Tonight: LI chef in Chopped finale
Chef Marc Anthony Bynum with one of his dishes at Teller's Chophouse at 605 Main St. in Islip. (Aug. 4, 2009) Credit: Michael Nagle
Tune in to Food Network tonight at 10 p.m. for the grand finale of Chopped Champions. Long Island’s own Marc Anthony Bynum competes for the $50,000 grand prize.
Bynum, formerly executive chef at Venue 56 in Hauppauge and Tellers in Islip, goes up against New York chefs Madison Cowan and Jason Zukas, and Ric Orlando of New World Home Cooking in Saugerties.
According to Food Network, “the chefs open the appetizer baskets to find an oversized sea creature and a scoop-shop treat.”
Come on, that’s hardly a challenge. Who can’t make a nice amuse bouche out of geoduck clam and strawberry ice cream?
UPDATE / Sept. 29, 2010: That oversized sea creature was indeed a geoduck clam, but the scoop-shop treat was waffle cones. That combination was the undoing of Chef Bynum: the judges applauded his treatment of buddha hand, but felt his baked clam was overwhelmed by bacon; he was chopped after the first round. Madison Cowan took home the title and $50,000.
