Tucson High grad takes cooking talents to Gordon Ramsay's 'Hell's Kitchen' - Arizona Daily Star

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Tucson High grad takes cooking talents to Gordon Ramsay's 'Hell's Kitchen' - Arizona Daily Star

Tucson High grad takes cooking talents to Gordon Ramsay's 'Hell's Kitchen' - Arizona Daily Star

Posted: 16 Jan 2021 08:08 AM PST

After four appearances on celebrity chef Guy Fieri's "Guy's Grocery Games" and competing now in the 19th season of Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" on Fox, Tucson native Amber Lancaster is starting to get recognized.

Especially at her neighborhood nail salon in Montclair, New Jersey.

She was getting her nails done earlier this month and the salon had "Hell's Kitchen" showing on its TV.

One of the workers, who was rubbing Lancaster's shoulders as another tech did her nails, pounded her on the back: "Oh you're on the TV! You're on the TV!" the woman screamed.

"She just freaked out," Lancaster recalled last week, the day after the second episode aired; the show runs Thursdays on Fox. 

When the show debuted on Jan. 7, the nail salon staff showed up for a small viewing party at Allegory, the Montclair restaurant at the boutique MC Hotel where Lancaster has been executive chef since last September.

Just how the 2006 Tucson High grad, who trained at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Scottsdale and Le Cordon Bleu Paris, landed on Ramsay's elite cooking competition is a tale of somebody knew somebody who knew somebody.

"I have been very lucky in my career. I have never once done an application for a television show," said Lancaster, 32, who landed in New Jersey after five years of cooking in Chicago, including with the renown molecular gastronomy chef Grant Achatz at his Michelin-rated restaurant Alinea. "It's kind of like word of mouth. I had done 'Guy's Grocery Games' a few times and word just traveled and somebody through somebody reached out to me."

The 19th season was filmed in Las Vegas in 2019 before COVID-19 shuttered Sin City and all of its restaurants. 

"It was fun. It was really intense. It's kind of like you don't know what to expect," she said. "It's very different than filming a one-off show to do a whole series. I thought I was prepared and I really wasn't."

Lancaster is among 18 chefs vying for Ramsay's ultimate prize: to helm the award-winning chef's new Hell's Kitchen restaurant in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. We can't give away any show secrets, but suffice it to say, she survived the first two rounds.

In addition to being cheered by her nail salon, Lancaster said she is also getting texts and emails from old Tucson classmates and friends, many of whom wonder how the girl whose only restaurant experience growing up was hostessing at El Charro Café has become something of a celebrity chef.

It all started, Lancaster said, at her uncle's kitchen table the Christmas after she graduated high school. 

After partying away her first semester at the University of Arizona, where she was majoring in political science, she was lamenting her life and future with her uncle, a successful lawyer.

At the dining room table that night, he asked her a question that turned her life around: "If you could do one thing every day for the rest of your life where money was no issue, what would you do?"

"I said I would cook," she recalled. 

She dropped out of the UA and enrolled in the Scottsdale campus of the famed Le Cordon Bleu, later taking more advanced training in Paris to earn her Le Grande Diplôme in 2008. She remained in France for three years, working in the kitchens of the prestigious Guy Savoy and Hôtel de Crillon before relocating to Chicago in 2011 to study molecular gastromony at Alinea. Other stops in Chicago, where she earned her bachelor's degree in communication and French from Loyola University, included running the culinary program for Sur La Table and helming the kitchen at Sable Kitchen & Bar. 

Her latest move to New Jersey came after a long courtship by MC Hotel's owner, Aparium Hotel Group, which owns a handful of neighborhood-centric boutique hotels around the country. When COVID-19 prompted the London-based food tech startup where she was working to lay off their entire staff, she took the leap to New Jersey, where she is introducing diners to the small-plates cuisine she describes as being on the "verge of Mediterranean or Spanish-French-Italian" with a hints of Tucson.

"Some of those flavors that I relate to Tucson, like a lot of cilantro and these lovely salsas and tomatillos and even cactus, I kind of incorporate into my type of cuisine that I cook now," said Lancaster, who hasn't been home in a year because of the pandemic. "I think just having that growing up, eating that way there, influences me a lot."

Lancaster said she hopes to get home once the pandemic threat eases. 

And when she does, in addition to cooking for her dad — "I love to feed my dad because there is no one more excited. … My dad is literally blown away." — she plans to hit a few of her favorite restaurants including El Charro, El Molinito, No Anchovies, Maynards Market & Kitchen and, of course, Eegees.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com or 573-4642. On Twitter @Starburch

This 12-Year-Old Turned His Passion for Cooking Into A Successful Online Business - Black Enterprise

Posted: 16 Jan 2021 09:27 AM PST

Kid entrepreneur Julian Frederick just landed a deal that could help more kids enhance their cooking and leadership skills.

Through a partnership with SideChef, a digital home cooking platform, Frederick shares his kitchen secrets with more kids.

"I want to help kids build their cooking skills and confidence while creating great family time memories," Julian Frederick shared with BlackBusiness.com. "The Step Stool Chef teaches kids to be leaders in the kitchen, providing tools and solutions for them to learn to cook in a safe space with little to no help from parents. At the Step Stool Chef, the kids are the chefs, parents are the assistants."

From Passion to Profits

Frederick has always had a passion for cooking since the age of three. When his mom, Toria Frederick, gave him the green light to express his creativity in the kitchen on his third birthday, his talent and drive were unparalleled. She knew that it was time to nurture his talent.

"I got snowed in on my third birthday," Frederick told the Dallas Observer. "Unfortunately, I had to cancel my birthday party plans. I told my mom I wanted to make my own birthday cake, and she let me. That was the first time I ever got to cook by myself. And I instantly knew I wanted to cook."

That was the beginning of a profitable opportunity. At 8-years-old, Frederick started selling kid-friendly cooking products around the U.S. He also signed licensing deals in China. 

With a variety of experiences under his belt, the Texas-based kid entrepreneur started The Step Stool Chef with his mom in 2016. He knew it was time to share his culinary gifts with other kids. Later, he created an online course to expand his impact.

A Cooking Academy for Kids

As the CEO of The Step Stool Chef, Frederick has been able to develop kid-friendly cooking lessons, products, and recipes. He's also the go-to person when it comes to recommendations for products and training that are perfect for kids. Now, at the age of 12, Frederick has inspired thousands of kids through his cooking lessons. He's also the author of the book, The Step Stool Chef Cookbook For Kids.

The launch of The Step Stool Chef Cooking School For Kids by SideChef Premium will take the mother and son duo's vision to the next level. Frederick's mom told BlackBusiness.com, "This unique partnership allows us to merge kid cooking, education, and technology."

She adds, "As distant learning and homeschooling become a reality for many kids across America, these on-demand cooking classes are a great complement to the new reality of present-day at-home education. This is a great solution for families wanting to spend more time together that also supports kids learning to be more independent."

Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders

Frederick proves that age shouldn't be a barrier to living your dreams. His personal mantra, "I can do it", has been a motivational phrase that has helped him to continuously climb higher. When Frederick's mom heard these words come out of her son's mouth, it was confirmed that it was time to let him grow into the person he was created to be.

Now, Frederick is showing other kids that they 'can do it', too. Although Frederick already has a remarkable list of accomplishments on his resume, there is no doubt that the future is even brighter. The long-term prospects for Frederick's movement could be even greater: building the next generation of kid millionaires and community leaders.


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