Chef Wanted With Anne Burrell Tuscan Kitchen Contestants

Season 2 of Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell is set to premiere this Thursday at 10pm, and the first episode will be looking to hire a chef at Tuscan Kitchen in Salem, New Hampshire.  The four contestants on this episode are Jonny Giordani, Anthony de Palma, Scott Brandolini, and Valarie Carlone.  You may recognize some of them from appearing on previous shows on the Food Network.  Lets take a look at the backgrounds for the chefs set to appear on this episode:

• Jonny Giordani - When the episode filmed, Jonny was the Executive Chef at Lucky Strike in New York, and was previously the executive chef at Boom in New York (Link).   You may also recognize Jonny from his appearance on Chopped.  Jonny was on an episode that aired on December 6, 2011, which was a holiday themed episode.  Jonny was actually the winner of this episode of Chopped and took home the $10,000 prize.

• Anthony de Palma - Anthony was the executive chef and owner at West Palm Beach's Dolce de Palma, which was a highly acclaimed restaurant.  Anthony decided to close the restaurant in 2011 after a dispute with the landlord of the building.  He is originally from the Boston area and has worked in New York and Boston in the past.

• Valarie Carlone - Valarie a personal chef from San Bernardino, California, and is the Owner and Executive Chef of her own business VC Personal Chef .  She studied and earned her culinary degree in Italy and specialized in Italian cuisine.

• Scott Brandolini - Scott is also from the Boston area, at the time of the filming was the executive chef at Andiamo Restaurant + Bar in Newburyport, MA and has worked in Boston area restaurants since 2004.  You may also recognize Scott Brandolini from his appearance on the 2nd season of Extreme Chef.  Scott was eliminated during the third episode of that season.

So there you have the first 4 contestants for the 2nd season of Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell.  Although Extreme Chef is not that popular, they seem to be reusing chefs from that with Viet Pham recently beating Bobby Flay in an Iron Chef battle.  The owner of the Tuscan Kitchen has said that the winner of the episode is still at the restaurant and is among the dozen chefs that work for him.

Who do you think will win this episode?   I will update this post after the episode with the winner.

UPDATE - Jonny Giordani was the first chef tearfully eliminated, followed by Valarie Carlone.  This put Scott Brandolini against Anthony de Palma in a dinner service.  Anthony de Palma ended up impressing everybody more with his dinner service and announced the winner of the executive chef role at Tuscan Kitchen.

Also, an article in the PBPulse on 2/12/2013 has stated that  Anthony has moved from Tuscan Kitchen to the Tuscan Market, which was also on the show.  He is making pastas, breads, charcuterie, pastries, and gelato, which is served in both the market and in the restaurant.