Meet the Winner of ‘High Chef’ Season 21: Danny Garcia

Danny Garcia has had an advanced week. On the Meals & Wine Basic in Aspen he spoke about his High Chef Season 21 win, together with what introduced him on the present, how he remained such a powerful competitor, and his thrilling plans for the longer term. The next day, Garcia acquired the information that his shut pal, mentor, and enterprise companion, chef James Kent, died all of a sudden on the age of 45.

The information shook the restaurant business. Kent’s kindness and forward-thinking management model impacted many lives, Garcia’s specifically. Kent employed Garcia at The NoMad in New York Metropolis, his first job after attending culinary college at Johnson & Wales in Windfall, Rhode Island. He supported Garcia via the Bocuse d’Or, a biennial worldwide chef competitors. He introduced Garcia and his now-wife, pastry chef Sumaiya Bangee, collectively once they labored at Crown Shy. And later this fall, they had been going to open a restaurant with Garcia as government chef.

“His purpose was to offer everyone round him the limelight to shine,” Garcia mentioned. “He had planted a bunch of seeds, and he took care of them, and wished to see them develop and flourish. I used to be lucky sufficient to be a kind of seeds. We’re going to proceed to do all the things that he envisioned and deliberate for us, as a result of that’s what he would have wished.”

It’s a devastating loss for Garcia and his group at Saga Hospitality, and but, they’ll nonetheless have fun the High Chef win. “[James] would’ve been livid if we weren’t on high of a bar, spraying folks down with Champagne,” he mentioned.

In a method, honoring Garcia’s triumph can be a approach to honor Kent. In accordance with Garcia, he wouldn’t be the chef he’s right this moment with out Kent’s mentorship. “The meals that I cook dinner is due to him. He was capable of give me my voice.” And actually, it was Garcia’s culinary voice that received him the competitors. It was a perspective that was considerate and analytical, however daring. One which created restaurant-worthy dishes on the fly, like cranberry-poached sea bass or scallop mousse with zucchini and Inexperienced Chartreuse. One which earned him essentially the most prize cash ever acquired in High Chef historical past, $303,000. 

For years, Bangee had been encouraging him to use for the Bravo competitors collection, however the timing was by no means proper. “Being a chef, you by no means have time to have breakfast, not to mention step out of your restaurant for a number of weeks simply to go compete on a present,” he mentioned. However with the brand new restaurant in improvement and High Chef Season 12 winner Mei Lin’s encouragement, Garcia lastly threw his hat into the ring. 

When he came upon he could be on the present, Garcia jumped into research mode, watching all 20 seasons of High Chef backwards (twice for host Kristen Kish’s season) and researching the Wisconsin culinary scene. For each theme or ingredient he thought a problem could be centered on — be it cranberries, beer, or cheese — Garcia deliberate two to 3 concepts, usually leaning on dishes he had made previously. 

“I used to be going to do issues that I knew had been scrumptious,” he mentioned. “There’s a time and place to fly off the seat of your pants, but when I wished to be there for the longevity of the season, I wanted to do issues that had been in my wheelhouse. It was a marathon.” 

For Garcia, that marathon metaphor is a little more literal. He’s a dedicated member of the Crown Shy Run Membership (based by Kent’s spouse, Kelly) and, throughout the filming hole earlier than the finale, ran the New York Metropolis Marathon. “I wasn’t going to [run the marathon] as a result of I wasn’t conditioned,” he mentioned. “However actually the night time earlier than, I assumed, I’ve to do that as a result of it’s a contest for myself. It’s important to do that simply to show to your self you could.” 

Garcia ran the marathon together with his fellow cooks at Saga Hospitality, beat his purpose time, and even sprinted the final eight miles. “Mentally, I used to be like, oh, nothing can cease me.’”

That accomplishment powered Garcia via the actual last push, growing and executing the perfect four-course meal he’s ever made. He knew he wished to do a seafood menu since his upcoming restaurant shall be fish-driven and he may capitalize on the abundance of recent seafood accessible in Curaçao (the finale’s location). However for Garcia, the trickiest half was deciding on a narrative with a throughline that might tie his 4 dishes collectively. 

By that time within the competitors, Garcia knew he may put collectively a extremely good plate of meals, however when he needed to give that meals a backstory, he usually felt misplaced. So when it got here to the ultimate menu, he thought lengthy and laborious concerning the deeper which means behind his meal. He began fascinated about his appetizer plan — a scallop crudo with leche de tigre — and a reminiscence of Kent got here to thoughts.

“After I interviewed for James Kent recent out of faculty, he gave me scallops and instructed me to make him a dish, and now we’re opening a restaurant,” Garcia mentioned within the finale. After that, extra of the programs fell into place. He’d make spiny lobster with salsa macha and chaaza (a Burmese curry and the very first thing his spouse ever cooked him) and a cantaloupe piragua con leche (a Puerto Rican shaved ice and Garcia’s first interpretation of dessert as a toddler). It was a narrative of firsts.

Not solely did the cohesive storyline give Garcia a leg up within the finale, so did his stamina. It doesn’t matter what got here his method, he took a breath, stored his cool, and moved ahead. Lobsters too chewy? He threw them in a pot and boiled them. Not sufficient cantaloupe? Pivot and make lemon relish as a substitute. Garcia got here off so effortlessly assured, that his last phrases on High Chef felt like a shock. “I believe I simply put quite a lot of stress on myself on a regular basis,” he mentioned via tears. “It feels good to place up the meals I need to put up and I’m simply pleased with myself.”

 This fall, Garcia nonetheless plans to turn into government chef at Saga Hospitality’s upcoming restaurant, Time & Tide. “It’s going to be our interpretation of a New York Metropolis steakhouse, however for seafood,” he mentioned. Which means massive, lovely cuts of fish with enjoyable, shareable sides, and an emphasis on sustainability. And though Kent will be unable to see Time & Tide via, Garcia hopes to observe in his footsteps. 

“I believe it’s nearly main with grace,” he mentioned. “He gave everyone the time of day. He handled everyone like they had been his greatest pal. For those who knew James for 5 seconds, 5 days, or 5 years, he cared about you. He invested in you. And in carrying his legacy, what he wished was [for us] to do not forget that it’s not about us. It’s about everyone round us.”