Original subtitles

[narrator] This is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

60 miles of beautiful, sunny beaches,

attractions, and more than 2,000 restaurants.

With amazing culinary options,

the beach has became a true foodie destination.

Our host, chef Amanda Freitag loves Southern hospitality,

great food, and healthy competition.

So she's here to set up a Chef Swap challenge.

I'm Amanda Freitag and this is Chef Swap At The Beach.

[narrator] Today, Amanda will take two local chefs

out of their comfort zones

and swap them into each other's kitchens.

What?!

[Amanda] On each episode, our chefs will

have no idea where they're going

or what food they'll cook.

Maybe an appetizer, an entrée, or a dessert.

[narrator] They'll grab only one ingredient

to bring with them,

and they'll have just 60 minutes

to make Chef Amanda

and local culinary experts Dylan and Johanna

a dish that might earn them

their very own Chef Swap knife,

and major bragging rights.

[Amanda] It's time for Chef Swap.

Today on Chef Swap At The Beach,

we have two successful women with incredible stories.

I think I am potentially

the most fortunate human being who's ever lived.

I was as black sheep as a human being has ever been.

And about 26 years ago,

three blocks from here, I found myself homeless,

struggling with a drug addiction,

in just really awful shape.

But I have been loved on and cared for

by this community in ways that would blow your mind.

So, we offer something called the Number One.

One of our patrons can add a Number One

to their bill for five bucks and then we pitch in the rest,

and a struggling neighbor can come in

and they can sit down

at the table and order Number One,

and be served just like any other guest.

We were so excited when we realized that

the number one seller here is the Number One.

I wish I could say that going to a homeless shelter was like

the most humiliating thing in my life, but it wasn't.

It was actually an opportunity for a new start for me,

and one I'll always be grateful for.

My dad came over from Greece when he was 16,

and he bought his first restaurant at 19.

Me, my brothers and sisters, we used to run around

the restaurants, behind the counters,

and be in everyone's way.

I started working when I was 13,

as a server, at our place called Coney Island.

So it was a hot dog place.

I took it over and I learned a lot there.

And I made a lot of mistakes in there.

And when I came here, we ended up we could really be successful

because I already learned a lot of lessons.

In the middle of summer, he started getting sick.

And he didn't know what was wrong.

And then he got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,

stage four, right off the bat.

[sniffs] And it was like

the whole world crumbled on top of us.

He was, like, invincible. It was Daddy!

He was my hero, yeah.

Well, I didn't expect for him to be taken so soon,

but I hope that he, you know, he sees what we're doing

every day and he's proud.

You know, we get up and... My family and I,

and we just take care of everything that he built.

[Amanda] Our chefs are about to get a big surprise.

- Jamie! - Hey!

- [both] Hi! - Hi, Amanda!

- How are you? - I'm great.

It's time for a Chef Swap.

All right!

In this envelope it tells you where you're gonna cook,

what you're gonna cook,

- and what chef you're swapping with. - Okay.

Okay, wait. Before you open the envelope,

you can take one ingredient from your kitchen with you.

I'm gonna go with rosemary.

- Rosemary? - Yeah!

Well, it's my Mediterranean seasoning blend

I think I'm gonna take. It has a little salt, pepper,

some oregano, and some other things

that I just... You know, it's a secret.

- So can we keep it that way? - Okay.

- Let's see if it'll work with that. - Okay, let's see.

[laughs]

Winna's Kitchen with Chef Jess, cooking breakfast.

That's crazy.

Johnny D's, and Chef Jamie for breakfast!

- Yes. - Great.

I love that.

- One more thing. - What's that?

Your Chef Swap challenge

- starts right now. - Ah!

Let's go then! What are we waiting for?

[Amanda] Our chefs bring one ingredient

and have 60 minutes

to swap restaurants and create a dish that will be

a star on that menu, judged on taste, integration,

and creativity.

- Hi, Jess. - Yes!

-Courtney, nice to meet you. -Hi, Courtney. Nice to meet you.

- Let me show you around the kitchen of Johnny D's. - Awesome.

-Hey, how are you? -I'm good, I'm good. I'm Jamie.

-Jamie. Kinsey. It's nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

- So I'm gonna give you a tour. - Okay.

- I know our kitchen's a little bit smaller than yours. - It's okay, I love it.

This is cooler number one.

Your peppers, your Italian, then you have your fruits over here.

You got blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe.

Chicken, shrimp, beef. Obviously some country ham.

Okay. Ooh, that looks...

Lord, I'm gonna get some exercise today.

[Courtney] Your eggs over there.

Roll meats down here.

So, back here is where we keep all our dry storage.

- Okay. - Over here.

Uh, we have, like, 40,000 cheeses.

Okay, so, have two avocados.

Don't use those, I need those.

Okay, those are all yours then. Perfect.

- Jamie, are you ready? - I'm ready, I think I'm ready.

- Do you know where everything is? - Yes.

All right. What's this?

That's my seasoning blend

- I was telling you about. - Oh, let me see.

You're not gonna tell me what's in it, right?

Maybe later.

- All right, so you're feeling ready? - Yes.

- You know what I'm about to say to you. - I know.

- You have 60 minutes. - Okay.

- How you feeling? - I'm good.

I have tons of ideas.

Lots of ingredients.

A lot more than you're used to.

Yeah, I'm gonna get my cardio today.

- You better start cooking. - I'm ready.

[Amanda] Our chefs can use anything they want

from each other's shelves, if they can find it.

I know they have to have some kind of hard cheese.

Ooh, I'mma tell you, I've always been scared

to get stuck in one of these things.

We do not have one of these at our restaurant.

So I have no idea if I'm using it properly.

Lord, this is time I don't have to be waiting.

Boy, I hope nobody from my restaurant comes

and sees this 'cause they'll want one.

So, I'm gonna make some potatoes,

but I'm gonna use my seasoning blend.

I really like everything is right where I need it, I don't have to move.

It's nice.

- Tell me your name? - Jesse.

Jesse? I'm Jess. It's nice to meet you, bud.

- Nice! - You too.

Hey, Jess. How's it going?

It's going.

- What are you doing up here? - I'm testing out this.

They had a nice little, like, sausage product.

What is your dish?

Oh, it's gonna be a breakfast meatball.

It doesn't have a fancy name yet.

But a maple and mustard breakfast meatball

and do, like, an infused, sweet, rosemary caramel

and plate it on maybe some kinda little French toast.

- Wow! - It's still in progress.

A breakfast meatball.

Jess is really showing up with a highly creative dish.

Meanwhile, Jamie is laser-focused.

- How you doing? - [Jamie] Oh, my...

Take a breath, take a breath.

Yeah, 10 minutes has passed.

- Okay. - Tell me what you're putting together.

All right, so, I'm really making a dish

- kinda for my mom. - Oh!

Because I'm so proud of her and how she handled everything

you know, after my dad passed.

And she's just really a rock star.

My dad always said, like, "I could never do this without your mother.

I could never do this without your mother."

She loves her lemon potato, she likes...

I love lemon potato!

I used the seasoning blend, I took the lemon potatoes,

home fried, and use a little lemon juice at the end.

And then we're gonna do, like, a Mediterranean toast.

And you still have a solid 45 or more.

- Okay, I love it. - Okay?

Don't let me run out of time.

[Amanda] With over 10 minutes gone,

Jess has to get her meatballs cooking

and Jamie needs to focus on her potatoes.

This right here is the best invention in the kit...

I lied, it's not the best invention in the kitchen.

How much time do I have?

Jess, you got about 45 minutes left.

- Okay, these are gonna take about 20 minutes, I think. - Okay.

We gotta hustle, hustle.

- Yes, ma'am. - Feeling good?

All right, where's that rosemary? Let's see.

[Jess] It's coming!

[sing-song voice] Turn you up!

I want you to cook fast!

Ah. Smells so good.

[Jess] At Winna's Kitchen we do elevated comfort food.

A lot of local, organic, fresh ingredients.

A lot of fresh herbs, fresh vegetables.

Being fast is not my strong suit.

We change our menu regularly

to incorporate what's fresh,

but to also expose our community

to some food they're not, you know, always eating.

I was so happy when I saw these little suckers here.

I love myself cherry tomatoes.

We're obsessed with them.

- I'm obsessed with it. - It's a situation here.

[Jamie] At Johnny D's we make

a little bit of almost everything.

We have a page devoted to our waffles,

we have a page devoted to our Benedicts.

My favorites are the red velvet waffle,

the cinnamon waffle,

the chipotle bacon skillet.

I love the sweet and spicy omelette,

my churro French toast

is one of my favs, hands down.

So I'm gonna put a little garlic and onion to the pan.

First I'm gonna cook it down a little bit.

And then I'm gonna add my sliced cherry tomatoes that I made.

And, just to kind of top over the avocado toast at the end.

[Jess] I don't want anybody to get a big fat chunk of

frickin' rosemary.

That's no bueno!

That mustard.

I'm taking way too long to make these meatballs.

I need a sheet tray! Sheet pan!

- So, we're almost halfway there. - Mmm-hmm.

- We sure are. - Which means you have half the amount of time.

- Yes, it does. - To finish the meatballs.

Are you ambidextrous there? Do you use both hands?

[Jess] I do, but only because

- I broke my wrist... - What?

- A few weeks ago. - You broke your wrist?

Where's your cast?

That's up for discussion.

- You took it off? - I did.

You took your cast off.

I had to cook!

Oh, my God!

That is a hardcore chef right there.

That's one word for it.

And what are you taking shots of over here?

- Maple syrup. - Oh, yeah?

[both laugh]

All right, well, that should get you going. A little sugar rush.

[Jess] I have a sign when you walk into my house

that says, "Welcome to our beautiful chaos."

- Oh, nice. - So I'm made for this.

This is beautiful chaos right here.

Your mom's not gonna give you the recipe,

but maybe she'll give me the recipe?

So it's Greek, it's lots of lemon.

She puts a lot of lemon, and salt, pepper, and oregano

on everything that she makes.

- Salt, pepper, oregano. - Everything that she makes.

That's her mix. There's gotta be feta in here.

There... Come on.

- Okay, that's a yes. - [laughs]

- We know why, we know why. - Of course there's feta.

Everything's "betta" with feta.

What do you think about this kitchen?

You are bouncing off the walls in here!

I love it in here, because it's nice to be able to focus on one dish here.

- Everything's at your fingertips. - Yeah.

Yeah, because at my store, I gotta do some running.

Yeah, well, you're fast.

I have a feeling you might finish

with a little extra time.

I might finish a little early, I might finish a little, yeah.

[Amanda] I think I'm gonna have to tell Dylan and Johanna to come early.

Yeah, maybe you will. Tell them to be ready for me.

Okay! [laughs]

[Jamie] Get that nice and grilled on both sides

so it's ready for when I need it.

[Jess] I've got to go faster.

So I'm just getting a little brown on this bread right here

'cause I wanna make an avocado toast.

[Jess] This grill is perfectly seasoned. Y'all are awesome.

Is that how big I want these?

I want to know how much shrinkage I'm gonna get.

Thank you.

♪ 6'2" in a compact ♪

[in sing-song voice] Water!

While this is starting I might go check my meatballs right now.

Poor thing's such... Oh, look how pretty they look!

Look at them, beautiful!

This is gonna be my little secret ingredient over here.

Go check on them.

I'm gonna make it!

[in sing-song voice] I'll make it! I'll make it!

Sugar is my arch enemy.

I will be ruining this caramel in a hot second, you hear me?

When my mom used to make dinner for us

we always had a little cucumber, onion, feta salad.

So that's kinda what I'm gonna top the avocado toast with.

So I'm gonna put my Mediterranean salt in there.

And then I'm gonna squeeze a little lemon juice.

And I like to make this a little bit early

to allow those spices to open up a little bit,

and that acid will help do that.

'Cause the longer it sits, the better it tastes.

And I usually put red wine vinegar so it's like

almost the same amount of the lemon,

and I only put a little bit of olive oil.

I need to be able to feel all the different ingredients,

like when I'm eating them, I don't want anything to just

kind of mush together or anything like that,

so I always try to make a little, you know, texture in the dishes,

so your palate is nice and happy when it's eating.

I like to cook to make other people happy.

That's what makes me happy, you know?

My son James is 10.

And when he was three he was diagnosed with autism.

He was the most superest picky eater known to mankind,

but, you know, I get so excited,

'cause he's so happy, he loves to eat now, you know?

It's nice for us to be able to provide

an environment where parents

who have autistic family members

know they can have a judgement-free zone

so they have an opportunity to do

little things like go out to eat.

Will you murder me if I move one of your plates?

No. Mmm-mmm.

It's your kitchen. I'm just living in it.

Just coming to see where you're at,

because looks like you're plating. Is that true?

I am getting ready to start doing a little...

Are all your other elements ready?

Um, except for my egg.

- So I'm gonna get those started. - Are you frying egg?

- Oh, yeah. That's my favorite. - Okay, nice.

Do you think this dish would work on this menu?

It's so smart that she did toast,

'cause we are a very toast-heavy menu.

- So I really thought that was a perfect idea. - Okay. Okay.

What are you worried about right now? Anything, Jamie?

- I don't think so. - You feeling good?

- Calm, cool and collected. - Yes.

I'm just kinda nervous for you to try it, that's all.

Okay, Jess. You have 20 minutes left.

What's worrying you the most?

Oh, my caramel over there.

- You're worried about your caramel? - Give me a little bit.

[Amanda] It looks good now.

- It's going, it's going. - It's going?

It's going. I got this caramel tiniest bit, little bit

like it's gonna break down a little bit, but we're good.

I make my daughter make the caramel

at the restaurant.

I have an awesome daughter!

I get to go around and cook and do the fun stuff,

and the restaurant stays open

because her butt shows up here and works her tail off.

She's the best. She's my girl.

I hope I'm just like you.

[choked up] I hope that I'm half the person you are.

I hope that I can always honor you in what I do with my life.

You do already. You're better than me.

I love you.

[softly] My best friend.

[narrator] Learn more about the chefs and restaurants

featured in this show at chefswap.com

[Amanda] Time is almost up.

Chef Jess is scrambling to get her breakfast meatballs done.

Will she finish in time?

Jess, you got 10 minutes left.

- 10. - Ah!

I'm going go-go-gadget fast.

[in sing-song voice] I got to have some caramel!

Look at these cute little baby French toasts.

-Jess, you're plating. This is good. -Ah!

- Where's your sauce? - It's right there.

- Can I taste it? - You may.

I'm cheating a little bit.

Are you happy with it?

I haven't tasted it yet.

You have to taste it before you plate it!

Jamie's taking a big risk

by trying to cook the perfect egg in competition.

[Jamie] And I like my eggs to be a little bit crispy at the bottom.

And ladies, you said you didn't have micro greens, I heard you right.

- Little bit? - No, ma'am.

I'm gonna put a little fresh basil on it, then.

[Amanda] All right Jamie, you almost there?

- You ready? - Yes, I'm just making it nice and clean for you

since I finished early.

- That's it? It's done? - Yeah, that's it.

- It's that New York hustle right there. - That's it.

- So the dish title, Mama's Toast? - Mama's Toast.

-I think I like that. I love that. -Okay.

It tastes great.

And now I get the rosemary on the back, yeah.

- Yeah, okay. - It needs a little salt

and I'm garnishing with rosemary, so I'll be good to go.

[Amanda] Dylan and Johanna are at the table.

Oh, yay!

And you have exactly five minutes left.

Oh!

Y'all see this? This is what happens

when you don't use parchment paper!

Because you're in a hurry.

But I would've been past time if I put that parchment paper down.

Ah!

My name's Jess, I'm a genius.

I pick up hot things.

[Amanda] I'm a little bit worried about Jess.

She seems frazzled.

I'm okay, except I don't wanna make these plates look like a mess.

Okay, this is it.

This is the two-minute warning.

- I'm here. - You're here.

Is that it? Are you gonna garnish it with anything else?

No, it's gonna have rosemary on it on the top.

[Amanda] So Courtney and I are gonna take the plates

as soon as they're done, so you let us know.

Okay, I'm coming. Literally, I'm throwing this down there.

Not throwing it. I'm gracefully placing it on the plate.

Done! Ready.

[Amanda] Time to taste.

Dylan and Johanna will help me decide

who rose to the challenge.

Fresh off the bat, I think it just looks beautiful.

- [Dylan] Absolutely gorgeous. - [Johanna] It's gorgeous.

It's like a palette of color. I love it.

[Amanda] We will be judging each dish on taste,

integration, and creativity.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

- Slam dunk. - [Johanna] Mmm!

[Dylan] The creaminess of the avocado,

the lemon hitting the potato, amazing.

[Amanda] So you got the lemon in the potato?

Lemon in the potato is delicious.

I didn't even tell you that was in there.

It's a kaleidoscope of color.

- I eat with my eyes. - A kaleidoscope!

Yes, and so this is, "Come in and get some."

[Amanda] It's so colorful, and I think this is like,

Jamie is so lovely and warm,

and she brought that Greek heritage to the plate.

So the only thing, my only criticism is that

the toast could have been easier to cut through.

- I kinda struggled with it. - Uh-huh.

It's just the toast is a little bit rubbery.

So maybe remove the crusts on the toast.

- Make it a little softer. - Maybe so, yeah.

The fact that Jamie was able to come in here,

out of her element, brand new kitchen,

and be able to put this together on a plate

with such execution, such balance,

- such depth of flavor, she's... - Right.

She's a chef among chefs.

[Amanda] My question is, did she play it too safe?

The ingredient that Jess brought with her was rosemary.

- [Johanna] Mmm. - She used it

inside of the meatball, she has it as a garnish,

she also put rosemary in the caramel.

- Which is all over the top. - Interesting.

Love it.

[chuckles]

Mmm. I love it.

Pork sausage meatball is just simply delightful.

I love pork. My family used to raise hogs.

And so this is some good-tasting pork.

I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised.

I was really worried because I did taste the caramel,

and it's super sweet.

- Mmm-hmm. - Uh-huh.

[Amanda] Right? So I was like, how is this gonna play?

And it's perfectly balanced.

Jess is so hardcore. What you guys didn't see,

she took her cast

off of her broken wrist to come and do this.

She is tough.

And she was singing in the kitchen.

She held up under all the pressure.

Honestly, like, I can kind of see that on her plate.

Like, she's sweet, she's salty,

you know, and she's bold, she's not afraid of anything.

I would have liked maybe a heavier crunch

on the bread, maybe to counteract

the texture of the meatball and then the caramel.

There's nothing like this.

Nothing that I've tasted, no.

And nothing I've tried before.

And I eat a lot, my hips prove that.

This is exceptional, and it stands out

in the breakfast crowd, without a doubt.

Why was it important to you to do this?

My daughter is really

kinda the heart and soul of my restaurant.

And I really want the restaurant to succeed,

and for her to have something that she's proud of.

Our restaurant seats, like, 40 people.

Our kitchen's the size of a closet.

So to be able to come in here

and see, like, their organization

is fantastic, like,

I was a little trepidatious.

You know, they're well known in the community.

We're kinda like the new guy on the scene.

And it was a great time and a real learning opportunity.

Okay, so what happened?

This was super fun. It was my first time doing something like this.

So it was really exciting.

I was so nervous at first, but once I started cooking

I was like... The nervous feeling went away.

It didn't seem like it, because you were moving around so quickly.

No, that's my speed.

- That's your speed? - That's my speed when I'm working.

We also wanna just give you our condolences

- about your dad. - Thank you so much.

And you know it means a lot to me because of my dad.

- He would've loved this. - I know he would've.

Oh, my God, he would've been walking around,

like, in all his glory today.

You have so much of him in you.

I wish you could've met him. You would've loved him.

I would've. I can tell.

- My Daddy. Thank you so much. - You made him proud.

Thank you so much for coming.

[Amanda] This decision was nearly impossible,

but we are ready to award the Chef Swap knife.

Chef Jess, Chef Jamie.

Thank you for participating in Chef Swap.

Your stories were very emotional and inspiring.

There were a lot of tears,

and there was a lot of amazing cooking.

Chef Jamie, you gave us Mama's Toast.

Lots of lemon, lots of potatoes,

lots of secret spice.

Jess, you went so creative with your pork meatballs

on French toast, and you had the help of some great teams.

Kinsey was helping you and Courtney was helping you.

- Really appreciated Kinsey. - Courtney was fantastic.

[Amanda] Jamie, you've really truly made

your whole family proud of you.

Those who are here, and the ones who aren't.

Chef Jess, we love your story,

which was so inspiring to all of us.

I had a great time.

Chef Jamie, Chef Jess,

our Chef Swap knife goes to...

- Chef Jess. - [gasps]

[applause]

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much, wow.

How do you feel?

- Stunned. - [all laugh]

I'm so happy for you.

Jamie is... I just have so much respect for her,

and what she does, so to even just be

able to compete with her just means so much to me.

[Amanda] Jess's very creative use of rosemary

in her caramel gave her the winning edge.

[applause]

I'm Amanda Freitag. Join me next time

as we put two more amazing Myrtle Beach chefs to the test

on Chef Swap At The Beach.

For more on the chefs and restaurants featured

in this episode, visit chefswap.com