Next Level Chef contestant Ryan Scanlon made his homecoming on Thursday at Alchemy in Edgartown, where he first discovered his passion for cooking as a teenager.
The 23-year-old chef prepared a five-course menu for 30 family members, friends and fans of the show. Each dish was an homage to the Island that raised him.
“To see all the support from family, friends, local people... there’s so much love and support in the air,” Mr. Scanlon said. “I think it just couldn’t have been a better guest list or menu, the way the tables were set-up, everything was just spot on.”
In preparation for the night he and Christopher Stam, the executive chef of Alchemy who mentored Mr. Scanlon, ventured to local farms and scoured the Island’s beaches to collect the Vineyard’s freshest ingredients.
On the show, which airs on Fox and is hosted by Gordon Ramsay, Mr. Scanlon will chop and sauté with laser focus and a serious face. But on Wednesday in the Alchemy kitchen, Mr. Scanlon was all smiles beside his seven-person crew.
“This is the place where I fit in,” Mr. Scanlon said while tying his apron.
He gently tossed gelatin that had been soaking in cold water and remembered his early days in the kitchen. Mr. Scanlon worked for Alchemy over the course of four years, learning to chop vegetables uniformly and plate food with precision. He said he struggled in school and Alchemy was where he found his community.
His thoughts were interrupted when general manager Jay Kuss arrived for the day, and walked through the kitchen to hug his former rookie. Beside the two, front of house worker Maria Geftic folded a ground meat mixture into cabbage leaves, preparing what the restaurant calls a family meal for the whole crew – a job Mr. Scanlon used to be tasked with.
While Mr. Scanlon prepared the sea buckthorn gel, a sweet sauce derived from tart berries, Mr. Stam instructed not to make it too spicy. The two then swiftly rushed to the fridge and grabbed a container filled with prepped fennel and leek puree, dipped spoons inside, tasted the liquid then smiled and nodded at each other before hurriedly rushing off to complete the next task.
“I did feel like [in the kitchen] we kind of slipped into the same dynamic again,” Mr. Stam said with a chuckle after Thursday’s dinner was over.
Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Stam developed the menu together and said they think it reflected both their styles. Mr. Stam said it was meaningful to cook alongside his mentee and described how far the teenager he hired to butcher chickens has come.
“From not holding a knife correctly, not being able to even butcher a fish or cut a carrot, to now [where Ryan’s] a recognizable TV personality and professional chef is cool,” Mr. Stam said.
Mr. Scanlon presented each dish to the room. The first course featured slices of raw bay scallop resting in coconut lime broth and topped with drops of the sea buckthorn gel, shiso flowers and thin shavings of habanero pepper. The concoction floated on a sea scallop shell that rested atop rocks and seashells he and Mr. Stam collected from State Beach that morning.
Guests then ate smoked mussels served over a fire-roasted broth made from Morning Glory farm’s heirloom tomatoes, before turning to a lobster mezzaluna topped with crispy guanciale from Fork to Pork. Though many were full by the time the fourth course arrived, the guests found room to eat pan-seared black bass, rested over local nettles, coppa from Grey Barn and a red wine sabayon.
Before Mr. Scanlon’s left the restaurant to go to culinary school, he was a pastry chef. On Thursday he served a lemon olive oil cake with a dollop of basil sherbet, white chocolate creméux and honey mille-feuille.
At the end of the night, Mr. Scanlon answered questions about his time on the show, which is ongoing. Many wanted to know if he wins the $250,000 prize and year-long mentorship that are awarded to the last chef standing on the TV show, but Mr. Scanlon said his lips are sealed.
One guest mentioned Mr. Scanlon’s grandfather, Tom Scanlon, who owned Tom’s Deli in Edgartown before it closed. Mr. Stam’s second business, Wicked Burger, now sits in the same location.
Others asked what’s next for the young chef, and Mr. Scanlon talked about a spice blend he plans to launch at the end of the month.
At the end of the night, the most recent episode of Next Level Chef aired in another room in Alchemy. As guests were leaving, they watched Mr. Scanlon advance to the final six.
“Coming back and collaborating on a menu with [Chef Stam], going around the Island, grabbing all these ingredients [and] smelling and tasting them, then putting them on a plate for [everyone] to enjoy has just been great,” Mr. Scanlon said. “This whole experience was a full circle moment for me.”
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