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Chef Katie Button advanced to the next episode of America's Culinary Cup.
Episode 6 of America’s Culinary Cup is in the books. And Chef Katie Button of Curate in Asheville, North Carolina, is the lone chef from a Latin-inspired restaurant still vying for the $1 million prize in the cooking competition series hosted by former “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi. Button impressed the judges during the April 8 “Good vs Evil” challenge in which the remaining eight chefs were tasked to create one heavenly and one devilish dessert.
There was one culinary catch: They had to use a forbidden ingredient chosen by their rivals from a list that included Bleu cheese, sweet pickles, dandelion greens, mustard seeds, anchovies, horseradish, cured black olives or Sriracha sauce for the evil sweet.
Button advanced with her good dessert, a liquid hazelnut tart with cherry sorbet, and her evil white chocolate passion fruit custard that included blanched dandelion greens in simple syrup.
Diana Dávila of Chicago’s Mi Tocaya Antojeria did not fare as well. While judges praised her good dessert — a Tamal Dulce featuring rose petal mole and whipped horchata — she ran out of time before plating her evil dessert, leaving her unable to garner enough points to advance in the competition.
“Six hours sounds like a long time, but not for me apparently,” Diana said. “It’s been my mission for a long time to dedicate my professional career to Mexican food, so it’s been great to do it on such a large platform as this. It’s been great to talk about it with all these chefs.”
Button is now one of only seven chefs remaining from the original 16 roster, and will compete next on Episode 7, airing Wednesday, April 15, at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, and streaming the next day on Paramount+.