On Sunday night, Milwaukee chef Dan Jacobs will go to battle in the main bracket of Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions VII.”
Jacobs, a runner-up on 2024’s “Top Chef: Wisconsin,” advanced in the qualifying round, defeating Joe Flamm by one point. Flamm is a Chicago-based chef who won Season 15 of “Top Chef.” (The qualifying round episode aired Feb. 15 on the Food Network.)
With the main tournament of Guy Fieri-hosted show premiering this Sunday, March 1 at 7 p.m. Central Time on the Food Network, Jacobs hopped on a call to chat about his experience thus far.
How did this show come on your radar?
I think it’s always been a show I’ve looked up to, especially after “Top Chef.” It kind of bills itself as the ultimate culinary showdown competition. And it really is – if you look at the people participating, it’s a who’s who of champions, people that I’ve looked up to for years. I think I’m really good at this, and the only way for me to kind of test that I am really good at this is to go against the best.
What was the qualifying round like?
It’s crazy. You look around and you have “Top Chef” winner Stephanie Izard [of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat restaurant]. You have Joe Flamm. You have living legend Giuseppe Tentori [of GT Fish & Oyster, formerly of BOKA]. I know Viet Pham [a winner of “Iron Chef America”]. He’s also a badass in his own right. Any of these people are solid competition and would have been a lot of fun to go up against. I think the only one I didn’t want to go up against was Stephanie.
Stephanie’s really competitive and so am I. I think if I beat her, she wouldn’t talk to me for months, and she’s also really good. Like, I want to go up against her, but not as a qualifier. These are all really solid competitors before you even get into the kitchen, and that, on its own, adds to the intimidation factor. [And] you look at the Randomizer and that shit is intimidating.
Do you think chefs are inherently competitive people?
I think we are. If I can speak for myself … I’m not competitive until there’s competition. But isn’t that what competitiveness is? I don’t think I’m competitive in the sense of “This person has a better restaurant than me.” But in that realm of cooking competition, we are competitive as hell. Like, me and Joe [Flamm], after we were done with the qualifier, we hung out for like three or four hours and just chatted about life, family, restaurants, all that shit, because we haven’t had time to do that in forever. But during the competition, we want to beat each other.
So, competition in a friendly way.
As Joe said, ‘I’m gonna cook a dinner better than yours, and then I’m gonna give you a ride home and shovel your walk. We’re gonna out nice each other.’
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What’s different about this experience from competing on ‘Top Chef’?
I think there are three things that really set it apart. First, you have the Randomizer and it’s really hard to plan for anything. You have to be a little bit good at everything. [Second,] you look around the room and it’s nothing but champions, badasses. And the third thing is, it’s blind tasting, so the judges have no idea who’s cooking. There’s no personal relationship – because we all know each other at this point, or know of each other. It’s truly the greatest cooking competition. … In “Top Chef,” you just gotta be faster than the last person. You have to outcook the last person. You don’t necessarily have to win all the time. Here, man, it’s you and another person. That’s it. Winner moves on, loser goes home.
What can you say about the season premiere this Sunday?
When I found out it was me competing against Sarah Bradley, looking at her list of accomplishments, it’s intimidating. She’s been a runner-up twice on “Top Chef.” She’s a “Chopped” champion. You know, she’s a killer. She’s also an incredibly nice human being on top of it. So it’s definitely not gonna be easy. But I always just appreciate things in the sense of, don’t go in there with too much of a plan and try and have fun.
How did being on ‘Top Chef’ prepare you for this show?
I think having the mental fortitude. … I feel that it’s like being like water. You can’t be too rigid. You have to let things happen, go with the flow, see what the Randomizer is going to present and execute it as best as you can. I think the biggest difference [between the two shows] is time. With “Tournament of Champions,” you have under five minutes to figure it out, and then it’s go time. It’s almost instantaneous.
