Dan Jacobs of DanDan dishes on how he prepped for 'Top Chef: Wisconsin' and what makes Milwaukee special

At long last, “Top Chef: Wisconsin” has arrived.

The Emmy-winning cooking competition show premiered March 20, giving viewers across the nation a glimpse of our state and the city of Milwaukee.

It also introduced fans to Dan Jacobs, one of 15 “cheftestants” competing on Season 21, but also our hometown hero. Jacobs is a Milwaukee resident and co-owner and chef of restaurants DanDan, 360 E. Erie St., and EsterEv (soon to open in its new space at 2165 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in Bay View), which he runs with fellow co-owner and chef Dan Van Rite.

It was a long time coming for Jacobs, who had applied to compete on “Top Chef” multiple times before being cast. He'd already cooked on national television when he competed on the Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” in August 2020, but “Top Chef” was a long-running dream well before then.

“I’ve always thought I could do this on a very high level, so competing on ‘Top Chef’ was always a goal,” Jacobs said.

Getting on the show was the end game, but Jacobs never dreamed he’d be competing in his own state.

“I learned ‘Top Chef’ was going to take place in Wisconsin the same time everybody else did,” Jacobs said.

“Something just felt right this time, things were all falling into place,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I wasn’t fixating on wanting it so much, but I just felt good about it.”

Preparing for ‘Top Chef,' including delegating DanDan responsibilities

After Jacobs learned he’d be on “Top Chef,” he had about a month to prepare before filming began.

He worked quickly with Van Rite to delegate his responsibilities around the restaurants’ staff.

“Danny is my brother; I love him so much. He did everything,” Jacobs said. “He had to play a bunch of different parts, being himself but also being me while I was off. But the rest of the team stepped up, too, making the restaurant run so smoothly so nobody even knew I was gone.”

Some of his staff had an idea of why Jacobs would be unreachable, but almost no one else in his life could know.

“I told everybody I was going to be on ‘Naked and Afraid,’” he said, referring to the Discovery Channel’s survivalist reality series. “That’s been the running joke the whole time.”

Jacobs had no idea what sort of challenges would lie ahead in the competition, but he used his preparation time to nail down a few recipes he could keep in his back pocket.

“I worked on about six pastry recipes that I committed to memory; recipes that could go with any kind of fruit or any kind of nut or anything that would be available,” he said.

He also created lists of ingredients that work well together.

“I wrote down things we use in the restaurant to amplify deliciousness so I’d have those to turn to when the time came,” he said.

Jacobs was excited to show off his culinary chops to a national audience, but moreover, he viewed competing on “Top Chef” as an opportunity to create awareness about a cause that’s especially personal.

“I wanted to specifically show that differently abled or disabled people can do things that anybody else can, and that shouldn’t be the reason why people choose not to do something big,” he said.

Jacobs was diagnosed with Kennedy’s Disease in 2016, the same year he opened DanDan and EsterEv. The neuromuscular condition causes muscle atrophy and slowly deteriorates the ability to swallow, speak, walk and use one's hands for everyday tasks — all things he’d be called on to do throughout the “Top Chef” competition.

To get his body and mind in the right place for competition, Jacobs worked with a trainer to build strength, flexibility and endurance. He also focused on mental preparation, diving deep into meditation exercises to maintain focus and calm in high-pressure situations.

That came in handy, Jacobs said, because the competition was more mentally challenging than physically.

It didn’t help that Jacobs was competing in his hometown, sequestered away in a hotel with his fellow contestants just miles from his home and his wife, Kate.

“That was the hardest part, being present in your life but not being able to participate,” he said. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, I think that isolation keeps you in competition mode. It weeds out people that aren’t as mentally strong. You can’t let anything on the outside keep you from focusing on what you need to focus on,” he said.

Competing and taping in ‘Smallwaukee’

But there were distractions everywhere, especially as Jacobs, a recognizable face in Milwaukee, was out on location while filming for the show.

“Wherever we went, I knew somebody,” he said. “It’s not caught on camera, but there was a time that we were shooting at a random park and one of my prep cooks happened to be there playing basketball by himself. ... There’s a reason we call it ‘Smallwaukee.’"

As the only competitor from Wisconsin, Jacobs acted as a makeshift tour guide, pointing out businesses and sharing the history of certain buildings as they drove around Milwaukee.

In the first episode, Jacobs welcomed his fellow contestants to the city with a toast at Blu, the rooftop cocktail bar at The Pfister Hotel. But what the episode didn't show was Jacobs delighting fellow contestants with tales about the hotel’s notorious haunts.

He also shared stories about how presidents and professional sports teams stay at the hotel and noted Milwaukee landmarks while peering out the bar’s panoramic view of the city.

“It was fun to be up there pointing out things like, ‘Oh, you can see my house from up here!’,” he said.

That's Jacobs showing off the charms of what it means to be “Midwest nice."

In the first episode, one of the first things Jacobs says about this city is “That Midwest nice (expletive) is 100% legit.”

To Jacobs, that means leaving that one last chicken wing or onion ring in the basket, or giving someone an out while making plans before giving them a chance to answer.

“We always follow up our questions with an, ‘Er, no?’,” he said. “Would you like to go to the bar, er no?’ It’s become an inside joke with Danny [Van Rite] and his partner, Sarah, and me. We’ll just text ‘Er no,’ as an answer. .. It’s definitely a Milwaukee thing."

Jacobs said there are a lot of nuances about Milwaukee that he’s excited for “Top Chef” fans to see throughout Season 21’s run.

“Milwaukee, as a whole, is so cool that we don’t even know we’re cool,” he said. “And I hope people come away realizing that.”

“I love that you can drive three hours west and go fishing on the Mississippi River, or drive two hours north to Green Bay to watch a football game in the most historic stadium in the National Football League. You can go to the Kettle Moraine and hike or see these pristine glacial lakes,” he said. “And we’re an hour and a half from Madison, which has its own incredible vibe and an amazing restaurant scene.”

“And outside of California, we have some of the most diverse agriculture in the country. Our cheese production is hands-down the best in the country. There’s just so much cool stuff for everybody."

That includes Milwaukee’s restaurant scene, which Jacobs has been entrenched in since moving here in 2011.

“Our community of chefs is what makes our dining scene stand out,” he said. “When you bring other chefs in from other cities, they’re often surprised by how kind and genuine the people in Milwaukee are to each other. There’s never really any sort of competition, and when other restaurants get attention — like Greg León getting nominated for a national James Beard Award, or Dane Baldwin winning a James Beard Award — that recognition helps us all, and we’re all aware of that and want everyone to get that attention. I think that’s something not a lot of other cities have.”

Jacobs has seen the camaraderie of his fellow chefs firsthand at his annual Dim Sum and Give Some event, when chefs from across Milwaukee and beyond cook and serve dishes to raise money for Kennedy's Disease awareness. This year, the event raised more than $30,000 dollars.

"These chefs come out of the kindness of their heart for me and rarely ask for anything," Jacobs said. "It's so cool to see everyone come together."

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Jacobs’ performance on Episode 1 of ‘Top Chef: Wisconsin’

You see the admiration for fellow Milwaukee chefs from the get-go when Jacobs appears on screen for the first time.

He lit up when “Top Chef” host Kristen Kish announced that the first Elimination Challenge would take place at downtown Milwaukee restaurant Lupi & Iris, and that chefs Adam Siegel and Paul Bartolotta would be sitting in as guest judges.

“I know him!” Jacobs exclaimed when Bartolotta’s name was announced.

He also took time to show reverence for Lupi & Iris. In fact, he created his dish, a soup with tomato broth and seafood, with the Mediterranean restaurant in mind.

“I love this restaurant, and I wanted to do your restaurant respect,” Jacobs said to Siegel as he presented his soup. But he tweaked it a bit to bring in some Asian flavors as an homage to DanDan, using ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce and shiro dashi.

“I was really excited to be on the soup team,” Jacobs said. “One of the things we’re incorporating into the opening menu at EsterEv is welcoming guests with a broth soup. That’s a nod to one of the first celebrity chefs, Antonin Carême, who always served soup because whether you’re rich or poor, no matter where you came from, soup has probably made you felt comforted and welcome.”

“That’s something that’s stuck with me for years,” he said. “So when I was on the soup team, I wanted to make sure I cooked a soup that had depth of flavor and complexity and had a lot of components in it to show what I can do.”

It paid off. Judge Gail Simmons said Jacobs’ soup presented something new to her with each bite, and judge Tom Collichio added that the entire soup team impressed him.

“Keep cooking like this and you’re gonna go far,” he said.

We’ll have to wait to see just how far Jacobs will go on “Top Chef.” He walked away safe from elimination after his impressive soup showing in Episode 1, and now he’s on the way to compete in the second week, which airs next Wednesday, March 27, at 8 p.m.

Just don't expect Jacobs to spill any spoilers in the meantime. “I'm keeping lots of secrets these days,” he said. “But it’s been fun.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DanDan Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs dishes on his 'Top Chef' prep