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What is the best cooking challenge to look out for this season on the Next Food Network Star?
BOBBY: The first thing that comes to mind is a challenge that happens in Miami...outdoors...near the water. It's a grilling challenge and it's all kinds of different fish and shellfish. Basically, they had to come up with a dish that would go on the menu of a restaurant. I thought they were incredibly creative.


It was great to see that people have finesse with something like fish that can be difficult to use.

What is the range of backgrounds for these contestants?

BOBBY: Everybody has pretty good food chops. They're pretty experienced when it comes to cooking but it's anywhere from someone being a home cook cooking for their family like Melissa from Texas or there's a guy like Michael from New York that worked in some top New York restaurants.

Do you think it makes a difference if a contestant is self-taught versus classically trained?

BOBBY: It all depends on how far you want to go. I have been cooking for...a long time. I started cooking professionally when I was 17. I'm 44 now, so 26, 27 years. My practical, everyday experience in the kitchen helps me navigate where I'm going with food. And to speak easily about it. I'm never really reaching for a story because it's where I live. What I'm looking for, as one of the judges, is someone that's going to have a good repertoire of things. Even if they win the six shows...I'm looking way past that.

I want them to have 600 shows. I want them to become part of the roster of the Food Network. So I think if you're not classically trained, as in going to culinary school, it puts you at a disadvantage. The more knowledge, more experience you have gives you a better shot at longevity.

You are a graduate of the French Culinary Institute. How did training there translate into your focus on Southwestern cooking?

BOBBY: First of all, French technique is the basis for most cooking. I use a lot of French technique everyday...sauces, how things are cut, how things are put together. I started cooking with Southwest ingredients because I worked for a guy named Jonathan Waxman who, in the mid-80's, was the first person to bring California- and Southwestern-style ingredients to the East Coast. I fell in love with the ingredients working for him. Then I traveled to the Southwest and honed my skills.

What advice do you have for someone that wants to follow a culinary career?

BOBBY: Food television, to me, is still a new idea. It's been around awhile, the Food Network has been around for 15 years but it's still a new idea considering how long food has been around and chefs have been cooking. I always tell people if you want to be on television, go to acting school; if you want to be a chef, go to culinary school. There's no magic to it. First of all you need to decide whether you want to do this as a profession. A lot of time you will hear people say "I love to cook at home, I want to be a chef." Well, they're very different. Go beg any restaurant to let you do whatever you can in their kitchen. Don't even get paid. Just see if you like the environment. And then, if you want to make the investment in culinary school, I think it's a great idea.

Culinary school is not going to make you a chef but it's going to give you the basic techniques to get an entry level position in a restaurant. I think that is important for people to understand. You don't become a chef the day you graduate culinary school. It just gives you the opportunity to work in a restaurant at entry level. Then, like any other profession, you learn your skills in school and hone them in the field. You go work for chefs you think are terrific and spend a bunch of years doing that. To me, there's no magic to it. It's got to be a slow, steady process and it takes a long time.

Thanks Bobby.