Reality TV News

2 Dallas chefs to compete in new over-the-top Food Network TV series

Competitors in 24 Last Chef Standing.

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Food Network has cast two Dallas-area chefs in an extreme new competitive cooking show called 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.

Hosted by Food Network stars and chefs Michael Symon and Esther Choi, the show will feature 24 chefs taking on 24 food challenges in 24 hours — as in, consecutive, non-stop, back-to-back.

The DFW competitors are:

Kess Eshun, acclaimed pastry chef and owner of Kess Kravings Patissiere & Café in Frisco
Vijay Sadhu, veteran Dallas chef who recently opened Fanzo Sports Bar in Frisco

Dallas-Fort Worth is a prolific provider of talent to the reality-TV circuit, and neither Eshun nor Sadhu are strangers to the spotlight. Eshun competed on the Food Network show Holiday Baking Championship in 2020, while Sadhu, whose prior appointments include Samar By Stephan Pyles, Sutra, and Pepper Smash Cocktail Kitchen, appeared on Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay in 2016, as well as Cutthroat Kitchen, a Food Network series hosted by Alton Brown.

They’ll compete against a slew of “culinary icons, rising stars, and competition rookies” from across the country: Carlos Anthony, Gabriella Baldwin, Emilie Rose Bishop, Josephine Clemens, Chris Dodson, Elizabeth Falkner, Declan Horgan, Christopher Ingram, Airis Johnson, Matt Jordan, Camille La Caer, Danielle Lee, Mika Leon, Chris Oh, Viet Pham, Marc Quinones, Nadine Charlie Ray, Chad Rosenthal, Aarthi Sampath, Martel Stone, Michael Toscano, and Marcel Vigneron.

Contestants will compete in challenges meant to test the “skills, creativity and stamina needed to be an elite chef.” The chef who cooks the best and outlasts the competition will win $50,000, plus “a trip of a lifetime.”

The competition will be judged by Food Network regulars such as Eric Adjepong, Maneet Chauhan, Scott Conant, Stephanie Izard, Jet Tila, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, and Brooke Williamson.

“This competition is as extreme as it sounds,” Symon says to Food Network. “Chefs often talk about the 24/7 nature of our industry, but this is the first competition to truly capture that intensity.”

24 in 24: Last Chef Standing will premiere April 14 at 8 p.m. on Food Network and be available to stream on Max.

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Deep Ellum News

Seafood boils spot Boil Daddy from Calif. swims into Deep Ellum Dallas

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Your standard red boiled seafood spread via Boil Daddy.

A Cajun seafood restaurant has opened in Dallas' Deep Ellum: Called The Boil Daddy, it's a California chain specializing in seafood boils, now open in the former Tiki Loco space at 2639 Elm St. #100, in the former Tiki Loco vegan restaurant which closed in 2023.

Boil Daddy was founded in 2020 by Jun Cho, a young South Korean immigrant who launched it as a delivery-only concept with one location in downtown Los Angeles. It now has 20 locations across five states, including California, Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Colorado.

The menu features seafood boil bags by the pound or half pound, with choice of shellfish including crab legs, clams, crawfish, and shrimp, with add-ons such as sausage, potatoes, linguine noodles, and jasmine rice.

Prices range from $14 to $93 for a family meal with lobster tail, a snow crab leg cluster, shrimp, corn, potatoes, and sausage.

The chain first debuted in Texas in Garland, where it operates a takeaway-only location out of Revolving Kitchen, the ghost kitchen concept.

Deep Ellum is the second in Texas, and was designed to be the area flagship, offering dine-in, pickup, and delivery, plus space for private events — serving as a testing ground to gauge its success in a high-traffic community as well as refine recipes, Cho says.

“Seafood boils are known to be a dinner menu where your family gets together, but we’ve been working on quick lunch entrees,” Cho says.

They're offering items not available from the Garland location, such as shrimp pasta, fish & chips, shrimp basket, and chicken wings. There are po' boy sandwiches, garlic fries, clam chowder, and mac & cheese.

They also have individual bowl versions of their boils, perfect for lunch, such as Daddy's shrimp bowl over rice and the Hawaiian-style crispy mahalo shrimp or fish. ("Daddy's sauce" is a mix of garlic butter and Cajun sauce.)

"We've got all kinds of chefs, Asian cuisine, Cajun cuisine, Italian cuisine," Cho says. "So, we're trying to combine the cultures."

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