Chopped champion: Pensacola chef wins top prize on Food Network Valentine's Day special

Brother Fox Executive Chef Darian Hernandez felt the love from Chopped judges this Valentine’s Day, who crowned him and his partner Izzy Buasier the title every celebrity chef longs for: Chopped champion.

The episode was themed after a “Blind Date Night” challenge that paired each chef with a mystery counterpart. The show represented chefs all around the country from California to New York, including a fellow Panhandle chef from the 30A beach community.

Though the extra pair of hands is helpful in a tight timed challenge, couples were forced to find symmetry quickly, creating a cohesive product with little time for brainstorming before springing into action.

A perfect pair is forged

Luckily for Hernandez, he and Buasier fell into a rhythm, alternating taking the lead for each round and trusting their partner’s instincts.

He said a lack of trust in one another could cause partners to crumble, regardless of individual talent, if they do not lean into their partner.

“I think that played a big role. We’re all chefs. Everybody is very much the captain of the ship,” Hernandez told the News Journal. “Meshing those personalities like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be sous chef this round. I feel comfortable with this…. You feel comfortable with this? I trust you. Let’s knock it out.’ Really utilizing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Even though there was not a love connection between Hernandez and Buasier as producers hoped, her funny, quirky personality and Spanish-styled culinary background matched Hernandez, and he saw what the producers had in mind when they paired them together. Ultimately, their talent, teamwork and temperaments seemed to be the winning recipe.

“They definitely pushed that on us, like, ‘Are you guys going to find love in the Chopped kitchen?” Hernandez said, laughing. “She (Buasier) is cool. We are going to hangout. I definitely made some really good friends throughout the experience.”

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What challenges did judges throw at them?

The pairs were tasked to impress celebrity judges Tiffani Faison, Amanda Freitag and Chris Santos. Fitting in with the theme of love, they also were required to integrate special ingredients for each round fueling inspiration for their appetizer, main course and dessert dishes. With mystery ingredients thrown at them like a "Scarlet Kiss" cranberry cocktail, white chocolate beet truffles and “X” and “O” shaped red velvet cookies with which to work, the two were able to reimagine each ingredient to fit their purpose.

Each round, Hernandez said the two were praised for their “beautiful presentation” on the plate in addition to their multi-faceted flavor profiles.

Ultimately, the two were able to put together a pan-seared snapper over pisto, which is a Spanish-style vegetable ragu, a seared chateaubriand with artichoke and spinach puree, or a tender beef roast, and a red velvet cookie ice cream trio.

With minutes to spare after completing their main course, they were even able to sneak in a tequila shot in the kitchen pantry, toasting to "second dates."

Gaining confidence with each round, it wasn’t until a final ice cream face-off between the remaining two teams that sent Hernandez into a momentary frenzy.

When he had trouble freezing fondue on the ant-griddle flash freezing machine — America watched in suspense as he had to make a quick shift and think on his feet.

“That was crazy…. I was freaking out,” Hernandez recalled. “It didn’t work, I was scrambling. It was not freezing, and I had to pivot.”

Even so, the judges decided the playful dessert was the cherry on top to the three rounds of Hernandez's expertly crafted dishes.

“We kind of just wanted to make it playful as if you were to sit down and you get these three little trios you could kind of play with it if you want," Hernandez said of his final creation. "You want to do something interactive, something funny, kind of feed each other."

A look behind the scenes

While there was only over an hour of cooking taking place on the show, he spent a 13-hour day filming and being interviewed during his New York City stay in November.

He remembers the budding tension as each team was eliminated one by one and watched as their plate was dramatically unveiled on the chopping block.

Although the suspense was high in the chef holding room with each round, the cast tried to keep the atmosphere as lighthearted as possible until the final moments when he and Buasier were the last ones standing.

The two were prized with $10,000 to share and an extended stay in New York City, completed with a multi-course meal at Beauty & Essex, a restaurant owned by judge Chris Santos himself.

It was a full circle feeling for Hernandez as he looked across the street from his hotel to his old apartment complex he occupied when he was living in New York City about four years prior. Now, he is paving his way into the Food Network and starting his journey as Brother Fox executive chef in Pensacola this month.

“It’s exciting, it kind of energizes you,” Hernandez said of his win. “People are gunning for me now. I feel like I have to step it up and just keep that momentum. Just keep building on it. I feel like Brother Fox is already going to get a lot of attention and then with this on top of it right before the open…it’s going to be kind of crazy.”

Hernandez now joins the growing list of other Pensacola all-star chefs who have come before him, like Angelena’s chef James Briscione and The Pointe’s Ed Lordman.

Tune in to the Food Network to watch Hernadez’s episode here.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Chopped champion: Pensacola chef wins on Valentine's Day special