Local chef competes in Food Network television show

Local chef Taylor Frankel, former head chef at Sweet Basil, was selected by The Food Network to compete on the competitive cooking show “Alex vs. America” this summer. Frankel’s episode will air on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 10 p.m. MST on the Food Network.

On the show, Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli selects three chefs from all over the country who specialize in a certain culinary technique, and then challenges them to prepare dishes that will compete against her own in a blind taste test. Guarnaschelli has been a regular on the Food Network for over two decades, commonly seen on popular shows like “Iron Chef America,” “Chopped,” “Supermarket Stakeout” and “The Kitchen.”

Frankel was selected to compete in her specialty of molecular gastronomy, a scientific approach to food that uses chemistry and physics to accomplish creative methods of cooking and food presentation. She said that she never attended culinary school, and studied physiology in college before discovering her passion for cooking while working at a restaurant in Breckenridge after graduation.

She spent the last seven years at Sweet Basil in Vail Village, working her way up under the guidance of chef Paul Anders and owner Matt Morgan to become the restaurant’s first female head chef. Her interest in molecular gastronomy started at Sweet Basil, where the techniques are used in certain dishes, and grew when she took a year off to work at a Michelin star restaurant in California.

“It’s definitely been something that I’ve done a lot of self-training on,” Frankel said. “I learned a ton in California, but we used a lot of that at Sweet Basil throughout the years as well. Foams and gels and liquid nitrogen — it’s just kind of like science on a plate.”

Support Local Journalism

Donate

This was the first time that Frankel has participated in a food competition, but coming up in the restaurant industry prepared her for both the intensity and the time crunch of the challenges. She said that Sweet Basil demanded high performance from her every day, and the training translated directly to the show.

“I really did feel like I was curated for this environment,” Frankel said. “Obviously, most successful chefs are really good under stressful situations and coming up with things on the fly and adapting, and that’s literally all this was. It was the craziest day, honestly, ever.”

“Alex vs. America” aims to showcase talent from across the country, but naturally tends to include more chefs from metropolitan areas and bigger cities. Frankel can only remember one other chef from Colorado who has been on the show, who was based out of Denver. She said that having the opportunity to represent the valley on a national stage was an honor, and that Alex Guarnaschelli even commented on her being from Vail.

“She looks at the host and is like, ‘where do you find these people?’” Frankel said. “Vail, Colorado, specializing in molecular gastronomy — it’s very unique. Just speaking of what we do here and the volume and quality of what this valley can offer I think is so huge.”

Sweet Basil has been the launchpad of Frankel’s career, but this summer she decided to start her own private chef business in the valley. The business is called Taylor Made and is focused on offering personally curated menus that match the tastes and interests of each individual customer. Frankel said she loves having the opportunity to be creative and adaptive with food, as her episode will showcase, and that she hopes to have many opportunities to do so with her new business.

“My goal is not to just hand people a menu or, like, a list of sample menus,” Frankel said. “I really want to collaborate for every meal with them and come up with really fun ideas and find ways to apply these molecular techniques that I really like to showcase.”

Frankel’s “Alex vs. America” episode will air on national television on Sunday, Sept. 11. For more information about Taylor Made, visit TaylorMadeChef.com. 

“I’m just so proud to be able to represent this valley, and all of my success has come from working in these amazing restaurants,” Frankel said. “It’s just a culmination of everything I’ve done for the past years in my career.”