CBS is cooking up its first food competition series in many years and has set the judging lineup for its attempt.
Padma Lakshmi is hosting America’s Culinary Cup and will be joined by chefs Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresn. The pair will serve as judges on the show, which will kick off with a 90-minute episode on Wednesday, March 4 after Survivor, which launches its 50th season on February 25.
Cimarusti is a three Michelin-starred chef, who is executive chef and co-owner of Providence in Los Angeles. He has previously appeared on Top Chef, MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen.
Dufresne launched New York City restaurant wd-50, famous for deep-fried mayonnaise and shrimp noodles, and has been responsible for cake doughnuts at Du’s Donuts and Coffee and New York-style pizza at Stretch. He has been parodied on SNL and has appeared on series including Treme, Billions and The Bear.
America’s Culinary Cup will feature a cast of the nation’s most decorated chefs as they compete in the kitchen. Chefs will be tested against the competition’s 10 culinary commandments – meat, vegetables, sauces, dessert, innovation, flavors, sustainability, world cuisine, consistency, culinary science and technology and will be competing for a $1M prize.
The series comes from Lakshmi’s Delicious Entertainment and Susan Rovner’s Aha Studios.
Lakshmi, who is best known as host of Top Chef and also created Hulu’s Taste The Nation, and Rovner previously worked together when Lakshmi was on the Bravo series and Rovner was Chairman of Entertainment Content across NBCUniversal’s Television and Streaming division. The pair serve as exec producers on the series.
