in March.

The purpose? Demonstrate which coastline cooks up the much better culinary creations. A single crew member will be crowned “Best of the Beach” and get a $25,000 beach front getaway.

Madayag, a 2003 Meadowdale Substantial College grad, was born and elevated in Edmonds and discovered a successful outlet in the kitchen area.

“I wasn’t the finest child increasing up and I got in some problems, but each time I uncovered myself in the kitchen, I knew I was carrying out great,” Madayag explained. “As long as I was cooking, I was remaining out of difficulties.”

Madayag started operating in dining establishments in the front of house, including as bar supervisor at the Pan Pacific Seattle Lodge when it opened in 2006. He labored for restaurateur Tom Douglas for 12 a long time — and designed the shift into the kitchen area.

“[Douglas] didn’t consider me significantly till I went to Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central University, and then they took me very seriously and I started out my time in the kitchen area,” explained Madayag, who was the executive chef at the opening of Douglas’ Cantina Leña in 2014.

In 2017, Madayag struck out on his own with Filipino-Hawaiian restaurant Barkada, which commenced as a sit-down cafe but advanced into a counter-support joint over the study course of the pandemic.

“We had to ride this roller coaster like everybody else, undertaking a great deal of pivots and adjusting to what individuals were doing,” Madayag claimed. “My [cooking] design is Pacific Northwest rustic and right now my focus is on dishes from my heritage.”

Although Madayag and Barkada have been earlier highlighted on the PBS program “No Passport Required” in 2019, “Beachside Brawl” marks his to start with visual appearance on a Television competitors application.

“We received a random personal message on Instagram from a casting director,” Madayag claimed of how he landed on the present. “She believed we experienced a terrific story and reached out and requested if we were being intrigued.”

“Beachside Brawl” marks Bliss’ next Meals Network collection in a year. She was contacted by using social media by a casting producer in February a couple of months right after winning “Chopped: Casino Royale” but did not find out she was picked to be on “Brawl” until finally a 7 days before taping began.

“Thankfully, my staff right here, not only my kitchen area team but my hotel group, is just so supportive of all of these jobs,” Bliss said of her Conversation crew.

Both of those cooks admitted they had been nervous ahead of taping started. Madayag mentioned he didn’t sleep for 3 nights ahead of filming. Bliss experienced extra on-camera competition display expertise, but with “Chopped,” she realized the show’s structure. Because “Beachside Brawl” is a new series, Bliss had no idea what to hope.

“It was just about more nerve-wracking since there are three teammates and you are thinking, am I gonna even get along with them?” Bliss reported. “How related or how different are their cooking types? Are there going to be egos included? Is all people heading to be out for on their own? All these ideas absolutely went via my head. And then there’s also the element of, ‘I really do not know how this activity is effective.’”

In the long run, Bliss said she “ended up loving” the experience, specially the opportunity to meet up with fellow opponents and get encouragement from her team’s captain by way of Zoom meetings prior to filming.

A person challenge the foodstuff competitors display veteran and newcomer equally faced: simulating summer months on the outdoor established on breezy, chilly March days.

“We’re cooking on the frickin’ Redondo [Beach] Pier, which is crazier than it appears since you cannot regulate the temperature, the wind,” Bliss stated.

“The director instructed us, ‘Don’t shiver,’” Madayag mentioned. “We’re cooking off propane stoves. We weren’t in a experienced kitchen with things that we’re made use of to.”

Bliss and Madayag did not know a single one more in advance of filming the exhibit — the moment they had been picked up alongside one another at LAX, they recognized Madayag was seated 1 row in entrance of Bliss on the exact flight from Seattle — but they’ve stayed in contact. Bliss promised to acquire Madayag foraging even though Madayag has invited Bliss to go fishing with him.

“He and I experienced a distinctive bond,” Bliss explained, “because we have been pondering, the other two on our team are from California, so we were representing the PNW.”