Adam Bostwick is glad the word is finally out: He won last week's four-chef competition on Food Network's show,
"I've known since March, and that's a long time to keep my mouth shut," said the sworn-to-secrecy partner in Cork & Cleaver Social Kitchen in Broadview Heights and Graffiti: A Social Kitchen in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.
The episode, "Waffles For The Win," ran Sept. 12 and repeats 9 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, and later at midnight, according to tvguide.com.
Bostwick, 34, said that he's frequently watched the program and fantasized what he'd make from the surprise basket of ingredients.
"This show fits what I do," he said of the creativity he is allowed as a chef and owner.
But there were a couple of challenges that took him by surprise.
"I'm a confident chef," he said. "I trust myself to come up with ideas and execute them with the best. But can I come up with something if I only have 20 minutes, a foreign kitchen, a stove I didn't know and a pantry where I don't know where anything is?
"The other challenge is that the show is going to depict you to the entire country, so I just had to be me. It's not just about the cooking."
Bostwick and his challengers faced three courses - appetizer, entree, dessert - all incorporating waffles. He's happy that he pushed beyond the obvious, making a chicken and waffle panzanella salad for the first course, a burrito out of soy-braised and fermented beef shanks for the entree, and a peanut butter ice cream with fried cookie dough for the dessert. One of the show's judges, J.J. Johnson, owner of a chicken and waffle restaurant in Harlem, said of his burrito, "This is genius."
Bostwick won $10,000 for his efforts and hopes to be invited back for a contest among the season's winners. In the meantime, he plans to put some of the money into a third restaurant, a fast-casual concept he's cooking up with his brother-in-law Brian Okin and his sister, Amanda. The theme will be meatballs with added sauces and sides, at a location yet to be named. Temporarily, their Polpetta is being tested at Porco Lounge in Cleveland.
The win was especially sweet for Bostwick, who worked his way up in the business.
"People ask you where you went to school and when you say you haven't, actually, a lot of people turn their heads. But you don't always have to go to school. I had the fortune to work for and learn from the right people. I started out washing dishes at the age of 13. I was trained by people who let me grow and be me. I went online and studied. And I didn't have a lot of debt.
"Either you're meant to be in the business or not. A lot of it is hard work and dedication."