THE BULLETIN • JUNE 10 - 16, 2021
TV • PAGE 21
tastytv
BY GEORGE DICKIE
Bryan Voltaggio
Meet the next generation of chefs on
‘Battle of the Brothers’
Once up-and-coming chefs themselves,
Bryan and Michael Voltaggio know what
it’s like to make their way in the culinary
world. So they’d like to make that journey
easier for the generation behind them, as
they demonstrate in a competition series
coming to discovery+.
In “Battle of the Brothers,” which begins
streaming Thursday, June 17, the Los
Angeles-area siblings and restaurateurs
serve as mentors for eight of the country’s
most promising chefs in a culinary
competition designed to test their skills
and techniques through three rounds of
challenges. The winner at the end of the
six episodes – as determined by a panel of
rotating judges including Jordan Andino,
Alex Guarnaschelli, Christian Petroni,
Cliff Crooks and Jeremiah Lawrence Stone
– gets a guest-chef takeover at one of the
Voltaggios’ restaurants to present their own
vision and get their name out into the
foodie world.
It’s a concept both brothers have been
longing to undertake for quite some time.
“In our kitchens, this is what we’re trying
to do every day, is foster new talent,” Bryan
Voltaggio explains. “And so (the show)
presented the opportunity to do this – and
especially during the year that we all just
had, to give people an opportunity to
emerge and become a chef in their own
right. ...
“So Michael and I have been in this
industry for a combined 50 years,” he adds
with a laugh. “We’ve both been cooking
for a very long time. So it’s time for us to
transition into this role, so there wasn’t a
better time than now.”
The contestants here were all hand-
picked by the Voltaggios for their potential
to break out and take the next step, be
they private chefs, line cooks or sous
chefs. And their skills and fundamentals,
naturally, are all first-rate. But of course,
under the pressure of competition and
time constraints and with the presence of
TV cameras and lights, they can lose their
focus, which is where a mentor’s counsel
proves critical.
“A lot of times it’s just, ‘Hey, tell me
why. Tell me why you’re doing that,’ ”
Bryan Voltaggio says. “Because a lot of
times, even just asking that simple question
makes them rethink the whole reason why
they might be approaching an ingredient
a certain way, like, ‘Why are you braising
this now? Tell me what you’re going for
here.’ And just having that out-loud
conversation sometimes either makes a chef
think twice about what they’re doing or
helps them complete their thought.
“And I think that not always are we
questioning them thinking it’s a bad idea,”
he continues, “but sometimes it’s just
maybe steering them in another direction.
... Just making sure that they’re going to
get their food to the plate.”
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