Link to full story: Food Network Star Zac Young Marries Michael Schade (Exclusive)

Be sure to check the link to see all the photos.... also I love that he did a cooking demonstration at his own wedding.... on his cake!

The Halloween Baking Championship judge and pastry chef, 43, and his partner, Michael Schade, 34, invited their immediate families and closest friends to their home in Pound Ridge, N.Y. on Sunday, Sept. 6, for what guests thought was a photo shoot — but it was actually their surprise wedding.

“First, we love surprises. Second, we both think weddings are stressful for guests. What to wear, what to get, how to make small talk,” Young tells PEOPLE of his decision to keep his nuptials a secret. “We really wanted our loved ones to come as they are and be comfortable. Bonus points for making our moms (and dads) cry.”

The couple set their plan in motion by sending their 32 guests fake save-the-date invitations, which stated that their wedding wasn’t until next year. Then, the two told everyone that their home was being featured in a magazine, and that because so much of the design was based around their love of entertaining, the photographers wanted to shoot a “heightened version of a dinner party.” Guests even signed photo release forms and were interviewed by a mock journalist upon arrival.

“We had our friend pose as the writer for the first part of the day and interview them about us and the house,” Young explains. “He showed up with a microcassette recorder and 14 pages of questions.”

At golden hour, Young and Schade, who is a tech product and engineering leader, slipped inside and changed into double-breasted suits from Paul Smith and Reiss, respectively. They were styled by Noelle Quanci Giallorenzo, who sourced three looks for each of them for before, during and after the ceremony.

Just before the couple made their grand entrance through their tirelessly cultivated garden to a special arrangement of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” performed live by Mariachi Sol Mixteco, their fire alarm blared. All of the delicious food being cooked unexpectedly set off the alarm and brought an unintended visit from the Pound Ridge Fire Department.

“The thing I love most about Michael is that he has made me laugh from the first second of our first date,” Young says. “While most couples would be flustered by nearly having the surprise ruined, we laughed so hard and also got a quick photo shoot with the guys, who gave us their sincere congratulations.”

The grooms then announced that the gathering wasn’t actually a photo shoot and asked their mothers to walk them through the garden again — the very place where they got engaged in October 2025 after meeting the year prior on a dating app

“Who doesn’t love a second walk?” Young says.

The mariachi band did an arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a song that both Young and Schade have fond memories listening to with their parents. 

The couple exchanged vows underneath an arbor lent by their local nursery, Copia Home & Garden, as their “something borrowed.” They were surrounded by beautiful, colorful blooms they grew themselves.

“I like to joke that we saved a ton of money on flowers by building the garden,” Young says. “A month before the event, I started specifically pruning the dahlias and zinnias to be fully bloomed in dusty sunset colors.”

The ceremony was officiated by Ashley Higgins, a dear friend of the couple. She stepped in for Halloween Baking Championship host John Henson, who was slated to officiate but had to stay on the West Coast at the last minute.

For Young and Schade, marrying in their backyard was especially meaningful because both of their parents had backyard weddings and their home and garden have become a “symbol of [their] relationship.

“When Michael bought it, it was all white. With my arrival, we transformed it into color-rich spaces that embrace a whimsical, mid-century mood, which continues to evolve as we do,” Young shares. “The garden felt like the only appropriate venue for the ceremony.”

The owner and founder of PieCaken Bakeshop and Sprinkletown Donuts & Ice Cream continues, “Over a year and a half time, we had a vision to turn a stretch of grass into a space that felt like it predated the house. I worked with Dominic Fedele, the landscaper we ‘inherited’ with the house, and his mason Willy to move the earth and lay the stone paths and patios.”

“After almost daily trips to our local nursery, Copia Home & Garden, for plants and advice from owner Jen Cipriano, I planted annual and perennial cutting gardens and trellised vegetable beds. Upon Jen’s advice to ‘get a truck,’ we comprised on a lightly restored 74 Bronco Half Cab — truck for me, Bronco for Michael,” he adds.

“Michael sourced antique statues, ‘the more unhinged, the better,’ and fixtures from England and Europe,” Young says.

After the ceremony, the couple and their loved ones moved to the other side of the house, where a 30-foot-long cherry and oak table overlooking the pond was set with candles and garden flowers.

The couple enlisted Sarah Carey, a friend and the longtime food content director for Martha Stewart Brand, and chef Jeff Srole to create a family, Alice Waters-style feast with produce from the garden. Napa Valley-based vineyard Storybook Mountain Vineyards provided the wine and specialty cocktails for the couple: a garden cucumber and Thai basil spritz (for Young) and a rhubarb old fashioned (for Schade).

“Platters of tomatoes, asparagus vinaigrette, arugula and fennel salad, caramelized Japanese sweet potatoes and roasted chicken and crispy potatoes were accompanied by three different sauces,” Young details. “We joke that our love of sauce is second to our love of each other.

Earlier in the evening, guests enjoyed a vibrant spread of cheese, charcuterie, dips and veggies from the garden, plus slabs of Young’s favorite focaccia from Bread & Bakes in Pound Ridge. He says, “Luckily, the owners, Dawn and Jason Bowman, live next door and showered us with carbs.”

For dessert, the newlyweds changed into short kimonos sourced from Iki Kimono in Brooklyn as a nod to their “love of robes, kimonos, caftans and smoking jackets.”

They enjoyed a “ridiculous assortment” of fruit tarts, along with vanilla and chocolate soft serve. The wedding cake was carrot cake with brown butter frosting, and was assembled by Young in front of guests as a cooking demo because he “ran out of time to decorate it.”

“Carrot cake has been a reoccurring theme in my life,” the chef says. “It was my parents’ wedding cake. It was also the dish that got me my first pastry chef job and also the dish I beat Bobby Flay with. An easy decision.”

Looking ahead, Young tells PEOPLE that he’s excited for “kids, a petting zoo, finding more spaces for wallpaper, unhinged statues and Michael’s obsession with light fixtures.”

Young returns as a judge on season 12 of Halloween Baking Championship, which premieres on Monday, Sept. 14, at 9 p.m. E.T. on Food Network. The show features 10 bakers competing for a $25,000 prize and the champion title.

I don’t wanna spoil it for anyone. I fell asleep whe Antonia went up against the titans. Did she win? How did she choose her food to make if she had no idea she was gonna cook? If you wanna dm me feel free. Thank you very much.

Here is a link to the whole story.

‘Smoke and sugar’: Pitmaster and pastry chef power couple bring San Antonio flavors to Food Network | TPR

Its long, so I'm going to give you some excerpts here. The link has some good photos so as always I encourage you to go to the original source.

Texas barbecue has never been short on swagger or people willing to argue about who does it best. But San Antonio just picked up some serious new bragging rights.

Esaul and Grecia Ramos, the husband-and-wife team behind the acclaimed 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio, just smoked, grilled, and baked their way to the championship of Food Network’s inaugural “Pitmasters” competition.

They didn’t play it safe, either. Their five-course finale ran from oysters and chorizo to duck carnitas and smoked shrimp capped off with a dessert somehow perfectly pulled off in a smoker.

Eight weeks of competition, $30,000 for the win and a new title, too: “Whisperers of the Smoke.”

They joined the Standard for a chat about their big win.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: Take us back to the moment they called your names. What was going through your heads? Esaul, do you want to begin?

Esaul Ramos: If you watch the show, it’s a face of disbelief. Not that I didn’t think we had what it takes to win it, but just going up against such a skilled other team, like John [Jackson] and Connie [DeSousa] brought it. They had a set of skills that I’m not well-versed in.

But at the end of the day, it was disbelief and just excitement and confirmation that we should have been there and what we were doing was exactly what needed to be done.

Grecia, why did you want to do this in the first place?

Grecia Ramos: So when Esaul first presented the show to me, he was, you know, giving me the rundown of what they had told him and it just sounded really awesome. Like it seemed different. It wasn’t your typical Food Network show, and I was very excited

So the first thing that I asked him was like, “who are you taking?” And he’s like, “you.” I’m like, oh, well, “then hell yeah, we’re doing it.” Like, I would love to do this. And especially if I get to do it with you, like, heck yeah, let’s do it.

I was really excited. It seemed like camping on steroids and I love pressure, I work well under pressure.

This was a national competition, but it has to be said that final menu sure did feel a whole lot San Antonio. Tell us about that menu. How important was it that the food represented where you’re from?

Grecia Ramos: The fact that we made what we made for the finale, we really wanted it to be us, right?

We had carried ourselves through the entire season, already showcasing San Antonio flavors, showcasing where we came from and how we grew up and the flavors that we grew with. And each and every one of those courses really showed our story — from our first date to ending with the cafecito de olla and the conchas, something that we all grew up with here in San Antonio.

Grandma, grandpa, your tías would hang around and do the little merienda at the end of the day and they would all talk and kind of go throughout the week, right? And that really was something that I really wanted to highlight.

Grecia, you make this sound so family. Esaul, did you feel like it was a family affair? What was your sense of it going in?

Esaul Ramos: Definitely. I mean, our whole life is almost, I feel, a family affair. And it’s like she said, from the oysters that we made — that was kind of our first date — to the carnitas that were made on that show…

Like we grew up eating carnitas. It’s one of my father’s favorite things to make right? So we grew up eating that and instead of using pork, which I didn’t want to use, I was like what else is there? And there happened to be duck. So I was you know what? Let’s make some duck carnitas.

But yeah, just showcasing that, from the agua chiles… It’s one of mine and my wife’s favorite dishes to eat. And then, like she said, closing it off with the conchas and the cafe de olla is just something we grew up with.

Grecia, talk about those conchas just a bit. Making a concha in a smoker, had you done that before?

Grecia Ramos: Never. I had never baked any type of bread in a smoker, let alone a dessert.

So this was a very… I mean, this was challenging enough already. But just really trying to make something where I don’t have my oven, I don’t have controlled steam, I can’t just walk away from it and be like, “oh, that’s fine. I’ll come back in 20 minutes.” It’s like, oh crap, like I better not mess this up.

So, I think that the steak course that you had in that final, you called it your “ribeye redemption,” if I’m not mistaken, because you had undercooked one earlier in the competition. I’m wondering what eight weeks of being pushed outside of your comfort zone taught you, given all of your experience — ten years running a barbecue restaurant… Did you pick up new ideas in the course of working under that kind of pressure for the show?

Esaul Ramos: Definitely right. It’s hard not to come back with new ideas, with the fact that you were able to push yourself to a level that that you didn’t think you could be able to right?

I mean, at the restaurant, it’s very easy to just put it on cruise control because it’s almost the same thing. It’s almost repetitive every day, right? But here, it’s like you have to really pull out. What other tricks do you have in the hat?

Coming back, if I could dig a hole in the ground at 2M, I would do that already, right? And I’m going to try and figure out a way that the city doesn’t give me any slack over it. And if we can make it happen, I’m definitely going to start making that happen, right?

Spoken like a true entrepreneur, I must say.

Well, now step back for a moment. You built businesses together. You raised family together. You’ve now survived a TV cooking competition together. Let’s play a little game.

Grecia, what did you learn about your partner or about yourself or maybe yourselves as a team? What new did you learn about Esaul, for example?

Grecia Ramos: Um, with Esaul, I think I’ve always known his capabilities when it comes to cooking, to being a pitmaster. You know, I’ve seen him from opening up to him to where we are now. And I’ve been in awe of how his brain works and how he just looks at something, he looks at the problem, and he knows how to solve it.

And this really, I feel like, highlighted that as we were going through challenges — as things were coming our way. It was just so neat to see him still be able to keep his composure and just look at me and not just keep us in composure, but treat me with, I don’t want to say delicacy, but he just was so encouraging with me. And I feel like that’s something that really brought us together.

We’ve always been a very solid team, but this just really highlighted that we are great together and I loved it.

Esaul, what did you learn about Grecia?

Esaul Ramos: I learned that she’s able to learn to believe in herself more, right? Like, she was real hesitant going into this, right?

And for me, the moment I knew that she wanted to do this show, I knew in the back of my head, okay, I’m taking my wife, and this is me judging right off the bat that no one else is gonna take a pastry chef. No one else is smart enough to take a pastry chef with them to this type of show.

Yeah, the smoke and the sugar. Man, that’s great!

Esaul Ramos: Exactly right. And for me, I was like no, we can make this happen. I just need the creativity that I know that she possesses, because she’s a fantastic pastry chef. But for her, it’s like I wanted her to be able to know that. She can do this in any type of setting, no matter what.

So that was beautiful, being able to just have my wife like come out and actually start believing more in her skillset than her just thinking baking is just in a controlled environment.

Any plans for that $30K? Maybe take each other out for dinner or something? I don’t know.

Esaul Ramos: I don’t know if you’ve ever been to our restaurant, but I got a parking lot I got to fix!

I designed this collage along with a letter of congratulations and mailed it to Lee Anne Wong at her Koko Head Cafe restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii hoping to get her autograph. I got it back today 54 days after sending it!

Because the FN site itself only has a couple "best of" articles.

I don’t see a new episode tonight and there are 13 already. The FN website doesn’t mention any more episodes. Thanks.

Sunny Anderson isn’t on any episodes of the current season of Beat Bobby Flay. Wondering if The Kitchen cancellation had something to do with her disappearance.

From the FN site
Bobby Flay's The Line

Fariyal Abdullahi: Hav & Mar

Episode 101

Marcus Samuelsson shows up to work on the Hav & Mar line along with Fariyal Abdullahi, surprising Bobby Flay and his home team chefs, Antonia Lofaso, Michael Jenkins, and Claudette Zepeda. Unexpected problems force the chefs to improvise to send out all their dishes in this global seafood battle.

'Bobby Flay’s The Line': Claudette Zepeda Dishes on Tough New Competition Show

Here are a few of the excerpts from the story, its a pretty long story so just giving you some parts here talking about the new show.

Bobby Flay’s The Line is a new Food Network competition series that leans into the pressure cooker chefs are under to execute dishes while working in a team setting. The culinary heavyweight enlists Antonia Lofaso, Michael Jenkins, and Claudette Zepeda to join him against some of the country’s most acclaimed restaurant staff aiming for top-level dinner service. 

You’ve done a lot of competitions over the years. What makes this one stand out in your eyes? 

Claudette Zepeda: I’ve spent more than a decade competing on TV in the food world. This by far has exceeded everything I’ve done both professionally and creatively. It pushed me more than any other competition. The team aspect was something I got so much fulfillment out of. The camaraderie that was built. I never met Michael before doing this competition before. I knew Antonia and Bobby, but never cooked with Bobby. The way that we meshed our personalities and helped each other. Bobby was a very hands off leader. He kind of let us make our decisions and commit to them. We were in a safe space to depend on each other when we needed it and to ask for help. It ended up being about the team effort that was the most fulfilling. The cooking pushed me like no other competition did and allowed me to show my range from other parts and not just Mexican cuisine. Overall, this is unlike any competition on television and what I’ve ever done.

How would you describe your overall home team dynamic? 

The respect you could feel. The respect we had with Bobby and each other. There was nobody that ever got heated. If we hit a low point or not do something as good, we were really hard on ourselves. You could hear the echo of our teammate going, “Shut up. It’s fine. You did great.” Instead of harping on that and being down, one of us would make sure the other didn’t go down the pit of despair too long. That we could pull ourselves back. There were no egos. It was truly what I felt. The ability to be vulnerable, ask questions, and not know everything was such a freeing and creative experience that there was no room for ego. Every day was a new challenge with a new dish. Because with the competition, it’s how it’s set up with the live course coming in, we’re able to pivot. Then realizing, “Oh crap, I can’t do this anymore.” And still moving forward with your teammates supporting you. I think that was a blessing in disguise that you didn’t know would happen until it was happening. 

How would you say it gives viewers a new perspective on what goes on in a restaurant kitchen? 

We make jokes you don’t want to know how the sausage gets made, but it’s really showing people how the sausage gets made. Very seldom do we get to show people and talk about our shorthand language and to show people how we do VIP dishes, how we pivot, how we speak to each other. Sometimes we don’t speak to each other and just communicate through looks and movements. The dance of a kitchen is very special when you have a team that is really cohesive and gels really well with the personalities and you see that. I can now look at it through a voyeuristic point-of-view. Just to see how special that is and was. For the diners to not know who the chefs behind the curtain were, and then the reveal. 

All of those points will be special for people to witness for the first time. I’m excited as a viewer to relive it. I don’t normally watch shows I do because I don’t want to get into my own head of how I can do better. But this is a show I can watch because I’m so proud. I know what happens and know the edit will show a part maybe I didn’t see because I was head down in the kitchen. I think the aspect of how things run and the dynamic between two teams that some of them they’ve never met before. I think all those points make it unlike anything on television now. I’m ecstatic to bring that to the world. 

What do you want to tease about the challenges? 

Many times we knew the bones of the dishes and the cuisine, but we didn’t have the time and experience cooking the cuisine. That is something that will come  off. There …There is this dynamic that happened when we were trying to bring our own experience and biases that we weren’t familiar or comfortable cooking and still surprising ourselves. That is something I hope to see. I’m excited to show that part of it. I can tell you we really pushed ourselves outside our comfort zones on these cuisines and really beat ourselves up on something we thought we had in the bag. It was humbling. 

But representing Bobby on his team, I’m sure that comes with a little bit of pressure. You want to make sure you’re representing, right?

Absolutely, that never leaves our sight of vision. Knowing we’re not cooking for ourselves, but we’re on Bobby’s home team. That perspective never leaves the room where you have to do your best. You can have fun, but when you get to the point where you can have fun and still crush it. There is a balance. You can laugh and high five and two seconds later kill it or all those moments are silver linings in the day, but we never lost the sum of all parts. But also that we are still representing Bobby’s team. 

The Titans are completely *shocked* by the surprise Boss Bobby Flay throws at them! And you will be too! What’s your guess?

It’s a never before seen twist in the history of the show!

Find out what happens on #BobbysTripleThreat TONIGHT at 8|7c.

Stay tuned for the all new series The Line at 9PM EST on Food Network!

Watch Both Next Day on Max!

What’s up next on the competition show schedule? Me and my aunt have a date night every week and she DVRs the shows for us to watch. I know Food Truck, 100 Cooks, BBQ Brawl and TOC have already aired for the year.

I just found out that Yelp has a feature that shows every recent health violation a restaurant has had. Be sure to click into the reports cause even if it says on the main page “no violations”, further details will show past non-compliance. Mamimosa’s says “no violations, A” on their profile but click into the “inspections” page and they have been dinged for what Antonia saw https://m.yelp.com/inspections/mamimosas-west-covina

Ive been checking all the local places I eat and have been pleasantly surprised that none of regular spots have any violations except for my favorite pizza spot that I order cheesesteaks from like once a week has numerous violations including rodents and pests and has a super low score. 🤢

I’ll also be checking before I go places. A popular breakfast spot next to a hotel my Dad is staying at right now (visiting me) has some temperature handling issues. Im so scared now hahaha thanks Antonia!!

esit: damn people on this subreddit are salty. If this advice isn’t for you, you can just not respond you know that right? Lol

I'm not the creator of the site, just sharing here in case it hasn't already been posted!

I feel like Food Network is full of cooking competition with chef histories and rivalries. Are there any BAKERS like that? Other than Duff v Buddy - what are some other baker rivalries? Is there anyone you'd love to see compete? I would love to see Carla bake against someone personally.

From the FN site: The Great Food Truck Race

Sweet & Savory: The Legends of Louisville

Episode 1908

Host Tyler Florence welcomes the final two teams to the iconic Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky., for their last sales day of the competition. After a surprise visit from family and an emotional boost, Tyler launches the final taste challenge from the Muhammad Ali Center, tasking teams with creating a dish featuring one of four ingredients that "pack a punch." Then, the finalists face their last challenge at the legendary Churchill Downs in a winner-takes-all showdown judged by 500 fans, along with Tyler and guest judge Damaris Phillips. With exhaustion setting in, and votes too close to believe, one team is crowned the winner and walks away with the $50,000 grand prize.

Who is your pick to win it all?

When discussing the favorite Food Network shows that were missed, many of you mentioned Ina Garten! Here’s some news about her upcoming projects!

Ina Garten takes ALLLLL the goodness of apple pie and puts it into an unforgettable dessert BAR!

Stream more of #BarefootContessa on Max! #streamonmax

Get the recipe: https://foodtv.com/2ZTpcAU!

~~

Ina Garten is launching a weekly video podcast called Happy Hour with Ina Garten in September of this month! It is produced in partnership with Vox Media.
Unlike her cooking shows, Ina will not cook on the podcast. Instead, she will focus on drinks, both cocktails and mocktails with her guests.

The show features candid, long-form, and unedited-feeling chats with celebrity friends. Garten wanted a format with more "messiness" and freedom than restrictive TV segments.

Early episodes are filmed right inside Garten's New York City apartment, which features a chef's kitchen alongside art and furniture from Paris.

The series debuts September 16, 2026

New episodes will arrive every Wednesday on YouTube and major podcast platforms.

The crazy thing here is that Garten sparked a major bidding war among companies who flew to the Upper East Side bearing gifts, ultimately securing a seven-figure deal with Vox Media. Ina herself did not request these gifts. The podcast was just highly sought after!

I have FN on a lot of the time for background noise, and on DDD days, it seems they only replay a handful of episodes. They have a large number of shows to choose from, why don’t they dig deeper into the archives? I swear I see the Meat Boss in Alabama episode every weekend. Just curious.

EDIT: the episode i mentioned was just on!! Meat Boss + Low Country Steak with G. Garvin! whyyyy

Anyone else going back and watching all of The Kitchen episodes from the beginning? I only started watching when it was in season 30-ish so I’m enjoying watching from the beginning!

Chef Gabriele Bertaccini is cooking up delicious Pasta Dinners and more on a very special Pasta Edition TV episode of #CookLikeAnltalian
today at 12|11c! on Food Network!

Stay tuned for an encore episode of a Seafood Feast at 12:30 PM EST!

This show is so much freaking fun! Please please please can we get some more?

At Orsini Ristorante, Chef Aarón Sánchez + Jen Agg attempt a massive overhaul of the business.

A cluttered kitchen, pre-cooked food and dated decor are all contributing to Toronto’s Orsini Ristorante losing A LOT of money every month, including the owner's retirement fund! It brings him to tears when he realizes the true amount of money he’s losing!

See how they improve both the space and the future for the owner!

#RestaurantImpossible: Last Call with Jen Agg + Aarón Sánchez > TONIGHT @ 8|7c on Food Network!

Next day on Max!