Maritime chefs Renée Lavallée and Jesse Vergen have been chosen as judges on Food Network Canada's Wall of Chefs. Images: Contributed
Two well-known Maritime chefs have been chosen as judges for the latest round of Food Network Canada’s culinary competition, Wall of Chefs.
Renée Lavallée of The Canteen in Dartmouth and Jesse Vergen of the Saint John Alehouse will join a cadre of the country’s best chefs atop “The Wall,” where they’ll offer colour commentary and expertise as home cooks face-off in a succulent showdown.
For Vergen, who rose to fame as a competitor on Top Chef Canada, being selected as a judge for Wall of Chefs was “humbling.”
“I took it as a great honour. I was quite humbled when I read the roster of chefs,” he told Huddle.
“I have actually been through competitions where [some of these chefs] have been on the judging side, and there I am sitting alongside them and we’re doing the judging now,” he said. “When you have Lynn Crawford beside you and Mark McEwan and Susur Lee are behind you that’s a pretty interesting point in my career.”
Although he and the rest of the “Wall of Chefs” don’t have to sweat it out competing in the kitchen, Vergen said watching the home chefs evokes some of the same stress and excitement from his days a competitor.
“There’s definitely the heart-racing [feeling]. They take off and the clock starts and you see them scrambling and all the sudden those feelings of adrenaline that would come on when I was competing in Top Chef… you kind of feel for them and you get excited, too,” he said.
Lavallée said one of the best parts of being a judge on the show is seeing the competitors in action.
Jesse Vergen atop the Walls of Chefs. Image: Contributed
“I’m always excited to see these home cooks and see their passion and see how excited they are and see what they come up with for dishes,” she told Huddle.
Lavallée said she still remembers a “very delicious” nacho mac and cheese one of the competitors made that she would be happy to eat for the rest of her life.
She also said it’s “nice to be able to represent” the East Coast culinary scene on national television “and for people to see and hear about what we’re doing here.”
While Lavallée joked that her team at The Canteen are probably happy to have her out of the kitchen (“All I do anyways is get in their way,” she said), leaving to appear on the show is a much-appreciated marketing boost.
“It’s definitely a plus for any chef that has their own restaurant,” Vergen said. “It’s marketing you can’t buy. It’s one of those things, Canadian Foodies watch the Food Network so when you’re on it they see you and start thinking ‘when I’m in New Brunswick I want to stop and the Saint John Alehouse.’”
Vergen added that it was a special honour to represent the Maritimes alongside Lavallée.
“I look up to [her] as one of Canada’s best chefs so it’s awesome to be waving the east coast flag along with her.”
The latest 10-episode run of Wall of Chefs premiers on Food Network Canada Sept. 1, at 11 pm local time.
Tune in September 1, 15, and 29 to see Vergen flex his culinary knowledge atop the Wall. Lavallée will offer her insight Nov. 3 and Oct. 6.
“I think it’s a fun show, I look forward to watching it with my kids,” Lavallée said. “I’m sure the kids and I will stay up late on those nights with a big bowl of popcorn and a bottle of wine and they can make fun of me and it will all be good.”
Trevor Nichols is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
