Chapel Hill chef Dan Jackson can add a new aspect to his resume: “Chopped” winner.
The executive chef for the new Italian restaurant Osteria Georgi in Chapel Hill recently won Food Network’s “Chopped” competition on Tuesday, June 15.
The culinary competition on the Food Network features four chefs cooking surprise ingredients from a basket with the worst dish in each round sending one chef home. Some ingredients Jackson had to work with on Tuesday’s episode included challenges like algae oil, black ants, sunflowers and meatless breakfast sausage.
In an interview with the News & Observer, Jackson said he’s always wanted to participate in a cooking competition.
Giorgios Bakatsias, the restaurateur behind Giorgios Hospitality & Lifestyle Group, will open Osteria Georgi in Chapel Hill this spring. Chef Daniel Jackson, an Eleven Madison Park and MoMA alum, will join as partner and chef. Named in honor of Bakatsias’ late friend, George Tarantini, an Italian native and former North Carolina State soccer coach, the restaurant will focus on Italian fare made with locally sourced ingredients from the area. “George had such love and respect for hospitality, and for all the small details that make it such a special way of connecting,” says Bakatsias.
Giorgios Bakatsias and George Tarantini
Giorgios Hospitality Group