Manhattan Beach restaurateur David LeFevre came away from last week’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet” with a new nickname.
Though “LeFlavor” isn’t the first nickname given to the 45-year-old chef, it’s sure to be one that sticks.
“You’ll hear that throughout the next episode,” he hinted.
Chef “LeFlavor,” who has the seafood restaurants Manhattan Beach Post and Fishing With Dynamite and the steakhouse The Arthur J, returns as one of five competitors on the Food Network’s culinary competition, airing 9 p.m. April 18.
Host Alton Brown presents the remaining chefs with a new Chairman’s Challenge – to create a dish that represents the cuisine of Thailand, India, Spain, Greece or Japan. His least favorite dish lands the loser in the Secret Ingredient Showdown against an unsuspecting Iron Chef hopeful, handpicked by the Chairman’s Challenge winner.
Last week, the winning New York chef Hong Thaimee pitted LeFevre against Chairman’s Challenge loser Saskatoon chef Dale MacKay.
Thaimee explained, “I picked Chef LeFevre because he is a strong competitor.”
MacKay acknowledged the threat.
“Chef LeFevre is a great chef,” MacKay said. “He’s been around the block, and he is not an easy competitor to beat.”
During the showdown, the chefs had to come up with three beet-forward dishes in one hour.
“The hardest part of that challenge was being able to get the beets cooked in the amount of time that you want, so I had to use pressure cookers for the first time,” said LeFevre, who appeared to be a bit clumsy with the lids at times. “You’re just trying to do everything so fast that when you’re doing something, and it doesn’t work right away, it just looks like you’re fumbling through it.”
In fact, he was strategizing.
The pressure cookers sped up the cooking time, giving LeFevre plenty of time to produce what was the preferred menu of Black Bass and Sea Urchin Crudo with Candy-Striped Beets, Roasted Red Baby Beets with Blue Crab and Beet Green Chimichurri, and Beet and Red Cabbage Borscht with a Salmon Roe-Topped Crouton. MacKay, on the other hand, went home.
But it was during the thick of the competition that Miami chef Timon Balloo called out, “How are you doing, LeFlavor?”
“Did you just call him ‘LeFlavor,’” Calgary chef Nicole Gomes said amid giggles.
Chef Kevin Tien gave the nickname a hashtag, gesturing it with his fingers into the camera.
LeFevre said people who had gathered in the bar at Manhattan Beach Post to watch, erupted in laughter.
“It was funny,” said the chef, who spoke ahead of another event from the bar of Arthur J (903 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach), where he’ll send around small samples of his crudo beginning at 6 p.m. during the East Coast feed. “I mean, I’ve been called similar but not on national television.”
Iron Chef Gauntlet
When: 9 p.m. Wednesdays
Where: The Food Network
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