Set your DVRs: March 3 features national-TV appearances for a Hartford-based chef and entrepreneurial piemakers from Southington.
At 8 p.m., Tuesday, 18 chefs face the irascible Gordon Ramsay as the 14th season of “Hell’s Kitchen” debuts on Fox. Among them is Michael Dussault, who most recently served as the executive chef at the Hoffman SummerWood senior living community in West Hartford.
According to the network, Dussault and his fellow chefs will face a series of “grueling challenges” – fishing for crabs, serving a speed lunch for motorcyclists, cooking for a high school homecoming and a charity night with actress Fran Drescher. Dinner services and challenges will also feature a bevy of famous actors, musicians and celebrity chefs. Fox calls this season of Ramsay’s show “the most emotional yet.”
A native of Nashua, N.H., Dussault got his industry start in the Granite State at 13, washing dishes in the cafeteria at Rivier University and eventually working his way up to a cook position. After serving in the U.S. Army National Guard, he built his career with several top New Hampshire restaurants, including the former Manhattan on Pearl in Nashua and Manchester’s Mint Bistro & Sushi Bar.
His expertise in kosher cooking brought him to Hoffman SummerWood, he said.
“I knew about kosher food and fine dining, and wanted to merge the two together,” he said. “There’s a change in the demographics of senior living. People who are making a lot of money don’t want to go to a senior center and have food out of cans. They’re used to good food and things from scratch.”
Dussault got the call from producers after years of going to castings in Boston and New York, he said. In a clip on Fox’s website, (click here to watch) he says he wanted to be on the show for the excitement of it.
“I want to learn a lot from Chef Ramsay. I want to learn the Michelin star way,” he said. “I understand that Gordon Ramsay will knock you down and build you up, but in the long run it’s good for me.”
The winner of Season 14 earns the “Hell’s Kitchen” title and a head chef position at a to-be-determined restaurant, valued at $250,000. Dussault, who calls himself “Vanilla Spice,” will present his signature dish of herb-roasted Statler chicken breast, buttermilk mashed potatoes, sautéed asparagus, sundried cranberry puree and pan au jus. “I could’ve done something with a lot more flair, but what I like personally is re-creating the classics.”
Though you’ll have to watch to see how he fares, Dussault said it was a “great experience.”
“[It’s] something that’s just so crazy and unbelievable. Vanilla Spice doesn’t have any regrets. We had some great times.”
And at 10 p.m. over at CNBC, the owners of Sixpence Pie Company of Southington will be on “Restaurant Startup,” a reality show hosted by nationally recognized restaurateurs Joe Bastianich and Tim Love (and celebrity chef Antonia Lofaso as “expert insider.”) Sixpence is one of 20 restaurants and food vendors appearing on the program, during which each will try to convince Bastianich and Love that their concept is worth backing.
In Tuesday’s episode, Sixpence will face another pie company, Rock City Pies of Detroit. Bastianich and Love will choose between the two piemakers to decide who will create a business plan; come up with a branding campaign and launch a pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles – all in 36 hours, with just $7,500. Based on the reaction from the diners, the quality of the branding and the viability of the business plan, Bastianich and Love will decide whether to invest their own money in the restaurant or vendor.
Sixpence owners Lisa Totten and Kara More were invited to be on the show “out of the blue” last August, they said, in the midst of their busy late-summer and fall farmers’ market season.
“We actually thought it was a scam,” they said, laughing, but after many followup calls and emails, they realized it was a legitimate invitation. Ten days later, they were taping in Los Angeles, describing the four-day filming period as “pretty grueling.”
“We’re so much more than two moms in a pie shop,” Totten says in a clip previewing the episode. (Watch the extended preview here.) “We’re really great businesswomen.” She and More asked Bastianich and Love for a $300,000 investment in exchange for 30 percent equity in the company.
Sixpence Pie Company got its start selling sweet and savory pies at Connecticut farmers markets five years ago, Totten and More said. The “old world” pies are made with fresh local ingredients; best-sellers include its signature handheld pasties and various pot pies with chicken, beef and roasted vegetables. Sweet versions feature seasonal fruits. Successful market sales led to the opening of Sixpence’s first storefront on North Main Street in 2012, and the women later opened a second retail shop in New Haven’s Westville section.
“It was a good opportunity. We’re lucky that it fell into our laps,” said Totten of the show. “We decided to go for something big.”
“Hell’s Kitchen” airs on Fox at 8 p.m.; “Restaurant Startup” airs on CNBC at 10 p.m.
