The reality cooking show “Chopped” will be putting Verona to the test on Tuesday. Ariane Duarte, the chef and co-owner of Ariane Kitchen & Bar is going to be one of the contestants. She made the announcement on her Instagram page earlier today.
Duarte is no stranger to competition cooking. In 2008, she survived several weeks on season five of “Top Chef,” and in 2015 she defeated Bobby Flay in his challenge show “Beat Bobby Flay” with a Béarnaise-topped beef tenderloin.
If you haven’t seen “Chopped,” it pits four chefs against each other, handing them baskets filled with food that they often wouldn’t feature on their menus and a tight deadline for getting each course in front of the judges. Tuesday’s episode with Duarte was taped long before the COVID-19 pandemic started. It airs at 9 p.m.
UPDATE, December 17: Duarte was chopped after the main course round, on a basket that included halibut, rosti potatoes, purple cauliflower, escarole and something called parsley cake. The judges thought the potato-parsley crust she put on the halibut was too thick. “I wasn’t ready for it to end,” Duarte said to the cameras as she exited.
