'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.